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At least 91 records · Page 5

Harmonized Database of Western U.S. Water Rights (HarDWR) v.1

Abstract In the arid and semi-arid Western U.S., access to water is regulated through a legal system of water rights. Individuals, companies, organizations, municipalities, and tribal entities have documents that declare their water rights. State water regulatory agencies collate and maintain these records, which can be used in legal disputes over access to water. While these records are publicly available data in all Western U.S. states, the data have not yet been readily available in digital form from all states. Furthermore, there are many differences in data format, terminology, and definitions between state water regulatory agencies. Here, we have collected water rights data from 11 Western U.S. state agencies, harmonized terminology and use definitions, formatted them for consistency, and tied them to a Western U.S.-wide shapefile of water administrative boundaries.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Application of Advanced Materials Processing to Enable Direct Production of Fast Reactor Fuel Alloys

Argonne National Laboratory (the Contractor), located in Lemont, IL, and Oklo, Inc. (the Participant), headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to integrate advanced electrorefining co-deposition and molten-salt monitoring technologies to produce a uranium-transuranic (U/TRU) alloy within a controlled composition range that can be used as fast reactor fuel for Oklo, Inc.’s advanced reactor technology. Argonne performed the integration of electrorefining and process monitoring technologies, determined operating parameters for producing U/TRU alloys, and developed optimized design and operating parameters for co-deposition of U/TRU alloys. Oklo, Inc. worked with Argonne and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to provide the necessary process documentation to begin implementing pyroprocessing technology in the fast reactor fuel production process. Outcomes of this project included a pilot-scale co-deposition cathode design and technical basis for the operation of the co-deposition electrorefiner to produce U/TRU alloys with controlled composition.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Harmonized Database of Western U.S. Water Rights (HarDWR)

From Lisk et al. (in review): "In the arid and semi-arid western U.S., access to water is regulated through a legal system of water rights. Individuals, companies, organizations, municipalities, and tribal entities have documents that declare their water rights. State water regulatory agencies collate and maintain these records, which can be used in legal disputes over access to water. While these records are publicly available data in all western U.S. states, the data have not yet been readily available in digital form from all states. Furthermore, there are many differences in data format, terminology, and definitions between state water regulatory agencies. Here, we have collected water rights data from 11 western U.S. state agencies, harmonized terminology and use definitions, formatted them consistently, and tied them to a western U.S.-wide shapefile of water administrative boundaries. We demonstrate how these data enable consistent regional-scale western U.S. hydrologic and economic modeling."

Economics↗

Harmonized Database of Western U.S. Water Rights (HarDWR)

From Lisk et al. (2024): "In the arid and semi-arid western U.S., access to water is regulated through a legal system of water rights. Individuals, companies, organizations, municipalities, and tribal entities have documents that declare their water rights. State water regulatory agencies collate and maintain these records, which can be used in legal disputes over access to water. While these records are publicly available data in all western U.S. states, the data have not yet been readily available in digital form from all states. Furthermore, there are many differences in data format, terminology, and definitions between state water regulatory agencies. Here, we have collected water rights data from 11 western U.S. state agencies, harmonized terminology and use definitions, formatted them consistently, and tied them to a western U.S.-wide shapefile of water administrative boundaries. We demonstrate how these data enable consistent regional-scale western U.S. hydrologic and economic modeling."

Economics↗

Evolution of storage monitoring – update in response to commercial and regulatory drivers

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is in transition from first-of-a kind projects and research-orientated pilots to commercially-motivated applications. Monitoring results from many newly developed and planned large scale commercial projects are limited; however, it is worthwhile to assess their evolution and consider new strategies as part of an effort to assess and document best practices. Commercial monitoring is targeted to activities that comply with regulatory drivers and de-risk investments. Commercial monitoring also supports accounting that storage has occurred and is tied to project financing. It deals with long time frames and large volumes injected into multiple wells and multiple projects in favorable areas. We see developing trends toward reproducible workflows that systematically reduce risks and clarify expectations for oversight and long-term surveillance. Monitoring techniques showing increasing trends include injection zone pressure as a history-matching and compliance tool. To reduce cost and environmental impact of time-lapse seismic data collection, deploying new approaches and tools, such as use of fibre and installed sources are increasingly applied. Concern over the risk of induced seismicity by regulatory bodies and the general public has increased, which has also resulted in increased monitoring. Some techniques used in the early research phases have been sidelined or used only in restricted applications. For example, geochemical analyses in the injection zone as well as the environment are now being deployed less than it was in research-oriented programs, except in the US where it is required by the permitting process. Expectations of frequent area-wide near surface monitoring have also decreased.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

ILAW Container Cost Reduction and Optimization Study

This study, performed on behalf of Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), examines the potential for making cost savings for the Immobilized Low Active Waste (ILAW) containers over the mission life of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). it builds on earlier study assessments 24590-LAW-RPT-M-01-001 Rev 0 ILAW Product Container Specifications Optimization Study and DOE/ORP-2013-02 Rev 0 Decision Analysis of Low-Active Waste Container Finishing Handling System Alternatives. The WTP design and installed equipment has evolved over an extended period ~20 years. Consequently, some of the existing requirements relating the ILAW containers may no longer be applicable under current mission plans where the glass filled containers are placed into the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) rather than stacked in an engineered purpose-built ventilated store as originally envisioned. The study team reviewed available WTP project reference documents to establish the functions the container must perform and assign requirements against each of these functions. With the assumptions that some of the existing WTP contract restrictions would not necessarily apply to the subsequent facility operations contract the container requirements were reviewed to identify those which were ‘hard constraints‘, imposed by regulatory requirements. Initially each of these hard constraints were reviewed, evaluated and documented to see if they precluded the use of an alternate less expensive material of construction, carbon steel, to the existing 304 L stainless steel in the current container specification. That review did not generate any fatal flaws for a change in material of construction to carbon steel allowing the study team to examine the impacts of material cost savings, potential changes to the design and requirements and impacts on interfaces of the containers with the existing WTP process equipment from container receipt, transfers, glass filling, cooling and export. In addition, a change in container target fill level was evaluated and qualitative, and quantitative where feasible, impacts to the container fabrication process assessed. Lastly, additional follow on development or testing activities to support the use of carbon steel were assessed and a recommended path forward with a ROM cost and timescale developed.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Requesting an Exemption from Standard Compliance: EPAct State and Alternative Fuel Provider Fleet Program Guidance Document

The U.S. Department of Energy established the Alternative Fuel Transportation Program (Program) and associated regulatory requirements pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The Program, otherwise known as the State and Alternative Fuel Provider Fleet Program, requires covered state government and alternative fuel provider fleets operating under Standard Compliance to acquire alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) as a specific percentage of their annual non-excluded light-duty vehicle acquisitions. The opportunity for covered fleets operating under Standard Compliance to request exemptions from their AFV-acquisition requirements serves as administrative relief in the unlikely event a fleet is unable to satisfy its requirements through the normally available compliance alternatives. These alternatives include the acquisition of light-duty AFVs, the acquisition of other, creditable vehicles (e.g., gasoline-fueled hybrid electric vehicles), making certain investments, the purchase of biodiesel for use in medium- or heavy-duty vehicles to the maximum extent allowed, and purchasing or trading for banked AFV credits. This document addresses requests for exemptions from the AFV-acquisition requirements to help covered fleets better understand: How to file a request for an exemption, information and documentation DOE needs to process an exemption request, and important policies relevant for filing exemption requests.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗

Reassessing Double-Ended Guillotine Break Requirements: Evidence-Based Analysis of Regulatory Assumptions After Five Decades of Nuclear Operation

After five decades of nuclear power operation encompassing more than 20,000 reactor-years across 35 countries and 647 reactors, zero double-ended guillotine breaks (DEGBs) have been documented in commercial reactor coolant systems—despite DEGB being the fundamental design-basis assumption driving Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) sizing, structural protection requirements, and containment design specifications. This report examines the basis for DEGB requirements in nuclear power plant design. The DEGB postulate assumes the instantaneous, complete circumferential severance of the largest diameter pipes in reactor coolant systems, driving major design requirements under 10 Code of Federal Regulations 50.46, General Design Criterion 4 and containment design specifications. The United States (4,880 reactor-years) and France (2,505 reactor-years) contribute the largest operational datasets. Probabilistic assessments estimate direct DEGB occurrence probabilities with extremely low event frequencies, far below the 10-5/reactor-year thresholds typically used to define non-credible events in nuclear-safety analyses; i.e., events with probability this low fall into beyond-design-basis events. Current material-science knowledge demonstrates that the ductile steel materials used in nuclear piping systems exhibit stable crack-growth behavior fundamentally incompatible with instantaneous severance. International regulatory experience, particularly Germany’s comprehensive break-preclusion implementation, and successful leak-before-break (LBB) applications in almost all of U.S. pressurized water reactor units validate that alternatives can maintain safety performance while reducing economic burden. Current DEGB protection systems impose estimated lifetime costs of hundreds of millions of dollars per unit, over the life of a plant across the nuclear industry (including ongoing costs), representing substantial resource allocation toward scenarios with extremely low probability. Although this report acknowledges uncertainties regarding long-term aging effects, potential synergistic degradation mechanisms, and site-specific seismic considerations that warrant continued evaluation as regulatory policy evolves, there remains no documented evidence that a DEGB has occurred as a consequence of the conditions or mechanisms described in this report. This report acknowledges the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) recent efforts—outlined in the draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) NRC-DSS-ISG-2025-XX (“Treatment of Certain Loss-of-Coolant Accident Locations as Beyond-Design-Basis Accidents Draft Interim Staff Guidance”)—to reduce overly conservative requirements for large-break loss of coolant accidents through technical justifications and exemptions. However, extensive operating experience and validated methodologies—such as LBB and in-service inspection programs—demonstrate that the probability of a DEGB in reactor coolant-loop piping is extremely low, even under seismic conditions. The authors and reviewers of this report recommend that DEGB be removed as a design-basis event through formal rulemaking, rather than case-by-case exemptions, to better reflect credible failure modes, align with current data, and align with modern, risk-informed safety analysis.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Proposal to use the DOE-STD-3009-2014 Methodology to Prepare the Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for Research Reactor Nuclear Facilities

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) personnel operate a low power research reactor (the Annular Core Research Reactor, or ACRR), and a zero-power critical experiment assembly referred to as CX. In accordance with 10 CFR 830, Subpart B, Appendix A, the acceptable methodology for developing a Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for DOE nuclear reactors is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Regulatory Guide 1.70 (RG 1.70). RG 1.70 does not address certain areas required by 10 CFR 830 and expected by DOE (e.g., full facility hazard analysis).Thus, the current DSAs for SNL’s reactor nuclear facilities are based on RG 1.70, but also of necessity supplemented by DOE-STD-3009-94 methods. SNL personnel, in consultation with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Sandia Field Office (SFO), have concluded that an alternate methodology is preferred to RG 1.70. The details of the proposal, and the reasons motivating its development, are discussed in the order described below. The proposed alternate methodology will be applicable to the ACRR and the CX (i.e., it will be applicable to nuclear facilities in which a reactor and/or a critical assembly will be operated).

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

DECOVALEX-2019 (Task E Final Report)

The DECOVALEX Project is an on-going international research collaboration, established in 1992, to advance the understanding and modeling of coupled Thermal (T), Hydrological (H), Mechanical (M) and Chemical (C) processes in geological in geological systems. DECOVALEX was initially motivated by the recognition that prediction of these coupled effects is an essential part of the performance and safety assessment of geologic disposal systems for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Later it was realized that these processes also play a critical role in other subsurface engineering activities, such as subsurface CO 2 storage, enhanced geothermal systems, and unconventional oil and gas production through hydraulic fracturing. Research teams from many countries (e.g., Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States) various institutions have participated in the DECOVALEX Project over the years, providing a wide range of perspectives and solutions to these complex problems. These institutions represent radioactive waste management organizations, national research institutes, regulatory agencies, universities, as well as industry and consulting groups. This document is the final report of Task E which was proposed and coordinated by Andra, the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency in France, presenting the technical definitions of the problems studied, approaches applied, achievements made and outstanding issues for future research. The purpose of Task E of the DECOVALEX-2019 project is to investigate upscaling THM modelling from small-scale experiments (some cubic meters) to full-scale experiments (some ten cubic meters) and finally to the scale of the waste repository (cubic kilometers). To achieve this aim, the data of two in-situ heating experiments performed by Andra (the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency) in the Meuse/Haute-Marne Underground Research Laboratory (MHM URL) have formed the basis for the understanding of the THM behavior of the COx at different scales. The first experiment provided the reference values of the THM parameters by means of a calibration exercise and they were used for a blind prediction and an interpretative analysis of the second one.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Ageing Management for Extended Long-Term Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Transportation

The principal objectives of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) and CRADA were to (1) investigate how ageing effects leading to degradation of materials used in the spent fuel dry storage systems could be managed by ageing management programs (AMPs) and (2) using existing AMPs as a basis, establish guidance on how to develop, generate, and maintain AMPs for dry storage systems of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) that can be accomplished in various ways. The PI (Dr. Liu) is an internationally recognized expert on ageing management for license renewal of nuclear power plants and independent spent fuel dry storage installations. Dr. Liu was invited by IAEA to participate in this CRP and served as Chair of the Working Group, supporting the IAEA CRP Lead, with other members from Argentina, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Pakistan, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Argonne’s scope of work in the CRADA for the CRP included (1) ageing management guidance documents developed by Argonne for DOE and used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and industry and (2) research leveraged from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy on the mechanical properties of high-burnup fuel cladding and the ARG-US remote monitoring systems technology developed for the DOE Packaging Certification Program, Office of Packaging and Transportation, Office of Environmental Management.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

A Microreactor Program Plan for The Department of Energy

The DOE Microreactor Program was established in FY 2019 to support research and development (R&D) of technologies related to the development, demonstration, and deployment of low-power, transportable reactors to provide power and heat for decentralized generation in civilian, industrial, and defense energy sectors. The program conducts both fundamental and applied R&D to de-risk technology performance and manufacturability readiness of microreactors. R&D projects and work packages are selected to support concept-neutral technology maturation. The intent is to ensure those concepts can be licensed and deployed by commercial entities to meet specific use case requirements. At the same time, the program will also support R&D specific to certain reactor technology groups (e.g., heat pipe reactors and gas-cooled reactors) to ensure relevancy and address the technology needs of commercial developers. The program will ensure coordination of work and activities across participating laboratories and universities, establish, and manage stakeholder interactions, and support program meetings. These stakeholders include, but are not limited to, industry developers, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, policymakers, and end users. This document provides an overview of the overall Microreactor Program, including its vision, key technical objectives, and scope of the current and proposed R&D portfolio. It covers a 5-year rolling currently from Fiscal year 2025 through Fiscal year 2030. This document will be revised at least biennially to reflect changing priorities.

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Assessment of Adequacy and Completeness of Standards Endorsed by Regulatory Guides to Molten Salt Reactors

The benefits of using voluntary consensus standards and industry guidance documents and reports are evident in the design and licensing of the current generation of nuclear power plants. The use of voluntary consensus standards and industry guidance and reports facilitates the design and licensing of advanced reactors to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the licensing and regulation of non-light-water reactor (non-LWR) technologies. Most of the regulations, guidance, and standards applicable to nuclear power plants were developed for water-cooled plants, so they may not adequately address factors such as the coolants, materials, temperatures, operations, testing, and maintenance proposed for advanced reactors.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Updates to Nek5000: RANS wall functions, NRC support, and documentation

As a key part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program (NEAMS), the next generation of tools for nuclear reactor design are being developed. A primary metric for success of this program is the adoption of those tools by industry stakeholders. To help meet this metric for Nek5000, development efforts this year have focused on the expansion of the available Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models to include wall function models, continued support of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in simulating a hydrogen mitigation benchmark experiment, and expansion of the Nek5000 documentation to enhance the code’s usability. The implementation of wall functions is intended to significantly decrease time to-solution for a wide range of problems and it has been identified as an important feature by stakeholders across the nuclear community. The initial implementation of standard and pressure corrected wall functions has been tested in Nek5000 on the classical problems of channel flow and a backward facing step. It has also been tested on a 2D molten salt fast reactor core and a T-junction. The recommended formulation of choosing y + = 30 as a boundary value combined with a Neumann-Neumann formulation of the boundary condition for k and τ produces the most consistent results compared to a wall resolved approach. The collaboration with the NRC is a continuing exercise that has been ongoing for multiple years. This year we have concluded investigations into appropriate inlet conditions, showing that fully developed turbulent conditions are adequate for the full PANDA domain. We have also concluded simulations for an unobstructed jet and are now refocusing to the original obstructed jet case. The expansion of the code documentation has also been an ongoing effort over the past few years to address feedback from the various stakeholders. The documentation now more fully covers many of the available features and closes identified SQA gaps. Finally we report on three training sessions that were offered over the past year in an effort to expand the Nek5000 user base.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Molten Salt Reactor Technical and Safety Considerations Outside of Guidance Documents

This document provides information on distinctive characteristics of liquid salt–fueled molten salt reactors (MSRs) for US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) consideration as it seeks to achieve effective and efficient advanced reactor mission readiness. The NRC has requested that Oak Ridge National Laboratory provide advice regarding technical and safety considerations that might be advantageous to address via policy, rulemaking, or license conditions (i.e., beyond the scope of guidance documents) for accommodating MSRs. It is recognized that MSRs could be regulated based on existing rules, with exceptions, to reflect their distinctive characteristics and technologies. However, directly applying the existing regulatory processes that evolved with the light water reactor fleet to MSRs could be unduly burdensome to the point that their application would inhibit deployment of MSRs in the United States.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Results for the Fourth Quarter Calendar Year 2018 Tank 50 Salt Solution Sample

In this Technical Report, the chemical and radionuclide contaminant results from the Fourth Quarter Calendar Year 2018 (CY18) sample of Tank 50 salt solution are presented in tabulated form. The information from this characterization will be used by Savannah River Remediation (SRR) for the transfer of aqueous waste from Tank 50 to the Saltstone Production Facility (SPF), where the waste will be treated and disposed in the Saltstone Disposal Facility. This Technical Report compares results, where applicable, to SPF Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) Limits and Targets. The chemical and radionuclide contaminant results from the characterization of the Fourth Quarter CY18 sampling of Tank 50 were requested by SRR personnel via a Task Technical Request (TTR) and details of the testing are presented in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan (TTQAP). This Technical Report is part of Deliverable 2 relating to Task 1 from the SRR request. Data pertaining to the regulatory limits for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) metals will be documented at a later time per the TTQAP for the Tank 50 Saltstone task.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Update of Receptor Locations for INL National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) Assessments

This report documents the selection of updated public receptor locations for use in conducting regulatory assessments of radioactive air emissions for Idaho National Laboratory (INL) facilities. The basis for this receptor location analysis is found in 40 CFR 61 Subpart H, “National Emissions Standards for Emissions of Radionuclide Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities,” where the requirements for identifying National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) receptor locations are outlined. Receptor locations (residences, schools, businesses, or farm operations) were identified using high-resolution satellite imagery. This assessment identified 31 unique receptor locations for all INL Site facilities, and 30 receptor locations for INL in-town facilities that have the potential to emit radioactive materials. Identification of receptors for each in-town facility is new to this report.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Survey of Aging and Monitoring Concerns for Cables and Splices Due to Cable Repair and Replacement

The purpose of this report is to survey aging and monitoring concerns for electrical cable splices in nuclear power plants (NPPs) in long term operation. As portions of existing electrical cable runs in nuclear are replaced over time due to localized events, the total number of splices in NPPs is expected to increase. Relative to cables, the body of knowledge regarding aging of splices and splices in combination with aging cables in nuclear service environments in long-term operations is low. A few reports have considered the aging of cable system components other than cables (Jacobus 1990; Nelson 1998; Villaran and Lofaro 2002), but the nuclear industry has two decades of operating experience since these were published to further enlighten this issue. Herein we discuss electrical cables and splices commonly found in U.S. nuclear power plants, their qualification in safety-related application, and methods for monitoring their health condition. Common environmental stresses that can give rise to cable and splice failure are discussed. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Licensee Event Reports (LER) database was used to identify documented issues of cable and splice failure. The trend in the resultant data over time is considered to see if failures are increasing as plants age. Observations and conclusions of this work include: 1. Cables and splices are highly reliable components. Occurrence rates for events of interest were low and nearly constant over the last 20 years. 2. Common-cause failure for evaluated cable events of interest was observed to primarily be associated with loose connections, which may manifest associated with workmanship issues, thermal cycling, and/or vibration. 3. Replacement of cables is more common than repair, leading to an increase in proportion of new generation cables in the plant over time. 4. Splices on degraded cables have been observed to be problematic. Due to aging NPP infrastructure, including electrical cables, it is expected that such issues will continue to increase. 5. Condition monitoring approaches, while shown to be fruitful for cables, have been shown to be insensitive to degradation of splice sleeves, which are critical to the continued performance of splices. Additional condition monitoring (CM) work is needed to evaluate methods which are sensitive to the degradation of splice components. 6. Extended Material Degradation Assessment (EMDA) knowledge gaps for electrical cables (Bernstein et al. 2014) have not been investigated for splices but may represent similar concerns such as for the accelerated aging process historically used in environmental qualification.

42 ENGINEERING↗