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At least 1,171 records · Page 65

Transforming Cyber Education thru Open to All Accessible Pathways

Boise State University’s (BSU) Cyber Operations and Resilience CORe program was intentionally designed so that any student, especially non-traditional and non-technical students, with an interest in cybersecurity could have an education and training pathway to enter the cyber workforce. The CORe curriculum focuses on teaching students how to design, apply, and improve cybersecurity through the interaction of people, processes, and technology. CORe is a stackable curriculum with elective credit hours and options for various academic and industry certificates and certifications that enable students to customize their unique career pathway. The CORe program guides students to think about the system being managed, the risks presented, and the dynamic intersection of system elements when considering how to incorporate resilience frameworks in achieving a resilient system. By developing systems thinking, the students gain an understanding of the interdependencies interacting with the operational system. Further, the CORe program encourages students to integrate cybersecurity knowledge with models and frameworks found in other academic disciplines through a unifying systems approach. CORe is designed around the realities of today’s broad cyber landscape: that breaches will occur in any system over time and proactive design of resilience into systems to detect, respond, and recover in a timely and orderly manner is critical. Students are taught to think holistically about cybersecurity focusing on all system elements. CORe is not a traditional cybersecurity degree. CORe is distinguished by the non-traditional engineering, computer science approach to cybersecurity education with the singular focus on infusing resilience operations and transdisciplinary systems thinking principles throughout the curriculum.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Follow-On Status Report on FY2022 Model Development within the Integrated Energy Systems Hybrid Repository

This publication details newly created energy storage and reactor models developed within the HYBRID modeling repository as part of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Integrated Energy Systems (IES) program, led by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Model development to-date includes creation of dynamic systems-level models of a pebble bed high temperature gas reactor (HTGR), compressed air energy storage (CAES), and Modelica standard library based two-tank sensible heat storage (SHS) in the IES-based HYBRID repository. Models are developed using the latest publicly available data and incorporate the possibility of control strategy inclusion for use with the existing IES modeling, analysis, and optimization toolset. Simulations showcase the abilities of each technology to flexibly operate in ways consistent with IES operation expectations. When these models are available, they can be utilized within different integrated energy park concepts to understand optimal system operation, control, and dispatching. Moreover, given the generic nature of the models, industrial partner technologies can be quickly added to the repository using the existing models as a basis. Additional dynamic models for thermal energy storage concepts can be developed and added to the HYBRID repository as needed.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Delivery of Dynamic Thermal Energy Storage Models and Advanced Reactor Concept Models to the HYBRID Repository

This publication details newly created energy storage and reactor models developed within the HYBRID modeling repository as part of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Integrated Energy Systems (IES) program, led by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Model development to-date includes creation of dynamic systems-level models of a pebble bed high temperature gas reactor (HTGR), sodium fast reactor (SFR), compressed air energy storage (CAES), liquid air energy storage (LAES) and Modelica standard library based two-tank sensible heat storage (SHS) in the IES-based HYBRID repository. Models are developed using the latest publicly available data and incorporate the possibility of control strategy inclusion for use with the existing IES modeling, analysis, and optimization toolset. Simulations showcase the abilities of each technology to flexibly operate in ways consistent with IES operation expectations. When these models are available, they can be utilized within different integrated energy park concepts to understand optimal system operation, control, and dispatching. Moreover, given the generic nature of the models, industrial partner technologies can be quickly added to the repository using the existing models as a basis. Additional dynamic models for thermal energy storage concepts can be developed and added to the HYBRID repository as needed. Also detailed in this report are future development goals for the HYBRID repository including adding suites of steady-state models, economic costing information, and reduced-order models. By adding these models in addition to the physical transient models currently existing within HYBRID, HYBRID will be a fully integrable tool for FORCE users.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Integration of Energy Storage in Fossil Energy Power Plants (ES-FE) Market Analysis

This analysis consists of identifying the economic signals for the integration of ES-FE concepts in major Independent System Operators (ISOs), such as Mid-Continent (MISO), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), California (CAISO), and Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland Power Pool (PJM). This piece of work came from our interest in understanding how and at what level an electricity market would renumerate a fossil energy power plant that integrates energy storage, meaning a fossil power plant that adds any type of energy storage to their power plant.

Pena-Cabra, Ivonne A.↗

DEMONSTRATION OF A MULTI-STAGE TESTING AND EVALUATION APPROACH FOR A SAFETY-RELATED DIGITAL UPGRADE AT A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

There is an imminent need for existing United States nuclear power plants to reduce their operating and maintenance costs to remain economically viable. Digital technology provides significant opportunity for the existing nuclear power plant fleet to transform that way in which work is accomplished to reduce costs and allow the fleet to remain economically competitive. However, a careful understanding of the human-technology integration is needed to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of these existing plants with new digital capabilities. This work presents interim findings in applying human factors engineering to a safety-significant digital upgrade for a United States nuclear power plant, following the new Alternative Review Process in the recently revised Digital Instrumentation and Control Interim Staff Guidance Licensing Process, Revision 2. The interim results described in this work provides an industry perspective, based on ongoing work, to recent work published from Vazquez, Green, and Desaulniers (2022).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Federated Architecture for Secure and Transactive Distributed Energy Resource Management Solutions (FAST-DERMS)

This document provides system-level specifications for a federated architecture for secure and transactive distributed energy resource management solutions (FAST-DERMS), presents a solution, and describes operational concepts for the proposed solution. FAST-DERMS enables the provision of reliable, resilient, and secure transmission and distribution (T&D) grid services through the scalable aggregation and near-real-time management of utility-scale and small-scale distributed energy resources (DERs). We first present the principles and objectives of FAST-DERMS. Then, after discussing important system concepts, we present the specifications for FAST-DERMS and a solution that employs a distributed and federated control methodology in which the DERs connected to a single point of common coupling with the rest of the system, such as individual substations, are optimized coordinately to provide system-level grid services. FAST-DERMS aims to aggregate and coordinate the operations of DERs to support T&D grid operations. The key optimization and control component of this FAST-DERMS reference implementation is a flexible resource scheduler (FRS) that aggregates the DERs within a substation service area. These FRSs operate at the substation level and perform constrained economic dispatch of DERs, either directly or through a transactive market or aggregator, as shown in Figure ES-1. An FRS Coordinator at the distribution system operator (DSO) level aggregates distribution substations operated by FRSs and interfaces with the transmission system operator (TSO) to provide transmission services. FAST-DERMS also allows for the integration of the FRS Coordinator with an existing distribution utility management system that could be employed by the DSO to enhance distribution grid operations.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Radio frequency mixing modules for superconducting qubit room temperature control systems

As the number of qubits in nascent quantum processing units increases, the connectorized RF (radio frequency) analog circuits used in first generation experiments become exceedingly complex. The physical size, cost, and electrical failure rate all become limiting factors in the extensibility of control systems. We have developed a series of compact RF mixing boards to address this challenge by integrating I/Q quadrature mixing, intermediate frequency/LO (local oscillator)/RF power level adjustments, and direct current bias fine tuning on a 40 × 80 mm 2 four-layer printed circuit board with electromagnetic interference shielding. The RF mixing module is designed to work with RF and LO frequencies between 2.5 and 8.5 GHz. The typical image rejection and adjacent channel isolation are measured to be ~27 dBc and ~50 dB. By scanning the drive phase in a loopback test, the module short-term amplitude and phase linearity are typically measured to be 5 ×10 -4 (V pp /V mean ) and 1 ×10 -3 radian (pk-pk). The operation of the RF mixing board was validated by integrating it into the room temperature control system of a superconducting quantum processor and executing randomized benchmarking characterization of single and two qubit gates. We measured a single-qubit process infidelity of 9.3(3) × 10 -4 and a two-qubit process infidelity of 2.7(1) × 10 -2 .

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Non-inductive plasma vertical position measurement for the 1056 s discharge on EAST

Vertical position stability plays a crucial role in maintaining safe and reliable plasma operation for long-pulse fusion devices. In general, the vertical position is measured by using inductive magnetic coils installed inside the vacuum vessel; however, the integration drift effects are inherent for steady-state or long-pulse plasma operation. Further, developing a non-magnetic approach provides a fusion reactor-relevant steady-state solution that avoids the negative impact of integration drift. In this paper, we compare the non-inductively determined vertical position achieved by line-integrated interferometer and polarimeter measurements to that employing an inductive flux loop for a 1056 s discharge recently achieved on EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak). Experimental results show that the non-inductive measurement is more robust than flux loops after 300 s if the integrator is not reset to suppress integrator drift. Real-time vertical position control using the non-inductive system is proposed for the next EAST experimental campaign.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Understanding Impacts of Data Integrity Attacks on Transactive Control Systems

With the rapid growth of internet-connected smart devices capable of exchanging energy price information and adaptively controlling energy consumption of connected loads, the role of transactive control is expected to become more prominent in the modern grid. Transactive control systems integrate the wholesale and retail energy markets, and enable active participation of end users, thereby playing a key role in managing the rising number of distributed assets in the smart grid. The use of internet for the communication of data between the controllers at the building, distribution, and transmission levels makes the system susceptible to cyber-attacks. A skilled adversary can potentially manipulate the exchanged data with the intention of inflicting damage to the system. In this paper, four categories of metrics are put forth for evaluating the performance of the system when under data integrity attacks. A model for scaling-based data integrity attack has been described, and co-simulations have been performed on a 240 bus WECC transmission system model with detailed modeling of distribution systems at specific buses. Our results show that scaling-based data integrity attacks can have non-trivial impacts on the operational, financial, and comfort aspects of the transactive control system.

Smart grid, transactive control system, Buildings-↗

Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Reliability and Operational Efficiency of Small-Scale Hydroelectric Distributed Generation

Reliability and resilience are critical concerns for distributed generation (DG) at the rural electric level. The integration of renewable energy sources, such as small-scale hydroelectric distributed generators (hydro DGs), introduces operational challenges, particularly regarding aging infrastructure and grid stability. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Machine Learning (ML) models and applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) offer promising solutions for optimizing DG operations and enhancing resilience. This paper explores AI-based models for improving efficiency, fault resolution, and outage mitigation in small-scale hydro DGs. Furthermore, it highlights the development of a centralized, AI-powered information portal for rural electric cooperatives and municipalities. The research evaluates hydro DG plant models and discusses the applicability of AI-powered question-answering tools for real-time operations, focusing on statistical data, load flow, voltage regulation, and generation power. The findings demonstrate AI’s potential to transform DG management to ensure greater stability and resilience in rural electric grids.

Bhattacharyya, Arjun [ORNL] (ORCID:000900060976046↗

Advanced Design for the WIQ Magnet With Steering Corrector Function

The Facility for Rare Isotopes Beams (FRIB) delivers heavy-ion primary beams at energies of up to 300 MeV/u at 10 kW of beam power to generate rare isotope beams for experiments and will eventually operate at beam power of 400 kW. The preseprator of the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS) is equipped with six warm-iron quadrupole (WIQ) singlets and two dipoles integrated right after the production target. They have a compact structure and operate in a high radiation vacuum environment within a hot cell having remote handling capabilities for installation and maintenance. Due to asymmetry with respect to the quadrupole poles, nested sextupole excitations in WIQs induce vertical dipoles that offset the centroid trajectory; Magnet misalignments also result in trajectory offsets. Such offsets degrade separator performance but can be minimized by changing the current distribution on sextupole and octupole coils. In this work, we show how modifications to the WIQ coil design can allow superimposed dipole fields to be included to the octupole and sextupole windings, as well as addition of dipole components by splitting coil currents over groups with separator power supplies. Adjusting the group currents can cancel the sextupole-induced vertical dipole component which can be as high as 0.012 Tm. Octupole coil changes may superimpose a horizontal dipole integrated strength as high as 0.0332 Tm. Unwanted higher harmonics induced as a side effect of the new design are kept to a minimum such that separator performance is preserved as much as possible.

Accelerator magnets↗

Novel Rotated Virtual Synchronous Generator Control for Power-Sharing in Microgrids with Complex Line Impedance

Virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control is based on the fact that the line impedance in a microgrid is highly inductive. This assumption was made due to the emulation of the stator winding of an electrical machine. This concept can affect the controllability of a microgrid with complex line impedance, generating deviations in the chosen operation point. To overcome this issue, additional techniques must be implemented. This paper describes a novel mathematical approach that uses the power line characteristics in a microgrid to rotate the power control reference frame and proposes a new control method called a “Rotated Virtual Synchronous Generator” (RVSG). This RVSG control approach integrates the effect of complex impedance on the microgrid’s operation and adjusts the reference frame accordingly to improve the system’s stability and performance. The use of this proposed mathematical approach in microgrids allows the further emulation of virtual inertia in microgrids that lack inertia. Finally, a comparison between RVSG control and the classical virtual synchronous generator method is carried out to show that it allows the improvement of the transient power response, power quality, stability, and performance, mainly in microgrids with complex line impedance.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Field Programmable Gate Array-Based Reactor Protection Systems and Potential for Inclusion of Secure Elements to Improve Cybersecurity

For acceptable implementations of technologies like wireless communications, remote monitoring, etc., strong mitigations must be developed and evaluated to ensure that new attack pathways do not increase risk for Advanced Reactors. Secure Elements can be adopted and adapted for this purpose based on tamper resistance and cryptographic abilities, but research must be done to properly integrate into critical components such as FPGA-based Important to Safety systems in conjunction with current and future regulations on cyber security features in Advanced Reactors. Typically, the integration of a Secure Element happens during the POST and UEFI boot of a computing platform, performed by the Operating System, which is not possible with FPGAs because they do not include these firmware components. Work must be done to identify a reliable and secure method for integration in FPGA-based systems which lack Operating Systems and therefore complex boot procedures, system calls, etc.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Field Programmable Gate Array-Based Reactor Protection Systems and Potential for Inclusion of Secure Elements to Improve Cybersecurity

For acceptable implementations of technologies like wireless communications, remote monitoring, etc., strong mitigations must be developed and evaluated to ensure that new attack pathways do not increase risk for Advanced Reactors. Secure Elements can be adopted and adapted for this purpose based on tamper resistance and cryptographic abilities, but research must be done to properly integrate into critical components such as FPGA-based Important to Safety systems in conjunction with current and future regulations on cyber security features in Advanced Reactors. Typically, the integration of a Secure Element happens during the POST and UEFI boot of a computing platform, performed by the Operating System, which is not possible with FPGAs because they do not include these firmware components. Work must be done to identify a reliable and secure method for integration in FPGA-based systems which lack Operating Systems and therefore complex boot procedures, system calls, etc.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A Discrete Hankel Transform Approach to Nuclear Data Processing for Fusion Applications

This study introduces advancements to the numerical solutions employed in the processing of nuclear data for fusion applications. It leverages the convolution theorem and Fourier transform techniques to enhance computational efficiency and broaden applicability. Building upon a previously reported discrete Hankel transform approach for Doppler broadening, this work refines the solution of convolution integrals central to these applications. The methodology provides a general and unified framework for evaluating any convolution operation, regardless of whether the underlying problem involves temperature effects in nuclear reactions. The applicability to the nuclear data processing for fusion is demonstrated by deriving the convolution integrals for some of the fusion-related quantities. As before, the convolution operation utilizes a Gaussian-based kernel; however, the discrete Hankel transform of order $𝛼$ = $\frac{1}{2}$ is now applied to the forward Fourier transform of the nonkernel argument, rather than the inverse Fourier transform. This modification eliminates the need for the integration of the nonkernel, cross section–based function, which is a step that posed challenges for certain pointwise cross-section representations. It also removes the requirement for cross-section linearization. Optimized for graphics processing unit architectures, the approach significantly improves computational performance. These advancements are currently under evaluation as the foundation for the next-generation thermonuclear data file processing codes being developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Nuclear science and engineering↗

ACTIVE

The Automated Control Testbed for Integration, Verification, and Emulation (ACTIVE) framework is a software platform designed to support the optimized operation and management of a wide range of building types. It enables the development, testing, and validation of diverse control strategies, including AI-based, rule-based, and model-based approaches. The platform facilitates a seamless transition from simulation-based evaluation of control strategies to real-world field validation and deployment. ACTIVE supports the full building management lifecycle, encompassing data acquisition and management, system monitoring, optimized control, adaptive learning services, device dispatch and coordination, as well as advanced analytics and visualization. Together, these capabilities provide an integrated environment for improving building performance, operational efficiency, reducing energy cost, and reliability.

Smith, Robert [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL↗

Landsat 8 monitoring of multi-depth suspended sediment concentrations in Lake Erie’s Maumee River using machine learning

Satellite remote sensing has been widely used to map suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in waterbodies. However, due to the complexity of sediment-water interactions, it has been difficult to derive linear and non-linear regression equations to reliably predict SSC, especially when trying to estimate depth of integrated sediment. Herein, this study uses Landsat 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) sensor to map SSC within the Maumee River in Ohio, USA, at multiple depth intervals (15, 61, 91, and 182 cm). Simple linear least squares regression (LLSR), and three common machine learning models: random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and model averaged neural network (MANN) were used to estimate SSC at the depth intervals. All machine learning models significantly outperformed LLSR while RF performed the best. In both RF and MANN, R2 (coefficient of determination) increases with depth with a maximum R2 of 0.89 and 0.83, respectively, at a depth of 0–182 cm. The results show that machine learning models can implement nonlinear relationships that produce better predictions than traditional linear regression methods in estimating depth integrated SSC, especially when samples are limited.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Combining Simulation and Optimization to Derive Operating Policies for a Concentrating Solar Power Plant

Optimizing short-term decisions over a rolling horizon and/or using deterministic penalties to capture system stochasticity can lead to myopic policies that fail to consider unplanned events and their long-term adverse effects. We present a methodology that integrates an off-line optimization model with a simulation procedure to determine the profitability of different operating strategies; specifically, the latter is used to generate additional constraints for the former when failures occur according to system component operating lifetimes that (i) are subject to exogenous uncertainty, and (ii) may degrade more quickly under specific operating conditions. We use the feedback provided by the simulation model in a parametric analysis to obtain penalties that can be used in short-term operations scheduling to maximize the long-term revenues obtained by the optimization model. We apply this research to a concentrating solar power plant; our results show that the methodology can be used to choose an operating policy that balances maximizing profit while accounting for maintenance costs. Integrating the optimization model with a simulation procedure reveals that aggressive prices for cycling yield about 55% fewer startups and 30% fewer failures compared to using a more typical start-up operating strategy, and can save hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in repair costs over the lifetime of the plant.

concentrating solar power↗