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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Education and training in the field of nuclear instrumentation and measurement: CEA/INSTN (National Institute for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies) strategy to improve and develop new pedagogical tools and methods

Part of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN) is a higher education institution whose mission is to provide students and professionals a high level of scientific and technological qualification in all disciplines related to nuclear energy applications. In this frame, INSTN carries out education and training (E and T) programs in nuclear instrumentation and radioprotection. Its strategy has always been to complete theoretical courses by training courses and laboratory works carried out on an extensive range of training tools that includes a large panel of nuclear instrumentation as well as software applications. Since its creation in 1956, the INSTN has conducted both education and vocational programs on ionizing radiation detection. An extensive range of techniques have commonly been used during practical works with students and employees of companies who need to get the knowledge and specialization in this field. Today, the INSTN is mainly equipped with usual detectors and electronics in large numbers in order to be able to accommodate up to 48 trainees at the same time in two classrooms, with only two trainees for one workstation in order to optimize their learning. In the field of the neutron detection systems, the INSTN has strongly developed its offer taking advantage of the use of research reactors, such as ISIS reactor (700 kW) at Saclay. The implementation of neutron detection systems specific to the courses offers a unique way of observing and analysing the signal coming from neutron detectors, as well as learning how to set the parameters of the detection system in real conditions. Providing the trainees with an extensive overview of each part of the neutron monitoring instrumentation apply to a nuclear reactor, hands-on measurements on the ISIS reactor play a major role in ensuring a practical and comprehensive understanding of the neutron detection system and their integration in the safety system of nuclear reactors. It also gives a solid background for the follow up and the development of the neutron detection systems. Another field of activity of the INSTN is the development of new teaching tools using software applications. We describe hereafter two applications that have recently been developed by the institute, O.S.I.R.I.S and DOSIMEX. The INSTN and the company OREKA have developed an innovative teaching tool named O.S.I.R.I.S. The tool is built on a virtual 3D environment in which users operate in a totally free way. The action is located in a pressurised water reactor in the environment of a steam generator building. The users are students or professionals who want to learn and train on concrete situations on how to protect the workers against radiation. Through the use of this serious game, users must: establish a predictive dose evaluation, implement the principles of radiation protection, perform the dose result of the operation, analyse the gap between the predictive collective dose and the collective dose achieved, and decide about the lessons to provide feedback. Taking into account the increasing constraints related to radiation protection, it is essential to use computer codes to evaluate the dose rates generated by sources of ionizing radiation. Many powerful codes exist but are often relatively complex to implement and are dedicated to experts. In addition, these codes are often 'black boxes' that does not allow the user to understand the underlying physics. The objective of DOSIMEX codes developed by the INSTN is to give, by the means of a VBA code with a simple interface, the ability to easily conduct a wide range of radiological exposure situations: calculation of gamma, beta, neutron equivalent dose rate, calculation of internal contamination and atmospheric transfer.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Further Development of an Execution Strategy Analysis (ESA) Capability and Tool for the Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) - 17146

An Execution Strategy Analysis (ESA) capability and tool are being developed to evaluate alternative execution strategies for the potential future deployment of a consolidated Interim Storage Facility as part of an integrated waste management system. Application of the ESA approach not only leverages but also goes beyond traditional project analysis tools. The ESA tool allows for ongoing performance assessment of the evolving project execution plans that take into account significant assumptions, risks, and uncertainties throughout the project lifecycle. Development and application of the ESA capability and tool continued in 2016, primarily focusing on enhancing its flexibility to model a range of scenarios regarding how an integrated system for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste could be deployed. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Future of EPA's Waste Estimation Support Tool - 17227

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Waste Estimation Support Tool (WEST) is a GIS-based decision support tool for estimating the characteristics, amount, and residual radioactivity of waste generated from remediation and cleanup activities after a radiological incident, including those involving radiological dispersal devices, improvised nuclear devices, and nuclear power plants. WEST has been released to the public and has been used in numerous national level exercises and planning scenarios; however, it continues to be improved and refined to add additional functionality and performance. Since its inception, WEST has undergone a myriad of updates, routinely ensuring compatibility with ESRI's ArcGIS and FEMA's Hazus, a tool for estimating potential losses from earthquakes, wind, and flood events. Furthermore, recent enhancements have added reporting and mapping features and multi-state support. Over time, this progress has strained WEST's Microsoft{sup C} Excel based platform. The inherent limitations of Excel have limited the capacity of WEST and narrowed the scope of potential enhancements. Recent collaborative efforts between the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Science and Technology Directorate (S and T) and EPA will see the introduction of a new software platform for easing memory limitations and new and innovative features for improving the accuracy of waste estimates. The planned enhancements include: 1) Systems approach: measure or predict the outcome of decisions associated with disaster response (e.g., decontamination efficacy vs. waste) and to a greater extent, the overall resource demand (e.g., cost, time, etc.); 2) Custom infrastructure data and international support: accommodate non-US building information where available and also add new data and information on recently used decontamination technologies as applied in a real-world incident; 3) Additional waste factors: addition of waste factors that are unique to wide area scenarios such as vehicles and trees as they will likely contribute in a significant manner to the overall waste stream;4) Site analysis and logistics: apply spatial information and analysis technologies to locate and prioritize potential waste staging or storage sites; and use GIS-based logistics planning to better organize, route, and estimate the cost, time, and logistical requirements (i.e., resource demand) associated with transporting large volumes of waste from a disaster-stricken area to waste staging or storage sites; 5) Decontamination technologies: introduce new decontamination technologies, better understand the feasibility and efficacy of new and preexisting decontamination technologies when applied to a wide area incident, and use historical incidents to ground truth waste results; and 6) Resource demand: ability to estimate resource demand information associated with decontamination technologies, waste staging and storage, and logistical information for transporting waste. This paper will describe the next version of WEST (WEST 4.0), and how the aforementioned enhancements will contribute to improving the planning and response capabilities of the tool. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Advanced simulation capability for environmental management, integrated tool-sets and simulator to enhance public communication - 15186

The U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM), Office of Soil and Groundwater Remediation, is supporting multi-laboratory development of the Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (ASCEM). ASCEM is an open source and modular computing framework that incorporates new advances and tools for predicting contaminant fate and transport in natural and engineered systems. ASCEM facilitates transparent, efficient and integrated approaches to modeling and site characterization, and provides robust and standardized assessments of performance and risk for EM cleanup and closure activities. Site subsurface simulation modeling and performance assessments are complex and involve sensitivity evaluations and uncertainty quantification to better understand the risks at a site. The ASCEM tool-set was designed in close collaboration with the sites and other potential end-users (both the public and regulators) to allow better communication and understanding of these complex modeling efforts. ASCEM's integrated tool-sets provide a user interface and tools for managing work-flows, including conceptual model development, management of data and metadata for model input, sensitivity analysis, model calibration and uncertainty analysis, model execution on diverse computational platforms, and processing of model output, including visualization. The hierarchical and modular design of ASCEM HPC simulator Amanzi easily lends itself to translating this conceptual model of a site into a numerical model that can easily be spatially and temporally discretized to run on the HPC simulator. Together this integrated work-flow allows for a seamless and integrated analysis tracking all provenance information and modeling uncertainties. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Interactive statistical decision tools (GiSdT): An open source software integration of decision analysis and stakeholder judgment for sustainable waste management, disposal and remediation - 15650

The vast majority of remediation and waste management decisions are made without quantitative consideration of economic and socio-political factors. They are made instead based on quantitative metrics of human health risk. Sustainable decisions need to be made based on all three 'pillars of sustainability' (economics, environment and social), and require understanding and characterization of the costs and values associated with each pillar. In addition, such decisions need to conform to regulatory or other legal requirements, which often constrains the decision space of interest. Although efforts are often made to include factors across all three pillars (for example, for decisions made under CERCLA), these efforts are usually qualitative, and hence difficult to defend. They lack technical defensibility, transparency and traceability. The purpose of GiSdT (Guided Interactive Statistical Decision Tools) is to provide a quantitative framework whereby all aspects of a decision problem, such as remediation and waste management decisions, can be addressed quantitatively, and hence, defensibly, transparently and traceably. Most decision-makers do not currently have access to useful or usable methods and approaches when are presented with choices that have significant impacts across all three pillars of sustainability. The goal of GiSdT is to provide that access by identifying or developing effective and user-friendly decision methods and approaches that empower decision-makers to explicitly and routinely incorporate all aspects of sustainability into their decision-making. To identify and develop these methods and approaches, GiSdT provides the tools needed for decision-makers and stakeholders to understand and characterize their knowledge of their current decision-making processes, and what methods and approaches they need to pro-actively and quantitatively address all aspects of sustainability in their decisions. GiSdT is an open source interactive framework program that provides the tools needed to address the relevant components of a sustainability-based decision problem, including describing the decision landscape, translating that landscape into goals and objectives, valuing the measurable attributes that describe each objective, identifying decision options and addressing the uncertainty in the attributes (e.g., human health risk, institutional controls) through appropriate probabilistic models. In addition to addressing these quantitative technical components, the GiSdT program is aimed at facilitating stakeholder involvement so that the perspectives, values and objectives are all relevant stakeholders are addressed explicitly in the decision making process. The technical underpinnings of our software program, called Guided Interactive Statistical Decision Tools (GiSdT), are described. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Accelerating the Decommissioning of the Sellafield Pile Fuel Storage Pond Using Innovative Remote Tooling Developed with the Supply Chain - 16437

The Pile Fuel Storage Pond (PFSP) at Sellafield and adjoining de-canning building provided the storage, cooling and de-canning facility for used fuel and isotopes from the two Windscale reactors and later some Magnox fuel from the Calder Hall reactors. Operations ceased in the 1970's and the facilities are now undergoing a programme of accelerated decommissioning. The pond is a sub-divided outdoor storage pond containing skips of irradiated fuel and miscellaneous waste items and the building contains a series of sub-ponds, known as bays, connected underwater to the main pond. The radiation environment and access limitations necessitate the use of remote technology for the decommissioning programme. This paper describes the philosophy and approach and the technology and equipment adopted for the removal and export of key plant equipment and waste items from within the PFSP. In order to progress the project cost effectively and speedily, the Sellafield project team looked for partners in the supply chain with the required experience, expertise and facilities to supply and test 'commercial off-the-shelf' (COTS) or modified proprietary equipment. This COTS approach minimised the need for multiple, expensive and lengthy design and manufacturing tasks associated with bespoke equipment. Sellafield partnered with specialist remote handling contractor, James Fisher Nuclear, and the respective project teams worked closely together at every stage of the project from qualifying requirements, identifying potential solutions, through to development, testing, training and final deployment. Optioneering of potential solutions involved early 'proof of principle' trials in JFN rig hall facilities, utilising existing equipment and plant mock-ups, along with other equipment manufactured in-house. Together the project teams selected the best solution to take forward, adopting a practical and trials based approach, which allowed rapid and cost effective modification of the solution throughout the project with minimal impact on the programme. When the final solution was validated, plant operators then gained familiarity and training on the equipment so they could execute the work efficiently on plant and so minimise their dose uptake. The removal of a Large De-canner is described in detail. This was a significant obstruction to the emptying, modification and re-use of the bay and a key milestone in the clean-up of the PFSP. The de-canners are large and heavy pieces of equipment which weigh 6.5 t each and approximately 6.5 m long. Their removal was further complicated by limited equipment and man access, radiological contamination from de-canning fuel, challenging material properties, unknown equipment condition and complex lifting requirements. Sellafield Ltd and JFN project teams worked closely together to rapidly develop, trial and deploy a succession of adapted 'commercial off-the-shelf' (COTS) tools whilst addressing emerging challenges and completing the overall task on time and budget. The Sellafield and JFN project and design teams provided an underwater: wheel stop removal tool; towing trolley; grinder on a carbon fibre pole, chute cutting 600 mm circular saw and hydraulic 6 t winch. The suite of tools will be reused on the remaining de-canners in the PFSP and First Generation Magnox Fuel Storage Pond (FGMSP) giving cost and programme savings. Each of the tools can also be used, and some have already been, for other tasks in the bay retrievals such as the size reduction of support frames, large steel sections and chemical de-canner preparatory works. The 'learning from experience' acquired during the project was shared by the Sellafield project with other decommissioning projects across the site. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Role of Technical Guidance and Analysis Tools in Remedy Decisions, Implementation, and Closure - 18307

Selection, design, and implementation of environmental remedies are conducted under regulatory frameworks that define the activities, communication, and documentation requirements for the remediation process. However, there are site situations that are not well described in the basic regulatory frameworks, and technical guidance and analysis tools can help facilitate remedy decisions and actions. An example where technical guidance and analysis tools are helpful is in the transition from pump-and-treat (P and T) remediation to monitored natural attenuation (MNA). Standard MNA regulatory guidance does not account for a plume initially controlled by P and T hydraulic conditions rather than natural-gradient conditions. For instance, MNA guidance discusses demonstrating plume stability as a means to evaluate the suitability of MNA. However, plume stability under long-term natural gradient conditions cannot be directly demonstrated while the plume is being contained by a P and T system. Thus, additional guidance is needed to describe other measures that can be used to support transition from P and T to MNA. As an additional example, standard MNA regulatory guidance is not written to provide suitable information for application to vadose-zone contamination; discussion and examples in the regulatory guidance are predominantly for groundwater. Use of contaminant transport assessments is an important component of vadose-zone remedy decisions where technical guidance and analysis tools can facilitate these decisions. For volatile compounds, the assessment may need to also consider flux to the surface and constraints associated with vapor intrusion. Recent technical guidance and associated analysis tools provide sites with approaches to support remedy decisions for the above conditions. In particular, these recent approaches target developing and implementing P and T and soil vapor extraction remediation exit strategies and facilitating assessment and implementation of remedies for coupled vadose-zone/groundwater contamination. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Radiological Recovery Logistics Tool - 20161

Argonne is building and testing a tool, the Radiological Recovery Logistics Tool (RRLT), that can be used during the response and recovery from a radiological or nuclear incident to effectively allocate appropriate commercial and public works equipment to mitigate, remove, and contain radiological contamination. The requirements for this tool - as well as development of the resulting software - is overseen by a steering committee of stakeholders from DHS's National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One essential requirement is for RRLT to support the efficient and appropriate allocation of resources for a radiological response. Subsequent discussions between ANL and stakeholders have solidified the nature of this support to include identification of the types of resources to be allocated. The study reported in this paper has both factored fundamental concepts and connections out of this identification process and created a Knowledge Base detailing support goals, response scenarios, and efficacy information on dozens of equipment types. In short, RRLT will dynamically apply these findings to situational conditions surrounding contamination incidents. RRLT's Domain, the model of elements, ideas and relationships with which the tool will work, draws concepts from technical reports and stakeholder vocabularies to connect response goals and scenarios to types of equipment that offer utility towards those goals in those scenarios. RRLT's Knowledge Base will contain details on dozens of equipment types and facilitate the operator's discovery and consumption of these details most pertinent to a dynamically selected subset of goals. The core of its Domain Model is based on a report authored by this team. This report [1] contains a comprehensive list of proposed equipment to accomplish various missions or scenarios that might arise after a large-scale radiological contamination incident in an urban environment or critical infrastructure. The report divides potential response and recovery efforts into five support goals: Survey and monitoring of the contaminated area; Mitigation of received dose to first responders: Decontamination (gross and final) of buildings, vehicles, roadways, parks, and other surfaces: Waste management of solid waste generated during recovery operations: and Containment of wastewater and other waste generated during the response and recovery phases. RRLT's development is driven by use cases. A use case is an intention with which a user approaches the software. Use cases are grouped into delivery increments to schedule development, testing, and presentation to stakeholders. This model partitions the system into seven increments: User Arrival and Authentication, Search and Navigation, Equipment Recommendation, Plan Management, Content Management, and Expanded Access. Once a user 15 authenticated, RRLT will present the user with a dashboard that allows them to explore or search RRLT's content. The dashboard will also include a 'Plan' panel for collecting decisions and relevant observations about an incident at hand to facilitate development of an equipment list. RRLT will offer three general modes of access to items in the knowledge base: - Keyword search for direct discovery of items, - Navigation along predetermined paths from recovery goal towards equipment types, and - Interactive guidance towards equipment types by an autonomous software agent: the Equipment Recommendation Wizard. This presentation will detail progress in the development of the RRLT and also discuss opportunities for those interested in providing feedback on its content and functionality. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Panel Session 129: Perspectives (US and Non-US) on the Use of Risk and Dose Assessment Tools (R9.3)

This panel focused on various dose and risk assessment tools for assessments, Deactivation and Decommissioning, remediation, and closure of sites of chemical and radioactive wastes. Representatives from the US government agencies, non-US countries and their representative regulatory bodies or authorities, as well as performance/risk assessment practitioners compared and contrasted the various guidance from regulatory agencies and authorities on how tools such as the Preliminary Remediation Goals (PRG) calculator, the Dose Compliance Concentrations (DCC) calculator, and Residual Radioactivity (RESRAD) should be used in support of analyses and decisions for environmental cleanup activities. Panelists with presentations: Cumulative Impact Evaluation: Innovative Tools for Evaluation of Groundwater Protection (Alaa Aly); Superfund Evaluation Process for Alternative Risk and Dose Models (with Focus on EPA and DOE Tools) (Stuart Walker); NRC Staff Perspective on Risk-Informed Approach and Reasonable Safety Assurance in D and D and LLW (Rateb (Boby) Abu Eid)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Tool for Developing Integrated Strategies for Decontamination and Waste Management - 20291

Management of waste from chemical, biological, and radiological incidents is complicated by the fact that decontamination decisions have a profound impact on the characteristics of resulting waste streams. Wide-area biological and radiological incidents could produce massive quantities of waste that may need to be treated on-site and sent for subsequent disposal as non-contaminated materials, or else be directly disposed of as contaminated materials. The EPA has developed the Waste Estimation Support Tool (WEST) for characterizing and quantifying biological and radiological waste that may be generated from decontamination efforts. This paper focuses on the WEST's uses for radiological incidents. WEST combines Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis of externally-supplied plume data, infrastructure databases derived from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Hazus tool [1], and satellite imagery surface recognition algorithms to combine the composition and square footage of the buildings in the plume with estimates of the materials between the buildings in the plume. The resulting GIS data files are then imported into a Microsoft Access database application, where they are combined with information about the nature and concentration of contaminants, and then subjected to decontamination strategies for different contaminated surfaces. The tool provides estimates of the type and quantities of potential wastes resulting from simulated decontamination and/or demolition activities and includes estimates of the remaining contamination levels including residual contamination contained within each waste stream. Estimates are presented at several levels of detail, allowing users to obtain needed data at the desired resolution. These include estimates for the total affected area, estimates by contamination zone, estimates by decontamination method(s), and estimates by building type (occupancy classification). EPA is currently developing the next version of WEST which will include several substantial enhancements. The most significant improvement for the next version of WEST will include the ability for users to develop contamination scenarios and waste estimates based on previously developed, readily available, and geographically specific infrastructure data. Instead of using WEST's default infrastructure data based on FEMA's Hazus tool, users will be able to import their own building data specific to the geographically affected area. This capability may substantially decrease uncertainties in the resulting waste estimates because the results will be based on actual building data (numbers of each type, square footage, building height, etc.). Two other significant enhancements will be the ability to generate waste estimates for vehicles and biomass. In addition to building debris and building decontamination waste, vehicles and biomass will likely constitute a significant percentage of the total waste which may result from wide area contamination events. This presentation will present the most recent version of WEST, which includes such considerations as affected biomass (e.g., trees), vehicles, and the ability to replace the default Hazus infrastructure databases with custom infrastructure databases. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of Advanced Numerical Tools for the Nonlinear Seismic Analysis of Nuclear Systems

In the framework of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) of nuclear facilities, a rigorous dynamic characterization of all structural and non-structural components is of paramount concern. The common features of nuclear facilities lies in the combination of three characteristics: 1. low aspect ratio; 2. large mass; and 3. significant embedment in soil. These characteristics make the interaction between the structural system and the surrounding soil a key aspect to consider for seismic risk evaluations. The methodologies and numerical tools currently in use for simulating the seismic response of a nuclear facility with significant Soil Structure Interaction (SSI) date back to the 1970's and rely on a number of simplifying idealizations, mainly related to the characterization of the incident seismic waveforms, the assumption of linear-elastic behavior of the superstructures, and idealization of equivalent linear behavior of the supporting soils. Given this background and taking advantage of the substantial progress in computational mechanics in the last decades, the ongoing research aims at developing advanced numerical tools for the nonlinear, time history simulation of nuclear facilities. This translates into the availability of a robust nonlinear time-domain simulation tool that can accurately model the nonlinearities of coupled soil-structure systems, and whose development includes robust verification and validation. The work described herein is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and focuses on delivering the next-generation, high performance simulation tool in support of DOE needs and mission. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Radiation Mapping at JET and ITER using advanced computational acceleration techniques and tools - Paper 63

The Applied Radiation Physics group at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) have developed and applied state-of-the-art radiation mapping methods and tools to enable complex shielding calculations in fusion devices during plasma operations, and associated maintenance in the device and surrounding areas. Here, we present the description and application of those tools to produce radiation maps both to support the JET safety case (the EU experimental tokamak device based at Culham) and the planned DT campaign in the next few years; and the ITER device. Radiation mapping of fusion facilities are essential for assessing radiation hardness of electronics during operations, and to define safe working dose limits to staff during routine maintenance. At CCFE the Monte Carlo radiation transport code MCNP6 is one of the codes used to perform radiation transport calculations. Due to the size and complexity of the JET and ITER devices, and their surrounding buildings, a suite of tools have been created at CCFE to reduce the computational requirements of the calculations. This paper describes three of these tools, which have been developed and applied to nuclear and radiological field mapping in fusion devices. The results presented in this paper highlight the application of three methods that have been used to improve the computational efficiency and capabilities for radiation mapping in fusion devices such as JET and ITER. These methods are Global Variance Reduction, the Surface Source Mesh routine and the Smeared Source routine. This paper demonstrates the three techniques used in combination, enabling a very computationally challenging fusion problem to become tractable (with acceptable computing effort), also enabling improved capability to allow the mapping of radiations fields during transport operations for activated materials. (authors)

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of the MCNP-ORIGEN activation automation tool

This paper introduces the MCNP-ORIGEN activation automation tool for streamlining the calculation of experiment source terms. This tool couples the Monte-Carlo radiation-transport solver, MCNP to the depletion tool, ORIGEN-S. To showcase its current capabilities, this paper presents an activation analysis exercise, which is conducted with Serpent, and the results are com- pared. The experiment consists in a 90%-enriched uranium sphere surrounded by light water. A non-fissile cylinder is placed in the water, representing an irradiation experiment. We conducted simulations for 2 different cylinder materials: iron and cobalt at two different temperatures: 300 K and 900 K. The exercise consists of an irradiation of 50 days at a constant power of 5 MW, followed by a decay of 50 days. These studies highlight the discrepancies between how the different tools handle nuclear data. Finally, the results underscore multiple areas of possible improvement.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The PHASE Project: New Research and Tools to Inform Pollinator Habitat on Utility-Scale Solar

The solar industry is responding to demand for building a clean energy future. At the same time, pollinator declines and habitat losses are resulting in listing consideration for once-common species like monarch butterflies, plus petitions to list bees and other species. How can projects responsibly co-locate pollinator plantings at solar facilities? What ecological and performance benefits can be realized from pollinator plantings? How do developers and owners weigh the costs and challenges of maintaining pollinator plantings and determine the effects it has on power generation, community acceptance, and operations? The Pollinator Habitat Aligned with Solar Energy (PHASE) project is a four-year research project that aims to answer these questions and better support the solar industry in successfully implementing pollinator plantings. This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office. In collaboration with an advisory group composed of industry and technical professionals, the PHASE team developed methodologies to evaluate the impacts of plantings on both biodiversity and the facility operations, including the diversity of plant and insect communities, pollinator services being provided by the site, and the effects of pollinator vegetation on panel temperature and efficiency. The PHASE team also used data to develop tools designed to better support solar industry decision-making on pollinator vegetation including a Pollinator Planting Implementation Manual, a Cost Comparison Tool, a Seed Selection Tool, and Habitat Assessment Module Guidance. Final versions of the four tools will be released this year.

agrivoltaic↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Virtual Test Bed (VTB) Repository: A Library of Multiphysics Reference Reactor Models using NEAMS Tools

With the next generation of nuclear reactors under development, modeling and simulation (M&S) tools are being developed by the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program in order to support their design, licensing, and future operation. Mirroring the physical test beds currently under construction (i.e., EBR-II and ZPPR), the Virtual Test Bed (VTB) was launched by the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) in collaboration with NEAMS to support the advanced reactor community. This collaborative effort, which involves multiple teams at both Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory aims to use NEAMS tools to model a wide range of reactor designs. Those models are automatically tested to ensure their continued functionality as the tools are further developed. Examples are extensively documented, each acting as a tutorial for applying the relevant NEAMS tools to that reactor design. Currently, five advanced reactor types (with a total of eight specific design variants) are simulated by a variety of different models. These models range from steady-state, core multiphysics simulations to integrated plant analysis during loss-of-flow transients.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

PVDeg: Development of a Streamlined Tool for PV Degradation Modeling

The photovoltaic (PV) industry constantly aims for lower costs, higher-efficiency cells, and improved module designs. These trends lead to using new materials, designs, and manufacturing processes, resulting in a continually changing technological landscape. These changes can potentially introduce new, unknown degradation mechanisms and failure modes that are difficult to diagnose, analyze, test, and model. This introduces uncertainty into the expected lifetime of PV modules of 25 to 50 years. research efforts aim to achieve this while keeping performance degradation at a minimum for decades. This puts considerable pressure on improving the accuracy of long-term durability and reliability assessments. There is a need to organize the existing degradation data into an accessible format and to provide industry relevant tools for extrapolation from laboratory to field conditions. Because the core of this type of analysis involves calculations that are complicated but ubiquitous for many degradation processes, an enhanced predictive modeling framework will facilitate the analysis to help researchers keep up with the rapid pace of technological changes. In this work, we present an online tool that can be used to search for and analyze degradation information and extrapolate PV module performance and durability to field exposure. The tool will simplify many of the routine computational operations that are common to many degradation studies. The prediction tool will be built modular and published as open source, enabling users to expand on the existing framework. This repository will contain various degradation models and material parameters suitable for the reliability and durability assessment of materials and components deployed outdoors.

degradation↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Empty DOESC Handling Tool Verification and Redesign

The handling tool for the Department of Energy Standard Canister (DOESC) is made of six simultaneously movable jaws to apply pressure to the inside surface of the DOESC to allow for their transport when empty (Figure 1). The verification of the handling tool requires analyzing the point of contact of the tool and the canister to see how the roundness effects the handling tool.

12 - MGMT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Variability and Diversity Load Model Tool [SWR-20-03]

The motivation for the development of this tool and the underlying algorithms and methods was to enable the development of high-temporal resolution, realistic time-series data for quasi-static time-series (QSTS) analysis of distribution systems. Often, aggregated load profile data for a distribution circuit is available (e.g. feeder loading data collected via SCADA at the utility substation) and, while this data is typically accurate it masks the considerable variability of the 100’s or 1000’s of individual loads connected on the circuit. This tool was developed to model both the increased variability expected for these individual loads (e.g. the load of a single distribution transformer connected to 8-12 houses) and the expected diversity between loads on the circuit. It is important to note that the difference in variability and diversity, in the context of this tool, is that variability modeling only adds representative variability due to disaggregated load characteristics (e.g. the presence in the load profile of loads turning off and on like an air conditioner/oven) while the average energy profile remains the same as the user supplied power profile. Diversity modeling generates multiple individual load profiles which, in aggregate, sum to the user supplied power profile. Diversity is effectively variability in the energy usage over longer periods of time than seen in the variability model. Put another way, variability modeling supplies the expected variability due to the operation of various end-use loads and diversity modeling supplies the usage differences due to human behavior, schedules, etc. This load modeling tool was developed for use in generating data for distribution systems. Modeling is summarized by two major functions: 1) taking low resolution load profiles and adding intra-seconds variability onto the profiles, and 2) taking a user supplied load profile and distribution factors and adding both diversity and variability to the user supplied profile.

Zhu, Xiangqi↗