Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Program Development”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,045 records · Page 58
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Tough Errors are no Match (TEAM): Optimizing the Quantum Compiler for Noise Resilience

This project builds toward a comprehensive error-mitigating toolkit that makes quantum programming more robust and adaptive to the noisy, resource-limited nature of today’s quantum hardware. To that end, it integrates established error-mitigation methods — such as zero-noise extrapolation and dynamical decoupling — directly into compiler infrastructures. These techniques will be packaged as modules that can automatically adjust and combine based on performance analysis, enabling compilers to explore large design spaces and produce optimized, low-noise quantum programs with minimal manual intervention. In parallel, this project also explores new approaches to analog quantum programming or quantum simulation, and has developed the programming language SimuQ which treats quantum Hamiltonian evolution as the central object.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Formed-in-place Ceramic Systems for Sealing and Flow Control in Geothermal Applications

Conventional oil and gas tools are frequently unsuitable for downhole applications in geothermal wells, largely due to uncased well configurations and their extreme thermal/chemical fluid conditions. Consequently, relatively common O&G tools like bridge plugs and sand control screens are difficult or at times impossible to implement in geothermal wells. In commercial oil and gas, thermite-based tools are being developed for intervention and decommissioning applications, and gaining field experience and credibility. We are developing and testing such systems for geothermal applications, with the objective of forming ceramic sealing and flow control features in-situ. The process uses self-propagating thermite reactions, in which a metal is combined with an oxidizer to release significant amounts of energy in a controlled, non-explosive manner. These solid phase reactions can be engineered to generate ceramic products with specific physical and flow characteristics. We are developing and testing formulations and wireline deployment tools which yield low to high permeability as needed, and preferentially expand to fill boreholes in both large diameter and slimhole wells. Near term applications are bridge plugs for P&A operations, screens for sand control and borehole stabilization, and lost circulation control during drilling. Laboratory tests have demonstrated the ability to form these products under high temperature and pressure conditions. Field tests are in planning to demonstrate the full-scale performance of these tools. This paper will present the status and results of this demonstration project, in its first year of advanced development for the DOE geothermal technologies program. New developments utilizing thermite tools in the HP/HT oil and gas domain will also be highlighted, particularly those which may have utility in geothermal applications.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2016

A Conceptual World Information Library (WIL) and Land Use Information System (LUIS) - 16181

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency initiative on the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory is addressing the topic of communicating with future generations on the location, specific contents, and potential risks associated with deep geologic nuclear waste repositories. At the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has committed, prior to the facility closure, to develop a Passive Institutional Controls (PICs) program designed to last as long as practicable. A portion of this PICs program includes development of records packages, selection of data storage materials and methods, and a determination of records retention/storage locations. The approved plan for record retention at WIPP includes the storage of information including hard copies of data, figures and maps in multiple libraries and archive record centers. With this in mind, it is easy to envision reams of various paper documents in a robust physical archive record center similar to one of the museums in Washington D.C., or DOE's Legacy Management facility in Morgantown, West Virginia. While some portion of records for nuclear waste burial sites should be maintained in this fashion for near-term retrieval purposes, it is widely accepted that this is not an efficient way to communicate with future generations even 1,000 years from now. Transmitting large detailed volumes of information to the future should be captured in an electronic format; maintained on computers, translated by computers, and perhaps updated by artificial intelligence as machine and human languages change over the centuries. In addition to a physical records development and storage process for transmittal to future generations, a web-based electronic database system should be developed. A World Electronic Library (WEL) database could be funded from various nations and perhaps sanctioned by the United Nations and/or the IAEA. This WEL could contain information regarding several different subjects with the intent of being a one-stop-information-shop for future generations. This database would require updates and maintenance for as long as there is a recipient. One subset of the WEL would be a spatial database containing all the information available to any set of GPS coordinates, anywhere within the world. This Land Use Information System (LUIS) database would contain information on past and present land use, natural resources, known geology, hydrology and atmospheric conditions, potential warnings, and other pertinent information. The LUIS database is where specific electronic information, a subset of all the records data gathered for a nuclear waste repository, could reside. For not only would LUIS provide the information on a nuclear waste repository when specific GPS coordinates were entered; but a search from the LUIS on 'Nuclear Waste Repositories' could bring up information, including data on location of repositories, radionuclides, operations, D and D, maps, and regulations, plus many other details for locations throughout the world. This tool could be used by future generations for a number of land use or resource exploration decisions. So what can we do now? We can agree to the types of information that should be captured into an electronic database for nuclear waste repositories. We can agree to the levels of detail, the file names and the formats, for ease of combining information sets in the future. Perhaps we can agree to a central electronic data storage site, or sites, where this information will reside for import into a centralized electronic record system, if one is ever developed. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2011

Conceptual Design, Implementation and Commissioning of Data Acquisition and Control System for Negative Ion Source at IPR

Negative ion Experimental facility has been setup at IPR. The facility consists of a RF based negative ion source (ROBIN)--procured under a license agreement with IPP Garching, as a replica of BATMAN, presently operating in IPP, 100 kW 1 MHz RF generators and a set of low and high voltage power supplies, vacuum system and diagnostics. 35 keV 10A H- beam is expected from this setup. Automated successful operation of the system requires an advanced, rugged, time proven and flexible control system. Further the data generated in the experimental phase needs to be acquired, monitored and analyzed to verify and judge the system performance. In the present test bed, this is done using a combination of PLC based control system and a PXI based data acquisition system. The control system consists of three different Siemens PLC systems viz. (1) S-7 400 PLC as a Master Control, (2) S-7 300 PLC for Vacuum system control and (3) C-7 PLC for RF generator control. Master control PLC directly controls all the subsystems except the Vacuum system and RF generator. The Vacuum system and RF generator have their own dedicated PLCs (S-7 300 and C-7 respectively). Further, these two PLC systems work as a slave for the Master control PLC system. Communication between PLC S-7 400, S-7 300 and central control room computer is done through Industrial Ethernet (IE). Control program and GUI are developed in Siemens Step-7 PLC programming software and Wincc SCADA software, respectively. There are approximately 150 analog and 200 digital control and monitoring signals required to perform complete closed loop control of the system. Since the source floats at high potential ({approx}35 kV); a combination of galvanic and fiber optic isolation has been implemented. PXI based Data Acquisition system (DAS) is a combination of PXI RT (Real time) system, front end signal conditioning electronics, host system and DAQ program. All the acquisition signals coming from various sub-systems are connected and acquired by the PXI RT system, through only fiber optics link for signal conditioning, electrical isolation and better noise immunity. Real time and Host application programs are developed in LabVIEW and the data shall be stored with a facility of online display of selected parameters. Mathematical calculations and report generation will take place at the end of each beam shot. The paper describes in detail about the design approach, implementation strategy, program development, commissioning and operational test result of ROBIN through a data acquisition and control system.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

The development of 3D physical program with integrated control rod calculation for HTR - 18525

The accurate calculation of the control rod worth in pebble bed high temperature gas cooled reactor(HTR) requires special treatment, because the control rod system of HTR is located outside the active zone. The current version VSOP did not calculate the control rod value directly, but use a compromise method called the Equivalent Boron Concentration (EBC). To obtain the value of the control rod with higher precision directly, this paper embedded the discontinuity factor (DF) corrected diffusion calculation into the original procedure of the VSOP. The computational procedure to obtain the DF on the side of the absorber region was optimized. While an appropriate coupling method has been developed to take into account the neutron leakage feedback, data transform and so on. The new program can achieve accurate control rod calculation and more realistic 3D power distribution during the physical calculation. The numerical results demonstrated the correctness of the new program preliminarily. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

ASCENDS: Advanced data SCiENce toolkit for Non-Data Scientists

Recently, advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence have been playing more and more critical roles in a wide range of areas. For the last several years, industries have shown that how learning from data, identifying patterns and making decisions with minimal human intervention can be extremely useful to their business (e.g., image classification, recommending a product to a customer, finding friends in a social network, predicting customers actions, etc.). These success stories have been motivating scientists who study physics, chemistry, materials, medicine, and many other subjects, to explore a new pathway of utilizing machine learning techniques like regression and classification for their scientific activities. However, most existing machine learning tools, systems, and methodologies have been developed for programming experts but not for scientists (or any users) who have no or little knowledge of programming. ASCENDS is a toolkit that is developed to assist scientists (or any persons) who want to use their data for machine learning tasks, more specifically, correlation analysis, regression, and classification. ASCENDS does not require programming skills. Instead, it provides a set of simple but powerful CLI (Command Line Interface) and GUI (Graphic User Interface) tools for non-data scientists to be able to intuitively perform advanced data analysis and machine learning techniques. ASCENDS has been implemented by wrapping around opensource software including Keras, TensorFlow, and scikit-learn.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) Program Plan. Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET)

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) sponsors a crosscutting technology development (CTD) program addressing common instrumentation & controls (I&C) needs in all DOE-NE sponsored programs. In 2012, DOE-NE initiated the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology (NEET) Program to conduct research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in crosscutting technologies that directly support and enable the development of existing, new and advanced reactor designs, and fuel cycle technologies. These technologies will advance the state of nuclear technology, improve its competitiveness, and promote continued contribution to meeting our Nation’s energy and environmental challenges. The NEET Program has spurred innovation in the field of sensors and instrumentation, advanced methods for manufacturing, and cyber security. The Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) program is one element of the NEET CTD that has spurred innovation in the measurement science field by funding research on sensors, instrumentation and controls, communication, and advanced analytics that measure system parameters, gauge component control input, and provide power plant owners and operators critical awareness so they can plan and safely manage operational evolutions. The NEET ASI Program has carried out research and development (R&D) required to develop and deploy innovative and advanced sensors, and instrumentation and control capabilities for current and future nuclear energy systems, and to enable the advanced technologies essential to NE’s R&D efforts needed to realize mission goals. The concept of technology readiness assessment is helpful for the classification of instrumentation technology as part of the program strategy. A technology readiness assessment evaluates technology maturity using the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale and was pioneered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the 1980s for space technology. It has recently been adopted to advance fuels and materials. The NEET ASI program objective is to mature instruments technology to TRL 6, which is “demonstration of the technology in relevant environment.” While there may be instances in which a different strategy is justified, the aim of the program is to respond to DOE program and stakeholder needs for nuclear instrumentation then hand off the technology after demonstration for integration in a more complex system, for example an irradiation test, experimental loop or a plant component such as the core, primary system or heat exchanger. A mechanism to continue some level of support from NEET ASI during and after the adoption (for example, to maintain fabrication and calibration capabilities) will be defined as the first example of technology hand off comes to fruition. In addition, several paths exist within DOE to complement NEET ASI activities to extend the maturity beyond TRL, for example through GAIN, technology commercialization funding, and small-business programs. Role of NEET ASI CINR projects in the TRL space, and integration with direct funded demonstration.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

LDRD FY25 Program Overview

As Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program enters its fifth decade of leading-edge research and development, its impact and importance have never been stronger. The program continues to advance strategic investments in pioneering science, technology, and engineering, ensuring LLNL will be ready to deliver on our mission as it evolves over the coming decades. Investing in LDRD research, and the people who perform this critical work, gives LLNL the ability to sustain our role as a leader in the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration enterprise. The LDRD program enables high-risk, high-payoff research that anticipates emerging threats and future mission needs. By nurturing the ingenuity of the Lab’s greatest asset, its people, LDRD funding advances not only our research but also grows and nurtures our workforce: engaging future innovators with student mentoring, challenging postdoctoral researchers to apply their skills to support national security, and strengthening the leadership skills of early career staff. This annual report documents how LDRD investments advance LLNL’s science, technology, and engineering across our mission space. To assess LDRD’s impact we track both short and long-term metrics such as peer-reviewed publications, number of students, or professional fellows. In addition to reviewing these metrics, I encourage you to delve deeper into the breadth of science and technology that illustrate the strategic value of this research portfolio. For instance, a recent exploratory research project used advanced manufacturing to construct miniaturized three-dimensional ion traps for a quantum computer with reduced quantum error rates to enable applications that address national security missions and support basic science. Another project has delved into studying detonation by examining deflagration to enhance the safety and security of the nuclear weapons stockpile. LDRD researchers are also deploying AI agents on two of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to automate and accelerate inertial confinement fusion experiments. Other teams are delivering more accurate optical constants to enable improved validation for aluminum to advance atomic and molecular physics models. LDRD-driven discoveries of how metals deform under extreme conditions strengthen our ability to model and design materials for demanding national security environments. National security challenges are increasingly complex and continuously evolving. LDRD focuses our most innovative science and technology on these challenges, ensuring the Laboratory is developing creative, forward-leaning solutions for our nation and the world. The following pages feature highlights of published scientific advances, patents, and honors that stem from LDRD investments. As you read this report, I hope you will understand how these investments position the Laboratory, and our partners, to meet the demands of the decades ahead.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Developing a Supply Chain Security Program

Amid growing concerns over foreign manufacturing for components and devices deployed in critical energy infrastructure, this research from the national labs will highlight best practices for developing and maintaining a supply chain security program. Tools for asset inventory, tips for developing and maintaining software- and hardware-bills-of-materials (SBOMs and HBOMs), recommended contractual language for vendor agreements, and identification of responsibilities will be shared. We discuss the one-time requirements to enable a successful supply chain security program and the best ways to operationalize this program for maximum impact, including development of robust practices for vulnerability tracking, patch management, and workarounds, with understanding of the reliability and uptime requirements for utilities. The recommendations shared are based on a cyber-informed engineering approach to identification of high-consequence impacts and the engineering controls related to supply chain management that can best mitigate these impacts. This approach allows for prioritization of resources. Additionally, we highlight relative up-front and ongoing costs associated with recommended controls. Viewers will leave with an understanding what a supply chain security program is, and what steps, prioritized for resource-constrained organizations, can build a robust program.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

International Review of the Development and Implementation of Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling Programs

Appliance energy efficiency standards and labeling (S&L) programs have been important policy tools for regulating the efficiency of energy-using products for over 40 years and continue to expand in terms of geographic and product coverage. The most common S&L programs include mandatory minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) that seek to push the market for efficient products, and energy information and endorsement labels that seek to pull the market. This study seeks to review and compare some of the earliest and most well-developed S&L programs in three countries and one region: the U.S. MEPS and ENERGY STAR, Australia MEPS and Energy Label, European Union MEPS and Ecodesign requirements and Energy Label and Japanese Top Runner programs. For each program, key elements of S&L programs are evaluated and comparative analyses across the programs undertaken to identify best practice examples of individual elements as well as cross-cutting factors for success and lessons learned in international S&L program development and implementation. The international review and comparative analysis identified several overarching themes and highlighted some common factors behind successful program elements. First, standard-setting and programmatic implementation can benefit significantly from a legal framework that stipulates a specific timeline or schedule for standard-setting and revision, product coverage and legal sanctions for non-compliance. Second, the different MEPS programs revealed similarities in targeting efficiency gains that are technically feasible and economically justified as the principle for choosing a standard level, in many cases at a level that no product on the current market could reach. Third, detailed survey data such as the U.S. Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) and rigorous analyses provide a strong foundation for standard-setting while incorporating the participation of different groups of stakeholders further strengthen the process. Fourth, sufficient program resources for program implementation and evaluation are critical to the effectiveness of standards and labeling programs and cost-sharing between national and local governments can help ensure adequate resources and uniform implementation. Lastly, check-testing and punitive measures are important forms of enforcement while the cancellation of registration or product sales-based fines have also proven effective in reducing non-compliance. The international comparative analysis also revealed the differing degree to which the level of government decentralization has influenced S&L programs and while no single country has best practices in all elements of standards and labeling development and implementation, national examples of best practices for specific elements do exist. For example, the U.S. has exemplified the use of rigorous analyses for standard-setting and robust data source with the RECS database while Japan's Top Runner standard-setting principle has motivated manufacturers to exceed targets. In terms of standards implementation and enforcement, Australia has demonstrated success with enforcement given its long history of check-testing and enforcement initiatives while mandatory information-sharing between EU jurisdictions on compliance results is another important enforcement mechanism. These examples show that it is important to evaluate not only the drivers of different paths of standards and labeling development, but also the country-specific context for best practice examples in order to understand how and why certain elements of specific S&L programs have been effective.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Florida Hydrogen Initiative (FHI) (Final Report)

The Florida Hydrogen Initiative (FHI) was a research, development and demonstration (RD&D) hydrogen and fuel cell program funded by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The FHI program objectives were to develop Florida’s hydrogen and fuel cell infrastructure and to assist DOE in its hydrogen and fuel cell activities by creating partnerships for demonstration projects, sponsoring research and development programs, facilitating technology transfer between the public and private sectors, developing industry support and establishing unique hydrogen/fuel cell university-level education programs. The FHI program funded 12 RD&D projects. Each project was issued a sub-contract with specific tasks, deliverables and budget. The results of these projects are presented in this final report. In this Executive Summary, a one paragraph description is given for each of the 12 projects conducted with FHI support. The 12 projects are presented in numerical order by task (Task 1 to Task 14). These include five projects (Tasks 1, 5, 7, 10 and 13) in the hydrogen technology areas, five (Tasks 2, 8, 9, 11 and 14) fuel cell related activities and two covering education and public understanding and information exchange (Task 3 and 12). Note that Tasks 4 and 6 were administrative tasks.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2017

Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis – 2017 Edition

This report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), provides a comprehensive set of cost data supporting a cost analysis for the relative economic comparison of options for use in the DOE Nuclear Technology Research and Development (NTRD) Program (previously the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) and the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI)). The report describes the NTRD cost basis development process, reference information on NTRD cost modules, a procedure for estimating fuel cycle costs, economic evaluation guidelines, and a discussion on the integration of cost data into economic computer models. This report contains reference cost data for numerous fuel cycle cost modules (modules A-O) as well as cost modules for a number of reactor types (R modules). The fuel cycle cost modules were developed in the areas of natural uranium mining and milling, thorium mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, depleted uranium disposition, fuel fabrication, interim spent fuel storage, reprocessing, waste conditioning, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) packaging, long-term monitored retrievable storage, managed decay storage, recycled product storage, near surface disposal of low-level waste (LLW), geologic repository and other disposal concepts, and transportation processes for nuclear fuel, LLW, SNF, transuranic, and high-level waste. Since its inception, this report has been periodically updated. The last such internal document was published in August 2015 while the last external edition was published in December of 2009 as INL/EXT-07-12107 and is available on the Web at URL: www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/4536700.pdf. This current report (Sept 2017) is planned to be reviewed for external release, at which time it will replace the 2009 report as an external publication. This information is used in the ongoing evaluation of nuclear fuel cycles by the NE NTRD program.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Evaluation of Boulder, CO, SmartRegs Ordinance and Better Buildings Program

Under the SmartRegs ordinance in the city of Boulder, Colorado, all rental properties in the city must achieve an energy efficiency level comparable to a HERS Index of approximately 120 points or lower by the year 2019. The City of Boulder received a $\$$12 million grant from the DOE's Better Buildings initiative to create and incentivize their EnergySmart Program. In this report, the Consortium forAdvanced Residential Buildings (CARB) describes its work with the program, including energy audits of rental properties, developing training programs for insulators and inspectors, and conducting interviews with property owners.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

Evaluation of Boulder, CO, SmartRegs Ordinance and Better Buildings Program

Under the SmartRegs ordinance in the city of Boulder, Colorado, all rental properties in the city must achieve an energy efficiency level comparable to a HERS Index of approximately 120 points or lower by the year 2019. The City of Boulder received a $12 million grant from the DOE’s Better Buildings initiative to create and incentivize their EnergySmart Program. In this report, the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) describes its work with the program, including energy audits of rental properties, developing training programs for insulators and inspectors, and conducting interviews with property owners.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2017

Confronting barriers and recognizing opportunities: Developing effective community-based environmental monitoring programs to meet the needs of Aboriginal communities

Aboriginal communities can be negatively affected by resource development, but often they do not have a full opportunity to participate in project review and the resulting monitoring and mitigation activities. Cumulative impacts of resource development are also typically neglected in monitoring protocols that focus on a limited number of environmental values, rather than adopting a long-term, holistic view of development over time and space. Community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) is emerging as a way to meaningfully include local Aboriginal citizens in the decision-making process as well as the assessment of the long-term impacts of the development of natural resources. We explored opportunities and barriers for developing CBEM programs that meet the needs of small and rural Aboriginal communities that are faced with the rapid and wide-spread development of natural resources. We conducted interviews with a local Aboriginal community, and natural resource management practitioners who could provide perspectives on the application of CBEM to resource management in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Results demonstrate that CBEM offers a locally adapted and culturally appropriate approach to facilitate the participation of Aboriginal communities in natural resource decision making and management. The interpretation of the specific role and purpose of CBEM differed among participants, depending on their objectives for and concerns about natural resource development. However, all parties were consistent in viewing CBEM as an effective method for engaging in dialogue, cooperation, and tracking environmental change. The development or improvement of CBEM programs should consider the efficacy of monitoring protocols, social cohesion and relationships, ability to inform decision-making, and effectiveness of CBEM for the members of the community. - Highlights: • We explored how to develop effective CBEM with a focus on Aboriginal communities. • We identified opportunities and barriers for developing CBEM programs. • CBEM can facilitate Aboriginal community participation in natural resource management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multi-technology building system retrofits for utility incentive programs: Savings, costs and baseline considerations

Utility incentive programs are an important channel to support the deployment of energy efficiency in buildings. To date, these programs have largely been limited to single-component strategies. However, many utilities are now motivated to identify and develop multi-component system retrofits to achieve deeper energy savings, which are essential to achieving broader energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals in the buildings sector. In this paper we present the energy savings, demand reductions, and cost-effectiveness of 16 systems retrofit packages in six utility regions in the United States. These results are being used by these utilities to inform and develop incentive programs for systems retrofits. Our analysis shows that packages with proven lighting and HVAC measures can provide 5–22% whole building annual energy savings, and 13–22% annual energy costs savings, using utility incentive program baselines (code and existing building). The packages are reasonably cost effective for replace-on-burnout but generally not for a retrofit scenario prior to end of equipment life. Demand response can increase both the energy savings and energy cost savings, further improving the cost effectiveness of these packages. We analyzed the impact of using existing building vs. code baselines for calculating savings, showing that the choice of baseline in developing utility incentive programs has a substantial impact on the attributable energy savings to a program, with significant implications for the overall viability of a program (generally savings against existing building condition are higher and improve project and program cost-effectiveness).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Subcomponent Validation of Composite Joints for Marine Energy Structures

The Marine Energy Advanced Materials project addresses the barriers and uncertainties facing marine renewable energy developers in using composite materials for load-bearing structures. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office, the multiyear project comprises of collaborators from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Montana State University (MSU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and industry stakeholders. As part of the Marine Energy Advanced Materials project, marine renewable energy industry surveys and assessments were conducted to identify key materials and knowledge gaps that hinder the adoption of composite materials in marine renewable energy structures. Specific knowledge gaps highlighted for composite materials were environmental effects, fatigue strengths, and bonded and bolted interconnects (composite/composite and composite/metal). It was concluded that many of these gaps could be addressed through subcomponent validation; consequently, a program was developed at NREL with the goals of developing subcomponent validation methods for appropriate marine energy materials, which would improve the understanding of design allowables for full-scale structural components and joints. Ultimately, the aim is to reduce timelines and costs associated with full-scale structural validation efforts while also providing near-net-scale static and fatigue data of composite/metal subcomponents for marine renewable energy systems. To approach these goals, a testing program was developed at NREL to investigate a variety of materials and structural design details at the subcomponent scale to understand (a) the effects of harsh and corrosive marine energy environments and (b) the static and fatigue strengths of the complex geometries. The recent study from this testing program is perhaps the largest that has ever been conducted with respect to specimen scale and geographic diversity of underwater environmental conditions that the specimens were subjected to. A variety of specimen geometries were designed by NREL to highlight key features of multimaterial (composite/composite or metal/composite) interconnects that may be used in marine renewable energy structural designs. The designs used several different composite matrices, adhesives, and marine-grade steels, which were highlighted in the surveys as being the most appropriate for harsh marine environments. Composite panels were then manufactured at MSU, and were subsequently manufactured into test specimens by NREL. The specimens were shipped to FAU and PNNL for conditioning in ocean water tanks at various temperatures for an extended period. The specimens were then returned to NREL for structural validation. This presentation will provide an overview of recent advances within the testing program in terms of specimen design and test methods, and will discuss results and key findings of the subcomponent testing program to date at NREL.

adhesives↗
DOE OSTI2017

Feasibility Study of a Interlaboratory Exchange Program for Safeguards Professional Development

In FY2017, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Office of International Nuclear Safeguards (NA-241) assigned Brookhaven National Laboratory’s (BNL’s) Nonproliferation and National Security Department to investigate the feasibility of interlaboratory exchanges to promote the sharing of specialized skills and expertise across the lab complex and to provide opportunities for safeguards professionals to access facilities and activities not locally available. Such exchanges would give safeguards professionals who work at laboratories without operating nuclear facilities the opportunity to get hands-on experience with the management of such facilities or handling of nuclear material. Other laboratory professionals could get the opportunity to contribute to policy analysis. As originally envisioned, an interlaboratory exchange program would enable selected safeguards professionals in the national laboratory network to work at another national laboratory for a period of two weeks to six months to offer their expertise and gain experience in programs to which they would not otherwise be exposed.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗