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At least 1,171 records · Page 65

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DOE OSTI2023

Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project: Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Alternative Fuels Review

This report provides information about additional options in electrifying the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) fishing fleet. Currently, the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project is prioritizing electric hybrid and battery electric options for retrofit of select fishing vessels in the fleet. However, there are other options for reducing carbon emissions among the fleet, namely hydrogen, ammonia, and biofuels. The use of these alternative fuels may be an option for the fleet in the future as ALFA addresses its vulnerabilities. A literature review of available resources on these fuels was conducted to provide information on several topics associated with implementation of these technologies, including current applications, commercially available power modules, necessary components, infrastructure, and safety codes and standards. An additional aspect that this report investigates is general sizing and refueling schedule based on operating records of multiple ships in the fleet.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project: Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Alternative Fuels Review

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Complementing the CCS Class VI Well Permit Process with DOE-NETL's SMART Initiative Tools and Workflows

This is a presentation on model explorer developed under SMART initiative Task 2. Our team will present the current progress of the model explorer in using machine learning models to accelerate CCS project at GWPC meeting. Model explorer bring new capabilities, (fast, Realtime, and accurate) that can help CCS stakeholders including regulatory agencies, public and site operators make faster decisions and process information and data.

Hosseini, Seyyed↗

DOE OSTI2024

Initial Assessment of CTF for Time-at-Temperature Applications

The US nuclear industry is interested in improving the economics of their fleet of light-water reactors (LWRs) by uprating US plants. One option being considered is to regain lost margin from overly conservative fuel safety limits. The current limit requires avoidance of critical heat flux (CHF) and prevents further operation of fuel that experiences a dry-out in boiling water reactors (BWRs) or departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) in pressurized water reactors (PWRs); however, it has been shown that temporary, mild dry-out of the fuel does not necessarily increase the risk of fuel failure during its normal anticipated operating life. Such mild dry-out or DNB events may occur during a plant anticipated operational occurrence (AOO), such as a locked rotor in a PWR or a pump trip in a BWR. The time-at-temperature (TAT) approach to regulating fuel operation aims to demonstrate that the fuel rod’s integrity is not challenged during such a mild transient that leads to CHF in which the fuel operates at an elevated temperature for a brief period of time. However, implementing this approach will require extensive fuel material experimental data, as well as supporting modeling and simulation (M&S) predictions, to ensure that the predicted fuel response during AOOs, with all applicable uncertainty considered, will not threaten the safety of the fuel during the transient or the remainder of its anticipated lifecycle. To address this need, a comprehensive effort is being proposed that includes generating cladding material data under TAT conditions, assessment of available code capabilities for TAT conditions, development of new mechanistic models, and demonstration of the M&S capabilities for AOOs of interest. This will require a joint effort between the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) and Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) programs, as well as close collaboration with nuclear industry stakeholders. The outcome of this collaboration will result in development and assessment of capabilities that can be used by the nuclear industry to support qualification of a TAT-based fuel failure criteria safety limit. This report focuses on the thermal hydraulics (T/H) modeling capabilities and summarizes currently available data for validating the T/H subchannel code CTF for TAT conditions, as well as preliminary assessment results of the code. The initial assessment also resulted in implementation of an alternative post-CHF heat transfer package, which has been shown to significantly improve accuracy. This report is not a final assessment and does not consider all available validation data; it is intended that a future assessment will more fully validate the code for this application.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project: Bainbridge Island, Washington: Cohort 2 Technical Assistance: Improving Resilience

The City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) applied for and received technical assistance from the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) in part to achieve their goal of 100% renewable electricity generation by 2040, five years ahead of the Washington State goal. Their second goal of increasing energy resilience is discussed in this report. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) completed the technical analysis aspects of the project, supported by the community partner Spark Northwest and the program administrator, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). PNNL worked with the Community Lead and stakeholders to ensure selection of hazards and energy infrastructure of highest priority and integration of existing expertise into the analysis. We have also worked to align analysis with current activities conducted by Puget Sound Energy (PSE), and other efforts within the Bainbridge Island community around resilience. This report, conducted under the ETIPP project in partnership with COBI, aims to build on this existing knowledge base with a specific energy focus, to identify hazards and threats to critical energy infrastructure, summarize the risk, and identify and analyze remaining resilience gaps.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Nuclear Energy Cost Estimates for Net Zero World Initiative – 2024 Update

This report provides recommended parameters for incorporating nuclear energy systems into decarbonization modeling scenarios. The values are primarily intended for the Net Zero World (NZW) Initiative but are expected to prove useful to other related efforts. Both costs and operational metrics are provided in the study for large reactors and small modular reactors (SMR).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Initial Results of the Nuclear Accident Dosimetry Intercomparison at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute's TRIGA Reactor

This report presents the initial results for IER-602, the international nuclear accident dosimetry intercomparison performed at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI). Ten groups participated (six DOE laboratories, three international groups, and one DOD group) in a week-long exercise in late June 2024. Two additional groups observed the exercise (one DOE laboratory, one university). Three days of irradiations were performed, and participants reported results within 24 hours of the irradiations. Results were compared to the reference values and performance criteria established by IER-484 AFRRI ER1 Dosimetry Characterization and ANSI/HPS N13.3-2013, respectively. Passing performance varied from 17% to 100%, with an average of 67%.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Survey of Use Cases and Scenarios on the Open Energy Data Initiative Solar Systems Integration (OEDI SI) Platform

The Open Energy Data Initiative Solar Systems Integration (OEDI SI) Data and Modeling Platform offers a comprehensive set of use cases tailored for power systems analysis. Each use case is centered around a specific power system analysis problem, supported by composite input data and reference algorithms. These composite input datasets are meticulously assembled using OEDI SI's data preprocessing tools, which integrate raw data from various sources. The primary objectives of the OEDI SI Platform include facilitating access to composite input data through widely accepted input/output formats and verified results. This accessibility enables power system network researchers and developers to validate their algorithms and showcase their applications' capabilities to the broader community. Moreover, the platform strives to promote reproducible, robust, replicable, and generalizable solar systems integration research.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

PCAST: Report to the President and to Congress on the Seventh Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is the sole body of advisors from outside the federal government charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. Established by Executive Order, it is an independent Federal Advisory Committee comprised of distinguished individuals from industry, academia, and non-profit organizations with a range of perspectives and expertise. On August 18, 2023, PCAST sent a report to the President and Congress with recommendations for updating federal government coordination and support for nanotechnology that reflect the success of the National Nanotechnology Initiative and the maturity and broad relevance of the field.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Development of the Table of Initial Isolation and Protective Action Distances for the 2024 Emergency Response Guidebook

The transportation of hazardous materials creates numerous opportunities for the release of toxic substances into the environment, whether caused by traffic accidents, train derailments, equipment failures, or human error. Such releases can pose acute hazards to the general public and to emergency response personnel who are the first to arrive at the scene. To help first responders determine whether a shipment is potentially hazardous and decide what actions should be taken if a toxic spill does occur, the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) is published by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Transport Canada, and the Secretariat of Transport and Communications of Mexico; with contributions from Centro de Informaciòn Quìmica para Emergencias of Argentina. The most recent version is the 2024 edition of the ERG (ERG 2024), titled 2024 Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG2024). The ERG provides essential information about firefighting, spill response, and potential public health effects. For chemicals that are toxic by inhalation (TIH) and chemicals that produce TIH gases upon reaction with water (TIH by water reactivity or TIHWR), the ERG provides initial isolation distances (IIDs) and protective action distances (PADs). The IID defines the radius of the zone around the spill that should be accessed solely by people who are directly involved in emergency response. The PAD is the distance downwind of the source of the release within which persons should be either evacuated or sheltered in place, depending on the severity of the incident and the nature of the population (e.g., density, age, health).

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗

DOE OSTI2025

Initial Mobility Analysis for ORNL VA-EDH Synthetic Populations

Travel burdens are a major barrier to healthcare access among US Veteran patient populations, particularly those residing in rural areas. Spatial accessibility to points of care for US Veteran populations is commonly assessed in two ways. The first approach uses open data from the US Census to represent collective travel burdens, for example the distance between population-weighted census tract centroids and VHA points of care. The second approach uses restricted-access VHA patient data to measure travel costs (e.g., distance, time) for accessing points of care with respect to geolocated patient addresses and real or approximated transportation networks. While the advantage of the open data approach lies in its reproducibility, it has notable limitations in its tendency to infer individual travel behavior from aggregate population characteristics, a problem known as ecological fallacy. Conversely, while the patient data approach is able to account for individual travel behavior, its ability to account for localized access disparities (e.g., a neighborhood with exceptionally high transportation costs) and patient demographics is limited as protecting individual patient data requires their storage in closed systems with limited capacity for adequately modeling real-world travel patterns or for supplementing patient attributes. Additionally, the patient data approach cannot account for veterans who are not enrolled in the VHA system but who may be eligible for care. These challenges limit the ability to perform “what if” analyses on the effects of place-specific interventions on veteran populations with high access barriers to healthcare. To address these challenges, we explore the application of realistic synthetic populations to examine travel burdens and spatial accessibility issues among veteran patient populations. Synthetic populations provide a virtual, individually-resolved and cross-sectional representation of the veteran patient population that enables investigation of spatial access to points of care in ways in which aggregate data and patient data do not. First, synthetic populations allow one to directly assess how individuals access points of care, from synthesized residential locations to outpatient facilities on real-world transportation networks. Modeling access to points of care at the individual scale addresses the ecological fallacy problem associated with using aggregated census data to represent veteran populations and patterns of movement. Second, synthetic populations provide a means of completely representing an area’s veteran population using only publicly available, anonymized census microdata from the American Community Survey (ACS) to ensure the privacy of real-world individuals. Generating synthetic populations from the ACS also expands descriptive characteristics beyond what patient data typically offers to include socio-demographic, economic, housing, and mobility attributes. More detailed profiles of both VHA patient populations and veterans not enrolled in the VA system will provide a comprehensive picture of groups that may benefit from interventions or outreach. As an initial exercise for using synthetic populations to measure veteran travel burdens to VA care, we apply Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) UrbanPop capability to generate a series of synthetic VHA patient populations for 9 Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISN) market areas in 9 Census Divisions across the continental United States, which are listed in Table 1. We use UrbanPop to produce synthetic populations for the VISN markets selected for each US Census Division, then assign VA outpatient clinic destinations to synthetic VHA patients based on travel about each VISN market’s road network. To demonstrate using the synthetic populations to evaluate healthcare travel burdens, we compare the time-based impedance between simulated home locations and VA outpatient clinics in each VISN market. We then perform validation exercises on the synthetic populations with respect to neighborhood (block group) demographic composition as well as patient mobility, comparing aggregate origin-destination statistics for the synthetic population to outpatient visits available in restricted patient data from the VA’s Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) database.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Maxar Initial Satellite Characterization

This documents reports on the initial Assessment Specification and Validation (ASV) of Maxar satellite imagery as a geolocation system. Validation is a prerequisite for using geolocation for applications that require quantified uncertainty. A Variance Component Estimation (VCE) calibration of the provider’s co- variance matrices concluded that they were exaggerated. However, we currently lack enough independent validation data to quantify the improvement from the VCE. The current ASV process is slow and expensive. It will not be able to keep up with growing numbers of satellite systems. We proposed a method to automate ASV using controlled imagery. The proposed method will allow us to keep up with new sensors and generate unbounded amounts of calibration data, leading to unprecedented accuracy.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Inclusive Shared Solar Initiative (ISSI) (Final Technical Report)

Between 2020 and 2024, the Inclusive Shared Solar Initiative (ISSI) served as a forum for three states to navigate the design and development of LMI-accessible community solar projects. A collaboration between the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), ISSI provided financial and technical assistance to teams of State Energy Offices and State LIHEAP Agencies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. The key goals guiding ISSI were to develop four new community solar frameworks in three new states and create greater momentum among state governments, community solar developers, and the finance community in scaling and investing in community solar projects that are affordable and accessible to LIHEAP households. Ultimately, in addition to developing and launching four new shared solar projects serving LMI subscribers, the ISSI state partners pioneered community solar policy and program design strategies that increased protections for low-income consumers, reduced barriers to enrollment and project development, and fostered inter-program coordination.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Disassembly and Initial Post-Irradiation Examination of the Mini99 Experiment

The Miniature Fuel Molybdenum-99 (Mini99) experiment is a first-of-a-kind experiment in the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Mini99 is the first MiniFuel irradiation experiment to use liquid metal inside the MiniFuel subcapsule for additional temperature control. In this work, the initial post-irradiation examination is reported. As-built simulations were conducted and compared with designs, and physical post-irradiation examinations were conducted to determine actual test temperatures via SiC thermometry samples, to evaluate the extent of fission gas release from the samples, and to remove the fuel from the subcapsules. As-built simulations compared well with experiment designs and were in reasonable agreement with the measured temperatures inferred from the passive SiC thermometers. Additionally, fission gas release values were relatively small (on the order of 3%); one sample reached approximately 8%. Although some of this behavior is attributable to recoil, most of the gas release was likely caused by the physics of the fuel behavior during the test. Finally, disassembly showed that at least four of the fuel samples degraded into small components and granules at some point during the test, with the state of the other two samples unproven. Additional work is planned for further examination of these samples via various microscopy techniques.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2025

DOE FAIR Surrogate Benchmarks Supporting AI and Simulation Research (SBI Surrogate Benchmark Initiative) (Final Report)

Computational Science is being revolutionized by integrating AI and simulation and, in particular, by deep learning surrogate models that can replace all or part of traditional large‐scale HPC computations. Such surrogates can achieve remarkable performance improvements, as much as several orders of magnitude, and save both compute time and energy. The Surrogate Benchmark Initiative (SBI) project creates a community repository and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data ecosystem for HPC application surrogate benchmarks. The SBI team comes from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Indiana University (IU), Rutgers University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), and the University of Virginia(UVA). SBI repositories include data, code, and all relevant collateral artifacts, that the science and engineering community needs to use and reuse these data sets and surrogates. SBI repositories generate active research from both participants in SBI and the broader AI and domain science communities. This project develops surrogates that use several different neural nets to learn and quickly infer the results of simulations and data systems and capture them as surrogate benchmarks with a rich set of metadata, covering. Data; Model; Metrics specification; Machine specification; Science, Speed, Power Results, We research FAIR metadata for these benchmarks. We develop application surrogate examples as benchmarks across many fields (ANL, UTK, IU, UVA). We also study non Surrogate benchmarks that have many common features and similar issues regarding FAIRness. We work with MLCommons (UVA, UTK), which is a major machine learning benchmarking activity where we get metadata ontologies, software, and benchmarks, benchmarks have datasets, models, and metadata, and they need a technical framework developed by UTK and Rutgers and deployed by UVA. We study features of Surrogates, including performance, training set size, and uncertainty quantification (Rutgers, UVA and IU).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Greater Toledo Community Foundation Sustainable Communities Educational Initiative (Final Technical Report)

The Greater Toledo Community Foundation’s (GTCF) Sustainable Communities Educational Initiative leveraged the two recently constructed Overland Solar Arrays to launch a diverse collection of educational activities designed to promote the intersection between workforce development, renewable energy and community activism to showcase emerging avenues for greater prosperity in communities that have experienced historic disinvestment. In addition to educational programming focused on employment in the clean energy and advanced manufacturing fields, the project also activated storytelling approaches to explain sustainable energy’s role in philanthropy, grantmaking and resident-led neighborhood enhancements.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Assembly and Initial Testing of the Gamma-Ray Emission Tomography Assessment Prototype for Irradiated Fuel

The following report documents the final development, assembly, and initial testing of the gamma-ray emission tomography assessment system (GRETA-1) for post-irradiation examination of irradiated fuel. It includes descriptions of the system components, including the high-purity germanium gamma-ray detector, the surrounding shield and collimator, the sample scanning hardware, and the control and collection software package. A series of MCNP6 simulations were performed that modeled a fuel rod scan to test image reconstruction algorithms with a complex and understood source distribution. A bench-top scan of isotopic check sources was also performed and analyzed using standard image reconstruction algorithms. The system is currently awaiting deployment at Idaho National Laboratory’s Hot Fuel Examination Facility.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗

DOE OSTI2026

Port Technical Assistance Program: A Proposed Initiative to Support U.S. Ports Through Energy Innovation

This document highlights the crucial importance of the maritime sector within the United States (U.S.) economy, serving as a key node for trade and global goods transportation. U.S. ports are currently grappling with challenges posed by rising shipping demands, the health impacts of diesel fuel reliance, and the technology adoptions of global trade partners due to increasing environmental regulations. This document proposes forming a technical assistance program, led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), to help U.S. ports transition to sustainable energy solutions that not only improve environmental and community outcomes, but also enhance resilience to unexpected weather events and reduce pressure on local utilities. Coordinated by PNNL, this initiative would offer a web-based platform of consolidated resources and tools for comprehensive strategic planning and cost-benefit analysis. It also seeks to establish a collaborative network between ports and national laboratories to facilitate the sharing of best practices. The document suggests that optimizing resource allocation and providing tailored support could be achieved through strategic categorization of ports within this network, with relevant attributes and examples detailed in the report. The anticipated benefits of such a program could include increased efficiency and cost savings in port operations and the advancement of scientific innovation via alternative energy research. Also, it could enhance economic growth and competitiveness in international trade by enabling ports to meet shipping demands and develop resilient critical infrastructure through informed, long-term strategies.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗