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GridOPTICS/GridPACK

GridPACK is a software framework consisting of a set of modules designed to simplify the development of programs that model the power grid and run on parallel, high performance computing platforms. It also contains several fully developed applications, including powerflow, dynamic simulation, state estimation, Kalman filter analysis (dynamic state estimation), contingency analysis and real time path rating. These applications can be used either standalone or as components in more complicated workflows that combine several different types of application together. The framework modules are available as a combination of libraries and software templates and consist of components for setting up and distributing power grid networks, support for modeling the behavior of individual buses and branches in the network, converting the network models to the corresponding algebraic equations, and parallel routines for manipulating and solving large algebraic systems. The framework also contains a module for distributing tasks evenly amongst computing resources, even if individual tasks vary widely in their execution times. Additional modules support input and output, basic statistical analysis of contingency based calculations, distributed data structures, as well as basic profiling and error management.

Palmer, Bruce↗

Impala

SAND2025-07450O Impala is a software tool that performs Bayesian model calibration for emulator-based models. The program uses R code to perform the calculations. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Tucker, James [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Live↗

Multiphysics coupling in the Exascale computing project

Multiphysics coupling presents a significant challenge in terms of both computational accuracy and performance. Achieving high performance on coupled simulations can be particularly challenging in a high-performance computing context. The US Department of Energy Exascale Computing Project has the mission to prepare mission-relevant applications for the delivery of the exascale computers starting in 2023. Many of these applications require multiphysics coupling, and the implementations must be performant on exascale hardware. In this special issue we feature six articles performing advanced multiphysics coupling that span the computational science domains in the Exascale Computing Project.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Problem Specification for FY12 Modeling of UNF During Extended Storage

The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program of the Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office (AMSO) of the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE/NE) has invested in the initial extension and application of advanced nuclear simulation tools to address relevant needs in evaluating the performance of used nuclear fuel (UNF) during extended periods of dry storage. There are many significant challenges associated with the prediction of the behavior of used fuel during extended periods of dry storage and subsequent transportation. The initial activities are focused on integrating with the Used Fuel Disposition (UFD) Campaign of the DOE/NE and a demonstration that the Advanced Multi-Physics (AMP) Nuclear Fuel Performance code (AMPFuel) for modeling the mechanical state of the cladding after decades of storage. This initial focus will model the long-term storage of the UNF and account for the effect, and generation, of radially and circumferentially oriented hydride precipitates within the cladding and predict the end of storage (EOS) mechanical state (stress, strain) of the cladding. Predicting the EOS state of the cladding is significant because it (1) provides an estimate of the margin to failure of the cladding during nominal storage operation and it (2) establishes the initial state of the fuel for post-storage transportation. Because there are significant uncertainties associated with the storage conditions, hydride precipitate formation, and the beginning of storage (BOS) condition of the UNF, this will also allow for the development of a rigorous capability to evaluate the relative sensitivities of the uncertainties and can help to guide the experimental and analysis efforts of the UFD Campaign. This document is focused on specifying the problem that will be solved with AMPFuel. An associated report, documents the specifics of the constitutive model that will be developed and implemented in AMPFuel to account for the presence and predict the generation of the hydride precipitates. This report satisfies the deliverable for the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office, milestone M3MS-12OR0605083, 'Definition of Problem Specification,' which defines the problem to be solved that will satisfy milestone M2MS-12OR0605081, 'Demonstration of the Advanced Multi-Physics (AMP) Nuclear Fuel Performance code for modeling UFD.' This document should provide sufficient detail to model a high burnup pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel rod to provide an estimate of the end of storage (EOS) mechanical state of the cladding. The fuel rod and irradiation history are based on seven cycles of irradiation in the CP and L H.B. Robinson nuclear reactor, which achieved a discharge burnup of 66.682 MWd/kgU. The fuel has been experimentally examined for storage conditions by Argonne National Laboratory for the NRC. In addition, we have compiled a list of key factors that have been shown to strongly influence the EOS state of the fuel and have identified baseline values and ranges of uncertainties that will be considered. The simulations that will be performed have been described in detail and include the modeling assumptions and boundary conditions.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Uncertainty Analysis for RELAP5-3D

In its current state, RELAP5-3D is a 'best-estimate' code; it is one of our most reliable programs for modeling what occurs within reactor systems in transients from given initial conditions. This code, however, remains an estimator. A statistical analysis has been performed that begins to lay the foundation for a full uncertainty analysis. By varying the inputs over assumed probability density functions, the output parameters were shown to vary. Using such statistical tools as means, variances, and tolerance intervals, a picture of how uncertain the results are based on the uncertainty of the inputs has been obtained.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

NRC Reviewer Aid for Evaluating the Human Factors Engineering Aspects of Small Modular Reactors

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a promising approach to meeting future energy needs. Although the electrical output of an individual SMR is relatively small compared to that of typical commercial nuclear plants, they can be grouped to produce as much energy as a utility demands. Furthermore, SMRs can be used for other purposes, such as producing hydrogen and generating process heat. The design characteristics of many SMRs differ from those of current conventional plants and may require a distinct concept of operations (ConOps). The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) conducted research to examine the human factors engineering (HFE) and the operational aspects of SMRs. The research identified thirty potential human-performance issues that should be considered in the NRC's reviews of SMR designs and in future research activities. The purpose of this report is to support NRC HFE reviewers of SMR applications by identifying some of the questions that can be asked of applicants whose designs have characteristics identified in the issues. The questions for each issue were identified and organized based on the review elements and guidance contained in Chapter 18 of the Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800), and the Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (NUREG-0711).

08 HYDROGEN↗

HFE Process Guidance and Standards for potential application to updating NRC guidance

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews and evaluates the human factors engineering (HFE) programs of applicants for nuclear power plant construction permits, operating licenses, standard design certifications, and combined operating licenses. The purpose of these safety reviews is to help ensure that personnel performance and reliability are appropriately supported. Detailed design review procedures and guidance for the evaluations is provided in three key documents: the Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800), the HFE Program Review Model (NUREG-0711), and the Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines (NUREG-0700). These documents were last revised in 2007, 2004 and 2002, respectively. The NRC is committed to the periodic update and improvement of these guidance documents to ensure that they remain state-of-the-art design evaluation tools. Thus, the NRC has initiated a project with BNL to update the NRC guidance to remain current with recent research on human performance, advances in HFE methods and tools, and new technology. INL supported Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) to update the detailed HFE review criteria contained in NUREG-0711 and NUREG-0700 based on (1) feedback obtained from end users, (2) the results of NRC research and development efforts supporting the NRC staff’s HFE safety reviews, and (3) other material the project staff identify as applicable to the update effort. INL submitted comments on development plans and sections of NUREGs 0800, 0711, and 0700. The contractor prepared the report attached here as the deliverable for this work.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program A Reference Plan for Control Room Modernization: Planning and Analysis Phase

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program is collaborating with a U.S. nuclear utility to bring about a systematic fleet-wide control room modernization. To facilitate this upgrade, a new distributed control system (DCS) is being introduced into the control rooms of these plants. The DCS will upgrade the legacy plant process computer and emergency response facility information system. In addition, the DCS will replace an existing analog turbine control system with a display-based system. With technology upgrades comes the opportunity to improve the overall human-system interaction between the operators and the control room. To optimize operator performance, the LWRS Control Room Modernization research team followed a human-centered approach published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NUREG-0711, Rev. 3, Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (O’Hara et al., 2012), prescribes four phases for human factors engineering. This report provides examples of the first phase, Planning and Analysis. The three elements of Planning and Analysis in NUREG-0711 that are most crucial to initiating control room upgrades are: • Operating Experience Review: Identifies opportunities for improvement in the existing system and provides lessons learned from implemented systems. • Function Analysis and Allocation: Identifies which functions at the plant may be optimally handled by the DCS vs. the operators. • Task Analysis: Identifies how tasks might be optimized for the operators. Each of these elements is covered in a separate chapter. Examples are drawn from workshops with reactor operators that were conducted at the LWRS Human System Simulation Laboratory HSSL and at the respective plants. The findings in this report represent generalized accounts of more detailed proprietary reports produced for the utility for each plant. The goal of this LWRS report is to disseminate the technique and provide examples sufficient to serve as a template for other utilities’ projects for control room modernization.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Fenestration system energy performance research, implementation, and international harmonization

The research conducted by the NFRC and its contractors adds significantly to the understanding of several areas of investigation. NFRC enables manufacturers to rate fenestration energy performance to comply with building energy codes, participate in ENERGY STAR, and compete fairly. NFRC continuously seeks to improve its ratings and also seeks to simplify the rating process. Several research projects investigated rating improvement potential such as • Complex Product VT Rating Research • Window 6 and Therm 6 Validation Research Project • Complex Product VT Rating Research Conclusions from these research projects led to important changes and increased confidence in the existing NFRC rating process. Conclusions from the Window 6/Therm 6 project will enable window manufacturers to rate an expanded array of products and improve existing ratings. Some research lead to an improved new rating method called the Component Modeling Approach. A primary goal of the CMA was a simplification of the commercial energy rating process to increase participation and make the commercial industry more competitive and code compliant. The project below contributed towards CMA development: • Component Modeling Approach Condensation Resistance Research NFRC continues to implement the Component Modeling Approach program. The program includes the CMA software tool, CMAST, and several procedural documents to govern the certification process. This significant accomplishment was a response the commercial fenestration industry’s need for a simplification of the present NFRC energy rating method (named site built). To date, most commercial fenestration is self-rated by a variety of techniques. The CMA enables commercial fenestration manufacturers to rate according to the NFRC 100/200 as most commercial energy codes require. International Harmonization NFRC achieved significant international harmonization success by continuing its licensing agreements with the Australian Fenestration Rating Council and the Association of Architectural Aluminum Manufacturers of South Africa (AAAMSA) to produce NFRC certified product ratings in their respective nations. NFRC worked in several other nations to introduce the NFRC ratings system: • India • China • Japan • Canada • Thailand • South Africa • Brazil • Korea NFRC attended or hosted several meetings in each of these nations establishing academic, commercial, industrial, and governmental contacts. NFRC presented the NFRC process and then necessary infrastructure steps necessary to achieve harmonization with the NFRC labeling system. NFRC looks forward to continued work toward harmonization in these nations and potentially others.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

LANL Robotic Vessel Scanning

Los Alamos National Laboratory in J-1 DARHT Operations Group uses 6ft spherical vessels to contain hazardous materials produced in a hydrodynamic experiment. These contaminated vessels must be analyzed by means of a worker entering the vessel to locate, measure, and document every penetration mark on the vessel. If the worker can be replaced by a highly automated robotic system with a high precision scanner, it will eliminate the risks to the worker and provide management with an accurate 3D model of the vessel presenting the existing damage with the flexibility to manipulate the model for better and more in-depth assessment.The project was successful in meeting the primary goal of installing an automated system which scanned a 6ft vessel with an elapsed time of 45 minutes. This robotic system reduces the total time for the original scope of work by 75 minutes and results in excellent data accumulation and transmission to the 3D model imaging program.

Computer Hardware↗

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Advanced Seismic Soil Structure Modeling

Risk calculations should focus on providing best estimate results, and associated insights, for evaluation and decision-making. Specifically, seismic probabilistic risk assessments (SPRAs) are intended to provide best estimates of the various combinations of structural and equipment failures that can lead to a seismic induced core damage event. However, in some instances the current SPRA approach has large uncertainties, and potentially masks other important events (for instance, it was not the seismic motions that caused the Fukushima core melt events, but the tsunami ingress into the facility). SPRA’s are performed by convolving the seismic hazard (this is the estimate of all likely damaging earthquakes at the site of interest) with the seismic fragility (the conditional probability of failure of a structure, system, or component given the occurrence of earthquake ground motion). In this calculation, there are three main pieces to seismic risk quantification, 1) seismic hazard and nuclear power plants (NPPs) response to the hazard, 2) fragility or capacity of structures, systems and components (SSC), and 3) systems analysis. Two areas where NLSSI effects may be important in SPRA calculations are, 1) when calculating in-structure response at the area of interest, and 2) calculation of seismic fragilities (current fragility calculations assume a lognormal distribution for probability of failure of components). Some important effects when using NLSSI in the SPRA calculation process include, 1) gapping and sliding, 2) inclined seismic waves coupled with gapping and sliding of foundations atop soil, 3) inclined seismic waves coupled with gapping and sliding of deeply embedded structures, 4) soil dilatancy, 5) soil liquefaction, 6) surface waves, 7) buoyancy, 8) concrete cracking and 9) seismic isolation The focus of the research task presented here-in is on implementation of NLSSI into the SPRA calculation process when calculating in-structure response at the area of interest. The specific nonlinear soil behavior included in the NLSSI calculation presented in this report is gapping and sliding. Other NLSSI effects are not included in the calculation. The results presented in this report document initial model runs in the linear and nonlinear analysis process. Final comparisons between traditional and advanced SPRA will be presented in the September 30th deliverable.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

eXascale PRogramming Environment and System Software (XPRESS)

Exascale systems, with a thousand times the compute capacity of today’s leading edge petascale computers, are expected to emerge during the next decade. Their software systems will need to facilitate the exploitation of exceptional amounts of concurrency in applications, and ensure that jobs continue to run despite the occurrence of system failures and other kinds of hard and soft errors. Adapting computations at runtime to cope with changes in the execution environment, as well as to improve power and performance characteristics, is likely to become the norm. As a result, considerable innovation is required to develop system support to meet the needs of future computing platforms. The XPRESS project aims to develop and prototype a revolutionary software system for extreme-­scale computing for both exascale and strong­scaled problems. The XPRESS collaborative research project will advance the state-­of-­the-­art in high performance computing and enable exascale computing for current and future DOE mission-­critical applications and supporting systems. The goals of the XPRESS research project are to: A. enable exascale performance capability for DOE applications, both current and future, B. develop and deliver a practical computing system software X-­stack, OpenX, for future practical DOE exascale computing systems, and C. provide programming methods and environments for effective means of expressing application and system software for portable exascale system execution.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Well-to-Wheels Greenhouse Gas Emission Analysis of High-Octane Fuels with Ethanol Blending: Phase II Analysis with Refinery Investment Options

Higher-octane gasoline can enable increases in an internal combustion engine’s energy efficiency and a vehicle’s fuel economy by allowing an increase in the engine compression ratio and/or by enabling downspeeding and downsizing. Producing high-octane fuel (HOF) with the current level of ethanol blending (E10) could increase the energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of the fuel product from refinery operations. Alternatively, increasing the ethanol blending level in final gasoline products could be a promising solution to HOF production because of the high octane rating and potentially low blended Reid vapor pressure (RVP) of ethanol at 25% and higher of the ethanol blending level by volume. In our previous HOF well-to-wheels (WTW) report (the so-called phase I report of the HOF WTW analysis), we conducted WTW analysis of HOF with different ethanol blending levels (i.e., E10, E25, and E40) and a range of vehicle efficiency gains with detailed petroleum refinery linear programming (LP) modeling by Jacobs Consultancy and showed that the overall WTW GHG emission changes associated with HOFVs were dominated by the positive impact associated with vehicle efficiency gains and ethanol blending levels, while the refining operations to produce gasoline blendstock for oxygenate blending (BOB) for various HOF blend levels had a much smaller impact on WTW GHG emissions (Han et al. 2015). The scope of the previous phase I study, however, was limited to evaluating PADDs 2 and 3 operation changes with various HOF market share scenarios and ethanol blending levels. Also, the study used three typical configuration models of refineries (cracking, light coking, and heavy coking) in each PADD, which may not be representative of the aggregate response of all refineries in each PADD to various ethanol blending levels and HOF market scenarios. Lastly, the phase I study assumed no new refinery expansion in the existing refineries, which limited E10 HOF production to the volume achievable by the cracking refinery configuration. To be able to satisfy large market demands of E10 HOF, that study arbitrarily relaxed the RVP requirements by replacing reformulated gasoline (RFG) RVP requirement of 7 psi in summer with conventional gasoline (CG) RVP requirement of 9 psi in summer. To examine the response by all refineries in major refinery regions, this phase II of the HOF WTW analysis employed regionally aggregated refinery models for the following six regions: PADDs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 excluding California (CA) and CA separately. Using aggregate refinery models, this phase II study examined the impacts of ethanol blending and HOF market shares on the refinery operations in these six regions. Also, this study included refinery expansion to produce a pre-determined HOF volume with 10% ethanol blending. In particular, this study examined several refinery expansion options using refinery configuration models to investigate a practical refinery response to the increase in E10 HOF market demand.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

FleCSI: Connection to Legion

These are slides which are part of the ASC L2 Milestone Review. The following topics are covered: Legion Backend, Distributed-Memory Partitioning, Sparse Data Representations, and MPI-Legion Interoperability.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Final Report to DOE EERE – Geothermal Technologies Program Project Title: Monitoring and modeling of fluid flow in a developing enhanced geothermal system (EGS) reservoir

The primary objective of this project was to improve our ability to predict performance of an Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) reservoir over time by relating, in a quantitative manner, microseismic imaging with fluid and temperature changes within the reservoir. Historically, microseismic data have been used qualitatively to place bounds on the growth of EGS reservoirs created by large hydraulic fracturing experiments. Previous investigators used an experimentally based fracture opening relationship (fracture aperture as a function of pressure), the spatial extent of microseismic events, and some assumptions about fracture frequency to determine the size of an EGS reservoir created during large pumping tests. We addressed a number of issues (1) locating microearthquakes that occur during hydraulic fracturing, (2) obtaining more information about a reservoir than the microearthquake locations from the microearthquake data, for example, information about the seismic velocity structure of the reservoir or the scattering of seismic waves within the reservoir, (3) developing an improved methodology for estimating properties of fractures that intersect wellbores in a reservoir, and (4) developing a conceptual model for explaining the downward growth of observed seismicity that accompanies some hydraulic injections into geothermal reservoirs. We used two primary microseismic datasets for our work. The work was motivated by a dataset from the Salak Geothermal Field in Indonesia where seismicity accompanying a hydraulic injection was observed to migrate downward. We also used data from the Soultz EGS site in France. We also used Vertical Seismic Profiling data from a well in the United States. The work conducted is of benefit for characterizing reservoirs that are created by hydraulic fracturing for both EGS and for petroleum recovery.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Human Factors Engineering Aspects of Modifications in Control Room Modernization

This report describes the basic aspects of control room modernization projects in the U.S. nuclear industry and the need for supplementary guidance on the integration of human factors considerations into the licensing and regulatory aspects of digital upgrades. The report pays specific attention to the integration of principles described in NUREG-0711 (Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model) and how supplementary guidance can help to raise general awareness in the industry regarding the complexities of control room modernization projects created by many interdependent regulations, standards and guidelines. The report also describes how human factors engineering principles and methods provided by various resources and international standards can help in navigating through the process of licensing digital upgrades. In particular, the integration of human factors engineering guidance and requirements into the process of licensing digital upgrades can help reduce uncertainty related to development of technical bases for digital upgrades that will avoid the introduction of new failure modes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Regulatory Aspects of the Human Factors Engineering Process in Control Room Modernization

This report describes the basic aspects of control room modernization projects in the U.S. nuclear industry and the need for supplementary guidance on the integration of human factors considerations into the licensing and regulatory aspects of digital upgrades. The report pays specific attention to the integration of principles described in NUREG-0711 (Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model) and how supplementary guidance can help to raise general awareness in the industry regarding the complexities of control room modernization projects created by many interdependent regulations, standards and guidelines. The report also describes how human factors engineering principles and methods provided by various resources and international standards can help in navigating through the process of licensing digital upgrades. In particular, the integration of human factors engineering guidance and requirements into the process of licensing digital upgrades can help reduce uncertainty related to development of technical bases for digital upgrades that will avoid the introduction of new failure modes.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Human Factors Engineering Design Phase Report for Control Room Modernization

In this report, we review recent work performed at the Human System Simulation Laboratory (HSSL) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The U.S. Department of Energy has sponsored work under the Light Water Reactor Sustainabilty (LWRS) program to assist U.S. utilities in extending the operating life of the U.S. fleet of commercial reactors. Control room modernization is a key research and demonstration area within LWRS. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (NUREG-0711) outlines four phases of developing a new human-system interface (HSI). One of the key steps in NUREG-0711 is the design phase. In this report, we outline the process and findings from several simulator workshops, which centered on early design phase activities. Prototypes for a turbine control system upgrade for a main control room at a commercial nuclear power plant were developed and evaluated using licensed reactor operators at the HSSL. This iterative design-evaluation cycle succeeded in refining the design of the HSI and readying it for final implementation and formal validation and verification exercises. This report serves as a useful template to explicate design steps that are not currently required by NUREG-0711 but that ensure a usable and safe control room replacement system.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗