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At least 1,153 records · Page 64

Utilizing FLEX Equipment for O&M Cost Reduction in Nuclear Power Plants

There are many ways of reducing the O&M costs; this work presents an innovative framework of reducing O&M costs by utilizing the onsite Flex equipment at NPPs. Flex strategies were postulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the wake of Fukushima Dai-ichi accident to address beyond-design-basis accidents and improve plant flexibility. Onsite Flex includes equipment such as portable pumps, generators, batteries, compressors, and other supporting equipment or tools, all stored in a dedicated and secure building designed to withstand external hazards. In the past years, several NPPs have invested in procuring and maintaining the onsite Flex asset that stands unutilized most of the time. Recently there have been active efforts to develop strategies through which NPPs can take credit for the Flex equipment. This work focuses on identifying areas where Flex equipment can be utilized during normal plant operation and develop a framework that would aide in reduction of O&M costs without impacting plant safety. Earlier work in the current project, published in INL/EXT 18 51531, had presented the risk- and cost-analysis framework for utilizing FLEX portable equipment during technical specification required shutdown due to component failure. The licensee event report (LER) database of the NRC shows that the commercial NPPs in the US reported 86 technical specification required shutdowns since year 2010. When a component failure or unavailability leads to a technical specification required shutdown, the NPPs suffers both direct costs in terms of loss of revenue arising from the loss of generation and indirect costs in form of reporting and inspection required by the NRC. The earlier work developed the following framework and implemented it on a demonstration probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model to utilize the portable Flex equipment when a component failure could potentially lead to a technical specification required shutdown: 1. Identify the components, the failure or unavailability of which would result in a 10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(i)A-reportability requirement, postulated by the NRC for technical specification required shutdown to be reported in NRC’s LER database. 2. Identify the Flex equipment that can be utilized as a standby to the failed component. 3. Develop a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model that incorporates the Flex equipment within the current plant PRA model. 4. Perform PRA calculations to determine change in core damage frequency and change in risk-informed allowable outage time. 5. Perform cost-benefit analysis to determine the economic feasibility of implementing the Flex equipment The current work, presented in this report, implement the above framework in a plant PRA model obtained from a US commercial nuclear power plant by prestaging onsite FLEX equipment as a redundancy to the existing auxiliary feedwater system, and pre-coordinating with offsite FLEX centers. The new configuration increased the allowable outage time by about a fifty percent overall for the diesel generator being out of service. The benefits to NPPs of utilizing the Flex equipment during normal operations, and performing the PRA developed in this work, include: 1. A risk-informed plant shutdown alternative to the current technical specification required shutdown. 2. Extension of allowable outage time to initiate technical specification required shutdown. 3. Reducing economic impact of component failure, avoiding plant shutdown, and maximizing generation. 4. Save the direct and indirect costs associated with technical specification required shutdown.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Budget estimates: Fiscal year 1994. Volume 3: Research and program management

The research and program management (R&PM) appropriation provides the salaries, other personnel and related costs, and travel support for NASA's civil service workforce. This FY 1994 budget funds costs associated with 23,623 full-time equivalent (FTE) work years. Budget estimates are provided for all NASA centers by categories such as space station and new technology investments, space flight programs, space science, life and microgravity sciences, advanced concepts and technology, center management and operations support, launch services, mission to planet earth, tracking and data programs, aeronautical research and technology, and safety, reliability, and quality assurance.

Source record↗

Earth Observation Services Weather Imaging

Microprocessor-based systems for processing satellite data offer mariners real-time images of weather systems, day and night, of large areas or allow them to zoom in on a few square miles. Systems West markets these commercial image processing systems, which have significantly decreased the cost of satellite weather stations. The company was assisted by the EOCAP program, which provides government co-funding to encourage private investment in, and to broaden the use of, NASA-developed technology for analyzing information about Earth and ocean resources.

Source record↗

Plume Impingement Software Module for Real-Time Proximity Operations

Successfully executing proximity operations in space, such as docking or in-orbit servicing, requires sophisticated spacecraft design that accounts for induced environments. As a chaser vehicle’s attitude control thrusters fire, they create rarefied plumes that can impact the target vehicle, with the potential to overload components, exceed thermal limits, and spin the target vehicle out of control. High-fidelity simulations of the thruster plume impingement environment require the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, but DSMC is too computationally expensive to simulate proximity operations that involve thousands of thruster firings. For this analysis to be tractable, engineering models of the plume flowfield and impingement events are used to simulate these trajectories [1]. Currently, on-orbit plume impingement environments are modeled through an inefficient open-loop analysis cycle where the vehicle’s flight controller and plume impingement teams iterate on the trajectories until they pass the target vehicle’s plume requirements. As complex on-orbit missions evolve and become more frequent, lengthy design cycles will become operational bottlenecks. To address this gap, this work develops an advanced plume impingement module capable of operating at real-time scale that can be integrated with existing mission planning tools and onboard flight systems. The plume module leverages state-of-the-art plume simulation techniques [2] to deliver fast, physics-based impingement predictions in a software architecture that can be tailored to diverse proximity operations scenarios. A prototype of this plume impingement module is built to demonstrate the feasibility of real-time performance. This prototype completes plume impingement calculations in microseconds per target geometry mesh point. The software serves as a foundational capability for plume-aware trajectory design, operational risk assessment, and future autonomous decision-making systems.

Plume Impingement↗

An Introduction to the Federated Architecture for Secure and Transactive Distributed Energy Management Solutions (FAST-DERMS): Preprint

Deployment and capability of distributed energy resources (DER) in power systems is growing rapidly. These resources present an opportunity for low-cost provision of energy and grid services. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently provided rulings to enable market participation of these distribution-connected resources, but the prevailing strategies for their management may not scale well to meet future needs. This paper introduces the Federated Architecture for Secure and Transactive Distributed Energy Management Solutions (FASTDERMS) which was designed to address this need. In it we describe the architectural features of the approach, and a reference controls implementation employing a hierarchical coordination that includes stochastic optimization, model predictive control, and a simple real-time management scheme. Sample results from simulation show firm transmission-level service provision measured at the distribution substation.

DERMS↗

An Introduction to the Federated Architecture for Secure and Transactive Distributed Energy Management Solutions (FAST-DERMS)

Deployment and capability of distributed energy resources (DER) in power systems is growing rapidly. These resources present an opportunity for low-cost provision of energy and grid services. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently provided rulings to enable market participation of these distribution-connected resources, but the prevailing strategies for their management may not scale well to meet future needs. This paper introduces the Federated Architecture for Secure and Transactive Distributed Energy Management Solutions (FAST-DERMS) which was designed to address this need. In it we describe the architectural features of the approach, and a reference controls implementation employing a hierarchical coordination that includes stochastic optimization, model predictive control, and a simple real-time management scheme. Sample results from simulation show firm transmission-level service provision measured at the distribution substation.

grid architecture↗

The US space station and its electric power system

The United States has embarked on a major development program to have a space station operating in low earth orbit by the mid-1990s. This endeavor draws on the talents of NASA and most of the aerospace firms in the U.S. Plans are being pursued to include the participation of Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency in the space station. From the start of the program these was a focus on the utilization of the space station for science, technology, and commercial endeavors. These requirements were utilized in the design of the station and manifest themselves in: pressurized volume; crew time; power availability and level of power; external payload accommodations; microgravity levels; servicing facilities; and the ability to grow and evolve the space station to meet future needs. President Reagan directed NASA to develop a permanently manned space station in his 1984 State of the Union message. Since then the definition phase was completed and the development phase initiated. A major subsystem of the space station is its 75 kW electric power system. The electric power system has characteristics similar to those of terrestrial power systems. Routine maintenance and replacement of failed equipment must be accomplished safely and easily and in a minimum time while providing reliable power to users. Because of the very high value placed on crew time it is essential that the power system operate in an autonomous mode to minimize crew time required. The power system design must also easily accommodate growth as the power demands by users are expected to grow. An overview of the U.S. space station is provided with special emphasis on its electrical power system.

Thomas, Ronald L.↗

Photovoltaic Analysis and Response Support (PARS) Platform for Solar Situational Awareness and Resiliency Services

The project's primary objective is to develop a digital-twin based Photovoltaic (PV) Analysis and Response Support (PARS) platform, which aims to provide real-time situational awareness and optimal response plans. This platform is designed to enhance the performance of hybrid PV systems, making them competitive with or even superior to conventional generation resources. The PARS platform enabled the project team to develop and evaluate an extensive suite of grid support functionalities for the hybrid PV systems to enhance grid performance, across key areas including visibility, dispatchability, security, resilience, and reliability. Given the global push toward achieving 100% clean energy by 2035, there is a significant increase in the integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) throughout the energy grid. Effectively managing the inherent variability and uncertainty associated with IBRs is crucial for ensuring cost-effectiveness, reliability, and security in both the main grid and islanded microgrids. Constrained to a limited array of IEEE test systems or standard feeder models, traditional IBR modeling struggles to assimilate new field data, accurately reflect system dynamics, and adapt to the evolving energy landscape. In our project, we embraced a Digital Twin (DT) strategy for crafting the PARS platform. A digital twin acts as a precise virtual counterpart of a physical system, built on historical data and continuously honed with real-time insights. This enables the high-fidelity DT to accurately mirror current system operations and forecast future scenarios. Consequently, the PARS platform becomes an ideal environment for testing and refining monitoring, control, power, and energy management algorithms designed to boost hybrid PV system performance. The defining feature of the PARS platform, distinguishing it from other advanced simulation tools, is its exceptional adaptability. This is achieved by employing actual network topologies and utilizing real-time field data for fine-tuning and calibration, ensuring a close emulation of real-world conditions. The project deliverables include: 1) High-fidelity IBR models and tools for real-time parameterization, utilizing real-time field measurements to refine IBR models for enhanced accuracy and performance; 2) Grid-forming and Grid-following capabilities to deliver resilience services, including blackstart, voltage and frequency support, cold-load pick-up, power reserves, and three-phase load balancing across grid-connected and microgrid settings; 3) Machine learning-based forecasting tools and methods for generating synthetic data and topologies, creating diverse and realistic simulation environments for evaluating varied operational scenarios; 4) Advanced microgrid power and energy management algorithms for optimizing the integration and operation of PV, storage, and demand response resources within both feeder and community scales. The power grid data sets are provided by four utility companies in North Carolina and the New York Power Administration. Acting as industry advisors, our industry partners communicated stakeholder needs and regulatory standards to the research teams, aiding technology transfer by incorporating the developed methodologies into their daily operations. This collaboration ensures that the PARS platform, functioning as a power system digital twin, enhances our understanding of IBR dynamic behaviors and enables the development and evaluation of IBR control functions that match or exceed the capabilities of conventional synchronous generators.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Olympus propagation experiments

A summary of the activities of the OPEX (Olympus Propagation EXperimenters) group is given and some of the recent findings are presented. OLYMPUS, a telecommunication satellite owned by the European Space Agency, was launched on 12 June 1989. After the in-orbit tests were completed (in September 1989) the first propagation experiments started. Throughout 1990 the spacecraft functioned very well and a large number of experimenters received the beacon signals. On 29 May 1991 the spacecraft became inoperational after a major technical problem. With a series of complicated procedures OLYMPUS was recovered on 15 August 1991 - the first time in history that a civilian telecommunications satellite was brought back to service after losing power and telemetry. The propagation experiments were back on track. However, the recovery had used up so much fuel that the North-South station keeping had to be abandoned, which led to a natural increase of inclination at a rate of about 0.8 deg per year. On 10 October 1992 the second 30 GHz beacon tube failed, causing a loss of this beacon signal. The other two beacon frequencies continued to deliver a stable signal for more than two years. On 12 August 1993 the spacecraft experienced another problem with the altitude control, but this time there was not enough fuel left for a recovery maneuver and thus the mission came to an end.

Arbesser-Rastburg, Bertram↗

Earth Science Mining Web Services

To allow scientists further capabilities in the area of data mining and web services, the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) and researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) have developed a system to mine data at the source without the need of network transfers. The system has been constructed by linking together several pre-existing technologies: the Simple Scalable Script-based Science Processor for Measurements (S4PM), a processing engine at he GES DISC; the Algorithm Development and Mining (ADaM) system, a data mining toolkit from UAH that can be configured in a variety of ways to create customized mining processes; ActiveBPEL, a workflow execution engine based on BPEL (Business Process Execution Language); XBaya, a graphical workflow composer; and the EOS Clearinghouse (ECHO). XBaya is used to construct an analysis workflow at UAH using ADam components, which are also installed remotely at the GES DISC, wrapped as Web Services. The S4PM processing engine searches ECHO for data using space-time criteria, staging them to cache, allowing the ActiveBPEL engine to remotely orchestras the processing workflow within S4PM. As mining is completed, the output is placed in an FTP holding area for the end user. The goals are to give users control over the data they want to process, while mining data at the data source using the server's resources rather than transferring the full volume over the internet. These diverse technologies have been infused into a functioning, distributed system with only minor changes to the underlying technologies. The key to the infusion is the loosely coupled, Web-Services based architecture: All of the participating components are accessible (one way or another) through (Simple Object Access Protocol) SOAP-based Web Services.

Pham, Long↗

Optimum flight profiles for short haul missions

An algorithm, based on the energy-state method, is derived for calculating optimum trajectories with a range constraint. The basis of the algorithm is the assumption that optimum trajectories consist of, at most, three segments: an increasing energy segment (climb); a constant energy segment (cruise); and a decreasing energy segment (descent). The algorithm is used to compute minimum fuel, minimum time, and minimum direct-operating-cost trajectories, with range as a parameter, for an in-service CTOL aircraft and for an advanced STOL aircraft. Use of a simplified trajectory increases the fuel consumption of the total descent trajectory by about 10 percent and the time to fly the descent by about 19 percent compared to the optimum.

Erzberger, H.↗

Mitigating Aviation Communication and Satellite Orbit Operations Surprises from Adverse Space Weather

Adverse space weather affects operational activities in aviation and satellite systems. For example, large solar flares create highly variable enhanced neutral atmosphere and ionosphere electron density regions. These regions impact aviation communication frequencies as well as precision orbit determination. The natural space environment, with its dynamic space weather variability, is additionally changed by human activity. The increase in orbital debris in low Earth orbit (LEO), combined with lower atmosphere CO2 that rises into the lower thermosphere and causes increased cooling that results in increased debris lifetime, adds to the environmental hazards of navigating in near-Earth space. This is at a time when commercial space endeavors are posed to begin more missions to LEO during the rise of the solar activity cycle toward the next maximum (2012). For satellite and aviation operators, adverse space weather results in greater expenses for orbit management, more communication outages or aviation and ground-based high frequency radio used, and an inability to effectively plan missions or service customers with space-based communication, imagery, and data transferal during time-critical activities. Examples of some revenue-impacting conditions and solutions for mitigating adverse space weather are offered.

Tobiska, W. Kent↗

Analysis of Aircraft Clusters to Measure Sector-Independent Airspace Congestion

The Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) concept of operations* permits appropriately equipped aircraft to conduct Free Maneuvering operations. These independent aircraft have the freedom to optimize their trajectories in real time according to user preferences; however, they also take on the responsibility to separate themselves from other aircraft while conforming to any local Traffic Flow Management (TFM) constraints imposed by the air traffic service provider (ATSP). Examples of local-TFM constraints include temporal constraints such as a required time of arrival (RTA), as well as spatial constraints such as regions of convective weather, special use airspace, and congested airspace. Under current operations, congested airspace typically refers to a sector(s) that cannot accept additional aircraft due to controller workload limitations; hence Dynamic Density (a metric that is indicative of controller workload) can be used to quantify airspace congestion. However, for Free Maneuvering operations under DAG-TM, an additional metric is needed to quantify the airspace congestion problem from the perspective of independent aircraft. Such a metric would enable the ATSP to prevent independent aircraft from entering any local areas of congestion in which the flight deck based systems and procedures may not be able to ensure separation. This new metric, called Gaggle Density, offers the ATSP a mode of control to regulate normal operations and to ensure safety and stability during rare-normal or off-normal situations (e.g., system failures). It may be difficult to certify Free Maneuvering systems for unrestricted operations, but it may be easier to certify systems and procedures for specified levels of Gaggle Density that could be monitored by the ATSP, and maintained through relatively minor flow-rate (RTA type) restrictions. Since flight deck based separation assurance is airspace independent, the challenge is to measure congestion independent of sector boundaries. Figure 1 , reproduced from Ref. 1, depicts an example traffic situation. When the situation is analyzed by sector boundaries (left side of figure), a Dynamic Density metric would identify excessive congestion in the central sector. When the same traffic situation is analyzed independent of sector boundaries (right side of figure), a Gaggle Density metric would identify congestion in two dynamically defined areas covering portions of several sectors. The first step towards measuring airspace-independent congestion is to identify aircraft clusters, i.e., groups of closely spaced aircraft. The objective of this work is to develop techniques to detect and classify clusters of aircraft.

Bilimoria, Karl D.↗

Integrating the Social, Hydrological and Ecological Dimensions of Freshwater Health: The Freshwater Health Index

Degradation of freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide is a primary cause of increasing water insecurity, raising the need for integrated solutions to freshwater management. While methods for characterizing the multi-faceted challenges of managing freshwater ecosystems abound, they tend to emphasize either social or ecological dimensions and fall short of being truly integrative. This paper suggests that management for sustainability of freshwater systems needs to consider the linkages between human water uses, freshwater ecosystems and governance. We present a conceptualization of freshwater resources as part of an integrated social-ecological system and propose a set of corresponding indicators to monitor freshwater ecosystem health and to highlight priorities for management. We demonstrate an application of this new framework -the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) - in the Dongjiang River Basin in southern China, where stakeholders are addressing multiple and conflicting freshwater demands. By combining empirical and modeled datasets with surveys to gauge stakeholders' preferences and elicit expert information about governance mechanisms, the FHI helps stakeholders understand the status of freshwater ecosystems in their basin, how ecosystems are being manipulated to enhance or decrease water-related services, and how well the existing water re-source management regime is equipped to govern these dynamics over time. This framework helps to operationalize a truly integrated approach to water resource management by recognizing the interplay between governance, stakeholders, freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide

ecosystem services↗

Workspace visualization and time-delay telerobotic operations

The paper examines the performance of telerobotic tasks where the operator and robot are physically separated, and a comunication time delay of up to several seconds between them exists. This situation is applicable to space robotic servicing-assembly-maintenance operations on low earth or geosynchronous orbits with a ground-based command station. Attention is given to two developments which address advanced time-delay teleoperations for unstructured tasks: (1) the 'phantom robot', a real-time predictive graphics simulator developed to allow teleoperator eye-to-hand coordination or robot free-space kinematics under a time delay of several seconds; and (2) shared compliance control, a modified form of automatic electromechanical impedance control employed in parallel with manual position control to permit soft contact and grasp compliance with workpiece geometry under a time delay of several seconds.

Schenker, P. S.↗

An operational data compression system using minicomputers.

Functional description of the real-time programmable data compression system that has been developed for operation between the data acquisition and satellite service ground stations and the ATS 1 and 3 satellites. The source data consist of TV pictures from these satellites that are received, compressed, transmitted, and reconstructed in real-time. General purpose minicomputers and specially designed I/O channels are used for compression and reconstruction. The installed compression system has passed all system input-output tests. Because of the great flexibility of the minicomputers, it is possible to vary the compression and to perform auxiliary tasks, such as data formatting.

Davisson, L. D.↗

Advance Resource Provisioning in Bulk Data Scheduling

Today?s scientific and business applications generate mas- sive data sets that need to be transferred to remote sites for sharing, processing, and long term storage. Because of increasing data volumes and enhancement in current net- work technology that provide on-demand high-speed data access between collaborating institutions, data handling and scheduling problems have reached a new scale. In this paper, we present a new data scheduling model with ad- vance resource provisioning, in which data movement operations are defined with earliest start and latest comple- tion times. We analyze time-dependent resource assign- ment problem, and propose a new methodology to improve the current systems by allowing researchers and higher-level meta-schedulers to use data-placement as-a-service, so they can plan ahead and submit transfer requests in advance. In general, scheduling with time and resource conflicts is NP-hard. We introduce an efficient algorithm to organize multiple requests on the fly, while satisfying users? time and resource constraints. We successfully tested our algorithm in a simple benchmark simulator that we have developed, and demonstrated its performance with initial test results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Software-defined network for end-to-end networked science at the exascale

Domain science applications and workflow processes are currently forced to view the network as an opaque infrastructure into which they inject data and hope that it emerges at the destination with an acceptable Quality of Experience. There is little ability for applications to interact with the network to exchange information, negotiate performance parameters, discover expected performance metrics, or receive status/troubleshooting information in real time. The work presented here is motivated by a vision for a new smart network and smart application ecosystem that will provide a more deterministic and interactive environment for domain science workflows. The Software-Defined Network for End-to-end Networked Science at Exascale (SENSE) system includes a model-based architecture, implementation, and deployment which enables automated end- to-end network service instantiation across administrative domains. An intent based interface allows applications to express their high-level service requirements, an intelligent orchestrator and resource control systems allow for custom tailoring of scalability and real-time responsiveness based on individual application and infrastructure operator requirements. This allows the science applications to manage the network as a first-class schedulable resource as is the current practice for instruments, compute, and storage systems. Deployment and experiments on production networks and testbeds have validated SENSE functions and performance. Emulation based testing verified the scalability needed to support research and education infrastructures. Key contributions of this work include an architecture definition, reference implementation, and deployment. This provides the basis for further innovation of smart network services to accelerate scientific discovery in the era of big data, cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗