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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1983

Assessment of Potential for Batteries in Space Applications

Different battery technologies for energy storage in space missions were examined. One of the best ways of the possibilities of high energy density batteries were determined by looking at more conventional batteries (i.e., lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydrogen, etc.). The theoretical specific energy density for state of the art batteries and the usable energy density for a reasonable life expectancy are outlined. The most mature of these couples is lead acid, which achieves nearly 20% of its theoretical capacity. The nickel-cadmium couple, has matured to where the active capacity is 17% of its theoretical capacity. The achievements are used to measure the practicality of more advanced batteries and to estimate what is needed for future high power space systems.

Ford, F. E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Indigenous lunar construction materials

The utilization of local resources for the construction and operation of a lunar base can significantly reduce the cost of transporting materials and supplies from Earth. The feasibility of processing lunar regolith to form construction materials and structural components is investigated. A preliminary review of potential processing methods such as sintering, hot-pressing, liquification, and cast basalt techniques, was completed. The processing method proposed is a variation on the cast basalt technique. It involves liquification of the regolith at 1200-1300 C, casting the liquid into a form, and controlled cooling. While the process temperature is higher than that for sintering or hot-pressing (1000-1100 C), this method is expected to yield a true engineering material with low variability in properties, high strength, and the potential to form large structural components. A scenario for this processing method was integrated with a design for a representative lunar base structure and potential construction techniques. The lunar shelter design is for a modular, segmented, pressurized, hemispherical dome which could serve as habitation and laboratory space. Based on this design, estimates of requirements for power, processing equipment, and construction equipment were made. This proposed combination of material processing method, structural design, and support requirements will help to establish the feasibility of lunar base construction using indigenous materials. Future work will refine the steps of the processing method. Specific areas where more information is needed are: furnace characteristics in vacuum; heat transfer during liquification; viscosity, pouring and forming behavior of molten regolith; design of high temperature forms; heat transfer during cooling; recrystallization of basalt; and refinement of estimates of elastic moduli, compressive and tensile strength, thermal expansion coefficient, thermal conductivity, and heat capacity. The preliminary design of the lunar shelter showed us that joining is a critical technology needed for building a structure from large segments. The problem of joining is important to the design of any structure that is not completely prefabricated. It is especially important when the structure is subjected to tensile loading by an internal pressure. For a lunar shelter constructed from large segments the joints between these large segments must be strong, and they must permit automated construction. With a cast basalt building material which is brittle, there is the additional problem of connecting the joint with the material and avoiding stress concentration that would cause failure. Thus, a well-defined project which we intend to pursue during this coming year is the design of joints for cast basalt structural elements.

Rogers, Wayne P.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Energy Storage Analysis

This study presents a comprehensive techno-economic characterization of energy storage and exible low carbon power generation technologies that can shift energy across days, weeks, or months to balance daily, weekly, and seasonal disparities in supply and demand. Energy storage technologies evaluated here include pumped hydropower storage (PHS), adiabatic and diabatic compressed air energy storage (CAES), vanadium redox flow batteries (VRBs), pumped thermal energy storage (P-TES), and renewably produced hydrogen stored in either geologic formations or underground pipes with re-electrification via combustion turbines in combined cycles, stationary proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, or the novel use of PEM fuel cells designed for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) which are expected to have shorter lives but also lower capital costs. We also evaluate flexible low-carbon power generation systems, including ethanol combustion in gas turbines and natural gas combustion with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). We estimate current costs with literature data, use learning rates to characterize future costs, and develop capacity factors calibrated to an 85% renewables grid to calculate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of each technology. Results illustrate that at the 12-hour storage duration, PHS and CAES have the lowest LCOE with current costs, and VRBs become competitive if future costs are achieved. At the 120-hour storage duration, hydrogen systems with geologic storage and natural gas with CCS achieve the lowest LCOE in both current and future capital cost scenarios. In particular, the new configuration of HDV-PEM fuel cells with hydrogen storage in geologic formations evaluated here could lower the LCOE by 22-27% compared to stationary fuel cell systems typically evaluated and might help enable very high (>80%) renewable energy electric power systems. P-TES and hydrogen stored in underground pipes are the least-cost options at the 120-hour storage duration rating that do not require some form of geologic storage. Sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo analysis illustrate that the general trends seen in this study are valid for a wide range of capacity factors and future cost scenarios. The study also illustrates that coproducing and selling hydrogen to other markets could reduce the LCOE of hydrogen systems by up to 39%.

carbon capture and sequestration↗
DOE OSTI2016

Thermal-hydraulic performance of the TREAT Multi-SERTTA for reactivity initiated accident experiments

Experimental testing in the Multi-Static Environment Rodlet Transient Test Apparatus (SERTTA) will lead the rebirth of transient fuel testing in the United States as part of the Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) program. The Multi-SERTTA is comprised of 4 isolated pressurized environments capable of a wide variety of working fluids and thermal conditions. Ultimately, the TREAT reactor as well as the Multi-SERTTA test vehicle serve the purpose of providing desired thermal-hydraulic boundary conditions to the test specimen. The initial ATF testing in TREAT will focus on reactivity insertion accident (RIA) events using both gas and water environments including typical PWR operating pressures and temperatures. The heat transfer conditions during the high energy power pulses of RIA events remains a subject of large uncertainty and great importance for fuel performance predictions. To support transient experiments, the Multi-SERTTA vehicle has been modeled using RELAP5 with a baseline test specimen composed of fresh UO{sub 2} fuel in zircaloy cladding. The results show that for energy depositions less than 1380 J/g-UO{sub 2}, the vessel environment remains sub-supercritical. Two extremes of gap conductance show significant effect on event timing and peak cladding temperature but little effect on end state conditions. Inclusion of oxidation has increasing impact for increasing energy depositions. The effect of oxidation is non-negligible for planned TREAT experiments in the range of explored energy depositions. Pulse width has little impact on thermal hydraulic conditions under the assumptions used in this analysis. The model used in this work has been coupled to the fuel performance code, BISON, to accomplish best estimate predictive capability for Multi-SERTTA experiments. The results show the great flexibility and capacity of the TREAT Multi-SERTTA test vehicle to provide testing under a wide range of prototypic thermal-hydraulic conditions as never done before.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Adsorbent Alkali Conditioning for Uranium Adsorption from Seawater. Adsorbent Performance and Technology Cost Evaluation

The Fuel Resources program of the Fuel Cycle Research and Development program of the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) is focused on identifying and implementing actions to assure that nuclear fuel resources are available in the United States. An immense source of uranium is seawater, which contains an estimated amount of 4.5 billion tonnes of dissolved uranium. This unconventional resource can provide a price cap and ensure centuries of uranium supply for future nuclear energy production. NE initiated a multidisciplinary program with participants from national laboratories, universities, and research institutes to enable technical breakthroughs related to uranium recovery from seawater. The goal is to develop advanced adsorbents to reduce the seawater uranium recovery technology cost and uncertainties. Under this program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed a new amidoxime-based adsorbent of high surface area, which tripled the uranium capacity of leading Japanese adsorbents. Parallel efforts have been focused on the optimization of the physicochemical and operating parameters used during the preparation of the adsorbent for deployment. A set of parameters that need to be optimized are related to the conditioning of the adsorbent with alkali solution, which is necessary prior to adsorbent deployment. Previous work indicated that alkali-conditioning parameters significantly affect the adsorbent performance. Initiated in 2014, this study had as a goal to determine optimal parameters such as base type and concentration, temperature, and duration of conditioning that maximize the uranium adsorption performance of amidoxime functionalized adsorbent, while keeping the cost of uranium production low. After base-treatment at various conditions, samples of adsorbent developed at ORNL were tested in this study with batch simulated seawater solution of 8-ppm uranium concentration, batch seawater spiked with uranium nitrate at 75-100 ppb uranium, and continuous-flow natural seawater at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and elemental analysis were used to characterize the adsorbent at different stages of adsorbent preparation and treatment. The study can be divided into two parts: (A) investigation of optimal parameters for KOH adsorbent conditioning and (B) investigation of other possible agents for alkali conditioning, including cost analysis on the basis of uranium production. In the first part of the study, tests with simulated seawater containing 8 ppm uranium showed that the uranium adsorption capacity increased with an increase in the KOH concentration and conditioning time and temperature at each of the KOH concentrations used. FTIR and solid state NMR studies indicated that KOH conditioning converts the amidoxime functional groups into more hydrophilic carboxylate. The longer the KOH conditioning time, up to three hours, the higher was the loading capacity from the simulated seawater solution which is composed of only uranyl, sodium, chloride, and carbonate ions. Marine testing with natural seawater, on the other hand, showed that the uranium adsorption capacity of the adsorbent increased with KOH conditioning temperature, and gradually decreased with increasing KOH conditioning time from one hour to three hours at 80 C. This behavior is due to the conversion of amidoxime to carboxylate. The carboxylate groups are needed to increase the hydrophilicity of the adsorbent; however, conversion of a significant amount of amidoxime to carboxylate leads to loss in selectivity toward uranyl ions. Thus, there is an optimum KOH conditioning time for each temperature at which an optimum ratio between amidoxime and carboxylate is reached. For the case of base conditioning with 0.44 M KOH at 80 C, the optimal conditioning time is 1 hour, with respect to the highest uranium loading capacity from natural seawater. Uptake of other metal ions such as V, Fe, and Cu follows the same trend as that of uranium. Also, the uptake of Ca, Mg, and Zn ions increased with increasing KOH conditioning time, probably due to formation of more carboxylates, which leads to conversion of uranium-selective binding sites to less selective sites. In the second part of the study, inorganic based reagents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ), cesium hydroxide (CsOH), as well as organic based reagents such as ammonium hydroxide (AOH), tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH), tetraethylammonium hydroxide (TEAOH), triethylmethylammonium hydroxide (TEMAOH), tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH), in addition to KOH, were used for alkaline conditioning. NaOH has emerged as a better reagent for alkaline conditioning of amidoxime-based adsorbent because of higher uranium uptake capacity, higher uranium uptake selectivity ...

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Validation of wind resource and energy production simulations for small wind turbines in the United States

Abstract. Due to financial and temporal limitations, the small wind community relies upon simplified wind speed models and energy production simulation tools to assess site suitability and produce energy generation expectations. While efficient and user-friendly, these models and tools are subject to errors that have been insufficiently quantified at small wind turbine heights. This study leverages observations from meteorological towers and sodars across the United States to validate wind speed estimates from the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis v5 (ERA5), and the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), revealing average biases within ±0.5 m s−1 at small wind hub heights. Observations from small wind turbines across the United States provide references for validating energy production estimates from the System Advisor Model (SAM), Wind Report, MyWindTurbine.com, and Global Wind Atlas 3 (GWA3), which are seen to overestimate actual annual capacity factors by 2.5, 4.2, 11.5, and 7.3 percentage points, respectively. In addition to quantifying the error metrics, this paper identifies sources of model and tool discrepancies, noting that interannual fluctuation in the wind resource, wind speed class, and loss assumptions produces more variability in estimates than different horizontal and vertical interpolation techniques. The results of this study provide small wind installers and owners with information about these challenges to consider when making performance estimates and thus possible adjustments accordingly. Looking to the future, recognizing these error metrics and sources of discrepancies provides model and tool researchers and developers with opportunities for product improvement that could positively impact small wind customer confidence and the ability to finance small wind projects.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2001

Triana Safehold: A New Gyroless, Sun-Pointing Attitude Controller

Triana is a single-string spacecraft to be placed in a halo orbit about the sun-earth Ll Lagrangian point. The Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) hardware includes four reaction wheels, ten thrusters, six coarse sun sensors, a star tracker, and a three-axis Inertial Measuring Unit (IMU). The ACS Safehold design features a gyroless sun-pointing control scheme using only sun sensors and wheels. With this minimum hardware approach, Safehold increases mission reliability in the event of a gyroscope anomaly. In place of the gyroscope rate measurements, Triana Safehold uses wheel tachometers to help provide a scaled estimation of the spacecraft body rate about the sun vector. Since Triana nominally performs momentum management every three months, its accumulated system momentum can reach a significant fraction of the wheel capacity. It is therefore a requirement for Safehold to maintain a sun-pointing attitude even when the spacecraft system momentum is reasonably large. The tachometer sun-line rate estimation enables the controller to bring the spacecraft close to its desired sun-pointing attitude even with reasonably high system momentum and wheel drags. This paper presents the design rationale behind this gyroless controller, stability analysis, and some time-domain simulation results showing performances with various initial conditions. Finally, suggestions for future improvements are briefly discussed.

Chen, J.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of Simplified Models for Estimating Public Dose from Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments

This paper investigates the dose rate as a function of distance from a representative high-capacity SNF rail-type transportation cask. It uses the SCALE suite of radiation transport modeling and simulation codes to determine neutron and gamma radiation dose rates. The SCALE calculated dose rate is compared with simplified analytical methods historically used for these calculations. The SCALE dose rate calculation presented in this paper employs a very detailed transportation cask model (e.g., pin-by-pin modeling of fuel assembly) and a new hybrid computational transport method. Because it includes pin-level heterogeneity and models ample air and soil outside the cask to simulate scattering of gamma and neutron radiation, this detailed SCALE model is expected to yield more accurate results than previously used models which made more simplistic assumptions (e.g., fuel assembly treated as a point or line source, simple 1-D model of environment outside of cask). The results in this paper are preliminary and, as progress is made on developing and validating improved models, results may be subject to change as models and estimates become more refined and better information leads to more accurate assumptions.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Strong Lensing Cosmology with Population-level Calibrated Neural Ratio Estimation

Strong gravitational lensing contains key information about cosmic acceleration. Modern and next-generation galaxy imaging surveys are expected to provide high-quality data on $\mathcal{O}(10^5)$ galaxy-galaxy lensing systems. The plethora and complexity of the data are likely to present computational challenges for parameter inference methods for fitting high-dimensional likelihoods, which are often analytically intractable. Neural Ratio Estimation (NRE) efficiently computes individual likelihood ratios that can be combined into population-level posteriors. We use simulations to study the capacity of NRE to jointly predict the dark energy equation-of-state parameter $w$ and the total matter density $Ω_{m}$ from lensing images and companion spectroscopic information. We also introduce a post hoc posterior coverage calibration procedure that mitigates the model overconfidence that is typically found in neural density estimation applications. Our experiments show that the errors on both parameters decrease with increasing inference population sizes. In particular, for 100 lenses in a standard $Λ$CDM Universe, our calibrated NRE model achieves median fractional uncertainty of $22.8\%$ in $w$ and $2.9\%$ in $Ω_{m}$. This proof of concept demonstrates a potentially scalable approach for efficient cosmological parameter inference with large populations of galaxy-scale lenses observed in future surveys.

Jarugula, Sreevani [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000253867↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SERVIR: Cross-Comparison of Carbon Emission Estimates Based on Variable Land Use Land Cover Changes within SERVIR Focus Regions

Deforestation in the tropics contributes approximately one-fifth of the annual global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In an effort to reduce GHG emissions, SERVIR - a joint USAID and NASA initiative - is currently implementing the SERVIR CArbon Pilot (S-CAP) activity. By developing a comprehensive CO2 tracking system in Google Earth Engine based on both remotely sensed data and in situ observations, S-CAP aims to build capacity within the SERVIR regional hubs to improve decision making and local monitoring efforts surrounding GHG emissions. The S-CAP estimations are being completed throughout 11 pilot countries within the SERVIR regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas to integrate partner contributions and local input into the development process. These emission estimate calculations use country-level REDD+ FREL reported values, global remotely sensed data (e.g. Global Forest Watch) and regional datasets and are completed using the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. From the S-CAP activity thus far, country CO2 estimations had varied differences, ranging from 56% to 197% between their lowest and highest estimates. The results from this study show that CO2 emission estimates can differ greatly depending on the land cover data sets used as well as the biomass values, and how a comprehensive database is essential in understanding the full range of impacts that land cover change has in these regions. Using this ensemble approach, SERVIR hubs can better select the most appropriate datasets available for estimating emissions.

Carbon Emission↗
DOE OSTI2023

Hybrid Power Plants: Status of Operating and Proposed Plants, 2023 Edition [Slides]

Improving battery technology and the growth of variable renewable generation are driving a surge of interest in “hybrid” power plants that combine, for example, wind or solar generating capacity with co-located batteries. While most of the current interest involves pairing photovoltaic (PV) plants with batteries, other types of hybrid or co-located plants with wide-ranging configurations have been part of the U.S. electricity mix for decades. This annually updated briefing tracks and maps existing hybrid or co-located plants across the United States while also synthesizing data from power purchase agreements (PPAs) and generation interconnection queues to shed light on near- and long-term development pipelines. The scope includes “co-located hybrids” that pair two or more resources (e.g., multiple types of generation and/or generation with storage) that are operated largely independently behind a single point of interconnection, and “full hybrids” that also feature coordinated operations of the co-located resources. The focus is on plants with one megawatt (MW) or more of capacity; smaller (often behind-the-meter) projects are also increasingly common, but are not included in this data synthesis. Key findings from the latest briefing include: -At the end of 2022, there were 374 hybrid plants (>1 MW) operating across the United States (+25% compared to the end of 2021), totaling nearly 41 GW of generating capacity (+15%) and 5.4 GW/15.2 GWh of energy storage (+69%/+88%). PV+storage plants are by far the most common, dominating in terms of plant number (213), storage capacity (4.0 GW/12.5 GWh), storage:generator capacity ratio (49%), and storage duration (3.1 hours). But there are nearly twenty other hybrid plant configurations as well, including several different fossil hybrid categories (each dominated by the fossil component) as well as wind+storage, wind+PV, wind+PV+storage, geothermal+PV, and others. -Last year was another strong year for PV+storage hybrids in particular: 59 of the 62 hybrids added in 2022 were PV+storage. As of the end of 2022, there was roughly as much storage capacity operating within PV+storage hybrid plants as in standalone storage plants (~4 GW each). In storage energy terms, however, PV+storage edged out standalone storage by ~2 GWh (12.5 GWh vs. 10.4 GWh, respectively). -Interconnection queue data show continued strong developer interest in hybridization. At the close of 2022, there were 51% more hybrid plants—representing 59% more generating capacity—in interconnection queues across the United States than there were at the end of 2021. Solar dominates these proposed plants as well: at the close of 2022, there were 457 GW of solar capacity proposed as a hybrid (representing ~48% of all solar capacity in the queues), most typically pairing PV with battery storage. At the same time, there were 24 GW of wind capacity proposed as a hybrid (representing ~8% of all wind capacity in the queues), again most-often pairing wind with storage. Meanwhile, more than half of all storage in the queues is estimated to be part of a hybrid plant. While many of the plants proposed in the queues will not ultimately reach commercial operations, the depth of interest in hybrid plants—especially PV+storage—is notable, particularly in certain regions. For example, in CAISO, 97% of all solar capacity and 45% of all wind capacity in the queues is proposed as a hybrid. -The report also surveys power purchase agreement (PPA) price data from a sample of operating and proposed PV+storage plants. Though PV+storage PPA prices have fallen over time, “levelized storage adders” have recently increased somewhat to ~$\$ $7000/MW-month, ~$\$ $60/MWh-stored (assuming one full cycle per day), or ~$\$ $15/MWh-PV. Some of the recent price increase could simply reflect a trend towards higher battery:PV capacity ratios over time, which increases costs, all else being equal. The well-publicized impact of inflationary and supply chain pressures on battery prices is no doubt a contributor as well.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Mapping Soil Cation‐Exchange Capacity using Bayesian Modeling and Proximal Sensors at the Field Scale

Core Ideas A Bayesian inference approach (INLA‐SPDE) was used to map topsoil and subsoil CEC. DEM, gamma‐ray spectrometer and EM induction data were combined to map CEC. Posterior marginal distributions of the model parameters and responses were estimated. Gamma‐ray data performed best in the topsoil, followed by DUALEM421S and elevation. Elevation data performed best in the subsoil, followed by gamma‐ray and DUALEM421S. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) affects soil fertility, acidity, and structural resilience. This is particularly the case in sugarcane growing areas of Australia because the soil there is sandy (>60%), strongly acidic (pH < 5.5), and strongly sodic (exchangeable sodium percentage [ESP] > 15%). Unfortunately, obtaining information on CEC at the field extent is time‐consuming and expensive. Here, we used a digital soil mapping approach to add value to limited (40) topsoil (0–0.3 m) and subsoil (0.6–0.9 m) CEC information. We first collected proximally sensed ancillary data from three sources, including a digital elevation model (DEM), γ‐ray (γ‐ray) spectrometer (RS700) and electromagnetic (EM) induction instruments. We then use a Bayesian inference approach (Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation with Stochastic Partial Differential Equation, INLA‐SPDE) implemented in R software to model the CEC and ancillary data. Accuracy (RMSE), bias (ME), and concordance (Lin's) of models were also generated from the different sources of ancillary data, either in combination or alone. We concluded, overall, that the INLA–SPDE approach could provide estimations of the posterior marginal distributions of the model parameters as well as the model responses as reported by other researchers. We also concluded that using the ancillary data sources in combination was most accurate (e.g., RMSE = 0.72) to predict CEC, least biased (e.g., ME = 0.07) and had the highest concordance (e.g., Lin's = 0.69) in both the topsoil and subsoil than using the ancillary data alone. The best ancillary data, when used alone for mapping CEC in the topsoil, was γ‐ray spectrometry, followed by EM data and elevation. For subsoil CEC, it was elevation, followed by γ‐ray spectrometry and then soil electrical conductivity (EC a ) data. The maps of the credibility interval (CI) indicated that better predictions were achieved in the topsoil and indicated where improvements in prediction could be achieved in the subsoil.

Li, Nan↗
DOE OSTI2022

Estimating the impacts of natural gas power generation growth on solar electricity development: PJM's evolving resource mix and ramping capability

Abstract Expansion of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) and natural gas‐fired generation capacity in the United States has put a renewed spotlight on methods and tools for power system planning and grid modernization. This article investigates the impact of increasing natural gas‐fired electricity generation assets on installed distributed solar PV systems in the Pennsylvania–New Jersey–Maryland (PJM) Interconnection in the United States over the period 2008–2018. We developed an empirical dynamic panel data model using the system‐generalized method of moments (system‐GMM) estimation approach. The model accounts for the impact of past and current technical, market and policy changes over time, forecasting errors, and business cycles by controlling for PJM jurisdictions‐level effects and year fixed effects. Using an instrumental variable to control for endogeneity, we concluded that natural gas does not crowd out renewables like solar PV in the PJM capacity market; however, we also found considerable heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity was displayed in the relationship between solar PV systems and electricity prices. More interestingly, we found no evidence suggesting any relationship between distributed solar PV development and nuclear, coal, hydro, or electricity consumption. In addition, considering policy effects of state renewable portfolio standards, net energy metering, differences in the PJM market structure, and other demand and cost‐related factors proved important in assessing their impacts on solar PV generation capacity, including energy storage as a non‐wire alternative policy technique. This article is categorized under: Photovoltaics > Economics and Policy Fossil Fuels > Climate and Environment Energy Systems Economics > Economics and Policy

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Potential Availability of Alternative Fuel to Supply Maritime Activities in Pacific Northwest Ports

The international shipping sector represented 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 (Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy 2024). International shipping has been classified as a difficult-to-decarbonize industry (IRENA 2024). In an effort to drive decarbonization, the U.S. Department of Energy has partnered with Mission Innovation to co-lead the Zero-Emission Shipping Mission, which launched in 2021(Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy 2021). In addition, the U.S. Department of State partnered with Norway to launch the Green Shipping Challenge in 2022 (Office of the Spokesperson 2022b). As part of the ZESM and Green Shipping Challenge, the United States is collaborating with the Republic of Korea (ROK) to develop a green shipping corridor (U.S. Mission Korea 2023). The United States and ROK have conducted a pre-feasibility study as the first step in developing a green shipping corridor between the countries. The ports included in the study are Seattle, Tacoma, and Everette in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Busan, Ulsan, and Masan in ROK. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's role in the study was to analyze the availability and technical potential of alternative marine fuels in proximity to U.S. PNW ports. The findings show most of the existing alternative fuel capacity within the region is from renewable diesel, biodiesel, and sustainable aviation fuel facilities. The largest growth in fuel capacity in the region by 2030 is projected to be in renewable diesel and hydrogen. The overall technical readiness of non-drop-in alternative fuel production and conversion technologies is more developed than alternative-fueled ships and associated fueling infrastructure. However, much of the fuel capacity in the region is comprised of drop-in fuels, making it technically possible to use existing infrastructure for transporting and bunkering to the existing fleet. Data to inform regional alternative fuel quantity estimations were collected from an extensive review of databases, reports, announcements, and other publicly available resources. A maturity index and sector competition factor were applied to announced fuel projects to determine the quantity of alternative fuel available to the marine sector in the region by 2030. Demand data were collected from fuel bunkering logs covering the PNW seaports (State of Washington 2021). Both supply and demand data were converted to very-low sulfur fuel oil gallon equivalents (VLSFO-GE) for better comparison. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews with stakeholders, project developers, and industry experts. Total alternative fuel capacity available to the marine sector in the region is estimated to be 824 million VLSFO-GE per year by 2030. This is sufficient to cover the requirements of a green shipping corridor between the United States and ROK. The findings from this report are being used to inform detailed feasibility studies for several U.S. PNW -ROK green shipping corridors. Updates from the U.S. PNW - ROK feasibility studies will continue to be published on Mission Innovation's green corridor tracking website (Zero Emission Shipping Mission, n.d.). In addition, this report has helped to inform further work on shipping decarbonization in the U.S. PNW, including the Pacific Northwest to Alaska Green Corridor focused on cruise vessels.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS2014

Real-Time Global Flood Estimation Using Satellite-Based Precipitation and a Coupled Land Surface and Routing Model

A widely used land surface model, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, is coupled with a newly developed hierarchical dominant river tracing-based runoff-routing model to form the Dominant river tracing-Routing Integrated with VIC Environment (DRIVE) model, which serves as the new core of the real-time Global Flood Monitoring System (GFMS). The GFMS uses real-time satellite-based precipitation to derive flood monitoring parameters for the latitude band 50 deg. N - 50 deg. S at relatively high spatial (approximately 12 km) and temporal (3 hourly) resolution. Examples of model results for recent flood events are computed using the real-time GFMS (http://flood.umd.edu). To evaluate the accuracy of the new GFMS, the DRIVE model is run retrospectively for 15 years using both research-quality and real-time satellite precipitation products. Evaluation results are slightly better for the research-quality input and significantly better for longer duration events (3 day events versus 1 day events). Basins with fewer dams tend to provide lower false alarm ratios. For events longer than three days in areas with few dams, the probability of detection is approximately 0.9 and the false alarm ratio is approximately 0.6. In general, these statistical results are better than those of the previous system. Streamflow was evaluated at 1121 river gauges across the quasi-global domain. Validation using real-time precipitation across the tropics (30 deg. S - 30 deg. N) gives positive daily Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficients for 107 out of 375 (28%) stations with a mean of 0.19 and 51% of the same gauges at monthly scale with a mean of 0.33. There were poorer results in higher latitudes, probably due to larger errors in the satellite precipitation input.

global flood estimation↗
DOE OSTI2017

Low Temperature Waste Form for Supplemental Immobilization of Hanford Low Activity Waste - 17485

The Hanford site has approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in 177 underground storage tanks. The Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) is being constructed to treat the waste but will only have sufficient capacity to treat about one-third of the Low Activity Waste (LAW) portion within the anticipated time-frame for completing the waste treatment mission. The LAW vitrification facility will need to be supplemented with additional LAW vitrification capacity or an alternate LAW immobilization technology. The LAW immobilization technologies considered must be capable of treating approximately 65% of Hanford's LAW and will be evaluated with respect to facilities required, quantity of final waste forms and secondary wastes produced, waste form performance data, technical viability, and life cycle cost and schedule estimates. A low temperature (i.e. non-thermal) waste form and treatment process is being evaluated to provide the additional LAW immobilization capacity. Low temperature, cementitious waste forms have been evaluated previously for immobilizing Hanford tank waste but were not further developed for various reasons. Over the past few years the Hanford Tank Operations Contractor has conducted a technology development program to evaluate a low temperature waste form for immobilization of Hanford LAW including formulation development and testing with a range of simulant compositions spiked with radioactive and hazardous contaminants of concern (COCs). The objectives of this program include; developing a low temperature waste form formulation that is robust with respect to both waste form performance and processing properties over a range of LAW compositions, demonstrating waste form performance with real waste, and conducting Engineering Scale testing to advance the technical maturity of the low temperature immobilization process. The purpose of this paper is to report progress toward these objectives, in particular testing with real waste including additives to enhance technetium and iodine retention. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

User Guide for the International Jobs and Economic Development Impacts Model

The International Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (I-JEDI) model is a freely available economic model that estimates gross economic impacts from wind, solar, and geothermal energy projects for several different countries. Building on the original JEDI model, which was developed for the United States, I-JEDI was developed under the USAID Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) program to support countries in assessing economic impacts of LEDS actions in the energy sector. I-JEDI estimates economic impacts by characterizing the construction and operation of energy projects in terms of expenditures and the portion of these expenditures made within the country of analysis. These data are then used in a country-specific input-output (I-O) model to estimate employment, earnings, gross domestic product (GDP), and gross output impacts. Total economic impacts are presented as well as impacts by industry. This user guide presents general information about how to use I-JEDI and interpret results as well as detailed information about methodology and model limitations.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Guia del Usuario para el Modelo Internacional de Impacto en Trabajos y Desarrollo Economico

This is a Spanish translation of 'User Guide for the International Jobs and Economic Development Impacts Model.' The International Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (I-JEDI) model is a freely available economic model that estimates gross economic impacts from wind, solar, and geothermal energy projects for several different countries. Building on the original JEDI model, which was developed for the United States, I-JEDI was developed under the USAID Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) program to support countries in assessing economic impacts of LEDS actions in the energy sector. I-JEDI estimates economic impacts by characterizing the construction and operation of energy projects in terms of expenditures and the portion of these expenditures made within the country of analysis. These data are then used in a country-specific input-output (I-O) model to estimate employment, earnings, gross domestic product (GDP), and gross output impacts. Total economic impacts are presented as well as impacts by industry. This user guide presents general information about how to use I-JEDI and interpret results as well as detailed information about methodology and model limitations.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗