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DOE OSTI2024

Architecture Design for Remote Operation of Microreactors: Poster

The nuclear sector is pursuing a number of advanced reactor concepts, one of which is the microreactor, an advanced reactor characterized by a power output of less than 20 MWth. These reactors are intended for use in applications where traditional power solutions are economically or logistically impractical. One key feature required for the successful deployment of microreactors is a remote operation capability, which can dramatically cut staffing expenses by eliminating the need for licensed operators to be present at the site of each reactor and instead concentrate in a centrally located operations center. In moving to a remote operations framework for nuclear reactors, the number of potential attack surfaces for a cyber adversary looking to cause harm or disruption increases. Therefore, a robust cybersecurity architecture is required to mitigate these potential vulnerabilities. This paper explores the functional infrastructure, security, and communication requirements to adapt remote operations to nuclear applications. It then presents a reference architecture for remote operations of microreactors that applies best practices in cybersecurity and remote communications in the context of a digital twin remote operation system.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Meeting liquid biofuel and bioproduct goals: biotechnological design of the intermediate oilseeds pennycress and camelina, and beyond

The European Union and the United States have set ambitious goals to produce biofuels as part of broader decarbonization and energy security initiatives. One of the more feasible routes to liquid biofuels production is the conversion of seed oils [triacylglycerols (TAGs)] to renewable diesel, biodiesel, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using the hydrotreated ester and fatty acids (HEFA) process. Camelina and pennycress are attractive oilseed feedstocks in that they can be grown in the offseason as intermediate crops on tens of millions of hectares of farmland annually, providing ecosystem benefits and not competing with established food crops. Considerably more TAG could be produced by engineering vegetative portions of crops such as sorghum and miscanthus to accumulate economically-viable amounts. Here, this review highlights recent advances in developing pennycress and camelina as intermediate oilseed crops not only for biofuels production but for making higher value oils such as those enriched in astaxanthin, vitamin E, and medium-chain fatty acids. Given the magnitude of renewable liquid fuel demands, we also describe how advances in oil production from vegetative parts of biomass crops can complement intermediate oilseed cropping systems to meet biofuel and bioproduct targets.

biomass crops↗
DOE OSTI2026

Feasibility and strategic implications of deploying nuclear power reactors in Africa

This report assesses the feasibility and strategic implications of deploying nuclear power reactors, including large-scale plants, advanced small modular reactors (SMRs), and microreactors, in African countries. Case studies focus on South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, examining nuclear energy’s role in Africa’s rapidly evolving energy landscape, marked by fast-growing demand, significant electricity access gaps, increasing renewable penetration, and strong policy commitments to industrialization and energy security. Several U.S. reactor technologies and designs are considered based on their development status and readiness for deployment. The analysis finds that nuclear power can provide reliable, clean baseload and flexible generation, as well as high-temperature process heat for desalination, hydrogen production, and industrial applications. However, suitability is highly country-specific, depending on grid size and stability, transmission capacity, cooling water availability, regulatory readiness, and fuel supply chains. Near-term deployment opportunities are strongest for light-water reactors (such as NuScale, BWRX-300, AP300, and SMR-300) that use low-enriched uranium and build on proven technology. More advanced concepts, including gas-cooled, sodium-cooled, molten-salt cooled reactors, and microreactors, will likely be relevant for African deployment in the 2030s or later, contingent on demonstration projects, high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel availability, and mature international licensing frameworks. Economic analysis shows that SMRs are capital-intensive, with projected overnight costs for 300 MWe units in 2025 ranging from approximately 1.4 to 2.6 billion USD per module. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is highly sensitive to the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Given typically higher financing costs and utility balance-sheet weaknesses in many African countries, bankable project structures will require sovereign guarantees, robust offtake arrangements, and layered financing from export credit agencies, development finance institutions, and vendor nations. Comparisons with recent large nuclear projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt underscore the central role of state-backed loans, long tenors, and concessional terms. Country case studies illustrate a spectrum of readiness and opportunity. South Africa operates two 920 MWe pressurized light water reactors (totaling 1,840 MWe) at Koeberg and has the most mature regulatory and industrial base, positioning it as a prime candidate for both large reactors and SMRs to replace coal, support desalination, and anchor industrial hubs. Egypt is constructing four VVER-1200 units at El Dabaa with strong state leadership and could later complement this fleet with SMRs for coastal and industrial applications. Kenya and Ghana are advancing through IAEA Milestones with growing institutional capacity and clear interest in SMRs that match their smaller grids and industrialization plans. Nigeria has the largest demand potential but faces acute constraints in grid reliability, project bankability, and regulatory capacity; targeted deployments of large reactors and SMRs near coastal or industrial sites could have high impact if accompanied by major grid upgrades and institutional reforms. The report identifies cross-cutting challenges such as financing, political continuity, public acceptance, nonproliferation and security, waste and back-end management, regulatory capacity, grid adequacy, and long deployment timelines for first-of-a-kind designs, and ANL/NSE-26/3 ii proposes broad directions for resolution. These include stronger multifaceted financing for nuclear, long-term national energy strategies that transcend electoral cycles, proactive stakeholder engagement, strengthened regional and national regulators, and systematic workforce development through centers of excellence and expanded training. The United States should develop partnerships with African countries and offer end-to-end nuclear package similar to those used effectively by competitors: coordinated project development, state-backed financing, long-term fuel services, and durable in-country support through regional offices and sustained workforce/regulatory training. With timely planning, sustained political commitment, and appropriate financing and institutional support, nuclear energy, both large reactors and advanced SMRs, can become a meaningful, though not dominant, pillar of Africa’s future power mix, enhancing energy security, enabling industrial growth, and supporting climate goals.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hazardous Waste Management Progress Report [SB14]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is the owner and part operator of multiple facilities in Northern California. The facilities include those located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Sandia National Laboratories/California (SNL/CA) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) among other sites. Through their operations, the facilities generate hazardous waste and, thereby, are subject to the requirements of Chapter 31 of the Title 22 California Code of Regulations, Waste Minimization. The Northern California sites are primarily research and development facilities in the areas relating to national security, high-energy physics, engineering, bioscience and environmental health and safety disciplines. As mentioned above these DOE facilities are primarily research and development facilities. The hazardous wastes generated may be associated with operations that range in size from small, bench scale R&D to major maintenance and operations waste streams. Therefore, even though this document breaks down the waste streams based on California Waste Codes (CWC), the quantities of waste within one waste code category could be from many different locations and dissimilar processes. Because of the nature of the work at the sites, it is not economically feasible to try to implement source reduction measures for every process that generates a portion of the waste stream. This document identifies the processes that generate the major portion of the waste within an identified major waste stream and reports on progress made toward source reduction. In accomplishing the mission, it is DOE’s goal to eliminate waste generation and emissions giving priority to those that may present the greatest risk to human health and the environment.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

FY24 LWRS Program overview

This slide deck provides a brief overview of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. It will be used during public presentations. The LWRS Program aims to enhance the safe, efficient, and economical performance of our nation's nuclear fleet and extend the operating lifetimes of this reliable source of electricity.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Leveraging System Dynamics to Predict the Commercialization Success of Emerging Energy Technologies: Lessons from Wind Energy

The United States urgently needs to tackle the climate crisis while enhancing energy security and resiliency. The complexity of the U.S. energy system, with its interconnected elements, makes predicting future states challenging, especially with the introduction of novel energy systems like wind, solar, clean hydrogen, and advanced nuclear technologies. Modern systems engineering methods and tools can provide deeper insights into these dynamics and future behaviors. This research aims to develop a comprehensive model that captures the main elements and behaviors of new energy technologies within the existing energy system. We hypothesized that the market uptake of novel energy systems is influenced by multiple diverse factors, such as technological learning, availability of resources, and economic incentives; examined the history of electricity generation using land-based wind technologies; and developed a system dynamics model to investigate the relationships between capacity growth and influencing factors, both internal and external. The developed model yielded outcomes that confirmed the hypothesized dynamics of wind energy system diffusion through a quantitative comparison of installed capacity and highlighted the significant influence of resource availability, federal incentives (production tax credits), and technological learning on capacity growth and cost reduction. This research aims to support informed decision-making for investments in novel energy systems and aid in developing effective policies for technology deployment.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Chapter 9.12 - Weather, Climatic and Ecological Impacts of Onshore Wind Farms

Wind power is an environmentally sustainable technology that is likely to be part of the solution to the climate change, air pollution, and energy security problems. Despite many positive benefits, the rapid development of wind power has raised concerns about some potential adverse environmental impacts. While converting wind?s kinetic energy into electricity, wind turbines (WTs) modify properties of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) including the vertical profiles and surface-atmosphere exchanges of energy, momentum, mass, moisture, and trace gases. Given the current installed capacity and the projected installation worldwide, wind farms (WFs) are likely becoming a major driver of manmade land use change on Earth. Hence, understanding WT-atmosphere-surface interactions and assessing potential environmental impacts of WFs are of significant scientific, societal and economic importance. Here we review our progress in assessing potential impacts of onshore wind power on weather, climate and vegetation activity. A consensus is emerging based on observations and modeling studies that WFs cause a local to regional warming effect, particularly at nighttime, while the impacts on precipitation, wind patterns, crop yields and vegetation activity are uncertain. The warming effect results simply from vertical heat redistribution within the ABL due to turbine-enhanced vertical turbulent mixing in the wakes. At the global scale, with a substantial installation of WFs, mesoscale and climate models predicted large regional changes but small global impacts on temperature, while the impacts on precipitation, clouds, wind patterns and large-scale circulation have large uncertainties and are region specific and scale dependent. Despite increasing number of research efforts, our assessment of potential WF impacts is still very limited. Although the WF impacts are mostly local and limited to the near-surface ABL, this is the layer where we live and plants grow. Hence, more studies are needed to improve our understanding of WT-atmosphere-surface interactions and our capability to model and project the weather, climatic and ecological impacts of large WFs.

atmospheric boundary layer↗
DOE OSTI2025

Overcoming Challenges to Nuclear-Maritime Applications

This report is the fifth deliverable in a series of reports set forth by the Department of Energy (DOE), led by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), for the research award titled “Accelerating Commercial Maritime Demonstration Projects for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies.” The report highlights guidance to bridge the gaps between innovative nuclear technologies and their practical implementation in maritime environments. The previous reports discussed specific technical, economic and regulatory challenges that may be expected when developing and establishing advanced nuclear technologies for commercial maritime applications. This report supports the mission of the U.S. National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) to demonstrate projects with industry and acts as a resource for the various stakeholders associated with the development of novel applications for advanced reactors. The previous reports discuss the interest in nuclear technology applications for decarbonized energy and identify the potential demands in nuclear energy supply and price. The work in these reports supports the recently issued nuclear Executive Orders (EOs). Specifically, EO 14299, “Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security”, and EO 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” by ensuring the rapid development, deployment, and use of advanced nuclear technologies; and increasing the deployment of new nuclear reactor technologies, such as Generation III+ and IV reactors, modular reactors, and microreactors to support America leading the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Breakthrough innovations in carbon dioxide mineralization for a sustainable future

Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change concerns have prompted worldwide initiatives to lower carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels and prevent them from rising in the atmosphere, thereby controlling global warming. Effective CO 2 management through carbon capture and storage is essential for safe and permanent storage, as well as synchronically meeting carbon reduction targets. Lowering CO 2 emissions through carbon utilization can develop a wide range of new businesses for energy security, material production, and sustainability. CO 2 mineralization is one of the most promising strategies for producing thermodynamically stable solid calcium or magnesium carbonates for long-term sequestration using simple chemical reactions. Current advancements in CO 2 mineralization technologies, focusing on pathways and mechanisms using different industrial solid wastes, including natural minerals as feedstocks, are briefly discussed. However, the operating costs, energy consumption, reaction rates, and material management are major barriers to the application of these technologies in CO 2 mineralization. Further, the optimization of operating parameters, tailor-made equipment, and smooth supply of waste feedstocks require more attention to make the carbon mineralization process economically and commercially viable. Here, carbonation mechanisms, technological options to expedite mineral carbonation, environmental impacts, and prospects of CO 2 mineralization technologies are critically evaluated to suggest a pathway for mitigating climate change in the future. The integration of industrial wastes and brine with the CO 2 mineralization process can unlock its potential for the development of novel chemical pathways for the synthesis of calcium or magnesium carbonates, valuable metal recovery, and contribution to sustainability goals while reducing the impact of global warming.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mining Nontraditional Water Sources for a Distributed Hydrogen Economy

Securing decarbonized economies for energy and commodities will require abundant and widely available green H 2 . Ubiquitous wastewaters and nontraditional water sources could potentially feed water electrolyzers to produce this green hydrogen without competing with drinking water sources. Herein, we show that the energy and costs of treating nontraditional water sources such as municipal wastewater, industrial and resource extraction wastewater, and seawater are negligible with respect to those for water electrolysis. We also illustrate that the potential hydrogen energy that could be mined from these sources is vast. Based on these findings, we evaluate the implications of small-scale, distributed water electrolysis using disperse nontraditional water sources. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis reveal that the significant contribution of H 2 transportation to costs and CO 2 emissions results in an optimal levelized cost of hydrogen at small- to moderate-scale water electrolyzer size. The implications of utilizing nontraditional water sources and decentralized or stranded renewable energy for distributed water electrolysis are highlighted for several hydrogen energy storage and chemical feedstock applications. Finally, we discuss challenges and opportunities for mining H 2 from nontraditional water sources to achieve resilient and sustainable economies for water and energy.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Transmission Interconnection Roadmap: Transforming Bulk Transmission Interconnection by 2035

The U.S. electricity system is amid a rapidly occurring and widespread energy transition. Regional, Tribal, state, and customer demand for new energy resources, combined with favorable policies, is driving a rapid rise of interconnection requests. Interconnection processes will need to evolve to handle this larger number of requests today and into the future, as policy and economic drivers continue to motivate significant resource development. This roadmap identifies and organizes nearer- and longer-term solutions to enable transmission interconnection processes to meet this expected demand, and it is intended for a diverse audience of stakeholders participating within transmission interconnection processes. The roadmap is a result of the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in June 2022 to convene stakeholders and address interconnection challenges. The roadmap is organized into four primary goal areas, each important to the overall i2X mission to enable a simpler, faster, and fairer interconnection of clean energy resources while enhancing the reliability, resiliency, and security of our electric grid. The first goal aims to improve interconnection data transparency, to aid interconnection customers’ ability to screen and site potential projects, better enable third-party modeling, facilitate more process automation, enhance competition while ensuring equitable outcomes, and enable benchmarking, tracking, and auditing of interconnection processes and reforms. The second goal covers solutions to improve queue management practices, affected system studies, fair processes, and workforce development. The third goal incorporates solutions that aim to improve cost allocation, reduce costs to electricity consumers, enhance the coordination between transmission planning and the interconnection process, and optimize the rightsizing of transmission investment through improvements in interconnection studies. The fourth and final goal aims to reduce the performance issues not identified during interconnection studies by updating technical requirements within interconnection studies, models, and tools while also improving industry interconnection standards.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Critical review of lithium recovery from geothermal brines with implications for Smackover Formation, USA

The rapidly growing demand for lithium, a critical element for energy storage and national security technologies, has intensified concerns over the long-term availability and environmental impact of conventional lithium sources, such as hard-rock mining. To meet future demand, it is vital to explore unconventional resources that can provide sustainable domestic supplies. Geothermal brines, produced as a byproduct of geothermal energy generation, offer a promising alternative for lithium recovery by leveraging existing infrastructure and renewable energy production. In particular, the Smackover Formation, an extensive reservoir of high-salinity brines spanning Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the U.S. Gulf Coast, holds significant untapped lithium reserves. Co-producing geothermal energy and lithium from these brines aligns with sustainable extraction objectives while addressing resource scarcity. This review synthesizes current knowledge of lithium occurrence in the Smackover Formation and geothermal resources in the region, while also exploring how emerging tools such as machine learning can enhance resource targeting and co-production efficiency. Finally, we discuss key technical challenges and outline future research directions needed to advance lithium extraction from geothermal brines and secure a resilient domestic supply chain.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Man‐in‐the‐middle attacks and defence in a power system cyber‐physical testbed

Abstract Man‐in‐The‐Middle (MiTM) attacks present numerous threats to a smart grid. In a MiTM attack, an intruder embeds itself within a conversation between two devices to either eavesdrop or impersonate one of the devices, making it appear to be a normal exchange of information. Thus, the intruder can perform false data injection (FDI) and false command injection (FCI) attacks that can compromise power system operations, such as state estimation, economic dispatch, and automatic generation control (AGC). Very few researchers have focused on MiTM methods that are difficult to detect within a smart grid. To address this, we are designing and implementing multi‐stage MiTM intrusions in an emulation‐based cyber‐physical power system testbed against a large‐scale synthetic grid model to demonstrate how such attacks can cause physical contingencies such as misguided operation and false measurements. MiTM intrusions create FCI, FDI, and replay attacks in this synthetic power grid. This work enables stakeholders to defend against these stealthy attacks, and we present detection mechanisms that are developed using multiple alerts from intrusion detection systems and network monitoring tools. Our contribution will enable other smart grid security researchers and industry to develop further detection mechanisms for inconspicuous MiTM attacks.

Wlazlo, Patrick↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Machine Learning Framework to Deconstruct the Primary Drivers for Electricity Market Price Events

As the electricity grid is moving towards a 100% Renewable Energy Source Bulk Power Grid, the overall operations of the power system operations and electricity markets are changing. The electricity markets are not only dispatching resources economically but also taking into account various controllable actions like renewable curtailment, transmission congestion mitigation, and energy storage optimization to make sure the grid is operating reliably. As a result, price formations in electricity markets have become quite complex. Traditional root cause analysis and statistical approaches are rendered inapplicable to analyze and infer the main drivers behind price formation in the modern grid and markets with variable renewable energy (VRE). In this paper, we propose a machine learning analysis framework to deconstruct some primary drivers for price formation in modern electricity markets with high renewable energy and the outcomes can be utilized for various critical aspects of market design, renewable dispatch and curtailment, operations, and cyber-security applications. The framework can be applied to any ISO or market data and in this paper it is applied to open-source publicly available datasets from California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and ISO New England.

machine learning (ML), electricity markets, Renewa↗
DOE OSTI2021

CERES: CRISPR Engineering for the Rapid Enhancement of Strains

Previous strain development efforts for cyanobacteria have failed to achieve the necessary productivities needed to support economic biofuel production. We proposed to develop CRISPR Engineering for Rapid Enhancement of Strains (CERES). We developed genetic and computational tools to enable future high-throughput screening of CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) libraries in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, including: (1) Operon- SEQer: an ensemble of algorithms for predicting operon pairs using RNA-seq data, (2) experimental characterization and machine learning prediction of gRNA design rules for CRISPRi, and (3) a shuttle vector for gene expression. These tools lay the foundation for CRISPR library screening to develop cyanobacterial strains that are optimized for growth or metabolite production under a wide range of environmental conditions. The optimization of cyanobacterial strains will directly advance U.S. energy and climate security by enabling domestic biofuel production while simultaneously mitigating atmospheric greenhouse gases through photoautotrophic fixation of carbon dioxide.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Challenges in simulating economic effects of climate change on global agricultural markets

Abstract Many approaches have been used to investigate climate change impacts on agriculture. However, several caveats remain in this field: (i) analyses focus only on a few major crops, (ii) large differences in yield impacts are observed between projections from site-based crops models and Global Gridded Crop Models (GGCMs), (iii) climate change impacts on livestock are rarely quantified, and (iv) several causal relations among biophysical, environmental, and socioeconomic aspects are usually not taken into account. We investigate how assumptions about these four aspects affect agricultural markets, food supply, consumer well-being, and land use at global level by deploying a large-scale socioeconomic model of the global economy with detailed representation of the agricultural sector. We find global welfare impacts several times larger when climate impacts all crops and all livestock compared to a scenario with impacts limited to major crops. At the regional level, food budget can decrease by 10 to 25% in developing countries, challenging food security. The role of land area expansion as a major source of adaptation is highlighted. Climate impacts on crop yields from site-based process crop models generate more challenging socioeconomic outcomes than those from GGCMs. We conclude that the agricultural research community should expand efforts to estimate climate impacts on many more crops and livestock. Also, careful comparison of the GGCMs and traditional site-based process crop models is needed to understand their major implications for agricultural and food markets.

Gurgel, Angelo C. (ORCID:0000000183319508)↗