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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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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

HIRF Avoidance Approach for Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), including Urban Air Mobility (UAM), vehicles may be required to meet stringent High-Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) certification requirements. HIRF can cause interference and even damage to vehicle systems. A recently proposed map-based HIRF avoidance approach can help reduce HIRF protection costs compared to the standard approach. However, it necessitates knowing the locations, frequencies, and transmit powers of high-power antennas within the operating area. This study aims to provide the necessary transmitter data by utilizing regulatory license databases. Using New York City as a representative urban area, fixed transmitter data are presented for AM, FM, TV, satellite uplink, land-mobile radio, microwave link, weather radars, and others. The maximum antenna effective isotropic radiated powers are reported. The associated electric field envelopes at 100 feet (30.48 m) distance are compared against the current rotorcraft HIRF standard. The results show the current standards are far adequate in protecting the vehicles. Maps of regions with high HIRF are illustrated. Data for several other cities are also being considered.

HIRF↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Assessing High-Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) from High-Power Antennas for Air Vehicle Safety

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), including Urban Air Mobility (UAM), vehicles may be required to meet stringent High-Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) certification requirements. HIRF can cause interference and even damage to vehicle systems. A recently proposed map-based avoidance approach can help reduce HIRF protection costs compared to the standard approach. However, it necessitates knowing the locations, frequencies, and transmit powers of high-power antennas within the operating area. This study aims to provide the necessary transmitter data by utilizing regulatory license databases. Using New York City as a representative urban area, fixed transmitter data are presented for AM, FM, TV, satellite uplink, land-mobile radio, microwave link, weather radars, and others. The maximum effective isotropic radiated powers of the antenna are reported. The associated electric field envelopes at 100 feet (30.48 m) distance are compared against the current rotorcraft HIRF standard. The results show that the current standards for protecting vehicles are inadequate. Maps of regions with high HIRF are illustrated. Data for several other cities are also being considered.

HIRF↗
NASA NTRS2024

Assessing High-Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) from High-Power Antennas for Air Vehicle Safety

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), including Urban Air Mobility (UAM), vehicles may be required to meet stringent High-Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) certification requirements. HIRF can cause interference and even damage to vehicle systems. A recently proposed map-based avoidance approach can help reduce HIRF protection costs compared to the standard approach. However, it necessitates knowing the locations, frequencies, and transmit powers of high-power antennas within the operating area. This study aims to provide the necessary transmitter data by utilizing regulatory license databases. Using New York City as a representative urban area, fixed transmitter data are presented for AM, FM, TV, satellite uplink, land-mobile radio, microwave link, weather radars, and others. The maximum effective isotropic radiated powers of the antenna are reported. The associated electric field envelopes at 100 feet (30.48 m) distance are compared against the current rotorcraft HIRF standard. The results show that the current standards for protecting vehicles are inadequate. Maps of regions with high HIRF are illustrated. Data for several other cities are also being considered.

HIRF↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multiscale Experiments and Multiphysics Simulation of Multiphase Flow for Transportable Small Modular Reactors

A new type of safe, small, transportable nuclear reactor would address the intense and ever-growing global demand for energy produced via a resilient, carbon-free energy source. In this regard, transportable small modular reactors (SMRs) are being designed and developed for electricity generation within small/micro-grid/off-grid isolated systems, as well as for heat generation in industrial/residential applications. These reactors feature the capability to be fully factory fabricated and then directly transported to utilities’ sites as “plug-and-play” systems. Research and development (R&D) programs are underway at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to successfully design, develop, and demonstrate such safe-by-design mobile reactor technologies, in collaboration with partner organizations. Multiscale experimental facilities and multiphysics simulation tools are required for reactor design verification and validation (V&V), and licensing. These advanced reactors are intended to feature passive safety systems such as passive containment cooling systems (PCCS), which consist of multiphase flows and multispecies distributions. This seminar talk will focus on designing and analyzing transportable SMR PCCS by using multiscale experiments and multiphysics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to support reactor licensing and safety. The corresponding research challenges are addressed via supportive verification and validation results generated by the models and simulation tools in combination with selective parametric and uncertainty analysis. This solution approach could blaze the trail for commercial adoption of such technologies. The facilities, simulation capabilities, and research opportunities available at INL in regard to such reactors and the integrated energy systems with which they go hand in hand are also discussed briefly, and may spark interest in deeper research as well as new collaborative projects.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

HBU R and D Cask Transportation Options - 20436

The TN-32B HBU Demonstration Cask was successfully loaded in November 2017 with 32 high burnup (HBU) fuel assemblies at Dominion's North Anna Nuclear Plant and is collecting thermal data as intended. The first two phases of this very successful project sponsored by DOE and EPRI was designed to collect thermal data of HBU fuel to support extended storage. The next phase of the project requires the cask be licensed for transportation so the cask can be relocated to a site (to be determined by DOE) to facilitate long term monitoring and additional research on the fuel. This is a unique challenge given the constraints that exist for this particular bolted metal cask. The TN-32B cask is a 234,288 lb. (storage configuration) dry storage system that was selected for this project and it was modified to provide thermal data and the ability to collect gas samples after loading. Several major issues must be addressed to obtain the transport license including protecting the seven lid penetrations that were made to allow for the insertion of the thermocouples into the selected fuel assemblies after the cask was loaded. In order to protect the integrity of the research, the payload must remain as is. Therefore, the cask system must be placed into the transportation configuration without rewetting the fuel, replacing the lid and without removing the thermocouple instrumentation that is currently installed. A critical portion of the design and engineering that was performed in the first two phases of the project was to ensure that future transportation of the cask was integrated into the approach. Efforts were made to accommodate requirements such as containment boundary leakage testing, installation of impact limiter brackets and lid bolts suitable for transportation. Due to the science requirements of the project, the fuel selected was intended to yield the highest payload temperatures permitted to provide the greatest value for the researchers. This resulted in higher than usual external dose rates and surface temperatures that warranted performing as much preparatory work prior to cask loading to ensure ALARA and personnel safety to the greatest extent practical rather than working on a loaded cask. In addition to the work performed prior to cask load, there are remaining challenges such as protecting the modified lid, design and fabrication of impact limiters that accommodate the modified cask lid and preserving the thermocouple connections for continued monitoring. The project team is currently performing the necessary calculations, engineering, and design to support the licensing as required by the US NRC. Pre-application meetings have been held to inform the regulator of the planned technical approach to ensure compliance with the applicable regulations. The current plan is to obtain the transportation C of C by the end of 2021. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

A reusable neural network pipeline for unidirectional fiber segmentation

Abstract Fiber-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites are advanced, temperature resistant materials with applications in aerospace engineering. Their analysis involves the detection and separation of fibers, embedded in a fiber bed, from an imaged sample. Currently, this is mostly done using semi-supervised techniques. Here, we present an open, automated computational pipeline to detect fibers from a tomographically reconstructed X-ray volume. We apply our pipeline to a non-trivial dataset by Larson et al . To separate the fibers in these samples, we tested four different architectures of convolutional neural networks. When comparing our neural network approach to a semi-supervised one, we obtained Dice and Matthews coefficients reaching up to 98%, showing that these automated approaches can match human-supervised methods, in some cases separating fibers that human-curated algorithms could not find. The software written for this project is open source, released under a permissive license, and can be freely adapted and re-used in other domains.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Information Leakage Analysis using a Co-design-Based Fault Injection Technique on a RISC-V Microprocessor

The RISC-V instruction set architecture open licensing policy has spawned a hive of development activity, making a range of implementations publicly available. The environments in which RISC-V operates have expanded correspondingly, driving the need for a generalized approach to evaluating the reliability of RISC-V implementations under adverse operating conditions or after normal wear-out periods. Fault injection (FI) refers to the process of changing the state of registers or wires, either permanently or momentarily, and then observing execution behavior. The analysis provides insight into the development of countermeasures that protect against the leakage or corruption of sensitive information which might occur because of unexpected execution behavior. In this paper, we develop a hardware-software co-design architecture that enables fast, configurable fault emulation and utilize it for information leakage and data corruption analysis. Modern System-on-chip FPGAs enable building an evaluation platform where control elements run on a processor(s) (PS) simultaneously with the target design running in the programmable logic (PL). Software components of the FI system introduce faults and report execution behavior. A pair of RISC-V FI-instrumented implementations are created and configured to execute the Advanced Encryption Standard and Twister algorithms. Key and plaintext information leakage and degraded pseudo-random sequences are both observed in the output for a subset of the emulated faults.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Integrating Clean Energy in Mining Operations: Opportunities, Challenges, and Enabling Approaches

The mining industry is a major source of raw materials for several industries such as manufacturing, transportation, construction, energy, and mining industry itself. It is anticipated that demand for raw materials is going to increase as the population growth and many low-income economies shift to middle-income countries. The increase in mineral demand accompanies by falling mineral ore grade is expected to increase energy demand raising concern of greenhouse gas emission (GHG). Renewable energy can provide mine operators with solutions to several of the challenges they face today, including energy costs, fossil fuel volatility, social license to operate, and meeting environmental, societal, and governance goals. However, the integration of wind, solar, storage, and other renewable technologies face several barriers that are generally not well understood. Many of these barriers will require further research, development, demonstration, and deployment before we see higher levels of renewables adoption in the mining industry. Thus, this report highlights renewable opportunities, barriers, and enabling approaches.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Non-Nuclear Test Facility Development to Support Verification and Validation Needs

This study focuses on developing a non-nuclear test facility to help meet the verification and validation (V&V) requirements of a water-cooled small modular reactor (SMR) system. The scaling analysis necessary for reactor system experimentation and assessment model V&V considers various reactor system accident scenarios such as main steam line break (MSLB), steam generator tube rupture (SGTR), and containment condensation and heat transfer. The goal is to identify key physics based phenomena of interest (POI), specific figures of merit (FOMs), and the state of knowledge (SOK) by employing phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) studies. Important physics phenomena such as heat transfer, fluid dynamics, structural integrity, and material selection must be addressed when scaling a thermal-hydraulics system. Alongside these considerations, modifications to the facility may be needed to align the scaled system with the available footprint (height and space) of the facility. These modifications may include infrastructure upgrades, changes to the piping layout, implementation of safety measures, and installation of new instrumentation and control systems. The test facility aims to provide a scaled-down version of prototypic facilities for comprehensive V&V activities by overcoming these challenges and making the necessary modifications. This approach minimizes scaling distortion, simulates prototypic plant conditions, and accurately models accident event progressions. Thus, the facility will be capable of adequately modeling a scaled SMR system to support the design, development and licensing needs.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Plan to Qualify New Fuel for the High Flux Isotope Reactor for Material Minimization

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is one of five high power research reactors the Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3) Program, Office of Conversion is working to convert from using highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to using low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. This effort stems from the primary objective within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to achieve permanent threat reduction by minimizing, and when possible, eliminating weapon-usable nuclear material around the world. Under M3’s Office of Conversion, the U.S. High Performance Research Reactor (USHPRR) Project is pursuing fuel qualification and licensing of LEU fuels to support the high-performance reactors. All high-performance reactors except HFIR will be converted to LEU monolithic uranium-molybdenum alloy fuel. HFIR will be evaluated for conversion to LEU using a uranium silicide fuel, namely, U3Si2-Al dispersion fuel. The mission of the USHPRR Project is to develop the technology needed to reduce, and eventually eliminate, worldwide use of HEU in civilian applications. The goal is to develop the technical means needed to use low enriched uranium (LEU) instead of HEU fuel in research and test reactors without significant penalties in performance, economics, or safety of the reactors. The USHPRR Project has four major elements, called Pillars: Fuel Qualification (FQ) managed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Fuel Fabrication (FF) managed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Reactor Conversion (RC) managed at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), and Cross-Cutting (CC) managed at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). FQ is responsible for the qualification of the fuel type. RC is responsible for supporting reactor conversion analysis and overseeing licensing submittals leading to conversions of domestic reactors to LEU fuel. For the FQ effort, FQ (INL) worked in collaboration with RC (Argonne) and ORNL to develop the plan for the uranium silicide fuel qualification for HFIR. The resulting HFIR Fuel Qualification Plan provides the general approach for the USHPRR team to move the selected uranium silicide fuel design for HFIR conversion through qualification. Authorization and use in HFIR will be approved through the DOE’s Office of Science. Uranium silicide fuel was previously qualified in NUREG-1313 at an approximate maximum heat flux of 1.4 MW/m2 and a maximum fuel section temperature of about 130°C. In addition to the different regulator process utilized by DOE, these upper limits will be exceeded in HFIR; therefore, further testing will be necessary to ensure the fuel can meet HFIR qualification requirements. The HFIR fuel loading may exceed 4.8 gU/cm3 which was determined in the NUREG-1313 safety evaluation to be acceptable for use in non-power NRC-licensed reactors provided there exist no other safety considerations. In addition, the uranium silicide fuel will need to be qualified in a HFIR-specific design. This plan includes the currently available information from the USHPRR Project Functions and Requirements document and expands these requirements to ensure that planned tests have traceable results providing evidence that the requirements have been met. Data collection methods are discussed as well as the process to show that the requirements have been met. This document is designed to provide a pathway for researchers to obtain data necessary and at the appropriate quality level for HFIR fuel qualification

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Induced seismicity red-light thresholds for enhanced geothermal prospects in the Netherlands

Prospects for geothermal energy in the Netherlands have renewed concerns around induced earthquakes. Risks from induced earthquakes are managed by traffic light protocols (TLPs), where the red-light is chosen as the stop-point before exceeding a tolerance to risk. Here, we simulate post-shut-in earthquake scenarios based on realistic information for the Netherlands. We focus on three risk metrics: aggregates like nuisance and damage impacts and also local personal risk (LPR) – a likelihood of building collapse fatality for an individual. Our results show that the severity of these risks varies spatially by orders of magnitude. Prior induced seismicity (e.g., the 2012 Huizinge event) provides a reference baseline to calibrate the Dutch earthquake risk tolerances. We find that these calibrated risk tolerances are similar to those observed in North America, suggesting an underlying sociological ‘license to operate.’ Furthermore, the use of calibrated risk tolerances results in nuisance concerns completely eclipsing the other two metrics. We compare our results to a hypothetical Groningen geothermal operation and find that our approach sets red-light thresholds approximately one magnitude unit below the ML 3.6 Huizinge event. Overall, our results provide a first-order recommendation for red-light thresholds and proactive management of Dutch enhanced geothermal induced seismicity.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Advanced Fuels Campaign 2019 Accomplishments

The mission of the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is to perform or support research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities to identify and mature innovative fuels and cladding materials and associated technologies with the potential to improve the performance and safety of current and future reactors; increase the efficient utilization of nuclear energy resources; contribute to enhancing proliferation resistance of the nuclear fuel cycle; and address challenges related to waste management and ultimate disposal. AFC pursues its mission objectives using a goal-oriented, science-based approach that seeks to establish a fundamental understanding of fuel and cladding behaviors under conditions that arise during fabrication, normal steady-state irradiation, off-normal transient scenarios, and storage/disposal. This approach includes advancing the theoretical understanding of fuel behavior, conducting fundamental and integral experiments, and supporting the mechanistic, multi-scale modeling of nuclear fuels to inform and guide fuel development projects, advance the technological readiness of promising fuel candidates, and ultimately support fuel qualification and licensing initiatives. In the area of advanced tools for the modeling and simulation of nuclear fuels, the AFC works in close partnership with the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program, participating with NEAMS in developing mechanistic fuel behavior models and providing experimental data to inform and validate its most advanced tools. Specifically, AFC objectives in thecoming five year horizon include: 1. support the industry-led development of Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) technologies with improved reliability and performance under normal operations and enhanced tolerance during hypothetical accident scenarios, with implementation of lead test rods/assemblies of one or more ATF concepts in commercial reactor(s) by or before 2022 and batch reloads of near-term concept(s) in the 2023-2026 timeframe; 2. lead research and development on innovative fuel and cladding technologies for applications to future advanced reactors, especially fast-spectrum reactors, including reactors that utilize both once-through and recycle scenarios; 3. continue the development and demonstration of a multi-scale,science-based approach to fuel development and testing, andcontribute to the establishment of a state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure necessary to accelerate the development of new fuel concepts; and collaborate with NEAMS on the development and validation of multi-scale, multi-physics, and increasingly predictive fuel performance models and codes. 4. collaborate with NEAMS on the development and validation of multi-scale, multi-physics, and increasingly predictive fuel performance models and codes.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Technical and Licensing Considerations for Micro-Reactors

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has interacted with vendors pursuing the commercialization of micro-reactors (i.e., reactors capable of producing about 1 MW(th) to 20 MW(th) of energy from nuclear fission). It is envisioned that micro-reactors could be assembled and fueled in a factory and shipped to a site. Many of the sites are expected to be remote locations requiring off-grid power or in some cases military bases. The objective of this effort is to explore the technical issues and the approach required to reach a finding of "reasonable assurance of public health and safety" for this new and different class of reactors. The analysis performed here leverages available micro-reactor design and testing data available from national laboratory experience as well as commercial design information to explore technical issues. Some factors considered include source term, accidents that would need to be analyzed, and the extent of the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). The technical evaluation was performed within the framework of the Licensing Modernization Project (LMP) to identify licensing basis events, classification of structures, systems and components, and defense-in-depth needed to provide regulatory certainty. With this framework and technical evaluation in mind, the scope and content of a micro-reactor licensing application is discussed.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS2001

Learning That's Out of This World

NASA's Ames Research Center developed a new curriculum to educate the space explorers of tomorrow. The Mars Virtual Exploration CD-ROM is exclusively licensed to Modern School Supplies, Inc., of Bloomfield, Connecticut. The CD-ROM allows students to imagine they are residents of a research team at an advanced facility divided into four different domes. Students experience how scientists approach planetary exploration through interactive exercises in ExoPaleontology, Meteorology, Exobiology, and Volcanology. Once the students have learned the facts and have consulted with the experts, they select a potential landing site. Using QuickTimeVR(TM) software, the students get a 360-degree view of the potential landing terrain. They are then able to virtually explore the four available sites and select the one they feel is best for conducting research. The Mars Virtual Exploration CD-ROM comes complete with a printable teacher's guide and student logbook.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2021

Adaptation of the NWM Cloud Environment for an ISF Project

The DOE-NE NWM Cloud was designed to be a generic set of tools and applications for any nuclear waste management program. As policymakers continue to consider approaches that emphasize consolidated interim storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel, a gap analysis of the tools and applications provided for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste disposal in comparison those needed for siting, licensing, and developing a consolidated interim storage facility and/or for a transportation campaign will help prepare DOE for implementing such potential policy direction. This report evaluates the points of alignment and potential gaps between the applications on the NWM Cloud that supported SNF disposal project, and the applications needed to address QA requirements and for other project support needs of an SNF storage project.

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

Integrated Spatial, Spectral, & Temporal Optical Reflectance System for Precision Occupancy & Location Sensing to Improve Building Energy Efficiency

Buildings consume approximately 35% of the electricity used in the U.S. and building owners can significantly reduce this energy use by providing services like heating, electrical power and lighting only when people are present. The ARPAe funded program titled “INTEGRATED SPATIAL, SPECTRAL, & TEMPORAL OPTICAL REFLECTANCE SYSTEM FOR PRECISION OCCUPANCY & LOCATION SENSING TO IMPROVE BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY” demonstrates how a low cost sensor technology developed for measuring distances can be used to count and locate occupants with a high degree of precision with a very low error rates. This platform tells a building control system where occupants are located (but not who they are) so that energy consuming services can be provided only when the services are needed by building occupants. The original proof of concept involved using low cost, commercially available time-of-flight (TOF) sensors that measure distance, but the performance of these existing sensors was lacking, as they could not operate properly in the presence of sunlight, which blinded the simple TOF sensors and limited their utility in buildings. This project proposed a powerful new class of TOF sensors that used state-of-the-art integrated circuit (IC) fabrication processes that combined advanced photonics with conventional silicon chip circuitry for improved sensor performance. An equally important part of this project was to find ways to maximize occupant count and location accuracy while using the fewest number of sensors possible, in order to keep costs low. By using building blueprints to create digital twins of commercial building spaces, the team developed new algorithms to maximize occupant count and tracking accuracy by properly locating the minimum number of sensors at just the right spots in the building. This capability not only minimizes system costs but also simplified sensor installation and system commissioning. Our simulations of our sensor networks for a range of commercial floorplan designs demonstrated that our installed cost target of $0.08/sqft was attainable, though not fully demonstrated during the project. Finally, we noted that the TOF sensor concept could provide a valuable role in health and eldercare by tracking patients without the need for worn sensors and would be useful for fall detection and other patient safety metrics, including tracking healthcare/patient interactions. We feel that, when fully developed, this new class of sophisticated TOF sensors and support software will be a powerful new approach to improving building energy efficiency based on occupant centric control platforms and will also open new levels of patient safety in healthcare operations. To realize this potential, the team formed the Troy Sensor Company LLC to oversee licensing of the programs patents and continue to seek commercialization of this program’s activity sensing technologies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS2007

Online Remote Sensing Interface

BasinTools Module 1 processes remotely sensed raster data, including multi- and hyper-spectral data products, via a Web site with no downloads and no plug-ins required. The interface provides standardized algorithms designed so that a user with little or no remote-sensing experience can use the site. This Web-based approach reduces the amount of software, hardware, and computing power necessary to perform the specified analyses. Access to imagery and derived products is enterprise-level and controlled. Because the user never takes possession of the imagery, the licensing of the data is greatly simplified. BasinTools takes the "just-in-time" inventory control model from commercial manufacturing and applies it to remotely-sensed data. Products are created and delivered on-the-fly with no human intervention, even for casual users. Well-defined procedures can be combined in different ways to extend verified and validated methods in order to derive new remote-sensing products, which improves efficiency in any well-defined geospatial domain. Remote-sensing products produced in BasinTools are self-documenting, allowing procedures to be independently verified or peer-reviewed. The software can be used enterprise-wide to conduct low-level remote sensing, viewing, sharing, and manipulating of image data without the need for desktop applications.

Lawhead, Joel↗
DOE OSTI2020

GHEP WIBT (Guidelines for Home Energy Professionals Weatherization Installer Badges Toolkit) [SWR-20-69]

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) are collaborating with the home energy retrofit industry to support the development of skilled workers. The Installer Badges Toolkit provides a flexible, customizable, and voluntary approach to training and skills recognition for WAP implementers, utility programs, private-sector workers, and contractors. In Fiscal Year 2018, DOE, along with the Crew Leader scheme committee, determined the Retrofit Installer Technician (RIT) Job Task Analysis (JTA) could be eliminated and its tasks inserted in the Crew Leader JTA. The RIT tasks became the basis of the Installer Badges. The Badges Toolkit was updated in 2020 to add licensing and copyright agreements. Users must cite the copyright information when using or distributing copies of the Badges Toolkit in any way. The technical content has remained unchanged from previous versions of the Badges Toolkit. The Toolkit for home retrofits consists of 25 Badges, each representing different energy efficiency tasks that an installer could perform on a home. Each Badge defines the desired outcome, criteria to verify, applicable material requirements, and references to Standard Work Specifications (SWS) or other relevant standards. The Badges provide a consistent approach to training by ensuring that installers in different regions are learning the same skills nationwide. Organizations can also customize the Toolkit by choosing only those Badges that are relevant to their program. The Badges Toolkit includes five pieces: "How to Use the Badges Toolkit" provides a brief overview of how a Grantee, Subgrantee, or training provider may approach using the toolkit. The "Badges Toolkit: Worksheet" includes what to consider when determining whether and how to best incorporate the Badges into a weatherization assistance program. The "Crew Leader Job Task Analysis Spreadsheet" indicates how the Badges align with specific areas of the JTA. The "Installer Badges Passport" features separate pages for each Badge, which include places for the installer and the supervisor/trainer to record the number of times a task has been successfully completed. The "Installer Badges Verification Criteria" includes sample inspection checklists for each Badge. These can be modified as needed based on approved variance requests or more stringent requirements. They also provide a basis for consistent inspections and awarding of Badges. Note: All elements of the Badges Toolkit are designed for use by potential program implementers. They are not off-the-shelf products intended for immediate deployment. Program implementers must review and modify as needed, revise verification criteria to match local requirements, complete worksheets, and otherwise define the parameters of their own badging program.

Desai, Jal↗