Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “POLICIES”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

The Importance of Policies: It’s Not Just A Pipeline Problem

For decades, a leaky pipeline analogy has been used when discussing diversity issues in STEM fields. However, this imagery is overly simplistic and does not capture critical issues that contribute to people leaving the field. It puts distance between structural issues, our actions, and why people leave the field. When we view our research structure as something more complex, we can start taking ownership and frame more impactful solutions instead of misidentifying important issues and providing ineffective short-term solutions. Many of the issues discussed in the "Cultivating a culture of inclusivity in Heliophysics" position paper have counterparts within our policies and our institutions. To fully address and mitigate the current issues within our field, we have identified a need to cultivate a positive, safe, inclusive, and effective environment. However, we need both cultural and programmatic changes. We will try to identify systemic issues that inhibit many from fully participating and potential solutions, as well as groups and fields producing best practices for creating and enabling effective environments where innovation can occur.

A.J. Halford↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of Past Space Nuclear Reactor Functional Safety Principles in the Context of Recent Policy Changes

Space nuclear reactor technology development and associated approaches to safety have been ongoing for over 60 years. This paper selects functional safety principles associated with space reactors at several points in time since the early 1980s and provides an overview of their general content, similarities, and differences, as well as how they have evolved. It also reflects, where applicable, on how recent Federal policies in the area of space nuclear systems may affect how these safety principles apply to future activities.

Crew Safety↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Community for Polar Early Career Researchers Engaging With the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee

The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) is tasked with implementation of the Arctic Research Plan (ARP) by coordinating representatives from federal and state agencies, academic, industry, and Indigenous partners with interests in Arctic research. IARPC is organized into several collaboration teams and discipline-specific communities of practice that interface on the IARPC Collaborations website. The Early Career Community of Practice (ECCoP) is one such community that was established to promote the research of early career researchers (ECR) and increase ECR engagement with the ARP, program managers, collaboration teams, and communities of practice. The ECCoP has grown to develop regular newsletters promoting recent ECR research publications ad sharing training, job, funding, and collaboration opportunities relevant to community members at all life stages that self-identify as ECRs. Within IARPC, the ECCoP continues to promote ECR participation in monthly community of practice meetings and webinars and to report on ECR efforts that contribute to deliverables of the ARP Biennial Implementation Plan. Recent activity of the ECCoP includes developing an annual survey of the ECR cohort on IARPC to follow change in demographics over time and to identify community needs to improve diversity and inclusion in the polar research space and to address gaps in training needs for ECRs.

Katy Smith↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Supporting Arctic Research, Engagement, and Policy With GMAO’s Next Generation Reanalysis & Prediction Systems

Modeling efforts at NASA aim to advance scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes and to improve our ability to predict climate, weather, and natural hazards. These efforts are particularly relevant for communities, scientists and stakeholders working and living in the Arctic. Here, we highlight current and planned Earth system prediction and data assimilation products from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). We invite feedback and discussion on GMAO’s model and reanalysis development in support of Arctic research, engagement, and policy.

Lauren C Andrews↗
NASA NTRS2025

Informing Planetary Protection Policies for the Future Exploration of Ceres: State of Understanding after the Dawn Mission

We review the current state of understanding of Ceres as it relates to planetary protection policy for future landed missions, including for sample return, to the dwarf planet. The Dawn mission found Ceres to be an intriguing target for a mission, with evidence for the presence of regional, possibly extensive liquid at depth, and local expressions of recent and potentially ongoing activity. The Dawn mission also found a high abundance of carbon in the regolith, interpreted as a mix of carbonates and amorphous carbon, as well as locally high concentrations of organic matter. Key findings from this review are as follows: (1) outside of the region of Occator crater, Ceres shows no geological evidence for conduits from the surface to the interior; and (2) considering the biological potential of Ceres’ deep interior, a surface sample return mission should be considered Category V restricted, unless it can be demonstrated that evaporites sourced from Ceres’ deep brine region, and recently exposed in Occator crater, have not been scattered to the rest of Ceres’ surface; in that case, the probability of returning an unsterilized particle to an acceptably low value is to be determined by a future study. Key Words: Ceres—Planetary protection—Brines—Future missions.

Julie Castillo-Rogez↗
DOE OSTI2020

Applied Risk Analysis for Guiding Homeland Security Policy

Risk analysis methods may be qualitative, semi-quantitative, or quantitative; adopt probabilistic and statistical theories; and implement concepts from core disciplines including operations research, reliability engineering, systems engineering, and applied mathematics. These methods continue to develop and evolve and have successfully been applied to address various homeland security mission challenges in recent years. The objective of this book is to: 1) highlight the role of risk analysis for informing homeland security policy decisions, and 2) describe case studies from academia, government, and industry that apply risk analysis methods for addressing challenges within each of the DHS missions.

national security, risk assessment, risk managemen↗
DOE OSTI2020

Single Episode Policy Transfer in Reinforcement Learning

Transfer and adaptation to new unknown environmental dynamics is a key challenge for reinforcement learning (RL). An even greater challenge is performing near-optimally in a single attempt at test time, possibly without access to dense rewards, which is not addressed by current methods that require multiple experience rollouts for adaptation. To achieve single episode transfer in a family of environments with related dynamics, we propose a general algorithm that optimizes a probe and an inference model to rapidly estimate underlying latent variables of test dynamics, which are then immediately used as input to a universal control policy. This modular approach enables integration of state-of-the-art algorithms for variational inference or RL. Moreover, our approach does not require access to rewards at test time, allowing it to perform in settings where existing adaptive approaches cannot. In diverse experimental domains with a single episode test constraint, we report our method significantly outperforms existing adaptive approaches and shows favorable performance against baselines for robust transfer.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Decision Support Tool for Solar Energy Cybersecurity Policy and Regulation

The Decision Support Tool helps users address four discrete challenges: (1) complex requirements of relevant codes and standards, (2) technical complexity of solar assets, (3) undefined cyber risk severity, and (4) unclear roles and responsibilities. Content includes an analysis of cyber vulnerability risks, a decision support resource for policymakers to mitigate cyber risks to solar photovoltaic systems, and background resources for informing policy development. A key component of this tool is the Probable Risk Assessment (PRA), based on established, formal variables, models, and consequences, which helps users understand the determined risk and assigned ownership of the physical components. It helps states draw logical lines between vulnerabilities and mitigative solutions, of which some have been further detailed as Cybersecurity Advisory Team for State Solar (CATSS) tools.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Panel Session 90: US DOE Mixed Waste: Proposals for Dealing with Problematic Waste Streams and Policy Changes

This panel focused on generation and management of low level and mixed low-level radioactive wastes, challenges for disposition, innovative solutions applied at DOE sites, and collaboration among sites to ensure that waste disposition pathways are understood. In addition, potential policy initiatives were discussed including depleted uranium, elemental mercury, and treatment of legacy mixed waste components. As part of the introduction, Theresa Kliczewski provided an overview of why this panel is relevant: problematic mixed waste streams still exist across the DOE cleanup complex. Theresa noted that the DOE EM Headquarters Office of Waste and Materials Management (EM-4.2), for which she is employed with, continues to work with the DOE cleanup sites on a path forward for these problematic mixed waste streams. As part of this effort, EM-4.2 requested that the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) perform a review of all the DOE sites problematic mixed waste streams. Panelists with presentations: Challenging Waste Streams: Disposition of Depleted Uranium Oxide Conversion Product (Douglas Tonkay); EFCOG WMWG Challenging Waste Subgroup (Tammy Monday); Mercury Waste Challenges (John Wrapp); Legacy Large Mixed Waste Components (Kalli Shupe)

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

SAE Government-Industry - Heavy-Duty Policy: Panel Discussion (G203)

Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are 21% of US transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a major source of air pollution. In this talk to present some results exploring how the total cost of driving (TCD) of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), including battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (EVs and FCEVs), could evolve under alternative scenarios. Results show that with continued improvements in vehicles and fuels, ZEVs can rapidly become viable, potentially reaching TCD parity or better compared to diesel vehicles by 2035 for all market segments. For heavy long-haul trucks, EVs become competitive on a TCD basis at charging costs below $0.18/kWh, while FCEVs become competitive on a TCD basis at hydrogen costs below $5/kg. A full transition to ZEV sales by 2035 results in 65% emissions reductions by 2050 compared to 2019 without supportive policies. Incentives such as the Inflation Reduction Act vehicle purchase credits further accelerate ZEV TCD competitiveness with major adoption opportunities over the next five years.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSI↗
DOE OSTI2023

State Microgrid Policy, Programmatic, and Regulatory Framework

The purpose of this framework is to provide a resource for PUCs and State Energy Offices as they develop policies, regulations, and programs to support microgrids. Through shared understanding of the roles of these different entities, the framework aims to foster productive collaboration to support microgrid development.

Jones, Kelsey↗
DOE OSTI2024

Organizational Influence on Supply Chain for Digital Energy Infrastructure: Business Models, and Policy Landscape

Significant investment is driving the essential modernization and digitization of U.S. energy infrastructure, but the United States faces a key challenge in this grid transformation: our renewable and clean energy supply chains have limited capacity to source necessary digital assets through U.S. or allied sources. Batteries and their associated power electronic interfaces are key components to delivering clean and more resilient energy delivery, providing much-needed fast ramping, emergency discharge, generation, and operations support to the electric grid. These services have grown to be invaluable over the past 10 years and will soon be an irreplaceable component of energy delivery. While there have been significant strides to move supply chains for raw and critical materials to U.S. and allied nations, the control and power electronic industry has lagged, in part because of lower cost margins. For example, the United States now has growing capacity to manufacture solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, but 90% of the inverters—which are essential to the conversion of DC to AC for grid connection and controls—are made in or source parts from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While a global supply chain is beneficial for many economic and supply diversification reasons, presence of foreign entities of concern (FEOC) in a dominant role in this supply chain brings additional concerns for national security of infrastructure. The BESS relationship and new clean energy have features that warrant discussions and additional focus on impact for technology security, given their critical role. This review considers the impact and solutions for complex business and policy landscapes in clean energy supply chain, and the benefit trade-offs, focusing on the Battery Energy Storage System case study, and its complex organizational relationships across both the US, Allied countries and Foreign Entities of Concern. While many examples in this paper are presented on PRC focused manufacture, this could apply to any potentially adversarial relationship

25 - ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Behaviourally-Informed Peer Referral Programmes can Increase the Reach of Low-Income Energy Policies

Low-income solar adopters are more likely to refer others to a fully subsidized solar programme when referral rewards are combined with an appeal to reciprocity and a simplified referral process, leading to five times as many solar contracts as when referral rewards are used alone. The findings highlight behavioural science strategies that administrators of low-income energy assistance programmes can use to cost-effectively accelerate programme uptake.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Обзор политики, влияющей на загрязнение воздуха от электроэнергетического сектора в Центральной Азии [An Overview of Policies Influencing Air Pollution from the Electricity Sector in Central Asia (Russian Translation)]

Электроэнергетический сектор является значительным источником загрязнения воздуха и связанных с ним нарушений состояния здоровья в Центральной Азии и других регионах. Выбросы электростанций, работающих на ископаемом топливе, содержат широкий спектр вредных загрязняющих веществ и их прекурсоров. Из этих веществ наибольшее воздействие на здоровье оказывают твердые частицы и озон. Поскольку после попадания загрязнителей в атмосферу их практически невозможно удалить, меры по реализации политики улучшения качества воздуха должны ограничивать такие выбросы до их осуществления. Однако борьба с таким типом загрязнения воздуха сопряжена с трудностями, особенно в развивающихся странах, где электроснабжение является базовой потребностью населения и стимулом экономического роста. В настоящем докладе представлены примеры подходов, регулирующих загрязнение воздуха предприятиями электроэнергетического сектора в странах Центральной Азии — Казахстане, Кыргызстане, Таджикистане, Туркменистане и Узбекистане. Эта публикация дополняет ранее выпущенный доклад по мерам политики в Южной Азии. Как и при составлении доклада по Южной Азии, информация о политике в некоторых странах оказалась труднодоступной, поэтому данное исследование не является всесторонним, а скорее представляет собой обзор текущего состояния сектора. В обзоре представлены: 1) меры по реализации политики, направленной на прямое регулирование качества воздуха путем сокращения выбросов от конкретных источников энергии (например, за счет сокращения часов работы) и 2) примеры косвенных мер, которые создают положительные и отрицательные стимулы для деятельности, связанной с загрязнением окружающей среды, в том числе меры, поощряющие переход на более экологически чистое топливо или отказ от него. Следует обратить внимание на то, что настоящий доклад был подготовлен до начала российско-украинского конфликта, поэтому последствия данной войны для Центральной Азии в нем не учитываются. Основные выводы доклада: 1. В странах Центральной Азии, как правило, имеется относительно небольшое число инструментов политики для регулирования выбросов в атмосферу. 2. Многие страны, особенно те, в которых наблюдается несоответствие между сезонным спросом и доступностью ресурсов, могли бы повысить энергетическую безопасность и уменьшить загрязнение воздуха за счет развития международной торговли электроэнергией (МТЭ). 3. Некоторые страны проводят противоречивую политику, например, одновременно поощряя использование и угля, и возобновляемых источников энергии. This report is also available in English: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/81861.pdf.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗