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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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The study focuses on source region electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and provides considerations regarding the impact from an EMP due to a low-altitude nuclear denotation.
This report will summarize the group's work to provide recommendations to secure nuclear facilities before, during and after an extreme weather event. Extreme weather events can have drastic impacts to nuclear facilities as seen by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011. Recent hurricanes in the United States including Hurricane Harvey demonstrate the devastating effects these storms can have on infrastructure and the surrounding communities. The group is attempting to identify the gaps that potential small modular reactor (SMR) facilities will need to address in order to provide adequate site security before, during and after extreme weather events. This effort proceeded in three parts to provide insights and recommendations to secure Small Modular Reactor facilities for extreme weather events:(1) a literature review of academic articles as well as relevant documents including the existing regulatory framework and recommendations from the IAEA, NRC, and DOE, (2) subject matter expert interviews from a wide variety of security backgrounds, and (3) modeling and simulation on a hypothetical SMR facility. Special attention was paid to the interactions between stakeholders and nuclear facility design considerations, particularly the topics of safety and security. Engineering design issues from safety and security perspectives were discussed and included in simulation. Each step informed the proceeding, with the result including full tabletop scenarios of EWE impacts to security system effectiveness on the hypothetical model. This systems-level analysis provides results to inform recommendations to secure SMR facilities.
The purpose of this report is to serve as an informative discussion document and to consider perspectives of some key stakeholders that affect commercialization of bi-directional electric vehicles (EVs), charging infrastructure, and other related technologies. In this report, we synthesized information from existing lab studies and a series of industry roundtables, panels, and webinars facilitated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Technology Transitions, in collaboration with the DOE’s Vehicles Technology Office and Argonne National Laboratory, aimed at discussing these technologies. This synthesis identifies key issues and considerations that factor into stakeholder perspectives and the business cases for potential stakeholder adoption of bidirectional electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and other related technologies. Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) owners, building owners, and grid operators all have the potential to develop business cases for bidirectional PEVs and the associated charging infrastructure. Bidirectionality includes the transfer of electricity or associated grid services from a vehicle to a home, building, grid, or other infrastructure, and vice versa also known as V2X).
The USAID-NREL Partnership in Colombia, in conjunction with SURE and USEA, selected four action plan teams from the Young Professionals Leadership Program to receive tailored NREL technical assistance to support action plan implementation. The four plans selected represent various aspects associated with planning for the efficient integration of DERs, including electric mobility, residential and commercial energy applications, distributed generation modeling, and regulatory considerations. In response to national grid modernization, decentralization, digitalization, and electrification trends, CREG is looking to update Colombia's electric distribution code, with an emphasis on the integration of electric vehicles and charging stations, but also energy storage systems, non-conventional sources of renewable energy, and other distributed energy resources (DERs). CREG aims to establish the general steps that must be carried out to update the distribution code for the integration of DERs, with a view to the design and development of new markets. The objective of the TA provided to CREG was to support them in identifying and outlining the general processes and approaches to consider when updating Colombia's distribution code for the integration of electric vehicles, distributed renewable energy systems, and energy storage systems, with a view to the design and development of new markets.
Battery storage systems are increasingly being installed at photovoltaic (PV) sites to address supply-demand balancing needs. Although there is some understanding of costs associated with PV operations and maintenance (O&M), costs associated with emerging technologies such as PV plus storage lack details about the specific systems and/or activities that contribute to the cost values. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the specific factors and drivers contributing to utility-scale PV plus storage systems (UPVS) O&M activities costs, including how technology selection, data collection, and related and ongoing challenges. Specifically, we used semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to collect information and insights from utility-scale owners and operators. Data was collected from 14 semi-structured interviews and questionnaires representing 51.1 MW with 64.1 MWh of installed battery storage capacity within the United States (U.S.). Differences in degradation rate, expected life cycle, and capital costs are observed across different storage technologies. Most O&M activities at UPVS related to correcting under-performance. Fires and venting issues are leading safety concerns, and owner operators have installed additional systems to mitigate these issues. There are ongoing O&M challenges due the lack of storage-specific performance metrics as well as poor vendor reliability and parts availability. Insights from this work will improve our understanding of O&M consideration at PV plus storage sites.
This presentation provides an overview of floating solar photovoltaics (FPV), with specific considerations for Southeast Asia and a focus on aquaculture PV (AquaPV). It was created for the Renewable Energy Buyers Vietnam Working Group, hosted by the Clean Energy Investment Accelerator (CEIA). Both FPV and AquaPV can be found at the intersection of the food-energy-water nexus, with regional implications for energy and food security.
This analysis employs a high-level exploratory analytical approach to quantify various considerations needed for a potential CCS pilot project in the GOM, most notably the cost magnitude to develop an offshore pilot project. The scope of this analysis focuses on CO 2 storage in saline formations presented in two specific scenarios: parts of GOM Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) federal waters and Texas state waters.
Digital twins (DTs) in complex industrial and engineering applications have potential benefits that include increased operational efficiencies, enhanced safety and reliability, improved security engineering, reduced errors, faster information sharing, and better predictions. The interest in DT technologies continues to grow, and many of these advanced technologies are expected to experience rapid and wide industry adoption in the near future. Some of the potential application areas for DTs in the nuclear industry are design, licensing, plant construction, training simulators, predictive operations and maintenance, autonomous operation and control, failure and degradation prediction, physical protection modeling and simulation, and safety and reliability analyses. The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has initiated a future-focused research project to assess the regulatory viability of DTs for nuclear power plants and other NRC-regulated activities, such as fuel cycle facilities and operations. This report explores the potential impact of DT technologies in nuclear applications on NRC-regulated activities of interest. This report describes a nuclear DT system and its capabilities for nuclear power plant applications, followed by identification and discussion of some regulated activities that merit special consideration and present opportunities in implementing DT-enabling technologies and capabilities.
We estimated the technical potential for the offshore wind (OSW) resource in the United States under two siting regimes to characterize the uncertainty pertaining to the local drivers of siting within a national context. We established Open Access and Limited Access regimes to represent upper and lower bounds on OSW deployment, respectively. These included spatial constraints such as technology depth limits, military use areas, protected areas, existing infrastructure, shipping lanes and more. The same spatial considerations are also considered in the Limited Access regime, but with additional buffers to existing infrastructure as well as a reduced capacity density assumption. Capacity density is the concentration of wind energy development for a given area specified in terms of megawatts (MW) per square kilometer (km 2 ). In the Open-Access regime we used a 5 MW/km 2 assumption, while in the Limited Access scenario we assumed 3 MW/km 2 . This difference reflects our intention for the Open-Access scenario to serve as an upper bound for OSW technical potential, with the Limited-Access scenario as a lower bound. We also applied three technology advancement scenarios to each of the siting regimes. The three technology scenarios (Conservative, Moderate, and Advanced) represent plausible improvements in turbine technology including increased rated power and higher hub heights.
This report summarizes the primary considerations for developing floating offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine based on the current knowledge of the staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as of June 2023. This work was performed as a supplement to information solicited by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in their Call for Information and Nominations announced in April 2023 (BOEM 2023b). The purpose of this report is to provide general information to the citizens of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and to inform decision makers and stakeholders about the unique challenges of developing floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. This report intends to provide context to show the importance of the energy markets created by the states that floating offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine will serve.
Learning refers here to the increased experience associated to each new build of a given type of fuel cycle facility, which results generally in design improvements, increased construction and operational efficiencies and reduced mistakes, and therefore in reduced costs. These are important considerations, for example, when modeling transitions from first-of-a-kind (FOAK) to nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) nuclear facilities and deciding the magnitude of the cost reduction (if any) to be applied to each successive build. Different assumptions on learning can significantly affect the results of the economic analyses during transitions. Other competing electricity-generation technologies, such as wind and solar power for example, have demonstrated substantial cost reductions through learning during the last few decades.
This training provides an overview of possible ownership models as well as key considerations for selecting the best ownership model to achieve a community's goals.
Together New Orleans (TNO) requested technical assistance through the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP). The National Community Solar Partnership is a coalition of community solar stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar to every U.S. household and enable subscribers and their communities to realize meaningful benefits, such as reduced energy burden, increased resilience, community ownership, and equitable workforce development. TNO asked for a subject matter expert from NCSP to review the Entergy New Orleans (ENO) proposed revised Rate Schedule for Community Solar Generating Facilities. TNO requested that the proposed methodology for subscription credits for applicable residential and non-residential rate schedules be reviewed to determine the expected credit rate. The aim behind the analysis is to provide TNO and engaged stakeholders with an informed understanding of the proposed rate schedule before making decisions on the appropriate rate design for community solar (CS) subscriptions. This report is an exploration of CS subscription credit rate calculation considerations using the CS program in New Orleans as a case study. The report provides a framework for modeling CS credit rates in addition to topics that may be helpful to address when undertaking program design or rule making.
Case study that summarizes the risk consideration for class II to class VI well transition. Presented (Virtual) at the Rock Fluid Dynamics (t-Navigator) Technology Summit 2024, May 10, 2024, Houston, TX.
Designing and modeling a community solar (CS) program is a complex process with numerous variable inputs that are interconnected. Modeling a CS program can be useful to inform the programs design itself while also providing stakeholders of all types with information. Accurate data inputs and assumptions are key to ensuring that a model is informative and as representative of real market conditions as possible. This report is an exploration of community solar program modeling considerations, especially as it relates to data inputs such as capital costs, administrative fees, and subscription size, using a CS program in North Carolina as a case study.
The ability to effectively and efficiently connect offshore wind energy resources to end users in the Gulf of Mexico, requires coordinated transmission planning to ensure that electric transmission facilities can adequately support future offshore development. The Gulf of Mexico has substantial wind resources in both shallow shelf waters and deeper waters off the shelf where fixed bottom and floating wind technologies would be most appropriate. Most interest in offshore wind development to date has been in the central and western portions of the Gulf of Mexico (Louisiana and Texas) in federal and state waters. As a companion study to other federal activities in the offshore wind transmission space, including the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis, the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study, the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis, the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Study, and the Advancing Offshore Wind Energy in the United States: U. S. Department of Energy Strategic Contributions Toward 30 Gigawatts and Beyond Report, this literature review and gaps analysis for offshore wind transmission in the Gulf of Mexico builds off previous literature reviews and supports the role of federal leadership to facilitate offshore wind energy. The overarching goal of this document is to identify gaps and lay the groundwork to inform coordinated transmission planning, ocean co-use, existing energy infrastructure, and siting associated with offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico. There are unique regional considerations for offshore wind transmission, which are summarized herein based on a review and assessment of publicly available information.
The hadron storage ring (HSR) of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will use the superconducting magnets from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). However, the beam pipes of these magnets show too large resistive-wall impedance and secondary electron yield to the HSR beams. The planned solution is to install beam screens that feature a thin film of amorphous carbon with low SEY on top of a high RRR copper layer for reduced impedance. This note discusses beam-impedance considerations that impact the EIC HSR beam screen design.
This report presents the current state of knowledge, technology, methodologies, and tools that could be implemented to realize the robust integration of safety, security, and safeguards (3S) for advanced nuclear reactors (ARs) and advanced nuclear fuel cycle facilities. This report was motivated by the global development of ARs which are expected to play a key role in meeting domestic energy and climate objectives. Domestically, with many ARs in the early design phase, the integration of 3S provides an opportunity to achieve risk reduction while using less resources than traditional light water reactors by leveraging interdependencies and synergies between each domain. In addition, domestic policy considerations encourage the convergence of each 3S domain through facility design and operations. Therefore, there is a need to better understand the interdependencies and integration between 3S across ARs and advanced reactor fuel cycle facilities’ lifecycles including design, construction, and operational phases.