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DOE OSTI2023

Say where you sample: Increasing site selection transparency in urban ecology

Urban ecological studies have the potential to extend our understanding of socio-ecological systems beyond that of an individual city or region. Cross-comparative empirical work and synthesis are imperative to develop a general urban ecological theory. This can be achieved only if studies are replicable and generalizable. Transparency in methods reporting facilitates generalizability and replicability by documenting the decisions scientists make during the various steps of research design; this is particularly true for sampling design and selection because of their impact on both internal and external validity and the potential to unintentionally introduce bias. Three interdependent aspects of sample design are study sample selection (e.g., specific organisms, soils, or water), sample specification (measurement of specific variable of interest), and site selection (locations sampled). Of these, documentation of site selection—the where component of sample design—is underrepresented in the urban ecology literature. Using a stratified random sample of 158 papers from 12 major urban ecology journals, we investigated how researchers selected study sites in urban ecosystems and evaluated whether their site selection methods were transparent. We extracted data from these papers using a 50-question, theory-based questionnaire and a multiple-reviewer approach. Our sample represented almost 45 years of urban ecology research across 40 different countries. We found that more than 80% of the papers read were not transparent in their site selection methodology. We do not believe site selection methods are replicable for 70% of the papers read. Key weaknesses include incomplete descriptions of populations and sampling frames, urban gradients, sample selection methods, and property access. Low transparency in reporting the where methodology limits urban ecologists’ ability to assess the internal and external validity of studies’ findings and to replicate published studies; it also limits the generalizability of existing studies. The challenges of low transparency are particularly relevant in urban ecology, a field where standard protocols for site selection and delineation are still being developed. These limitations interfere with the fields’ ability to build theory and inform policy. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations to increase transparency, replicability, and generalizability.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Applicability of 1D site response analysis to shallow sedimentary basins: A critical evaluation through physics-based 3D ground motion simulations

One-dimensional site response analysis (1D SRA) remains the standard practice in considering the effect of local soil deposits and predicting site-specific ground motions, although its range of applicability to realistic seismic wavefields is still in question. In this 1D approach, horizontal and vertical ground shaking are assumed to be induced by vertically propagating shear and compressional waves, respectively. A recent study based on analytical two-dimensional (2D) plane waves and simple point source earthquake simulations has shown two mechanistic limitations in this 1D modelling technique for general inclined seismic waves, that is, systematic over-prediction of the vertical motion and wave trapping in the 1D soil column. In this article, we evaluate in detail the applicability of this 1D modelling approach to realistic three-dimensional (3D) simulated seismic wavefields in shallow sedimentary basins. Linear-viscoelastic 1D SRA predictions using two types of input motions that are commonly used in practice—rock outcrop and in-column motions, are compared with the reference true site response results from 3D earthquake simulations in terms of various measures in the frequency and time domain. It is shown that the horizontal motion in the 3D seismic wavefield exhibits dominant shear wave propagation phenomenon, while the vertical motion is a combined effect of compressional and shear waves and can be over-predicted by the 1D approach when the incident seismic waves are inclined. Direct evidence of the wave refraction process that leads to the vertical motion over-prediction is provided. 1D SRA with in-column inputs can yield motions that have significantly longer duration compared to the true 3D site response solution due to trapped waves, casting in doubt the frequent need for increased soil damping in existing site studies to compensate for wave attenuation due to scattering alone. Sensitivity investigation on the increase of soil profile damping by a multiplier D mul shows D mul values compatible with those found in the literature for both horizontal and vertical motions. It is shown that the level of D mul optimized for a best match of the spectral acceleration is dependent on the characteristic of the input motion and a larger D mul is typically required for the vertical component. In contrast, 1D SRA with outcrop motions predicts motions with shorter significant duration due to its inability to capture the basin-edge generated surface waves. A suite of ground motion simulations was performed to assess the sensitivity of the observations to the basin geologic structure including the velocity gradient, rock-basin impedance contrast and basin depth. The analysis results show that the accuracy of the simplified 1D procedure is dependent on the wavefield composition of both the input motions and the true 3D site response solution. While the horizontal motions in shallow sedimentary basins can, to the first order, be reasonably captured by the simplified 1D approach, 1D SRA for the vertical component is in general not reliable and contributions from inclined shear waves should be accounted for in site-specific evaluation of the vertical design ground motion.

1D assumption↗

DOE OSTI2022

Turbine scale and siting considerations in wind plant layout optimization and implications for capacity density

Improvements in wind energy technology, reduced costs, and ambitious clean energy goals have led to projections of high wind contribution in coming years. Developing methodologies to design wind plants with a variety of siting constraints and turbine sizes helps enable high wind penetration, and gain a better understanding of how wind plants are sensitive to setback constraints and turbine design. In this paper, we present a two-step optimization method to simultaneously determine the optimal number of turbines and their locations in a wind plant domain divided into many small, discrete parcels. We present the optimized performance metrics of a wind plant optimized with different turbine sizes and ratings, and with different siting restrictions within the wind plant. Our results indicate that taller and larger turbines are more sensitive to increasing siting constraints. We also compare the optimal wind plant layouts and performance for wind plants optimized for minimum COE and maximum profit. Wind plants optimized for profit had 130%-190% of the capacity of plants optimized for COE, which demonstrates that the optimal results are greatly affected by the objective function, which should be carefully considered. Finally, in this paper we demonstrate the effect of increasing siting constraints on wind plant capacity density, and how the results change when different land areas are used to calculate capacity density. When using the entire wind plant boundary area to determine capacity density, increasing siting constraints decreases the capacity density. However, when we only use the available area (the area left after removing the siting constraints) to calculate the capacity density, increasing the siting constraints increases capacity density. This is a critical insight because of how capacity density is typically defined and used in research, and has important implications for assessment of technical potential and capacity expansion modeling, as well as future wind deployment potential.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Risk to ecological resources following remediation can be due mainly to increased resource value of successful restoration: A case study from the Department of Energy's Hanford Site

Several nations are faced with the need to remediate large contaminated sites following World War II, the Cold War, and abandoned industrial sites, and to return them to productive land uses. In the United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) has the largest cleanup challenge, and its Hanford Site in the state of Washington has the most extensive and most expensive cleanup task. Ideally, the risk to ecological resources on remediation sites is evaluated before, during, and after remediation, and the risk from, or damage to, ecological resources from contaminants should be lower following remediation. In this paper, we report the risk to ecological resources before, during, and as a consequence of remediation on contaminated units requiring cleanup, and then examine the causes for changes in risk by evaluating 56 cleanup evaluation units (EUs) at the Hanford Site. In this case, remediation includes a restoration phase. In general, the risk to ecological and eco-cultural resources is currently not discernible or low at most contaminated units, increases during remediation, and decreases thereafter. Remediation often causes physical disruption to ecosystems as it reduces the risk from exposure to contaminants. Most new remediation projects at the Hanford Site include ecological restoration. Ecological restoration results in the potential for the presence of higher quality resources after remediation than currently exists on these contaminated lands and facilities. Although counter-intuitive, our evaluation of the risk to ecological resources following remediation indicated that a significant percentage of units (61%) will be at increased risk in the post-remediation period. This increased risk is due to DOE's successful remediation and restoration that results in a higher percent of native vegetation and higher ecological value on the sites in the post-remediation period than before. These newly-created resources can then be at risk from post-remediation activities. Risks to these new higher quality resources include the potential for spread of invasive species and of noxious grasses used in previous cleanup actions, disruption of ecosystems (including those with state or federally listed species and unique ecosystems), compaction of soil, use of pesticides to control invasive species, and the eventual need for continued monitoring activities. Thus, by greatly improving the existing habitat and health of eco-receptors, and maintaining habitat corridors between high quality habitats, the ecological resources in the post-remediated units are at risk unless care is taken to protect them. Many of the negative effects of both remediation and future monitoring (or other future land uses) can be avoided by planning and management early in the remediation process. We suggest DOE and other agencies convene a panel of managers, remediation scientists, regulators, environmental and ecological scientists, Native Americans, economists, and the public to develop a generic list of performance metrics for the restoration phase of remediation, including evaluation of success, which could be applied across the DOE complex.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Linking low and high temperature NO oxidation mechanisms over Brønsted acidic chabazite to dynamic changes of the active site

The oxidation of NO over Brønsted acid sites in chabazite (CHA) zeolites shows an atypical temperature dependence; at low temperature the apparent activation energy is negative, but it becomes positive as the temperature exceeds a transition temperature. To explain this behavior we used density functional theory and statistical mechanics to investigate high and low temperature mechanisms for this reaction and propose a dynamic active site change in response to temperature variation. Our simulations show that the apparent activation barrier in the low temperature regime is more negative over Brønsted acidic CHA as compared to the siliceous zeolite framework. This effect is attributed to further enthalpic stabilization of the transition states by physical interaction with the H-CHA Brønsted acid sites. At elevated temperature, our calculations support both the existence and the significant catalytic role of NO+ in providing a modified active site. The temperature dependent transformation of the active site from H-CHA to NO-CHA sites may occur via two plausible ion-exchange mechanisms that define a transition temperature for the reaction. This transition temperature can be tuned by incorporating different trivalent metal atoms (B, Al, Ga or In) within the CHA framework. We found the lowest transition temperature for H-[In] CHA and H-[Ga]CHA. Here, the ability to control the dynamic response of the active site and the associated switch between low and high temperature mechanism with negative and positive apparent activation energy, respectively, is of fundamental interest for the design of zeolite catalysts operating in the presence of NO.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Protecting groups in insertion chemistry: Site-selective positioning of lithium ions in intercalation hosts

The expanding toolbox of functionalization chemistries for selectively installing moieties on specific sites of a substrate underpins almost all modern organic and biochemical syntheses. Likewise, the installation of mobile guest ions in specific interstitial sites and their transport along specific diffusion pathways forms the basis of modern lithium (Li)-ion battery electrodes. Many insertion hosts afford a diverse range of accessible interstitial sites. However, site-selective positioning of cations with atomic precision remains almost entirely unexplored. Here, we show that by deciphering site preferences of co/pre-intercalated cations, we can position Li ions in four distinct sites within a 1D ζ-V 2 O 5 insertion host. The use of topochemistry to effect single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations enables atomic-resolution mapping of the selective positioning of Li ions through single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Here we image interstitial sites that are occupied at high depths of discharge, thereby obtaining unprecedented structural insight into “fully stuffed” frameworks critical for the realization of high-energy-density intercalation electrodes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Engineering Active Surface Oxygen Sites of Cubic Perovskite Cobalt Oxides toward Catalytic Oxidation Reactions

Unraveling the role of surface oxygen sites in transition metal oxides during catalytic reactions has always been the focus of environmental and energy chemistry research. For this work, active surface oxygen sites of cubic perovskite cobalt oxide were engineered to comprehend their crucial role and catalytic mechanism at the molecular level. By removing those inert Sr/La–O termination layers, active oxygen sites were exposed on the Co terminated surface of Sr 0.6 La 0.4 CoO 3–δ that furnished the dominant catalytic process of CO oxidation via the Mars–van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism. The fabrication of five-coordinate cobalt ions and the enhanced covalency of Co–O bonds not only optimize the surface electronic structure of Co 3d–O 2p, but also supply active surface oxygen sites, which effectively oxidizes CO to CO 2 with a significantly improved oxidation performance and stability as evidenced by soft/hard XAS, XPS, and O 2 -TPD. Furthermore, online isotopic 18 O 2 mass spectrometry, in situ DRIFTS, and theoretical simulation demonstrate that the activity of surface oxygen sites enhances the kinetics of the MvK reaction, while unsaturated coordination sites from five-coordinate cobalt ions primarily contribute to the activated oxygen molecules and the stable catalytic cycle. The results reported here provide a deep insight into the comprehension of the relationships among active oxygen sites, surface electronic structure, and the reaction mechanism of transition metal oxides necessary for catalytic oxidation reactions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2011

Characterizing Surface Acidic Sites in Mesoporous-Silica-Supported Tungsten Oxide Catalysts Using Solid State NMR and Quantum Chemistry Calculations

The acidic sites in dispersed tungsten oxide supported on SBA-15 mesoporous silica were investigated using a combination of pyridine titration, both fast-, and slow-MAS {sup 15}N NMR, static {sup 2}H NMR, and quantum chemistry calculations. It is found that the bridged acidic -OH groups in surface adsorbed tungsten dimers (i.e., W-OH-W) are the Broensted acid sites. The unusually strong acidity of these Broensted acid sites is confirmed by quantum chemistry calculations. In contrast, terminal W-OH sites are very stable and only weakly acidic as are terminal Si-OH sites. Furthermore, molecular interactions between pyridine molecules and the dimer Broensted and terminal W-OH sites for dispersed tungsten oxide species is strong. This results in restricted molecular motion for the interacting pyridine molecules even at room temperature, i.e., a reorientation mainly about the molecular 2-fold axis. This restricted reorientation makes it possible to estimate the relative ratio of the Broensted (tungsten dimer) to the weakly acidic terminal W-OH sites in the catalyst using the slow-MAS {sup 1}H-{sup 15}N CP PASS method.

15N NMR↗

DOE OSTI2023

Quantifying Site Effects and Their Influence on Earthquake Source Parameter Estimations Using a Dense Array in Oklahoma

We investigate the effects of site response on source parameter estimates using earthquakes recorded by the LArge-n Seismic Survey in Oklahoma (LASSO). While it is well known that near-surface unconsolidated sediments can cause an apparent breakdown of earthquake self-similarity, the influence of laterally varying site conditions remains unclear. We analyze site conditions across the 1825-station array on a river plain within an area of 40 km by 23 km using vertical ground motions from 14 regional earthquakes. While the source radiation pattern controls P-wave ground motions below 8 Hz, the surface geology correlates with P-wave ground motions above 8 Hz and S-wave ground motions at 2–21 Hz. Stations installed in alluvial sediments have vertical ground motions that can exceed three times the array median. We use the variation of ground motion of regional earthquakes across the array as a proxy for site effects. The corner frequencies and stress drops of local earthquakes ( M L = 0.01–3) estimated using a standard single-spectra approach show negative correlations with the site-effect proxy, while the seismic moments show positive correlations. In contrast, the spectral-ratio approach effectively shows no correlation. The overall bias is small as expected for this relatively homogeneous structure; accurate estimation of site-related biases requires at least 30 stations. Correcting for site-related biases reduces the standard deviations of the source parameters by less than 13% of the total variations. Remaining variations are partially associated with source directivity and model misfits— as small earthquakes can have complex ruptures.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Revealing the structure of a catalytic combustion active-site ensemble combining uniform nanocrystal catalysts and theory insights

Supported metal catalysts are extensively used in industrial and environmental applications. To improve their performance, it is crucial to identify the most active sites. This identification is, however, made challenging by the presence of a large number of potential surface structures that complicate such an assignment. Often, the active site is formed by an ensemble of atoms, thus introducing further complications in its identification. Being able to produce uniform structures and identify the ones that are responsible for the catalyst performance is a crucial goal. Here, we utilize a combination of uniform Pd/Pt nanocrystal catalysts and theory to reveal the catalytic active-site ensemble in highly active propene combustion materials. Using colloidal chemistry to exquisitely control nanoparticle size, we find that intrinsic rates for propene combustion in the presence of water increase monotonically with particle size on Pt-rich catalysts, suggesting that the reaction is structure dependent. We also reveal that water has a near-zero or mildly positive reaction rate order over Pd/Pt catalysts. Theory insights allow us to determine that the interaction of water with extended terraces present in large particles leads to the formation of step sites on metallic surfaces. These specific step-edge sites are responsible for the efficient combustion of propene at low temperature. This work reveals an elusive geometric ensemble, thus clearly identifying the active site in alkene combustion catalysts. These insights demonstrate how the combination of uniform catalysts and theory can provide a much deeper understanding of active-site geometry for many applications

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2013

Geological criteria for site selection of an LILW radioactive waste repository in the Philippines

In the selection of sites for disposal facilities involving low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommendations require that 'the region in which the site is located shall be such that significant tectonic and surface processes are not expected to occur with an intensity that would compromise the required isolation capability of the repository'. Evaluating the appropriateness of a site therefore requires a deep understanding of the geological and tectonic setting of the area. The Philippines sits in a tectonically active region frequented by earthquakes and volcanic activity. Its highly variable morphology coupled with its location along the typhoon corridor in the west Pacific region subjects the country to surface processes often manifested in the form of landslides. The Philippine LILW near surface repository project site is located on the north eastern sector of the Island of Luzon in northern Philippines. This island is surrounded by active subduction trenches; to the east by the East Luzon Trough and to the west by the Manila Trench. The island is also traversed by several branches of the Philippine Fault System. The Philippine LILW repository project is located more than 100 km away from any of these major active fault systems. In the near field, the project site is located less than 10 km from a minor fault (Dummon River Fault) and more than 40 km away from a volcanic edifice (Mt. Caguas). This paper presents an analysis of the potential hazards that these active tectonic features may pose to the project site. The assessment of such geologic hazards is imperative in the characterization of the site and a crucial input in the design and safety assessment of the repository. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2021

DeepGRN: prediction of transcription factor binding site across cell-types using attention-based deep neural networks

Abstract Background Due to the complexity of the biological systems, the prediction of the potential DNA binding sites for transcription factors remains a difficult problem in computational biology. Genomic DNA sequences and experimental results from parallel sequencing provide available information about the affinity and accessibility of genome and are commonly used features in binding sites prediction. The attention mechanism in deep learning has shown its capability to learn long-range dependencies from sequential data, such as sentences and voices. Until now, no study has applied this approach in binding site inference from massively parallel sequencing data. The successful applications of attention mechanism in similar input contexts motivate us to build and test new methods that can accurately determine the binding sites of transcription factors. Results In this study, we propose a novel tool (named DeepGRN) for transcription factors binding site prediction based on the combination of two components: single attention module and pairwise attention module. The performance of our methods is evaluated on the ENCODE-DREAM in vivo Transcription Factor Binding Site Prediction Challenge datasets. The results show that DeepGRN achieves higher unified scores in 6 of 13 targets than any of the top four methods in the DREAM challenge. We also demonstrate that the attention weights learned by the model are correlated with potential informative inputs, such as DNase-Seq coverage and motifs, which provide possible explanations for the predictive improvements in DeepGRN. Conclusions DeepGRN can automatically and effectively predict transcription factor binding sites from DNA sequences and DNase-Seq coverage. Furthermore, the visualization techniques we developed for the attention modules help to interpret how critical patterns from different types of input features are recognized by our model.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2012

Assessment of Natural Stream Sites for Hydroelectric Dams in the Pacific Northwest Region

This pilot study presents a methodology for modeling project characteristics using a development model of a stream obstructing dam. The model is applied to all individual stream reaches in hydrologic region 17, which encompasses nearly all of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Project site characteristics produced by the modeling technique include: capacity potential, principal dam dimensions, number of required auxiliary dams, total extent of the constructed impoundment boundary, and the surface area of the resulting reservoir. Aggregated capacity potential values for the region are presented in capacity categories including total, that at existing dams, within federal and environmentally sensitive exclusion zones, and the balance which is consider available for greenfield development within the limits of the study. Distributions of site characteristics for small hydropower sites are presented and discussed. These sites are screened to identify candidate small hydropower sites and distributions of the site characteristics of this site population are presented and discussed. Recommendations are made for upgrading the methodology and extensions to make the results more accessible and available on a larger scale.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

2015 Groundwater Monitoring and Inspection Report Gnome-Coach, New Mexico, Site

The Gnome-Coach, New Mexico, Site was the location of a 3-kiloton-yield underground nuclear test in 1961 and a groundwater tracer test in 1963. The U.S. Geological Survey conducted the groundwater tracer test using four dissolved radionuclides--tritium, iodine-131, strontium-90, and cesium-137--as tracers. Site reclamation and remediation began after the underground testing, and was conducted in several phases at the site. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) issued a Conditional Certificate of Completion in September 2014, which documents that surface remediation activities have been successfully completed in accordance with the Voluntary Remediation Program. Subsurface activities have included annual sampling and monitoring of wells at and near the site since 1972. These annual monitoring activities were enhanced in 2008 to include monitoring hydraulic head and collecting samples from the onsite wells USGS-4, USGS-8, and LRL-7 using the low-flow sampling method. In 2010, the annual monitoring was focused to the monitoring wells within the site boundary. A site inspection and annual sampling were conducted on January 27-28, 2015. A second site visit was conducted on April 21, 2015, to install warning/notification signs to fulfill a requirement of the Conditional Certificate of Completion that was issued by the NMED for the surface.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

Marine Hydrokinetic Energy Site Identification and Ranking Methodology Part I: Wave Energy

Marine hydrokinetic energy is a promising and growing piece of the renewable energy sector that offers high predictability and additional energy sources for a diversified energy economy. This report investigates the market opportunities for wave energy along the U.S. coastlines. It is part one of a two-part investigation into the United State's two largest marine hydrokinetic resources (wave and tidal). Wave energy technology is still an emerging form of renewable energy for which large-scale, grid-connected project costs are currently poorly defined. Ideally, device designers would like to know the resource conditions at economical project sites so they can optimize device designs. On the other hand, project developers need detailed device cost data to identify sites where projects are economical. That is, device design and siting are, to some extent, a coupled problem. This work describes a methodology for identifying likely deployment locations based on a set of criteria that wave energy experts in industry, academia, and national laboratories agree are likely to be important factors for all technology types. This work groups the data for the six criteria into 'locales' that are defined as the smaller of either the local transmission grid or a state boundary. The former applies to U.S. islands (e.g., Hawaii, American Samoa) and rural villages (e.g., in Alaska); the latter applies to states in the contiguous United States. These data are then scored from 0 to 10 according to scoring functions that were developed with input from wave energy industry and academic experts. The scores are aggregated using a simple product method that includes a weighting factor for each criterion. This work presents two weighting scenarios: a long-term scenario that does not include energy price (weighted zero) and a near term scenario that includes energy price. The aggregated scores are then used to produce ranked lists of likely deployment locales. In both scenarios, Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest (northern California, Oregon, and Washington) rank at the top of the lists. Hawaii ranks highest in the near-term scenario because it has high energy costs. In the long-term scenario, Oregon ranks highest because it has a large market and an energetic resource. Several East Coast states and Puerto Rico are also identified as potential wave energy deployment sites if technological innovations make it possible to efficiently generate electricity from the modest resource there. There are also several small-market sites in Alaska and U.S. Pacific Islands that rank particularly well in the near-term analysis due to their high energy prices. These locations may represent opportunities to demonstrate economical wave energy conversion as a stepping-stone to larger markets. Several factors that will affect wave project costs and siting have not been considered here -- including permitting constraints, conflicting use, seasonal resource variability, extreme event likelihood, and distance to ports -- because consistent data are unavailable or technology-independent scoring could not be identified. As the industry continues to mature and converge around a subset of device archetypes with well-defined costs, more precise investigations of project siting that include these factors will be possible. For now, these results provide a high-level guide pointing to the regions where markets and resource will one day support commercial wave energy projects.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

DOE OSTI2015

Assessment of Hanford Site Reduced Boundary Impacts: Limited Potential-to-Emit and Onsite Receptor Assessments

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site Comprehensive Land Use Plan initiated this work to prospectively determine the potential impact of a proposed reduced Hanford Site controlled access boundary to the regulatory requirements of several radiological air emission units at the Hanford Site 200 Areas. The reduced boundary would allow access to portions of the Hanford Site that are currently closed to the public. In addition, doses to several representative members of the public are presented. The assessments to determine the impact to the potential-to-emit (PTE) dose indicated in the Hanford Site FF-01 Air Operating Permit show that only one of the evaluated stacks, located in the Hanford Site 200 West Area, has the potential to increase its PTE dose. This increased PTE dose result would not change its classification from a minor emission unit to a major emission unit. Dose estimates for representative members of the public are based on average external exposure and inhalation dose estimates. Doses are presented for a Hanford Site tour participant, an intermittent hiker in the Wye Barricade region, and a hiker in a generalized portion of newly opened areas south and west of the Columbia River.

40CFR61subpartH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Pre-conceptual Evaluation of DOD Pele Microreactor Sites at Idaho National Laboratory

Members of the INL Land Use Committee met to discuss potential options and make recommendations for siting the Pele microreactor demonstration and testing projects at INL. The Pele microreactor prototype will be a DOE authorized reactor. The evaluation team of subject matter experts (SME) was asked to consider both indoor sites and outdoor sites. A preliminary evaluation was performed by the SME team and based on those discussions the following recommendations were made: (1) Present EBR-II as the most suitable indoor site, and (2) Utilize CITRC Pads A-D as a system of outdoor demonstration and testing sites. Each pad has its own set of attributes that have been established to enable equipment testing and can provide options for various configurations when the group of pads are used as a system of testing sites. Utilizing CITRC Pads A-D as a system of sites offers flexibility in scheduling activities at CITRC to meet existing program schedules and future Pele program demonstration and testing needs with the least programmatic impact.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Coronado Generating Station Repowering Evaluation - Siting Evaluation

The purpose of this initial siting evaluation is to consider the suitability of the Salt River Project (SRP) owned land at/near Coronado Generating Station (CGS) for a nuclear generating station (including advanced light water reactors, light water small modular reactors, and non-light-water designs1) and to assess if there are any exclusionary or avoidance factors associated with coal to nuclear repowering at CGS. This initial siting evaluation considers several characteristics (e.g., environmental conditions, seismic concerns, site footprint, water use, etc.) and highlights favorable/preferred characteristics as well as potential risks to feasibility. The results are intended to inform SRP on the strengths and weaknesses associated with the CGS site and inform the selection of candidate nuclear technologies for the CGS site that align with SRP’s mission and business objectives. This report relies on industry-recognized siting guidance, including Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI’s) Siting Guide (Reference 1) 2 and Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Regulatory Guide (RG) 4.7 (Reference 3), as well as nuclear domain expertise within the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN), MPR Associates, Inc. (MPR), and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗