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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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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Is there a Perfect D and D Plan - 20100

Problems with many Deactivation and Demolition (D and D) projects arise not necessarily from the technical difficulty of the actions required in a given facility, but rather from lack of integration of the stove piped planning efforts; engineering, operations, environmental, radiological, human resources, etc. This paper will cover Polestar Technical Service, Inc. (Polestar) systems engineering approach to D and D planning based on the company's experience over the past 27 years. This systematic, four-pronged approach to planning is applicable to any D and D project and addresses several diverse topics in a cohesive and integrated manner. The four areas to be discussed are project scope, requirements, facility end state, work force and base operations. This approach progresses a facility through the typical DOE life-cycle from operations, through deactivation, into surveillance and maintenance (S and M) and to eventual demolition and site remediation. To achieve a final end state the approach brings together the efforts associated with identifying and managing the right set of requirements, detailing the scope of work, establishing the baseline, redefining the work processes, aligning the workforce resources with the work processes, and maintaining the base operations activities as the project progresses through the various life-cycle stages. Getting these building blocks right provides a solid framework for executing any D and D project. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Non-Powered Dam Hydropower Development and Ranking Opportunity Tool

In pursuit of a net-zero-carbon emissions economy in the United States, non-powered dams (NPDs) represent a large opportunity to develop hydropower while leveraging existing infrastructure. With almost 600 NPD sites in the United States identified as having over 1 megawatt (MW) of potential capacity, only a small portion of the total potential capacity at these sites has been developed in recent years. , Conventional NPD retrofit feasibility analysis primarily focuses on the developer’s perspective but fails to consider the broader impacts of developing a dam, including on the neighboring communities. This tool, the Non-Powered Dam Hydropower Development and Ranking Opportunity Tool (NPD HYDRO), allows users to prioritize or rank NPD sites for future development based on user-defined priorities. Benefits can be evaluated in several categories: the grid, community, industry, and environment (referred to as the four impact scores in the tool as discussed in Section 2.2). In addition, the tool provides the user with a qualitative measure for the feasibility of adding energy storage during NPD conversion, specifically battery, hydrogen electrolysis, and pumped-storage hydropower (PSH). By taking a holistic approach to the potential range of benefits provided by NPD conversions with results tailored to the user’s priorities, NPD HYDRO provides the opportunity for national-level screening and enables users to focus on the sites that are most closely aligned with their interests.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Three-Dimensional Grid Visualization for Planning Activities: A Dubai Case Study

National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), in collaboration with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Infra-X, has undertaken the Energy Visualization Analysis Project. The aim of this project is to enhance analytical and 3D visualization capabilities for distribution network planning and renewable energy integration. As modern grid continues to evolve with large-scale solar PV deployment and emerging distributed energy resources (DERs), the ability to effectively analyze, visualize, and communicate complex grid behaviors has become increasingly critical. The project focuses on developing empirical use cases based on real distribution feeder data and engineering workflows, ensuring the outcomes are directly aligned with operational environment. Through time-series power flow simulations and nodal hosting capacity analysis, the study quantifies the impacts of high PV penetration on voltage and thermal limits within representative 11 kV feeders. These analyses identify specific nodes and conditions where DER integration challenges arise. Furthermore, a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) optimization algorithm was applied to determine the optimal size and placement of storage systems that can mitigate network constraints and enhance hosting capacity. The comparative results between base-case and BESS-augmented scenarios clearly demonstrate improvements in network stability and load management efficiency. In parallel, the NLR team developed an immersive 3D visualization framework, enabling interactive exploration of grid simulations using commodity head-mounted display (HMD) systems. This framework transforms conventional 2D simulation data into spatially intuitive visual environments - allowing engineers to analyze feeder conditions, PV hosting potential, and BESS effects in real time. This report represents the first foundational phase in establishing a visualization-driven analytical ecosystem. It provides a methodological foundation for data integration, visualization architecture, and simulation-based decision support, paving the way for large-scale adoption of immersive visualization across DEWA's Smart Grid Initiative, R&D activities, and future network resilience studies.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Grid Data Sharing: Brief Summary of Current State Practices

This brief summary discusses general trends in regulatory approaches to grid data sharing and outlines key areas of alignment and divergence; a summary table at the end of the document outlines the approaches of different states and utilities.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

The large-area hybrid-optics CLAS12 RICH: First years of data-taking

The CLAS12 deep-inelastic scattering experiment at the upgraded 12 GeV continuous electron beam accelerator facility of Jefferson Lab conjugates luminosity and wide acceptance to study the 3D nucleon structure in the yet poorly explored valence region, and to perform precision measurements in hadron spectroscopy. A large area ring-imaging Cherenkov detector has been designed to achieve the required hadron identification in the momentum range from 3 GeV/c to 8 GeV/c, with the kaon rate about one order of magnitude lower than the rate of pions and protons. The adopted solution comprises aerogel radiator and composite mirrors in a novel hybrid optics design, where either direct or reflected light could be imaged in a high-packed and high-segmented photon detector. The first RICH module was assembled during the second half of 2017 and installed at the beginning of January 2018, in time for the start of the experiment. The second RICH module, planned with the goal to be ready for the beginning of the operation with polarized targets, has been timely built despite the complications caused by the pandemic crisis and successfully installed in June 2022. Finally, the detector performance is here discussed with emphasis on the operation and stability during the data-taking, calibration and alignment procedures, reconstruction and pattern recognition algorithms, and particle identification.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Novel Harsh Environment Materials and Fabrication Techniques for Wireless Sensor Applications (Final Report)

The overarching goal of this project is to establish a center of excellence program at the University of Maine that is focused on Harsh Environmental Materials and Fabrication Techniques for Wireless Sensor Applications. UMaine is well-positioned to build on previous successes in the areas of materials science research and sensor engineering. Since 1980, the Laboratory for Surface Science & Technology (LASST) has been a very successful interdisciplinary UMaine research center with a well-established infrastructure to investigate surfaces, interfaces, thin films, and micro/nano-fabrication. This infrastructure established through NSF, DOE, DOD, NASA, the State of Maine, and industry includes (i) a 3,500 ft2 clean room with nano/microfabrication and photolithography instrumentation, (ii) thin film synthesis, processing and characterization, (iii) surface and thin film analytical chemistry tools, and (iv) device packaging, electronic testing, wireless devices, system fabrication, and sensor test facilities. This strong foundation is the basis for a planned significant growth in R&D capacity currently underway. To that end, since the start of this project in the Fall of 2019, LASST has undergone a transition to become a new interdisciplinary center at UMaine, named the Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies (FIRST). This new focus represents a commitment and investment by UMaine that aligns with the proposed DOE-EPSCoR theme, capitalizing on the state-of-the-art instrumentation to form an energized group of faculty and students pursuing advances in sensor materials, devices, and applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

RACEE: Community of Klawock Competition Project Summary

RACEE is a US Department of Energy (DOE) competition that challenged rural Alaskan communities to commit to saving 15% energy by 2020 (baseline 2010) which aligns with the State’s Energy Efficiency goal. In January 2016, 64 communities, including eight Southeast communities, submitted pledges to become energy champions and move to the next phase of the competition. In April, DOE announced that 13 communities would be eligible to apply for up to $3.4 million in funding to implement the community energy efficiency plans they develop in Phase II of the competition. Klawock is one of those 13 communities and the only eligible community in Southeast Alaska.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Survey of Cybersecurity Governance, Threats, and Countermeasures for the Power Grid

The convergence of Information Technologies and Operational Technology systems in industrial networks presents many challenges related to availability, integrity, and confidentiality. In this paper, we evaluate the various cybersecurity risks in industrial control systems and how they may affect these areas of concern, with a particular focus on energy-sector Operational Technology systems. There are multiple threats and countermeasures that Operational Technology and Information Technology systems share. Since Information Technology cybersecurity is a relatively mature field, this paper emphasizes on threats with particular applicability to Operational Technology and their respective countermeasures. We identify regulations, standards, frameworks and typical system architectures associated with this domain. We review relevant challenges, threats, and countermeasures, as well as critical differences in priorities between Information and Operational Technology cybersecurity efforts and implications. These results are then examined against the recommended National Institute of Standards and Technology framework for gap analysis to provide a complete approach to energy sector cybersecurity. We provide analysis of countermeasure implementation to align with the continuous functions recommended for a sound cybersecurity framework.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

SDSS-V Algorithms: Fast, Collision-free Trajectory Planning for Heavily Overlapping Robotic Fiber Positioners

Robotic fiber positioner (RFP) arrays are becoming heavily adopted in wide-field massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey instruments. RFP arrays decrease nightly operational overheads through rapid reconfiguration between fields and exposures. In comparison to similar instruments, SDSS-V has selected a very dense RFP packing scheme where any point in a field is typically accessible to three or more robots. This design provides flexibility in target assignment. However, the task of collisionless trajectory planning is especially challenging. We present two multiagent distributed control strategies that are highly efficient and computationally inexpensive for determining collision-free paths for RFPs in heavily overlapping workspaces. We demonstrate that a reconfiguration path between two arbitrary robot configurations can be efficiently found if a “folded” state, in which all robot arms are retracted and aligned in a lattice-like orientation, is inserted between the initial and final states. Although developed for SDSS-V, the approach we describe is generic and thus applicable to a wide range of RFP designs and layouts. Robotic fiber positioner technology continues to advance rapidly, and in the near future ultra-densely packed RFP designs may be feasible. Our algorithms are especially capable in routing paths in very crowded environments, where we see efficient results even in regimes significantly more crowded than the SDSS-V RFP design.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Life Cycle Assessment for Closed-Loop Pumped Hydropower Energy Storage in the United States

The federal government has initiated an aggressive set of policies to achieve a net-zero carbon emission goal for the electricity sector by 2050. As a result, rapid growth in deployment of renewable energy technologies is expected. Most commercially mature technologies are temporally variable and do not provide grid inertia, while renewable technologies with high projected deployment have intermittent generation methods. Energy storage technologies are needed to both dispatch power on-demand and help provide the needed grid inertia. Pumped storage hydro (PSH) is a well-established technology that has gained renewed interest in recent years offering energy-balancing, grid stability, control of electrical network frequency, and large-scale storage capacity. For widespread adoption of PSH, more information is needed regarding its current life cycle environmental impacts. The objective of this study is to perform a full life cycle assessment (LCA) of new closed-loop PSH in the U.S. The functional unit for this study is 1 kWh of electrical power delivered to the grid and the base case project lifetime is 80 years. The life cycle inventory for this project accounts for all material and energy flows associated with the green-field construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of a closed-loop PSH plant in the U.S. Collected data represents a range of potential PSH specifications and geographic locations coming from all prospective closed-loop PSH installations in the U.S. with data available. In addition, existing PSH installations are used to provide assumptions for inventory inputs. Results presented will include the global warming potential (GWP IPCC 100a) and Energy Return on Investment (EROI) from our base case (average PSH installation) as well as from scenario analyses and model sensitivity. These results will be compared to the impacts from existing PSH sites and alternate storage technologies. Methods align with the assumptions and guidelines put in place by previous PSH LCAs to ensure an accurate comparison with the results from this report.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Comparing multi-source urban flood indicators: satellite, simulation, and citizen-reported data

Urban flooding arises from complex mechanisms, making it challenging to capture accurately with a single detection method. This study evaluates three complementary approaches to detect flooding across three Chicago neighborhoods: (i) Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR), offering weather-independent, high-resolution (10 m) imagery of surface inundation; (ii) the storm water management model (SWMM), simulating combined sewer overflow and drainage performance; and (iii) citizen-generated 311 service requests, capturing observed flooding impacts. By analyzing six storms ranging from severe to mild, we examine how each source uniquely contributes to identifying urban flood events. SAR imagery effectively identifies standing water but can miss brief flooding due to satellite revisit constraints. SWMM provides detailed insights into system-wide drainage behavior yet may underestimate localized street-level flooding. Meanwhile, 311 calls reflect real-world flooding impacts but are vulnerable to underreporting. Statistical overlap analysis highlights chronic flood hotspots repeatedly identified across multiple detection methods, indicating persistent infrastructure and topographic vulnerabilities. Temporal analysis further reveals that while SWMM flooding aligns closely with rainfall peaks, 311 calls typically precede or persist beyond these peaks. Our findings emphasize the value of using satellite observations, hydrological modeling, and resident-reported data in a complementary manner to better interpret patterns in flood timing, severity, and spatial distribution—providing insights that can inform targeted infrastructure improvements and contribute to urban flood resilience planning.

311↗
DOE OSTI2024

iFair: Achieving Fairness in the Allocation of Scarce Resources for Senior Health Care

Efficient resource allocation is crucial in many domains, particularly in senior care, where assigning resources to older adults must consider uncertainties associated with vulnerable populations. In collaboration with Senior Health Facilities (SHFs) and domain experts, this paper presents iFair, a novel framework designed to assist decision-makers in equitably allocating scarce resources to older adults. iFair was prototyped in the context of ongoing work on a data exchange platform, CAREDEX, used for enhancing older adults' resilience during disasters. A key novelty of iFair focuses on aligning resident preferences with resources in urgent situations, expediting care, and enhancing task efficiency. We integrate static and dynamic environmental data, including facility layouts and sensor data, with detailed resident profiles to cater to the individual needs and preferences of residents. While our framework primarily focuses on allocation within facilities, it also extends to a regional scale to support the planning and transfer of seniors to mutual aid facilities. Our experiments adapt data from a real SHF to emulate resource allocation in an emergency fire evacuation setting and highlight the delicate balance that decision-makers can achieve between efficiency and fairness.

Kenne, Modeste Mefenya↗
DOE OSTI2024

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge: Tracking Metrics and Mid-2024 Dashboard

The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge is the result of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other federal government agencies working together to develop a comprehensive strategy for scaling up new technologies to produce sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) on a commercial scale. The SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap outlines a whole-of-government approach with coordinated policies and specific activities that should be undertaken to achieve the SAF Grand Challenge goals. Progress made supporting the SAF Grand Challenge occurs when federal agencies release new funding opportunities and initiatives aligned with the SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap; provide expertise and technical assistance to industry; increase interagency collaboration; and provide data, modeling, and analysis to decision makers. To track progress on achieving the SAF Grand Challenge goals, the following four metrics have been developed: Estimated total U.S. SAF production. Estimated life cycle CO2 equivalent reductions achieved with U.S. SAF production and use. Planned production potential of SAF in the United States. Applicable research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects. SAF Grand Challenge Goal Progress

Aviation↗
DOE OSTI2025

EMPOWERED Distributed Energy Resources Permit Accelerator Pilot

This report summarizes the EMPOWERED Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Permit Accelerator Pilot project. Its primary objective was to streamline the design, installation, permitting, and inspections of targeted Distributed Energy Resource (DER) solutions. Streamlining these processes is critical to strengthening and accelerating the adoption of DER solutions nationwide. Moreover, streamlined processes help expedite the clean energy transition and expand energy resilience by improving understanding and capability among key stakeholders like property owners, code officials, and the general workforce. The project team accomplished this by developing and deploying a set of design and permitting guides for simple DER solutions, which they rolled out via a permitting pilot program. The project team developed nine permitting and inspection guides for simple DER solutions, as follows: 1. Single-Family and Duplex: Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE), and Storage, Solar + Storage (each in two code cycles) 2. Multi-family and Office: EVSE, Storage, Solar + Storage (each in two code cycles) 3. A permitting process guide to support the implementation of the permitting guides. The guides cover key code requirements via plan review and field inspection checklists for code officials and building owners to follow to streamline the permitting and inspections process for DER solutions. Following the development of the initial set of guides, the project team formed two cohorts, each made up of four jurisdictions, to participate in the Permit Accelerator Pilot. Each cohort received training and technical assistance to support them in incorporating the guides into use. The project successfully engaged jurisdictions in two disparate US regions: Chelsea, Somerville, Natick, and Norwood in metro Boston; and Pima County, Town of Gilbert, Flagstaff, and Sedona in Arizona. Feedback gathered from the project was valuable in refining the guides to better address jurisdictional needs. After the pilot period, the project team developed final versions of the guides based on extensive feedback from the cohorts and from external technical peer review. Feedback included needs and barriers related to implementation, as well as detailed technical improvements from external peer review. The final guides were presented in a series of webinars with a national reach, with 192 attendees from 35 states in the live session of the final webinar, and the final guides are posted online and available for use nationwide. Key findings: • The most receptive jurisdictions were those adjacent to other jurisdictions that had already adopted similar initiatives. The least receptive jurisdictions were those in the midst of adopting new code cycles. • The most common barrier to jurisdictional adoption of new guidelines were internal administrative and process delays, more so than technical barriers. • The main technical barrier to adoption proved to be the concern of fire hazard risks posed by energy storage systems. There is some apprehension in the code enforcement community about the safety of the batteries. Education coordinated with fire and safety services will help alleviate concerns and increase confidence in the acceptance of innovative technologies. • Opportunities to further leverage and advance the guides and related resources include outreach, education, and jurisdictional support; updates to the resources to align with code cycle changes and local requirements; and advancements supporting emerging technologies.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electric Load Planning Tool (ELPT) v0.9

The Electric Load Planning Tool (ELPT) helps facilities understand the economic and environmental impacts of their electricity consumption. Using a user-provided Excel input, ELPT analyzes electricity use, costs, and grid CO2e emissions to identify savings opportunities through load management strategies such as load shifting, shedding, and planning. It accounts for Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs and hourly emissions factors, varying by location and time of day. Users input details about their facility's load profile, location, year of analysis, and electricity billing tariff to receive customized insights. The tool provides visual representations of cost and GHG impacts, helping users understand the benefits of adjusting electricity usage to align with periods of cheaper and cleaner electricity, thereby achieving cost savings and reducing Scope 2 CO2e emissions

Karki, Unique [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato↗
DOE OSTI2024

Risk-based System Upgrade Planning for AOT-IC [Capstone Project]

The Accelerator Operations and Technology Instrumentation and Controls Group (AOT IC) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) has established a comprehensive risk-based system upgrade planning strategy which has been utilized as a tool to prioritize system upgrade projects for the past several years. A challenge with the current system is that the group often lacks the data to quantify the probability and impact of system failures, so the group often relies instead on qualitative risk assessments as well as evaluations of a potential upgrade project’s alignment with group strategy and vision to prioritize projects. A proposed framework to enable quantitative risk probability and impact assessments has been developed and tested on three pilot systems chosen to broadly represent the types and conditions of equipment used by the group. The proposed framework incorporates availability data gathered from the LANSCE control room logbooks and the LANSCE work control system, as well as a system health evaluation which is conducted from a variety of resources to assess the probability of equipment failure. The impact of system failure is viewed from the perspective of impact on mission and schedule, where spares status, system documentation status, and the functional distribution of deployed systems are used to quantify these impacts.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characteristics of U.S. Energy Production using Nuclear Fission

When considering potential energy production technologies for the future, a critical consideration centers on the question of “how green” the technology is. Here, the word “green” implies that the technology has a zero or minimal impact on the public and environment while still providing benefits by way of electricity, heat, and other products such as hydrogen and water. And, these potential impacts must be considered over the lifecycle of the technology deployment, from design, construction, operation, and disposition. Ideally, a green energy technology would be net-zero (i.e., having no to almost negligible contribution) on five key elements: 1. Greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases such as ozone-depleting gases 2. Water consumption 3. Material resource consumption 4. Disposition of wastes 5. Public, flora, and fauna safety including deaths, health, and environmental impacts. Society would benefit from net-zero impacts of the five elements above while having low-cost energy. As society starts to replace fossil fuels in the energy mix, we need to consider the possible impacts of adopted technologies. We need a production approach that provides large quantities of energy while being safe, reliable, economical, and sustainable. In this report, we describe a variety of characteristics related to the five elements above to provide a fact-supported, science-based depiction of nuclear fission as an energy providing technology. By better understanding how fission power is nearly net-zero in the five elements above, we can position our thinking to align with the overarching goal to provide society with a low-impact energy source.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Developing an Equity Framework for State Regulatory Decision-Making

The report presents a framework for states that seek to incorporate equity into regulatory decision-making. Berkeley Lab contextualizes approaches and metrics from various states into example processes to exemplify how this may be done, including topics such as the development of equity goals and definitions, intervenor funding, community engagement, performance-based ratemaking, and utility resource planning. The report offers five takeaways and considerations, supported by these examples: 1. Equity comprises multiple tenets and stages, all of which must be considered in parallel. 2. At the start of designing new equity-related processes, it is critical to establish clear and actionable goals, definitions, roles, and responsibilities to ensure progress. 3. Once goals are established, it is critical to align tools and metrics that bridge the gap between what an intervention may do and how it may impact communities and households. 4. Processes should be stakeholder driven. It is important to not only increase education and outreach, but to actively seek out and incorporate feedback from inclusive public processes and build in accountability mechanisms. Processes should be iterative. Feedback loops between evaluations and program design provide the flexibility to better align existing interventions with community priorities and to incorporate equity into future decision-making.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗