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At least 109 records · Page 6

Analysis of Slow Spill Data for the Mu2e Experiment

The execution of the Mu2e experiment requires a stable, low-intensity proton beam from the Delivery Ring to produce clean data and protect equipment. This is done by performing a “slow extraction,” which is the gradual contraction of the stable region within the accelerator’s beam pipe. The Delivery Ring is currently unable to perform slow extraction with the stability required by Mu2e. To resolve this, the FAN-C team is training machine learning models with the purpose of replacing the Delivery Ring’s current PID controllers with AI-powered controllers. Training these models requires clean, processed data from slow spills. Over the course of this project, data from previous slow spills were processed and analyzed, and the clean data, graphs, and insights gained from the process were provided to the FAN-C team to assist them in their efforts.

Osborn, Thomas [Purdue U., West Lafayette]↗

Modeling and Measuring the Stress Distribution in Soft Magnetic Cores due to Epoxy Impregnation and Curing

Understanding the effects of viscoelastic relaxation of stresses is critical in electric motor and inductor applications, where the magnetic material is fully or partially comprised of an amorphous phase and impregnated in an epoxy. Magnetic Amorphous Nanocomposites (MANCs) are a class of recently developed high-frequency magnetic materials that exhibit low magnetic hysteresis, high saturation flux density and very low AC magnetic losses. MANCs are formed as long, thin ribbons, a shape factor that minimizes eddy current-induced self-heating. This feature, in addition to their 1 GPa strength, and makes them attractive candidates for high-speed, high-power density, electric motors. MANCs are used in the form of tape-wound cores (TWCs). During the manufacturing process, the cores are impregnated with liquid epoxy between each layer of ribbon. Validated knowledge of the stresses imposed by the manufacturing process and during operation is necessary to understand motor performance limitations with respect to strength. Magnetostriction, the strain imposed by reversal of the magnetic field, also affects performance. When the epoxy cures, it contracts volumetrically by 8%, imposing radial and circumferential stresses that vary along the radial direction. To date, these stresses have received little attention in the literature. Here, we model the stress distribution throughout a TWC due to epoxy curing. Strain gauge measurements reported here indicate substantially lower tangential strain than model values, which is beneficial and which we attribute to viscoelastic relaxation of the epoxy layers. We will incorporate a constitutive model of this viscoelastic relaxation, and conduct more detailed strain measurements to understand how this takes

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Unlocking the Value of Deep Energy Retrofits

This publication is based on an extensive study conducted on behalf of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the U S Department of Energy (DOE) to explore financial and risk products to accelerate the implementation of deep energy retrofit (DER) solutions to reduce costs These financial products are intended to speed market development via three fundamental themes: reallocating risk from building owners and lenders to insurers, quantifying and monetizing previously unrecognized value associated with DERs, and providing building owners and lenders with confidence in the performance of building systems Findings are based on a comprehensive analysis and characterization of 100+ existing DER case studies, and more than 40 qualitative interviews with industry experts, including insurers, researchers, building owners, and policymakers In addition, a quantitative model of overall project economics with baseline, high, and low cases was developed This data informed the analysis that resulted in three recommended financial product solutions, which were evaluated for their potential to raise projected cash flows and finance DERs: 1) Building System Performance and Energy Savings Guarantee; 2) Trade Credit Insurance; 3) Ancillary Revenue Contracts. This report identifies many value streams associated with DERs and introduces these three potential financial products, which aim to reallocate risks and reduce barriers to the adoption of advanced envelope DERs.

ancillary renenue contracts↗

Sign Problem in Tensor-Network Contraction

We investigate how the computational difficulty of contracting tensor networks depends on the sign structure of the tensor entries. Using results from computational complexity, we observe that the approximate contraction of tensor networks with only positive entries has lower computational complexity as compared to tensor networks with general real or complex entries. This raises the question of how this transition in computational complexity manifests itself in the hardness of different tensor-network-contraction schemes. We pursue this question by studying random tensor networks with varying bias toward positive entries. First, we consider contraction via Monte Carlo sampling and find that the transition from hard to easy occurs when the tensor entries become predominantly positive; this can be understood as a tensor-network manifestation of the well-known negative-sign problem in quantum Monte Carlo. Second, we analyze the commonly used contraction based on boundary tensor networks. The performance of this scheme is governed by the number of correlations in contiguous parts of the tensor network (which by analogy can be thought of as entanglement). Remarkably, we find that the transition from hard to easy—i.e., from a volume-law to a boundary-law scaling of entanglement—already occurs for a slight bias of the tensor entries toward a positive mean, scaling inversely with the bond dimension D , and thus the problem becomes easy the earlier the larger D occurs. This is in contrast both to expectations and to the behavior found in Monte Carlo contraction, where the hardness at fixed bias increases with the bond dimension. To provide insight into this early breakdown of computational hardness and the accompanying entanglement transition, we construct an effective classical statistical-mechanical model that predicts a transition at a bias of the tensor entries of 1 / D , confirming our observations. We conclude by investigating the computational difficulty of computing expectation values of tensor-network wave functions (projected entangled-pair states, PEPSs) and find that in this setting, the complexity of entanglement-based contraction always remains low. We explain this by providing a local transformation that maps PEPS expectation values to a positive-valued tensor network. This not only provides insight into the origin of the observed boundary-law entanglement scaling but also suggests new approaches toward PEPS contraction based on positive decompositions. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Chen, Jielun (ORCID:0000000178411545)↗

Depth-resolved sagebrush root metabolomics, rhizosphere microbial communities, and geochemistry at the East River Watershed

This data set consists of results from soil nutrient profile, untargeted metabolomics, mass spec imaging, and amplicon sequencing. Data for soil nutrient profile includes common cations (Ca, Mg, Na, and K etc.) extracted from 3 digesting steps – ammonia acetate (for exchangeable cations), nitric acid (for acid dissolved fraction), and hydrofluoric acid/perchloric acid (HF/HClO4) for whole soil digestion. It also includes concentration of organic carbon, inorganic nitrogen (ammonia and nitrate) and phosphorus (Bray-1 P and nitric acid extract), and total nitrogen and phosphorus. Data for untargeted metabolomics includes metabolomic profile for root exudate/tissues and soil extracts from depths at surface soil to saprolite, that were measured using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Data for mass spec imaging includes spatial distribution of metabolites that were detected and annotated with Fourier transformation ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FTICR-MS). Data for amplicon sequencing includes the base paired 16S and ITS ribosomal RNA sequences from Miseq Illumina sequencing. All samples were collected from 2 sampling campaign October 2022 and June 2023. Collectively, these datasets enable a mechanistic evaluation of how nutrient acquisition, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, differs between shallow roots operating in soil and deep roots functioning within the fractured bedrock zone. All files are provided as comma-separated values (CSV) fies (.csv) and (GZIP) file (.gz). The compressed .gz FASTQ files can be read directly in R using the dada2 package as part of the amplicon sequence analysis workflow. This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. This research was performed on a project award 60563 (https://dx.doi.org/10.46936/expl.proj.2022.60563/60008727) from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science User Facility sponsored by the Biological and Environmental Research program under Contract No. DE-AC05-76RL01830.

EARTH SCIENCE > AGRICULTURE > SOILS > CARBON↗

Location Identifiers, Metadata, and Map for Field Measurements at the East-Taylor Watershed Community Observatory, Colorado, USA (Version 3.3)

This dataset contains identifiers, metadata, and a map of the locations where field measurements have been conducted at the East-Taylor Watershed Community Observatory located in the Upper Colorado River Basin, United States. This is version 3.3 of the dataset and replaces the prior version 3.2 (see below for details on changes between the versions). Dataset description: The East River-Taylor Watershed is the primary field site of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (WFSFA) and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Researchers from several institutions generate highly diverse hydrological, biogeochemical, climate, vegetation, geological, remote sensing, and model data at the East-Taylor Watershed in collaboration with the WFSFA. Thus, the purpose of this dataset is to maintain an inventory of the field locations and instrumentation to provide information on the field activities in the East-Taylor Watershed and coordinate data collected across different locations, researchers, and institutions. The dataset contains (1) a README file with information on the various files, (2) three csv files describing the metadata collected for each surface point location, plot and region registered with the WFSFA, (3) csv files with metadata and contact information for each surface point location registered with the WFSFA, (4) a csv file with with metadata and contact information for plots, (5) a csv file with metadata for geographic regions and sub-regions within the watershed, (6) a compiled xlsx file with all the data and metadata which can be opened in Microsoft Excel, (7) a kml map of the locations plotted in the watershed which can be opened in Google Earth, (8) a jpg image of the kml map which can be viewed in any photo viewer, and (9) a zipped file with the registration templates used by the SFA team to collect location metadata. The zipped template file contains two csv files with the blank templates (point and plot), two csv files with instructions for filling out the location templates, and one compiled xlsx file with the instructions and blank templates together. Additionally, the templates in the xlsx include drop down validation for any controlled metadata fields. Persistent location identifiers (Location_ID) are determined by the WFSFA data management team and are used to track data and samples across locations. Dataset uses: This location metadata is used to update the Watershed SFA’s publicly accessible Field Information Portal (an interactive field sampling metadata exploration tool; https://wfsfa-data.lbl.gov/watershed/), the kml map file included in this dataset, and other data management tools internal to the Watershed SFA team. Version Information: The latest version of this dataset publication is version 3.3. This version contains 167 new point locations, 1 new plot, and 2 new geographic regions. Overall, there are a total of 1439 point locations, 75 plots, and 54 geographic regions. Additionally, the kml map of locations and image now includes two boundaries (Upper Ohio Creek (UO) and Carbon Creek (CA)) outside of the East River watershed (USGS HUC-10) and accompanying stream network that represents areas of focus. Refer to methods for further details on the version history. This dataset will be updated on a periodic basis with new measurement location information. Researchers interested in having their East-Taylor Watershed measurement locations added to this list should reach out to the WFSFA data management team at wfsfa-data@googlegroups.com. Acknowledgments: Please cite this dataset if using any of the location metadata in other publications or derived products. If using the location metadata for the 2018 NEON hyperspectral campaign, additionally cite Chadwick et al. (2020). doi:10.15485/1618130. This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of this work was performed at SLAC Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

2018 NEON and 2025 CHESS Campaigns↗

Metagenome-assembled genomes from East River floodplain sediments near Crested Butte, CO, USA (June to September 2019)

Microorganisms play a key role in cycling nutrients and contaminants in the terrestrial environment depending on their genetic potential. Here, we present metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) for the bacterial and archaeal community in floodplain sediment samples taken in 2019 in June (flooded conditions) and September (drained conditions) at two locations (MCB1 and MCB3) near the Meander C/Pumphouse floodplain sites of the East River. Sediment cores were collected from 2 depths, a near-surface, generally unsaturated depth (30-40 centimeter (cm) depth below surface) and a deeper depth influenced by flooding with redoximorphic features (70-80 cm depth below surface). Sediments were homogenized from the 10 cm core for microbial analyses. A total of 24 metagenomes were sequenced through the Joint genome institute (JGI) corresponding to 8 samples sequenced in triplicate. These metagenomes can be found under Genomes Online Database (GOLD) sequencing project: Gs0141020. Metagenomes were assembled, binned, and refined using metawrap to generate MAGs (>50% complete and < 10% contamination based on checkM scores). This dataset includes a zip file of 436 MAG fasta files and a csv file with quality, taxonomic classification (Genome Taxonomy Database Release RS220), and metagenome accessions for MAGs. This dataset also includes a file-level metadata (flmd.csv) file that lists each file contained in the dataset with associated metadata and a data dictionary (dd.csv) file that contains column/row headers used throughout the files along with a definition, units, and data type.This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of this work was performed at SLAC Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Metagenome-assembled genomes from East River floodplain sediments near Crested Butte, CO, USA (June to September 2017)

Microorganisms play a key role in cycling nutrients and contaminants in the terrestrial environment depending on their genetic potential. Here, we present metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) for the bacterial and archaeal community in floodplain sediment samples taken in 2017 in June (flooded conditions) and September (drained conditions) at two locations (MCB1 and MCB3) in an active meander (Meander C) of the East River. Sediment cores were collected from 2 depths, a near-surface, generally unsaturated depth (15-40 centimeter (cm) depth below surface) and a deeper depth influenced by flooding with redoximorphic features (50-88 cm depth below surface). Sediments were homogenized from the ~10 cm cores for microbial analyses. A total of 24 metagenomes were sequenced through the Joint genome institute (JGI) corresponding to 8 samples sequenced in triplicate. These metagenomes can be found under Genomes Online Database (GOLD) sequencing project: Gs0151851. Metagenomes were assembled, binned, and refined using metawrap to generate MAGs (>50% complete and < 10% contamination based on checkM scores). This dataset includes a zip file of 405 MAG fasta files and a csv file with quality, taxonomic classification (Genome Taxonomy Database Release RS220), and metagenome accessions for MAGs. This dataset also includes a file-level metadata (flmd.csv) file that lists each file contained in the dataset with associated metadata and a data dictionary (dd.csv) file that contains column/row headers used throughout the files along with a definition, units, and data type.This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of this work was performed at SLAC Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Metagenome-assembled genomes from East River floodplain sediments near Crested Butte, CO, USA (May to September 2018)

Microorganisms play a key role in cycling nutrients and contaminants in the terrestrial environment depending on their genetic potential. Here, we present metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) for the bacterial and archaeal community in floodplain sediment samples taken in 2018 in May (flooded conditions) and September (drained conditions) at two locations (MCB1 and MCB3) near the Meander C/Pumphouse floodplain sites of the East River. Sediment cores were collected from 2 depths, a near-surface, generally unsaturated depth (30-40 centimeter (cm) depth below surface) and a deeper depth influenced by flooding with redoximorphic features (70-80 cm depth below surface). Sediments were homogenized from the 10 cm core for microbial analyses. A total of 24 metagenomes were sequenced through the Joint genome institute (JGI) corresponding to 8 samples sequenced in triplicate. These metagenomes can be found under Genomes Online Database (GOLD) sequencing project: Gs0141020. Metagenomes were assembled, binned, and refined using metawrap to generate MAGs (>50% complete and < 10% contamination based on checkM scores). This dataset includes a zip file of 478 MAG fasta files and a csv file with quality, taxonomic classification (Genome Taxonomy Database Release RS220), and metagenome accessions for MAGs. This dataset also includes a file-level metadata (flmd.csv) file that lists each file contained in the dataset with associated metadata and a data dictionary (dd.csv) file that contains column/row headers used throughout the files along with a definition, units, and data type.This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of this work was performed at SLAC Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Surface Water Quality Data from Beaver-Impacted Streams; Trail Creek and East River, Colorado 2025

This data package contains surface water chemistry measurements collected in 2025 to evaluate how beaver damming and low-tech process-based stream restoration influence water quality and metal mobility in mountainous headwater systems of the Upper Colorado River Basin. Sampling was conducted at Trail Creek (Taylor Park watershed, Colorado), a tributary undergoing restoration through installation of low-tech process-based structures (i.e., beaver dam analogs), and at off-channel beaver ponds within the East River floodplain (East River watershed, Colorado). Samples were collected along longitudinal transects spanning upstream control reaches, beaver-influenced ponded reaches, and downstream segments. Additional samples were collected from near-surface pore waters within a beaver dam seepage face. The dataset includes concentrations of major and trace elements measured by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), major anions measured by ion chromatography (IC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC; reported as non-purgeable organic carbon, NPOC). Samples were size-fractionated at 0.45 micrometers (µm), 0.22 µm, and 0.02 µm to distinguish particulate (>0.45 µm), colloidal (0.22–0.02 µm), and dissolved (<0.02 µm) fractions. The data package consists of comma-separated value (.csv) files containing tabulated chemical concentration data, sample metadata (site identifiers, geographic coordinates, sampling dates, fraction type), and quality control flags. All files are provided in open, non-proprietary formats that can be accessed using standard data analysis software such as Microsoft Excel, R, Python, MATLAB, or other programs capable of reading .csv files. Units, detection limits, and analytical methods are documented in accompanying metadata files. The dataset is designed to support analyses of (1) how beaver impoundment and restoration structures alter elemental partitioning and transport, (2) the role of iron and organic carbon in mediating trace metal mobility, and (3) reach-scale changes in water quality across restoration gradients. This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of this work was performed at SLAC Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

Anions↗

Performance Metrics to Evaluate Utility Resilience Investments

In 2019, Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) contracted Synapse Energy Economics (Synapse) to research the integration of community and electric grid resilience investment planning as part of the Designing Resilient Communities (DRC): A Consequence-Based Approach for Grid Investment project. Synapse produced a series of reports to explore the challenges and opportunities in several key areas, including benefit-cost analysis (BCA), performance metrics, microgrids, and regulatory mechanisms. This report focuses on BCA. BCA is an approach that electric utilities, electric utility regulators, and communities can use to evaluate the costs and benefits of a wide range of grid resilience investments in a comprehensive and consistent way. While BCA is regularly applied to some types of grid investments, application of BCA to grid resilience investments is in the early stages of development. Though resilience is increasingly cited in connection with grid investment proposals and plans, the resilience- related costs and benefits of grid resilience investments are typically not fully identified, infrequently quantified, and almost never monetized. Without complete assessments of costs and benefits, regulators can be hesitant to approve some types of grid resilience investments. This report provides the first application of the framework developed in the 2020 National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources (NSPM for DERs) to grid resilience investments. We provide guidance on next steps for implementation to enable grid resilience investments to receive due consideration. We suggest developing BCA principles and standards for jurisdiction-specific BCA tests. We also recommend identifying the resilience impacts of the investments and quantification of these impacts by establishing utility performance metrics for resilience. Proactive integration of grid resilience investments into existing regulatory processes and practices can increase the capacity of jurisdictions to respond to and recover from the consequences of extreme events. 1 National Energy Screening Project. 2020. National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Hybrid SOFC-Turbogenerator for Aircraft (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

The following paragraphs provide a high-level summary of the work performed during Phases I and II of this contract. Note that the order deviates from the WBS in places to better reflect the actual sequence of activities and the connections between them. Corresponding task numbers in the WBS are provided in parentheses after the task titles. There are a total of thirteen (13) tasks.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

High-performance strategies for the recent MRSF-TDDFT in GAMESS

Multiple ERI (Electron Repulsion Integral) tensor contractions (METC) with several matrices are ubiquitous in quantum chemistry. In response theories, the contraction operation, rather than ERI computations, can be the major bottleneck, as its computational demands are proportional to the multiplicatively combined contributions of the number of excited states and the kernel pre-factors. Here, this paper presents several high-performance strategies for METC. Optimal approaches involve either the data layout reformations of interim density and Fock matrices, the introduction of intermediate ERI quartet buffer, and loop-reordering optimization for a higher cache hit rate. The combined strategies remarkably improve the performance of the MRSF (mixed reference spin flip)-TDDFT (time-dependent density functional theory) by nearly 300%. The results of this study are not limited to the MRSF-TDDFT method and can be applied to other METC scenarios.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A Blockchain and PKI-Based Secure Vehicle-to-Vehicle Energy-Trading Protocol

With the increasing awareness for sustainable future and green energy, the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is growing rapidly, thus placing immense pressure on the energy grid. To alleviate this, local trading between EVs should be encouraged. In this paper, we propose a blockchain and public key infrastructure (PKI)-based secure vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) energy-trading protocol. A permissioned blockchain utilizing the proof of authority (PoA) consensus and smart contracts is used to securely store data. Encrypted communication is ensured through transport layer security (TLS), with PKI managing the necessary digital certificates and keys. A multi-leader, multi-follower Stackelberg game-based trade algorithm is formulated to determine the optimal energy demands, supplies, and prices. Finally, we propose a detailed communication protocol that ties all the components together, enabling smooth interaction between them. Key findings, such as system behavior and performance, scalability of the trade algorithm and the blockchain, smart contract execution costs, etc., are presented through numerical results by implementing and simulating the protocol in various scenarios. This work not only enhances local energy trading among EVs, encouraging efficient energy usage and reducing burden on the power grid, but also paves a way for future research in sustainable energy management.

Stackelberg game↗

ASNF Engineering Scale Drying Experiment Acceptance Criteria for Fabricated Items

This document specifies the acceptance criteria for items fabricated by Holtec International under the scope of INL Contract # 215725, consistent with the parameters described in INL/EXT-19-56017, Aluminum-clad Spent Nuclear Fuel Engineering Scale Drying Experiment Design. Verification is confirmed with initials (or the need for remediation may be identified) along with the date of inspection for each requirement. Verification may be performed by independent proxy (University of South Carolina participant, under INL Contract Number 207046) or by an INL employee, remotely by camera images.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Equipment Qualification Report Environmental Qualification of GNB Absolyte Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) 1600 Ah100G33 Battery Rack Assembly (24590-QL-POA-EDB0-00001-11-00002_00A)

Greenberry Environmental Qualification Report 550001.001-35.0.5 provides basis for assignment of qualified life for: GNB Absolyte Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) 1600 Ah 100G33 Battery Rack Assembly in accordance with the requirements specified 24590-WTP-3PS-G000-T0015 (Rev 2) and Environmental Qualification Plan 550001.001-35.0.1 (Rev. 3). The equipment qualification basis represents the most conservative capability of the equipment. The analysis performed for the qualification is not less conservative than the bounding environmental conditions detailed in contract documents issued to Greenberry in contract 24509-QL-POA-EDB0-00001 Rev.0. The qualified life of 10 years has been established based upon an end-condition objective of the equipment condition indicators that correlate to the ability of equipment to perform its safety function. The VRLA Battery Cell Assembly was aged by 10 years (minimum) in accordance with conditions specified by Bechtel Equipment Qualification Datasheet 24590-LAW-EUQ-UPE 00003 Rev. 3 and the process conditions specified by the Instrument Data Sheet 24590-LAW EUD-UPE-00009 Rev. 2. Greenberry Industrial has contracted with GNB Industrial Battery Co located at 4115 S Zero St, Fort Smith, AR 72908 to perform age conditioning, monitoring, and capacity testing in accordance with Environmental Qualification Plan 550001.001-35.0.1 Rev. 1. The required process at the stated conditions set by the parameters established by the plan were completed satisfactorily. The details of the of the test process observed by Greenberry is detailed in the attached Seismic Test Log 550001.001-7.0.3, including examples of the objective evidence collected during the qualification process.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A buffering heat exchanger/thermal energy storage system for desalination applications

A buffering heat exchanger/thermal energy storage (BHXTES) system was designed using a fast-response phase-change material/graphite foam (PCM/GF) medium for desalination and potentially other industrial applications. Unlike a store-now-and-use-later TES system, this study focused on developing a dynamically balanced, continuously used, system that optimized three functions. A lab-scale prototype was designed and fabricated with a PureTemp 151/GF storage medium. The experimental data showed excellent thermal performance repeatability indicating minimal effects of PCM expansion and contraction on the GF as well as negligible PCM redistribution effects. The experimental data also served as a validation of the numerical model of the BHXTES system, after which optimization of the BHXTES system was conducted through numerical simulations for both PureTemp 151/GF and solar salt/GF as the storage medium. The results show that, with a Therminol 55 heat transfer fluid, continuous operation of the system can be realized with a solar energy source through cycles of 8-h changing for desalination and energy storage with the supplied heat followed by 16-h discharging for desalination with the stored energy. As a result, the working fluid outlet temperatures are generally in the ranges of approximately 128–160 °C for a PureTemp 151/GF medium and 198–220 °C for a solar salt/GF medium.

Buffering↗

Hydrogen Storage for Load-Following and Clean Power: Duct-firing of Hydrogen to Improve the Capacity Factor of NGCC Plants (Final Report, Phase II Pre-Front End Engineering Design Study)

GTI Energy (GTI) and team members Southern Company Services (SCS), Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) performed a Phase II Pre-Feed Study under contract DE-FE0032008 for Hydrogen Storage for Load-Following and Clean Power. The configuration of the proposed system consists of subsystems for on-site H 2 production, on-site H 2 storage (up to 54 MWth in commercial vessels) and H 2 combustion in a duct burner in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) integrated with an existing fossil asset. Here, the firing rate of the duct burner is varied to let the plant respond to fluctuations of electrical load and H 2 production is relatively constant by storing H 2 . The proposed system is an improvement over alternate low carbon dispatchable power options. Technoeconomic analyses show H 2 produced with GTI’s patented Compact Hydrogen Generator (CHG) with inherent carbon capture will be lower cost (Levelized Cost of Hydrogen, LCOH) relative to hydrogen produced with a Steam Methane Reformer (SMR) with an amine system for carbon capture. This lower cost hydrogen enables our integrated system to deliver electricity (Levelized Cost of Electricity, LCOE) at 17.4% lower cost relative to a SMR sourced H 2 -fired HRSG (with an amine system for carbon capture) – Steam Turbine Generator (STG). Our analysis using EPRI’s US REGEN macroeconomic model shows our system will have significant demand in the power market and therefore require significant capacity expansion (CHG plants built to deliver hydrogen) to deliver low cost, low carbon power. In Phase II, our Team has completed a detailed system definition including the development of process models, definition of battery limits, Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), Piping and Instrumentation Drawings (P&IDs), and a plant layout. A preliminary design for the key components of the CHG was developed including component lists & specifications. An evaluation of environmental and permitting considerations was completed and included the development of an Environmental Information Volume (EIV). The duct burners, which are flexible and can burn hydrogen and/or natural gas, were defined and initial CFD analyses were completed.

03 NATURAL GAS↗