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At least 1,081 records · Page 60

End-Use Savings Shapes Measure Documentation: Window Film

This documentation focuses on a single end-use savings shape measure - window film. The window film studied in this analysis, called solar control film, is a passive retrofit solution for windows that does not involve window replacement. This type of film is composed of transparent, tinted, or metalized laminated polyester layers and can be attached to an existing window surface (either on the exterior or interior side of the window). The properties of the window film are designed to shift the thermal and optical performances of the overall glazing system in order to serve various needs the customer would have (e.g., heat, glare). While the practical goal of purchasing and installing a window film varies widely in the real market, this study only focuses on the goal of energy savings, and highlighting the corresponding emissions. Other important aspects that customers typically consider include visual comfort, privacy, aesthetics, ultraviolet protection, etc. Thus, in practice, customers often choose a window film product not only to save energy (or cost) but also to mitigate issues around glare, excessive light, daytime privacy, or inconsistent appearance of the building. Window film products that were modeled in this analysis significantly reduced the solar heat gain coefficient of the overall glazing system, resulting in better energy savings for buildings in hot climate regions. However, significantly reducing the solar heat gain coefficient that can block unfavorable heat during the summer can actually harm blocking favorable heat during the winter. By applying window films on a stock of buildings covering various load and weather conditions, this analysis highlights when (e.g., time of day) and where (e.g., geospacial location) we can save energy with window films.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Floating Offshore Wind US Manufacturing and Commercialization: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report)

NREL assessed the supply chain and workforce considerations for the OCG-Wind floater technology, a floating semi-submersible offshore wind substructure, as well sharing vessel needs to inform their installation strategy. This technical assistance was in support of the FLoating Offshore Wind ReadINess (FLOWIN) Prize Phase 2 submission. NREL provided an assessment of domestic supplier capabilities for the main components of their floating offshore wind platform design and analyzed US regional and national supply chain constraints and gaps. Thirteen interviews with companies including steel distributors, forges, foundries, ports, large component fabricators, subcomponent fabricators, and secondary suppliers provided key insights such as 1) assembly ports are the key infrastructure barrier standing in the way of unlocking the domestic assembly and component fabrication for steel-based FOW platforms, 2) domestic steel producers can supply the types and quantities of steel necessary for FOW platforms, and 3) coordination between stakeholders will be a vital part of successfully developing the supply chain and infrastructure needed to domestically produce FOW platforms. In the workforce assessment, NREL documented a step-by-step approach to conduct a place-based assessment of the foundational workforce consideration for recruiting, upskilling, and retaining a workforce, such as supportive local and state policy, nearby education and training programs, and existing relevant industry. This approach was applied to Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma was indicated to have the potential be a successful location for fabrication and assembly of floating offshore wind energy in terms of workforce development. To share data on vessel requirements to install the OCG-Wind floater, NREL compiled resources that help answer the questions related to anchor handling tug vessels, shared a database of cable laying vessels, and answered questions on complying with the Jones Act.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

A Process for Defining Prototype Building Models: Courthouse Case Study for U.S. Commercial Energy

Buildings currently consume 36% of the world’s energy and contribute nearly 40% of CO 2 emissions. Many countries desire to generate virtual models of their nation’s buildings in order to coordinate research activities and inform market opportunities for a more sustainable built environment. The United States Department of Energy uses a suite of Commercial Prototype Building Models, which currently includes 16 building types and covers 80% of US commercial floorspace. Efforts are underway to expand this suite by developing prototype models for additional building types. In this paper, we outline a systematic approach to defining the building, collecting relevant information and creating a flexible model while doing so in the pragmatic context of a courthouse building. Informed by building design guides, databases, documented projects and inputs from courthouse design experts, we define a small, 69,324 ft 2 (6440 m 2 ), four-courtroom, low-rise courthouse as the prototype to represent an average-size courthouse in the US. We present building characteristics relevant for energy model development and provide the rationale for their selection. These details combined with climate- and construction-vintage-specific requirements for the building envelope and systems from building standards will be used for developing the courthouse model for the Commercial Prototype Building Models suite. The comprehensive information presented will also guide model modification to capture the dynamics of smaller or larger courthouses more accurately for building or system size-specific research.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Experiment S-191 visible and infrared spectrometer

The design, development, fabrication test, and utilization of the visible and infrared spectrometer portion of the S-191 experiment, part of the Earth Resources Experiment Package, on board Skylab is discussed. The S-191 program is described, as well as conclusions and recommendations for improvement of this type of instrument for future applications. Design requirements, instrument design approaches, and the test verification program are presented along with test results, including flight hardware calibration data. A brief discussion of operation during the Skylab mission is included. Documentation associated with the program is listed.

Linnell, E. R.↗

NETMARK: A Schema-less Extension for Relational Databases for Managing Semi-structured Data Dynamically

Object-Relational database management system is an integrated hybrid cooperative approach to combine the best practices of both the relational model utilizing SQL queries and the object-oriented, semantic paradigm for supporting complex data creation. In this paper, a highly scalable, information on demand database framework, called NETMARK, is introduced. NETMARK takes advantages of the Oracle 8i object-relational database using physical addresses data types for very efficient keyword search of records spanning across both context and content. NETMARK was originally developed in early 2000 as a research and development prototype to solve the vast amounts of unstructured and semi-structured documents existing within NASA enterprises. Today, NETMARK is a flexible, high-throughput open database framework for managing, storing, and searching unstructured or semi-structured arbitrary hierarchal models, such as XML and HTML.

Maluf, David A.↗

Conditioning of Pu-containing radioactive waste generated in the Hot-lab: where are we now - 15400

To achieve an optimal strategy for interim storage and final disposal, solid radioactive waste has to be sorted and treated. This strategy is based on the requirement to reduce the volume of waste designated for long term disposal, mainly for economical and safety reasons. In addition, the radiological limitations for shipping of the waste packages to a disposal site have to be taken into account as well as the improved regulatory requirements for material under IAEA control. In case of the operational Pu-contaminated and -containing waste from the PSI-Hot laboratory in Switzerland, the existing and over years practiced conditioning method needed improvement. The existing authorized specifications of the conditioning process had to be revised for an optimization of the interim-storage and the deep geological disposal. This was done by the PSI Section for Dismantling and Waste Management. The improvement focused on technical aspects as well as improvement of the documentation for the certification by final depositor (Nagra) and the safety authority (ENSI). This work started in 2008. In 2012 ENSI issued an authorization to realize the first conditioning according the new specification, formally as a certification test ('Type Test') prior to final approval by the ENSI. But, although a licensed method by the competent authority is available, modifications could be necessary and new tasks come up. In 2013 the PSI has produced 13 waste-packages as a Type Test. To obtain the legal authorization ('Type Approval'), some open issues ought to be answered. Waste is continuously generated and so the question arises: When will the next conditioning be done and applying which method? (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Beowulf v2.5.3 User Guide: Revision 5

This document is a user guide for the Beowulf (rebranding of Watchmen) tool. It describes how operators can access and utilize the application's functionality. Beowulf is a research software application developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that incorporates the scientific and operational expertise for reviewing data from treaty monitoring radionuclide stations. These stations are part of a worldwide network to monitor for nuclear explosions, and the data they produce are critical to make the determination of whether a sample is from a nuclear explosion or some other source (i.e., nuclear reactor or medical isotope production facility). Stations deliver their measurements and system status to the International Monitoring System (IMS), which forwards it via email to all subscribers. Beowulf is capable of processing data from several radioxenon station types and development is in progress on a solution for particulate stations. Screening of data in Beowulf may be done by a number of different users such as radionuclide analysts, evaluators, and data quality experts. This guide is provided to assist those users in navigating the application. The term Beowulf is used generically throughout this document to refer to any of the various components in the software application. The user interface that is viewed with a web browser is the primary focus of this user guide. Other components include a database to store measurements and state of health (SOH) data; and the data loader that monitors incoming emails, parses the data, populates the database, does the initial analysis, and routes data for review.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

SOFAST 2.0 User Guide and Technical Description, Document Version 1.0

This report accompanies Sandia’s deflectometry tool, SOFAST 2.0, providing both a user guide and a basic technical description. SOFAST is a deflectometry tool used to measure surface slope maps of concentrating solar power (CSP) mirrors and collectors. The original SOFAST performed high-resolution measurement of a variety of CSP mirror types. SOFAST 2.0 is a completely new version, re-implemented in Python and including many extensions and improvements.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

A Systematic Classification for HVAC Systems and Components

Depending on the application, the complexity of an HVAC system can range from a small fan coil unit to a large centralized air conditioning system with primary and secondary distribution loops, and central plant components. Currently, the taxonomy of HVAC systems and the components has various aspects, which can get quite complex because of the various components and system configurations. For example, based on cooling and heating medium delivered to terminal units, systems can be classified as either air systems, water systems or air-water systems. In addition, some of the system names might be commonly used in a confusing manner, such as “unitary system” vs. “packaged system.” Without a systematic classification, these components and system terminology can be confusing to understand or differentiate from each other, and it creates ambiguity in communication, interpretation, and documentation. It is valuable to organize and classify HVAC systems and components so that they can be easily understood and used in a consistent manner. This paper aims to develop a systematic classification of HVAC systems and components. First, we summarize the HVAC component information and definitions based on published literature, such as ASHRAE handbooks, regulations, and rating standards. Then, we identify common HVAC system types and map them to the collected components in a meaningful way. Classification charts are generated and described based on the component information. Six main categories are identified for the HVAC components and equipment, i.e., heating and cooling production, heat extraction and rejection, air handling process, distribution system, terminal use, and stand-alone system. Components for each main category are further analyzed and classified in detail. More than fifty system names are identified and grouped based on their characteristics. The result from this paper will be helpful for education, communication, and systems and component documentation.

Li, Han↗

Core energies of dislocations in bcc metals

Accurate methods and an efficient workflow for computing and documenting dislocation core energies are developed and applied to 1 2 ( 111 ) and ( 100 ) dislocations in five body-centered cubic (bcc) metals W, Ta, V, Mo, and α -Fe represented by 13 model interatomic potentials. For each dislocation type, dislocation core energies are extracted for a large number of dislocation characters thoroughly sampling the entire 2-space of crystallographic line orientations of the bcc lattice. Of particular interest, core energies of the 1 2 ( 111 ) { 110 } dislocations are found to be distinctly asymmetric with respect to the sign of the character angle, whereas core energies of ( 100 ) { 110 } junction dislocations exhibit marked cusps for line orientations vicinal to the closed-packed ( 111 ) directions. Overall, our findings furnish substantial insights for developing accurate models of dislocation core energies employed in mesoscale dislocation dynamics simulations of crystal plasticity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Pre-Viking Swedish Hillfort Glass: A Prospective Long-Term Alteration Analogue for Vitrified Nuclear Waste

Examining ancient anthropogenic glasses altered in natural environments over hundreds of years can inform and verify models for predicting long-term rates of glass corrosion. Understanding corrosion mechanisms is critical for modeling the performance of nuclear waste glasses that are required to retain radionuclides for >1000 years, and will be disposed in shallow subsurface environments. Two types of ancient Swedish hillfort glasses — one clear, iron-poor glass, and one dark, iron-rich glass — have been characterized to evaluate their use as long-term alteration analogues for vitrified nuclear waste disposed under near-surface conditions. These glasses are of interest to the nuclear waste glass community as they have comparable elemental compositions to glasses under development for disposal of nuclear waste at the Hanford Site, USA. They are also of historical importance to Sweden; thus, an analysis protocol, focusing on non-destructive to semi-destructive analyses, has been developed to maintain the historical integrity of the samples. X-ray computed tomography, micro X-ray diffraction, micro X-ray fluorescence, and electron microscopy data are presented for both vitreous and mineralogical components of the hillfort samples. The internal microstructure and elemental distribution of the glasses, including the presence of crystalline inclusions, are discussed in the context of ancient glassmaking technology.

Weaver, Jamie L.↗

Commercial and Residential Hourly Load Profiles for All Typical Meteorological Year 3 (TMY3) Locations in the United States

One way to achieve grid flexibility is to shed or shift demand to align with changing grid needs. To facilitate this, it is critical to understand how and when energy is used. High-quality end-use load profiles (EULPs) provide this information and can help cities, states, and utilities understand the time-sensitive value of energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed energy resources. Publicly available EULPs have traditionally had limited application because of age and incomplete geographic representation. To help fill this gap, the U.S. Department of Energy funded a 3-year project, End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock, that culminated in this publicly available dataset of calibrated and validated 15-minute-resolution load profiles for all major residential and commercial building types and end uses across all climate regions in the United States. These EULPs were created by calibrating the ResStock and ComStock physics-based building stock models using many different measured datasets, as described in the "Technical Report Documenting Methodology" linked in the submission.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Test Plan for the Boiling Water Reactor Dry Cask Simulator

The thermal performance of commercial nuclear spent fuel dry storage casks are evaluated through detailed numerical analysis . These modeling efforts are completed by the vendor to demonstrate performance and regulatory compliance. The calculations are then independently verified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Carefully measured data sets generated from testing of full sized casks or smaller cask analogs are widely recognized as vital for validating these models. Recent advances in dry storage cask designs have significantly increased the maximum thermal load allowed in a cask in part by increasing the efficiency of internal conduction pathways and by increasing the internal convection through greater canister helium pressure. These same vertical, canistered cask systems rely on ventilation between the canister and the overpack to convect heat away from the canister to the environment for both above and below-ground configurations. While several testing programs have been previously conducted, these earlier validation attempts did not capture the effects of elevated helium pressures or accurately portray the external convection of above-ground and below-ground canistered dry cask systems. The purpose of the investigation described in this report is to produce a data set that can be used to test the validity of the assumptions associated with the calculations presently used to determine steady-state cladding temperatures in modern vertical, canistered dry cask systems. The BWR cask simulator (BCS) has been designed in detail for both the above-ground and below-ground venting configurations. The pressure vessel representing the canister has been designed, fabricated, and pressure tested for a maximum allowable pressure (MAWP) rating of 24 bar at 400 deg C. An existing electrically heated but otherwise prototypic BWR Incoloy-clad test assembly is being deployed inside of a representative storage basket and cylindrical pressure vessel that represents the canister. The symmetric single assembly geometry with well-controlled boundary conditions simplifies interpretation of results. Various configurations of outer concentric ducting will be used to mimic conditions for above and below-ground storage configurations of vertical, dry cask systems with canisters. Radial and axial temperature profiles will be measured for a wide range of decay power and helium cask pressures. Of particular interest is the evaluation of the effect of increased helium pressure on allowable heat load and the effect of simulated wind on a simplified below ground vent configuration. While incorporating the best available information, this test plan is subject to changes due to improved understanding from modeling or from as-built deviations to designs. As-built conditions and actual procedures will be documented in the final test report.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Ifpack2 User's Guide 1.0

This is the definitive user manual for the I FPACK 2 package in the Trilinos project. I FPACK 2 pro- vides implementations of iterative algorithms (e.g., Jacobi, SOR, additive Schwarz) and processor- based incomplete factorizations. I FPACK 2 is part of the Trilinos T PETRA solver stack, is templated on index, scalar, and node types, and leverages node-level parallelism indirectly through its use of T PETRA kernels. I FPACK 2 can be used to solve to matrix systems with greater than 2 billion rows (using 64-bit indices). Any options not documented in this manual should be considered strictly experimental .

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Bringing randomized algorithms to mainstream numerical linear algebra

Numerical linear algebra (NLA) underpins huge swaths of computational science and engineering. For scientists and engineers to make the most of the DOE’s computing resources, it is essential that they have access to high-performance implementations of algorithms with best-in-class scalability and reliability. Despite this, prevailing NLA libraries have little to no support for breakthrough algorithms from the field of randomized numerical linear algebra (RandNLA) that have been developed over the past twenty years. The goal of this LDRD was to break a log-jam that had prevented broad adoption of RandNLA. Our work had two thrusts. The first was to develop RandBLAS: a trustworthy and high-performance C++ library for randomized dimension reduction (an operation widely known as sketching). The second was the development of a novel randomized algorithm for computing a challenging type of matrix decomposition known as Householder QR with column pivoting (Householder QRCP). In this one-year late-start LDRD we successfully delivered RandBLAS 1.0 and new CPU and GPU codes for Householder QRCP. RandBLAS has extensive documentation at https://randblas.readthedocs.io/en/stable/. Papers on RandBLAS and and our high-performance QRCP codes are forthcoming.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Chemical Process Safety at TRISO-Based, Metal-Based, and Salt-Based Fuel Fabrication Facilities: Technical Assessment and Guidance Assessment

As part of efforts to prepare for potential and ongoing safety reviews for licensing of advanced non-light-water reactor fuel cycles, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) tasked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to prepare an assessment on the state of knowledge of potential chemical processes at fuel cycle facilities supporting the front end of these fuel cycles, and to assess the associated regulatory guidance. This report provides a technical assessment of chemical process safety considerations to support NRC licensing reviews of fabrication processes for tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) based, metallic-based, and salt-based fuels. The assessments involved collecting publicly available information on the fuel fabrication processes to (i) identify the operational process steps, characteristics and chemicals involved, (ii) identify the physical safety considerations and health safety considerations during licensing reviews of the various process steps, and (iii) collect information to support assessments of severity of accidents and potential mitigative measures to be implemented. The assessment provides a foundational basis on chemical process safety considerations for advanced fuel fabrication activities, although it is recognized that licensing reviews may necessitate design-specific considerations. The specific conditions under which chemical hazards emerge will require process-specific considerations, highlighting the importance of process-informed interpretation. The assessment also determined that exposure guidelines and limits to assess the consequences of acute exposures are limited for some chemicals, although alternative limits and supplementary information from databases or safety data sheets provide sufficient information to evaluate consequences of acute exposures. In addition, it was identified that metallic and salt fuel fabrication processes may involve beryllium, which is an exposure hazard. The regulatory framework for the licensing of advanced fuel cycle facilities, per 10 CFR Part 70 Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material, is deemed robust and flexible to address the chemical safety considerations in this report. A review was conducted on various regulatory guidance and technical basis documents. This included reviewing NUREG-1520, Revision 2, Standard Review Plan for Fuel Cycle Facilities License Applications – Final Report and the process descriptions in Appendix A of NUREG/CR-6410, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facility Accident Analysis Handbook, to address advanced fuel types. As new fuels will involve process-specific chemical uses, process-specific considerations are provided in this report. Additionally, it is noted that the U.S. Department of Energy protective action criteria database includes Temporary Emergency Exposure Limits (TEELs) for process-specific chemicals. This report provides technical information to support chemical safety assessments of new advanced fuel cycle facilities and identifies technical and safety information to support licensing reviews. No regulatory barriers were identified for the licensing of advanced fuel cycle facilities.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock

The United States is embarking on an ambitious transition to a 100% clean energy economy by 2050, which will require improving the flexibility of electric grids. One way to achieve grid flexibility is to shed or shift demand to align with changing grid needs. To facilitate this, it is critical to understand how and when energy is used. High quality end-use load profiles (EULPs) provide this information, and can help cities, states, and utilities understand the time-sensitive value of energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed energy resources. Publicly available EULPs have traditionally had limited application because of age and incomplete geographic representation. To help fill this gap, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded a three-year project, End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock, that culminated in this publicly available dataset of calibrated and validated 15-minute resolution load profiles for all major residential and commercial building types and end uses, across all climate regions in the United States. These EULPs were created by calibrating the ResStock and ComStock physics-based building stock models using many different measured datasets, as described in the "Technical Report Documenting Methodology" linked in the submission.

Array↗

A Continuation of Base-Line Studies for Environmentally Monitoring Space Transportation System (STS) at John F. Kennedy Space Center: Terrestrial Community Analysis - Volume 1

Vegetation and small mammal populations in or around the Merritt Island area were studied. Thirty sites were selected from plant communities which were relatively free of logging, grazing, and clearing operations. The vegetative analysis was designed to yield a quantitative description and ecological explanation of the major types of upland vegetation in order to determine the possible future effects of NASA space activities on them. Changes in the relative abundance of small mammal populations, species diversity, standing crop biomass, reproductive activity, and other demographic features were documented in order to gather sufficient information on these populations so that it would be possible to detect even the smaller nonnatural behavior changes in the mammals which might be attributable to NASA space activities.

Stout, I. J.↗