Results for “planned” — Page 9

DOE OSTI2020

Project Plan: Salt in Situ Heater Test

This project plan gives a high-level description of the US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition (SFWD) campaign in situ borehole heater test project planned for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site, titled the Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS). BATS is the first stage in a planned sequence of tests to bolster the technical basis for disposal of heat generating waste in salt. This plan provides an overview of the schedule and responsibilities of the parties involved. This project is a collaborative effort by Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories to execute a series of small-diameter borehole heater tests in salt for the DOE-NE SFWD campaign. Design of a heater test in salt at WIPP has evolved over several years. The experiment has begun in January 2020 and the first phase will continue for several months with the possibility for follow on testing. BATS comprises a suite of modular tests, which consist of a group of adjacent horizontal boreholes in the wall of drifts at WIPP. Each test is centered around a packer-isolated heated borehole (12.2 cm [4.81 diameter) containing equipment for water-vapor collection and borehole closure monitoring, surrounded by smaller-diameter (up to 5.3 cm [2.11 diameter) satellite observation boreholes. Observation boreholes contain grouted-in temperature sensors, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) sensors, and fiber optics; packer-isolated tracer release and sampling intervals; and acoustic emission (AE) piezoelectric sensors. A larger-diameter (12.2 cm [4.81) satellite borehole includes sorel and salt cement plugs, as part of an engineered barrier sealing test. The first two tests, to be implemented in parallel, are heated (target borehole wall temperature of 120 °C) and unheated, with similar arrays of observation borehole monitoring changes. Follow-on tests will be designed using information gathered from the first two tests, and may be conducted at other borehole wall temperatures, use multiple observation boreholes, and may include different measurement types and test designs. This 2020 update of the original 2018 project plan satisfies DOE-NE Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) milestone M3SF-205N010303034, as part of the SNL "Salt Disposal R&D" work package.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2020

Rice Business Plan Competition (Final Report)

During the grant period, Rice University held a total of three regional Clean Energy Business Plan Competitions for graduate level students with a particular focus on attracting student startups in the clean energy space (clean tech, renewable energy, transportation, batteries, sustainability, etc.) Over the three years of the grant, the Rice Business Plan Competition awarded a total of three ${$}$50,000 DOE-sponsored prizes to the winning startups (${$}$150,000 total). The Rice Energy Business Plan Competition’s DOE Clean Tech competition leveraged the resources and infrastructure of the existing annual Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), which is the world’s largest and richest intercollegiate graduate-level business plan competition in the world

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2020

Emergency Planning Considerations for Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors

The purpose of this scoping study is to develop an approach for establishing emergency planning requirements for advanced nuclear power reactors and other new reactor technologies. The approach considers existing emergency planning requirements and guidance. More specifically the study focuses on establishing criteria and process to determine the size of the plume and ingestion exposure pathway emergency planning zone. The review of emergency planning in place for existing licensed nuclear facilities provides insight and informs the suggested process for establishing this Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) process.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2023

ASME Code Qualification Plan for LPBF 316 SS

This report describes a plan to qualify laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 316 stainless steel for use with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code Section III, Division 5 rules for metallic components in high temperature nuclear reactors. Accomplishing this goal would make the material and manufacturing process available to vendors for inclusion in the next generation of advanced, high temperature reactors. The general approach adopted here is to treat LPBF 316 as if it was a completely new material and to develop a plan to qualify the material according to the current ASME practices. One key goal of this work is to explore and develop accelerated qualification approaches that might reduce the time required to qualify new materials by reducing the need for long term testing. However, the qualification plan here does not employ any accelerated qualification approaches to provide a limiting, bounding description of the number, duration, and types of testing required to qualify LPBF 316 without such techniques and to describe a comprehensive dataset that could be used to explore and validate accelerated qualification approaches in the future. The report addresses the fundamental challenges to qualifying Advanced Manufacturing (AM) materials for high temperature applications and summarizes the ASME Section III qualification process as well as current efforts to qualify LBPF and DED 316 for low temperature applications. The report then discusses specific issues, both material and logistical, related to qualifying PBF 316 steel. The final chapters of the report describe a complete test plan designed to generate sufficient data to qualify the material as well as a data management plan for how to store and manage the data to eventually provide the test data packaged needed to qualify the material with ASME.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2025

United States Nuclear Data Program Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2025

The work plan described in this document has been developed to cover work to be performed by the U. S. Nuclear Data Program (USNDP) during Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 that begins on October 1, 2024. This plan has been prepared in consultation with the members of the Coordinating Committee who represent the organizations participating in the program. Each Coordinating Committee member prepared a draft plan for his/her organization. Each contribution was integrated into a unified work plan. The draft plan was then circulated to the Coordinating Committee for comments and corrections before the final document was submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Robust Approach to Sequential Information Theoretic Planning

In many sequential planning applications a natural approach to generating high quality plans is to maximize an information reward such as mutual information (MI). Unfortunately, MI lacks a closed form in all but trivial models, and so must be estimated. In applications where the cost of plan execution is expensive, one desires planning estimates which admit theoretical guarantees. Through the use of robust M-estimators we obtain bounds on absolute deviation of estimated MI. Moreover, we propose a sequential algorithm which integrates inference and planning by maximally reusing particles in each stage. We validate the utility of using robust estimators in the sequential approach on a Gaussian Markov Random Field wherein information measures have a closed form. Lastly, we demonstrate the benefits of our integrated approach in the context of sequential experiment design for inferring causal regulatory networks from gene expression levels. Here, our method shows improvements over a recent method which selects intervention experiments based on the same MI objective.

Zheng, Sue↗

DOE OSTI2022

Incorporating climate change into risk-informed resilience planning

In response to the development of portfolio-wide Climate Action Plans by federal agencies, federal sites are working to incorporate the impacts of climate change into their resilience assessments. However, it can be challenging to incorporate climate change scenarios into resilience assessments given the uncertainty inherent in climate change modeling. Incorporating these factors into a resilience plan requires an understanding of what the different climate scenarios mean, as well as how to estimate potential impacts of climate change on hazard occurrence on a regional, or even local, scale under different scenarios. We discuss approaches to incorporating this data into risk-informed resilience assessment processes, such as those implemented in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP) Technical Resilience Navigator (TRN) and the Sustainability Performance Division’s (SPD) Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Plan (VARP) Risk Assessment Tool. We also describe the climate scenarios and the availability of hazard data for site resilience planning, based on modeling included in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Climate Assessment (NCA), and state-level reports. We present examples from the TRN risk assessment and the VARP Risk Assessment Tool to illustrate how sensitivity analysis can be used to incorporate climate change projections into the resilience planning process.

Rabinowitz, Hannah S.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Beyond Capacity Credits: Adaptive Stress Period Planning for Evolving Power Systems

This paper combines and applies concepts from several researchers to outline an alternative framework to plan power systems for resource adequacy needs, which we call Adaptive Stress Period Planning (ASPP). It first provides background information regarding least-cost planning objectives and the challenge of balancing an increasing need for model representation with computational intensity as power systems evolve in complexity. Next, it motivates the opportunity for a new paradigm by outlining challenges of frameworks in use today that rely on aggregate capacity heuristics (i.e., capacity credits and planning reserve margins). Subsequently, it lays out main process details of ASPP, which more directly represents spatial and temporal dynamics of power systems in a capacity expansion model with a process to adaptively select risk periods. The paper concludes with a summary of the approach, its benefits, and opportunities for future work.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

An Action Plan for Maritime Energy and Emissions Innovation

The Action Plan for Maritime Energy and Emissions Innovation (the action plan) lays out a strategy to reduce and eliminate nearly all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. maritime sector by 2050, in line with the U.S. economy-wide goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. To reach this goal, the action plan outlines actions, objectives, targets, and activities to scale low- and net-zero emissions fuels, energies, and technologies; strengthen the maritime workforce; bolster shipbuilding capacity; and expand complementary landside infrastructure. The action plan supports industry, mariners, communities, civil society, sub-national governments, and other interested parties that will decarbonize the maritime sector alongside the U.S. government.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Strategic Energy Plan: Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Un Nuevo Amanecer Inc. (UNA), a community-based NGO (501C(3)), sought technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to develop a strategic energy plan (SEP) for the community of Playa de Ponce on the south coast of Puerto Rico. A SEP helps communities identify energy goals and priority projects, and outline strategies and actions to build a shared path toward their energy vision. The primary goal of this SEP is to collaboratively explore pathways for the community's energy future. Researchers from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) engaged with the community for a period of seven months and facilitated a series of in-person community engagement workshops along with ETIPP regional partner Puerto Rico Hispanic Federation, UNA, and community leaders. The SEP workshops were held twice, March 18-20 and June 24-26, 2025. Through facilitated discussions, the community worked together to define and articulate a clear vision for its short-, medium-, and long-term energy goals. The workshops played a key role in identifying the specific strategies and priority projects that would best suit the needs of the community. The discussions outlined the community's energy aspirations, establishing a shared vision, setting goals, and outlining the priority actions needed to bring them to fruition. During the workshops, the community shared some of the most pressing energy challenges that they face on a regular basis, such as high energy costs that disproportionately impact an aging population and unreliable electricity during extreme weather events that result in frequent power outages. These issues have also exacerbated risks to public health and safety of the community. In response, UNA requested technical assistance through ETIPP to inform the development of a SEP tailored to Playa de Ponce to support its energy vision. This document explores four community-driven energy strategies aligned with that vision. Figure 1 shows the strategies outlined in this plan, which are categorized into three focus areas as identified by the community: energy reliability; safety and security; and stakeholder participation, education, and capacity building. This document serves as a shared roadmap for developing and implementing energy solutions that meet the needs of Playa de Ponce. It is intended to serve as a public resource for the community, UNA, and local authorities - providing tools, information and a shared foundation to inform future implementation efforts. This plan is intended to complement ongoing planning frameworks at the municipal, regional, and island-wide levels. As a living document, this SEP can evolve alongside Playa de Ponce's changing energy goals, while offering a framework to help them realize their energy vision.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project Strategic Energy Plan for Washington County, Maine

This Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) for Washington County, Maine was developed through the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to address local challenges related to electricity reliability, affordability, and safety. Grounded in a "relational infrastructure" approach, the plan recognizes that improved energy outcomes depend not only on physical grid investments but also on strengthened coordination and trust between utilities and communities. Using utility-provided reliability data, public datasets, and community input, the plan identifies key risks, including vegetation-related outages, high energy burden, and vulnerability among elderly and medically dependent populations. The SEP establishes three priority areas: hazard mitigation for energy infrastructure, outage safety and emergency readiness, and energy assistance and thermal safety. It outlines community-driven actions designed to complement utility-led system improvements, including targeted outreach, municipal coordination, and expanded access to energy programs. The plan also situates local conditions within broader state policy, market dynamics, and funding opportunities. Intended as a living document, this SEP provides a scalable framework for collaborative action to improve resilience, safety, and affordability in rural energy systems.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2024

Key Takeaways: Second Cohort of Action Plans for Rapid Power Sector Decarbonization

A collaborative report from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors, was delivered to energy ministers and presented at the 13th CEM (CEM13) in the United States in September 2022. As a result, Action Plans for power sector decarbonization were developed by the first cohort of countries. The fist cohort included India, Australia, Chile, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. The first cohort's Action Plans were presented at CEM14 in India in July 2023. These Action Plans, supported by the 21st Century Power Partnership and other CEM workstreams via direct technical assistance and capacity building, are intended to focus on select implementation actions given each country's existing power sector goals and activities, and are an opportunity for countries to display leadership in power sector decarbonization. The second set of Action Plans has been developed by Brazil, Canada, the United States, and Uruguay, released at CEM15 in Brazil in October 2024.

21st Century Power Partnership↗

DOE OSTI2024

The National Transmission Planning Study: Executive Summary

The National Transmission Planning Study (NTP Study) was led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Deployment Office, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The study sought to develop new national grid-scale planning tools and methods that can be used by industry, especially when planning for interregional transmission capacity needs; identify potential transmission solutions that will provide broad-scale benefits to electric customers under a wide range of potential futures; inform planning processes for regional and interregional transmission; and identify interregional and national strategies to maintain grid reliability as the grid transitions, including to a reliance on low- and zero-carbon energy resources. The NTP Study is presented as a collection of six chapters.