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At least 379 records · Page 21

Ultra-High Field Magnets for X-Ray and Neutron Scattering using High Temperature Superconductors

X-ray and neutron scattering techniques are capable of acquiring information about the structure and dynamics of quantum matter. However, the high-field magnet systems currently available at x-ray and neutron scattering facilities in the United States are limited to fields of 16 tesla (T) at maximum, which precludes applications that require and/or study ultra-high field states of matter. This gap in capability—and the need to address it—is a central conclusion of the 2005 National Academy of Sciences report by the Committee on Opportunities in High Magnetic Field Science. To address this gap, we propose a magnet development program that would more than double the field range accessible to scattering experiments. With the development and use of new ultra-high field–magnets, the program would bring into view new worlds of quantum matter with profound impacts on our understanding of advanced electronic materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

The future of RADCALC- the radioactive material and waste transportation software program - 15154

This paper provides a thorough review of RADCALC, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-developed software tool to assist DOE sites in making radioactive material and waste packaging and transportation determinations in compliance with applicable Federal regulations and DOE Orders and Standards. There are more than 400 registered users of the RADCALC tool across the DOE complex. DOE has also authorized a limited number of users from certain universities and foreign countries. DOE periodically upgrades the software consistent with changing domestic and international requirements, as well as needs unique to DOE. Due to recent changes in regulatory requirements by the Department of Transportation (DOT), it is necessary that the current version of RADCALC should be updated in a timely manner. Prior to investing funds in software upgrades, DOE decided to evaluate the nature of changes required and level of operational support and looked for alternatives for meeting sites' operational needs. DOE formed a joint review team consisting of experts from Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) sites, commercial waste treatment facilities and the National Laboratories. This team evaluated the RADCALC software, commercially available software packages, and internal DOE site-developed programs against an established set of criteria. The team also reviewed and prioritized regulatory changes and user-recommended enhancements. Based on extensive review, the team recommended that DOE continue to support RADCALC noting that RADCALC is a cost-effective, technically robust tool that can perform complicated radioactive material shipping determinations. The tool promotes accuracy, consistency, and completeness between shipments by a single shipper, between shippers at a given site, and between sites. The isotopic coverage, decay algorithm and the range of calculations are without compare either within DOE or in industry in a tool of this kind. The team also recommended that DOE should actively promote RADCALC use throughout the DOE complex and consider cooperative arrangements with the Department of Defense or other government entities that may have similar needs. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Executive Summary for the DOE Genesis Mission AI-Assisted Conceptual Development of a Pre-Geometric Cosmological Framework

This document provides a concise overview of a research program developed in support of the DOE Genesis Mission, illustrating how a modern semantic AI system can accelerate conceptual exploration in fundamental physics. The work summarized here accompanies three Fermilab Technical Notes that present a speculative—yet rigorously structured—framework for a pre-geometric cosmology emerging from a finite spectral substrate.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Determining Spatial Resolution of Gamma Cameras Using MATLAB

It is important to monitor the spatial resolution of a gamma camera on a weekly basis to acquire medical images with accurate quantitative information. A simple and fast computer program with a graphical user interface to analyze spatial resolution was successfully developed using MATLAB. The results were compared with those obtained from the standard processing system available in our gamma camera. The spatial resolution calculated using MATLAB was 1.24% lower than using the standard processing system. The developed program is cost effective, faster, and provides an easy platform for the physicists and technologists to analyze the spatial resolution based on the image of the line source.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Technologies Program and Its Impacts

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) has been working with industry since 1976 to encourage the development and adoption of new, energy-efficient technologies. ITP has helped industry not only use energy and materials more efficiently but also improve environ-mental performance, product quality, and productivity. To help ITP determine the impacts of its pro-grams, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) periodically reviews and analyzes ITP pro-gram benefits. PNNL contacts vendors and users of ITP-sponsored technologies that have been commer-cialized, estimates the number of units that have penetrated the market, conducts engineering analyses to estimate energy savings from the new technolo-gies, and estimates air pollution and carbon emission reductions. This paper discusses the results of PNNL’s most recent review (conducted in 2010). From 1976-2009, the commercialized technologies from ITP’s research and development programs and other activities have cumulatively saved 10.0 quadrillion Btu, with a net cost savings of $61.82 billion.

Industrial Energy Conservation↗

Packages of Distributed Energy Technologies Demonstrating Demand Flexibility at Community Scale

The combination of increased electric load growth across all sectors, deferred electrical infrastructure investment, and other factors resulting in variable electric power supply, has created technical challenges to maintaining a resilient and reliable grid. Many federal, regional, and local efforts are in play to modernize the electric grid, including advancing building technologies and distributed energy resources (DERs) that are utilizing smarter controls to become responsive to both occupant and grid needs. This report reviews ten pilot projects demonstrating how groups of buildings combined with behind-the-meter (BTM) DERs such as electric vehicle (EV) charging, battery storage, flexible HVAC and domestic hot water systems, and photovoltaic systems can reliably and cost effectively provide grid services. Each of the ten pilot projects aim to deliver both energy efficiency and demand flexibility (DF) while supporting load growth. The ten demonstration teams are piloting flexible DER packages across diverse communities of residential and commercial buildings to address a variety of regional grid needs. The outcomes of these pilot projects will be used to inform future scaling through utility program development. This paper characterizes the ten teams, showcasing the decision-making process used by each group to develop their packages (Section 2), the grid services they plan to deliver (Section 3), the types of DER packages selected for deployment within building sectors (Section 4) and trends between building sector, DER types, and grid services In order to achieve community scale benefits, the pilot projects must utilize aggregated control mechanisms for coordinating buildings and DERs together. Several types of coordinated control architectures have evolved amongst the teams, influenced by use type, existing market conditions, and integration type. Three coordinated controls architectures have been characterized, highlighting their use cases, benefits, challenges, and tradeoffs in their design. These insights can aid utilities, control vendors, and developers in scaling community-level energy systems (Paul, 2024). Ultimately, the technology packages selected by the ten teams will be coordinated to provide power system services, also known as grid services. Insights from these demonstrations will be useful for grid operators, regulators, aggregators and other stakeholders as they look to deploy demand flexible resources as grid services in the future. The grid services that each team is targeting for demonstration are described in Section 3 and Section 4. Methods for evaluating the grid services have been described in the paper Metrics for Evaluating Grid Service Provision from Communities of Grid-interactive and Efficient Buildings and other DER (MacDonald, 2023). To identify technology packages for demonstration, Section 2 shows that project teams used a range of analysis approaches, including building energy modeling, AMI data analysis, cost-benefit frameworks, and utility pilot data. Some teams emphasized technical modeling to quantify grid impacts and demand reduction potential, while others prioritized economic evaluations, stakeholder input, or exploratory pilots to inform deployment decisions. This diversity reflects the need to tailor selection methods to project goals, available data, and organizational context. Section 5 discusses trends between the DER technologies deployed and the grid service provisions from each team. Residential buildings (multifamily and single family) lean towards technologies that enhance energy efficiency (e.g. weatherization upgrades, smart thermostats) and onsite power generation integration (e.g. solar PV). Commercial building demonstrations prioritize technologies that ensure operational reliability (e.g. battery storage) and centralized energy management systems and optimization solutions. Teams that are deploying controllable storage-based technologies are more likely to provide grid services that require a near real-time response. Teams incorporating load shifting technologies like smart thermostats with HEMs are likely to include energy markets participation and customer bill management offerings. Campus demonstrations are adopting diverse sets of DERs to emphasize renewable generation, paired with centralized control. This section also describes technologies that were considered during project planning but ultimately excluded from final deployment. These demonstrations reveal that effective DER package design should be tailored to building type, customer segment, and construction vintage. Multifamily buildings benefit from centralized HVAC upgrades and supervisory controls, while single-family homes are well-suited for individualized technologies like solar, storage, and smart home energy monitors. Commercial and campus settings prioritize EMIS integration and load optimization. New construction enables cost-effective integration of DER-ready infrastructure, whereas retrofits require deployments aligned with owner and tenant value streams. For utility program planners, early coordination with developers and building owners, paired with segmented and modular program offerings, can improve adoption, scalability, and grid impact.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Mid-Atlantic Wind - Overcoming the Challenges

This study, supported by the US Department of Energy, Wind Powering America Program, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, analyzed barriers to wind energy development in the Mid-Atlantic region along with options for overcoming or mitigating them. The Mid-Atlantic States including Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, have excellent wind energy potential and growing demand for electricity, but only two utility-scale projects have been installed to date. Reasons for this apathetic development of wind resources were analyzed and quantified for four markets. Specific applications are: 1) Appalachian mountain ridgeline sites, 2) on coastal plains and peninsulas, 3) at shallow water sites in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and 4) at deeper water sites off the Atlantic coast. Each market has distinctly different opportunities and barriers. The primary barriers to wind development described in this report can be grouped into four categories; state policy and regulatory issues, wind resource technical uncertainty, economic viability, and public interest in environmental issues. The properties of these typologies are not mutually independent and do interact. The report concluded that there are no insurmountable barriers to land-based wind energy projects and they could be economically viable today. Likewise potential sites in sheltered shallow waters in regional bay and sounds have been largely overlooked but could be viable currently. Offshore ocean-based applications face higher costs and technical and wind resource uncertainties. The ongoing research and development program, revision of state incentive policies, additional wind measurement efforts, transmission system expansion, environmental baseline studies and outreach to private developers and stakeholders are needed to reduce barriers to wind energy development.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Mid-Atlantic Wind - Overcoming the Challenges

This study, supported by the US Department of Energy, Wind Powering America Program, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, analyzed barriers to wind energy development in the Mid-Atlantic region along with options for overcoming or mitigating them. The Mid-Atlantic States including Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, have excellent wind energy potential and growing demand for electricity, but only two utility-scale projects have been installed to date. Reasons for this apathetic development of wind resources were analyzed and quantified for four markets. Specific applications are: 1) Appalachian mountain ridgeline sites, 2) on coastal plains and peninsulas, 3) at shallow water sites in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and 4) at deeper water sites off the Atlantic coast. Each market has distinctly different opportunities and barriers. The primary barriers to wind development described in this report can be grouped into four categories; state policy and regulatory issues, wind resource technical uncertainty, economic viability, and public interest in environmental issues. The properties of these typologies are not mutually independent and do interact. The report concluded that there are no insurmountable barriers to land-based wind energy projects and they could be economically viable today. Likewise potential sites in sheltered shallow waters in regional bay and sounds have been largely overlooked but could be viable currently. Offshore ocean-based applications face higher costs and technical and wind resource uncertainties. The ongoing research and development program, revision of state incentive policies, additional wind measurement efforts, transmission system expansion, environmental baseline studies and outreach to private developers and stakeholders are needed to reduce barriers to wind energy development.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Operational Planning Strategy for a Sequim Bay Underwater UXO Test Site (SBU2)

The Department of Defense (DoD) has identified more than 400 underwater sites that are potentially contaminated with munitions. Most areas are in shallow water (0-35 m) where the munitions pose a threat to human health and the environment. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) held a workshop in 2018 to establish the requirements, framework, protocols, responsibilities, and time lines for development of a series of underwater UXO Standardized Demonstration sites (“test beds”) for the purpose of testing the efficacy of sensors, equipment, and technologies to detect UXO. The workshop recommended a phased approach to building test beds to capitalize on: 1) incorporation of lessons learned from existing DoD funded projects, 2) leveraging existing underwater test bed environments funded by other programs, and 3) supporting recursive learning from early phases of the test bed development (i.e. efficiently optimizing through a scaling-up approach). This strategy document provides the framework to establish a working operational plan for the Sequim Bay Underwater UXO (SBU2) Test Bed (Phase II). Details of the plan are dependent on earlier phases of the effort as shown in Figure 1. Results from Phase I are being evaluated, and when complete, will inform the next iteration of this plan. As such, it should be considered a living document that will be informed by the lessons learned and updated as new information becomes known and requirements are refined. This approach will allow SBU2 to evolve to meet the needs of the remediation community.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Regional Geology Web Map Application Development: Javascript v2.0

This is a milestone report for the FY2017 continuation of the Spent Fuel, Storage, and Waste, Technology (SFSWT) program (formerly Used Fuel Disposal (UFD) program) development of the Regional Geology Web Mapping Application by the Idaho National Laboratory Geospatial Science and Engineering group. This application was developed for general public use and is an interactive web-based application built in Javascript to visualize, reference, and analyze US pertinent geological features of the SFSWT program. This tool is a version upgrade from Adobe FLEX technology. It is designed to facilitate informed decision making of the geology of continental US relevant to the SFSWT program.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

A Low Loss, Fast Ramp HTS Solenoid Prototype for Compact Spherical Tokamaks

To explore AC loss characteristics of commercial Bi-2212 conductors made in the USA, a small ohmic heating (OH) prototype coil is being developed for compact tokamaks using high performance Bi-2212 wires newly manufactured by Bruker EST. Here, the goal is to build and test Bi-2212 prototype coils for fast ramp central solenoid (CS) operation of spherical tokamaks (ST). For a ST pilot plant, one of the key challenges is the tight space available for CS in a center column where in-board legs of the toroidal field (TF) and OH coils are assembled into a cryostat with a few millimeters clearance. A high current density Rutherford cable consisting of 17 legacy Bi-2212 wires, a contribution of the US Magnet Development Program (MDP), was fabricated at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for the development of fast ramp CS magnets in the ST Advanced Reactor (STAR) designed by PPPL. Characterization of the new and legacy HTS wires is presented, along with the coil design wound directly with new wire, and a Rutherford cable-wound solenoid using the legacy wire. A comparison of AC losses is made based on expected performance for a fast ramp ST operation. The HTS cable and cabled coil fabrication issues such as the heat treatment, coil mandrel design, assembly and 2212 quench characteristics are discussed, along with a test plan for CS design validation.

Zhai, Yuhu [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (P↗

Ion irradiation testing and characterization of FeCrAl candidate alloys

The Fuel Cycle Research and Development program’s Advanced Fuels Campaign has initiated a multifold effort aimed at facilitating development of accident tolerant fuels. This effort involves development of fuel cladding materials that will be resistant to oxidizing environments for extended period of time such as loss of coolant accident. Ferritic FeCrAl alloys are among the promising candidates due to formation of a stable Al₂O₃ oxide scale. In addition to being oxidation resistant, these promising alloys need to be radiation tolerant under LWR conditions (maximum dose of 10-15 dpa at 250 – 350°C). Thus, in addition to a number of commercially available alloys, nuclear grade FeCrAl alloys developed at ORNL were tested using high energy proton irradiations and subsequent characterization of irradiation hardening and damage microstructure. This report summarizes ion irradiation testing and characterization of three nuclear grade FeCrAl cladding materials developed at ORNL and four commercially available Kanthal series FeCrAl alloys in FY14 toward satisfying FCRD campaign goals.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

SPSP Phase III Recruiting, Selecting, and Developing Secure Power Systems Professionals: Behavioral Interview Guidelines by Job Roles

The Secure Power Systems Professional Phase III final report was released last year which an appendix of Behavioral Interview Guidelines by Job Roles. This new report is that appendix broken out as a standalone document to assist utilities in recruiting and developing Secure Power Systems Professionals at their site. The complete list of knowledge, skills, and abilities required in each of the studied job roles was assembled into the Behavioral Interview Guidelines. The guidelines were developed to apply the results of Phases I and II in a format that can be used in part or in whole to align workforce capabilities with the strategic goals and tactical focus of a power grid organization. These guidelines may 1) be applied to develop performance reviews or to produce individual professional development programs for existing staff; 2) assist in specifying learning objectives for a training or education program; and 3) be easily incorporated into most human capital software to facilitate development of job descriptions that comply with guidelines established by the Society of Human Resource Management. The guidelines can be immediately applied by human resources professionals, recruiters, and hiring managers to assist in recruiting and interviewing candidates for new SPSP position openings.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DEFLECTION OF A HETEROGENEOUS WIDE-BEAM UNDER UNIFORM PRESSURE LOAD

Oregon State University (OSU) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) are currently collaborating on a test program which entails hydro-mechanical testing of a generic plate type fuel element, or generic test plate assembly (GTPA), for the purpose of qualitatively demonstrating mechanical integrity of uranium-molybdenum monolithic plates as compared to that of uranium aluminum dispersion, and aluminum fuel plates onset by hydraulic forces. This test program supports ongoing work conducted for/by the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) Fuels Development Program. This study’s focus supports the ongoing collaborative effort by detailing the derivation of an analytic solution for deflection of a heterogeneous plate under a uniform, distributed load in order to predict the deflection of test plates in the GTPA. The resulting analytical solutions for three specific boundary condition sets are then presented against several test cases of a homogeneous plate. In all test cases considered, the results for both homogeneous and heterogeneous plates are numerically identical to one another, demonstrating correct derivation of the heterogeneous solution. Two additional problems are presents herein that provide a representative deflection profile for the plates under consideration within the GTPA. Furthermore, qualitative observations are made about the influence of a more-rigid internal fuel-meat region and its influence on the overall deflection profile of a plate. Present work is being directed to experimentally confirm the analytical solution’s results using select materials.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

RISMC Industry Application no. 1 (ECCS/LOCA) Core characterization automation: Reference PWR designs for IA no. 1

The U.S. NRC is currently proposing rulemaking '10 CFR 50.46c' to revise the loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) and emergency core cooling system (ECCS) acceptance criteria to include the effects of higher burn-up on cladding performance. The key implications of this proposition are that both cladding and ECCS performance need to be considered in a coupled manner. This implies that LOCA methodologies will need to be updated for regulatory purposes. The Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway, as part of the DOE Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) research and development program initialed several programs at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to support the industry by offering potential solutions to this new LOCA/ECCS analysis. One of these programs is the Industry Application no. 1 (IA1). It's goal is to develop an integrated evaluation model called LOCA Toolkit for the US (LOTUS) to revisit how risks are evaluated in a LOCA under 10 CFR 50.46c. The focus of LOTUS is to establish the automation interfaces among the physics disciplines involved, namely the core design automation, the fuels/clad performance, the system analysis, the risk assessment and the core design optimization. The risk-informed margins management approach for IA1 will provide a means of quantifying the impact on the key LOCA analysis figures-of-merit like peak cladding temperature (PCT), equivalent cladding reacted (ECR), etc. of a change in LOCA analysis inputs. The information obtained can then be used for decision-making and margin management. The modular approach for LOTUS will enable plant owners/vendors to further customize the LOTUS framework for use within their established codes and methods. One of the LOTUS modules deals with the core design automation (CD-A). The purpose of this module is to supply the LOCA analysis with initial conditions, i.e. assembly/pin power histories, power shapes, etc. to be employed by the Fuels/Clad Performance (EP) and System Analysis (SA) modules. In the CD-A module, the plant owner/operator will characterize his core design with the tools he has. For the current LOTUS demonstration, the tools used are the already coupled codes PHISICS and RELAP5-3D2,3. Cross section generation will be done using the Studsvik lattice code HELIOS-2.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Characteristics of Ultralow Aspect Ratio Toroidal Plasmas and Non-Solenoidal Startup and Edge Stability Studies at Near-Unity Aspect Ratio (Final Report)

This grant supported a long-term research and development program to explore the physics and technology of spherical tokamak (ST) plasma behavior at near-unity aspect ratio ( A ). The PEGASUS Toroidal Experiment is a university-scale ( R ) ~ 0.40 m, α ~ .35 m, I p ≤ 0.3 MA, B T ≤ 0.15 T) experiment that accesses A → 1, to provide large values of the normalized plasma current, I N = I p /α B T , or equivalently the toroidal field utilization factor I p / I TF . The research activities focused on: 1) developing the technique of Local Helicity Injection (LHI) as a viable means of initiating and growing an ST plasma without the use of a central solenoid; 2) exploring the equilibrium and stability properties of spherical tokamak plasmas at extremely low aspect ratio; and 3) obtaining new insights in the properties of the enhanced confinement H-mode regime at A ~ 1. The initial (Phase I) facility employed a unique high-stress central solenoid Ohmic for current drive and heating with simple magnet current waveforms. A subsequent major upgrade (Phase II) offered more flexible control of the plasma evolution along with a powerful LHI system for plasma initiation, heating and sustainment. The LHI technique consists of injection of high-density current streams into vacuum toroidal and vertical magnetic fields. These streams become unstable and support magnetic reconnection to allow the system to relax into a tokamak-like magnetic configuration. This program focused on: 1) development of electron current sources that provide sufficiently high injection currents in the challenging edge plasma region; 2) validation of theoretical limits to achievable I p arising from magnetic helicity and energy conservation plus absolute limits arising from relaxation to a minimal energy states; 3) tests of a power balance model to describe the evolution of the plasma current I p (t); and 4) study of magnetic fluctuations and their role in the I p evolution. This culminated in the production of toroidal currents of I p ≥ 0.2 MA with only ~8 kA of injected current. Operation with Ohmic induction alone in Phase I created plasmas with soft limits on the achievable I p and field utilization ( I p / I TF ~ 1) due to the onset of large low-order (2/1 or 3/2) internal resonant tearing modes. With the expanded capabilities in Phase II operation, methods employed to mitigate those modes and achieve I p / I TF > 1 were: 1) I TF ramp-downs; 2) non-solenoidal startup via LHI; and 3) extremely low I TF Ohmic operations assisted by LHI current injector pre-ionization. Extensive use of LHI-driven startup and drive for non-solenoidal operation produced favorable current profiles to stably operate tokamak plasmas with unprecedentedly high I N = I p / aB T ~ 15 and I p / I TF > 2. With strong reconnection-driven anomalous ion heating, this in turn provided access to tokamak plasmas with B t up to 100%, a world record 2 times higher than that previously achieved in advanced or spherical tokamaks. This high B t regime had a large fraction (~50%) of the plasma volume in a region of an absolute minimum- B configuration. The MHD stability limit in this regime was the ideal external kink mode without a stabilizing wall. These results provided the first demonstration of access to tokamak plasmas with very high B t , high i N , high elongation κ, and low internal inductance ℓ i , and as such served as a proof-ofprinciple for access to this long-sought ST regime. The naturally low B T needed for stability at A ≤ 1.2 reduces the L-H mode power threshold, P LH , so that H-mode plasmas were achieved with Ohmic heating alone. The power threshold for the transition to the H-mode regime was found to be 10× the accepted values from the ITER international scaling, confirming initial trends indicated by experiments on MAST and NSTX, and suggesting that the physics behind this transition is not yet fully understood. The density dependence of the transition and the observed insensitivity to whether the plasma is bounded by a limiter or magnetic divertor are consistent with the recent FM 3 model. Multiple unstable toroidal magnetic modes were measured during ELM (Edge Localized Mode) crashes, with generally lower toroidal mode numbers than seen at higher A , which was attributed to the larger peeling mode instability drive at low A . First-ever edge current profile measurements through an ELM crash showed current-carrying filaments were generated, as seen in ELM simulations and in electromagnetic blob transport theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

South Texas Industrial Assessment Center (Final Report)

The South Texas Industrial Assessment Center (ST-IAC) provides small to mid-size manufacturing companies and water treatment plants in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, free energy assessments to help them reduce costs and stay competitive for sustainable development. The ST-IAC operates within the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), and is the largest Hispanic-serving IAC in the U.S. Created in 2016, the ST-IAC, situated in the most economically disadvantaged region in the country, has been successful in training students and assessing local industries served by a predominantly Hispanic population. UTRGV, now the second largest Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) of higher education in the U.S., has a student population of 32,000, of which 90% is Hispanic. While Covid-19 had a negative impact to our program during Budget Periods (BP) 4 and 5, the center still managed to provide opportunities for individuals, manufacturing and water industries in the local region. The program developed an energy engineering program in the region and further advanced national priorities. Those include resilience and sustainability of operations by implementing energy efficiency processes, renewable energy sources, decarbonization, battery storage, and cybersecurity in south Texas.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Sequim Bay Underwater UXO (SBU2) Prototype Demonstration Site: Field Operations Summary, 2019

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has identified more than 400 underwater sites that are potentially contaminated with munitions. Many of these sites are in shallow water (0–35 m deep) where the munitions pose a threat to human health and the environmental. To address this challenge, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) held a workshop in 2018 to establish the requirements and framework for developing a series of underwater unexploded ordnance (UXO) Standardized Demonstration sites (“test beds”) to support the evaluation of sensors, equipment, and technologies to detect UXO. Sequim Bay in Washington State was evaluated as a potential test bed and was determined to meet initial qualifying criteria with respect to environmental setting, and operational, logistical, and facilities support provided by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗