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Standardized Benchmark of Historical Compound Wind and Solar Energy Droughts Across the Continental United States
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
As we move towards a decarbonized grid, reliance on weather-dependent energy increases as does exposure to prolonged natural resource shortages known as energy droughts. Compound energy droughts occur when two or more predominant renewable energy sources simultaneously are in drought conditions. In this study we present a methodology and dataset for examining compound wind and solar energy droughts as well as the first standardized benchmark
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
As we move towards a decarbonized grid, reliance on weather-dependent energy increases as does exposure to prolonged natural resource shortages known as energy droughts. Compound energy droughts occur when two or more predominant renewable energy sources simultaneously are in drought conditions. In this study we present a methodology and dataset for examining compound wind and solar energy droughts as well as the first standardized benchmarkof energy droughts across the Continental United States (CONUS) for a 2020 infrastructure. Using a recently developed dataset of simulated hourly plant level generation which includes thousands of wind and solar plants, we examine the frequency, duration, magnitude, and seasonality of energy droughts at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Results are presented for 15 Balancing Authorities (BAs), regions of the U.S. power grid where wind and solar are must-take resources by the power grid and must be balanced. Compound wind and solar droughts are shown to have distinct spatial and temporal patterns across the CONUS. BA-level load is also included in the drought analysis to quantify events where high load is coincident with wind and solar droughts. We find that energy drought characteristics are regional and the longest droughts can last from 16 to 37 continuous hours, and up to 6 days. The longest hourly energy droughts occur in Texas while the longest daily droughts occur in California. Compound energy drought events that include load are more severe on average compared to events that involve only wind and solar. In addition, we find that compound high load events occur more often during compound wind and solar droughts that would be expected due to chance. The insights obtained from these findings and the summarized characteristics of energy drought provide valuable guidance on grid planning and storage sizing at the regional scale.
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Original text here: https://www.pnnl.gov/publications/standardized-benchmark-historical-compound-wind-and-solar-energy-droughts-across
Antecedent Hydrometeorological Conditions of Wildfire Occurrence in the Western U.S. in a Changing Climate
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
Wildfires have significant hydrological and ecological impacts in the western U.S. Using a high-resolution regional climate simulation and wildfire observations for 1984-2018, this study investigates the antecedent hydrometeorological conditions (AHCs) of wildfires in the western U.S. During the warm season (April - September), the wildfire AHCs feature diverse surface pressure (PS), soil moisture (SM), and longwave/shortwave radiation (LW/SW)
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
Wildfires have significant hydrological and ecological impacts in the western U.S. Using a high-resolution regional climate simulation and wildfire observations for 1984-2018, this study investigates the antecedent hydrometeorological conditions (AHCs) of wildfires in the western U.S. During the warm season (April - September), the wildfire AHCs feature diverse surface pressure (PS), soil moisture (SM), and longwave/shortwave radiation (LW/SW)conditions. K-means clustering classifies wildfires into four types with distinct AHCs: low-PS-type and high-PS-type with lower and higher PS anomalies, respectively, LW-type featuring intense LW but weak SW anomalies, and wet-soil-type with wet soil anomalies. Each fire cluster represents 22%-27% of all the wildfires, featuring different combinations of climate and vegetation conditions and their diverse relations to regional hydrometeorological conditions, with wet-soil-type fires often exhibiting opposite correlations with AHCs compared to those of the other three types. In five major Koppen climate zones over the western US, type-based predictions improve the seasonal wildfire prediction accuracy (R2) by 10% compared to prediction without classification. Such improvement comes from separating the opposite relationships between wet-soil-type fires and seasonal AHCs from the other three types, along with separating LW-type fires, which include most of the lightning-ignited fires that occur more randomly. Increases in wildfire occurrence during 1984-2018 are dominated by the increases in the LW-type fires, while the wet-soil-type fires have decreased, consistent with the long-term drying in the western U.S.
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Original text here: https://www.pnnl.gov/publications/antecedent-hydrometeorological-conditions-wildfire-occurrence-western-us-changing
Intergranular corrosion of feedstock modified - additively manufactured stainless steel after sensitization
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a metal additive manufacturing technique, was conducted on feedstock-modified 316L stainless steel (316L) powder produced by ball-milling of commercial 316L and 1 wt.% additive (Cerium oxide - CeO2, lanthanum (III) nitrate hexahydrate - La(NO3)3.6H2O and chromium nitride - CrN). The feedstock-modified LPBF-316L specimens were sensitized at 675 ? for 24 hours, and the influence of additives on intergranular corrosion
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a metal additive manufacturing technique, was conducted on feedstock-modified 316L stainless steel (316L) powder produced by ball-milling of commercial 316L and 1 wt.% additive (Cerium oxide - CeO2, lanthanum (III) nitrate hexahydrate - La(NO3)3.6H2O and chromium nitride - CrN). The feedstock-modified LPBF-316L specimens were sensitized at 675 ? for 24 hours, and the influence of additives on intergranular corrosion(IGC) was investigated following ASTM G108-94 and A262-14 standards. The LPBF-316L with La(NO3)3.6H2O showed higher IGC resistance. The microstructure of the LPBF specimen was investigated and correlated to understand the improved IGC resistance of LPBF-316L with La(NO3)3.6H2O additive.
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Original text here: https://www.pnnl.gov/publications/intergranular-corrosion-feedstock-modified-additively-manufactured-stainless-steel
A sensitivity analysis of twinning crystal plasticity finite element model using single crystal and poly crystal Zircaloy
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
The popularity of crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) models is increasing due to their ability to predict the mechanical response of crystalline materials such as metals and metal alloys more accurately than traditional continuum mechanics models. Two main challenges faced by engineers and researchers while using CPFEM models are the need for large computational resources and the difficulty in calibrating a large number of material
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (TNSres) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following abstract of a journal article:
The popularity of crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) models is increasing due to their ability to predict the mechanical response of crystalline materials such as metals and metal alloys more accurately than traditional continuum mechanics models. Two main challenges faced by engineers and researchers while using CPFEM models are the need for large computational resources and the difficulty in calibrating a large number of materialparameters. In this paper, a CPFEM code is developed to include the twinning induced grain reorientation and subsequent crystallographic slip in these grains. Developed code is incorporated in a large-scale, parallelized nonlinear solver WARP3D.
A sensitivity analysis with respect to 22 material parameters was then conducted using single crystal and polycrystal Zircaloy RVE. Loading was applied along five different crystallographic orientations for single crystal RVE and along three directions namely, rolling (RD), transverse (TD), and normal (ND) direction for polycrystal RVE. Results obtained from the sensitivity analysis were used for the calibration of material parameters for Zircaloy. Finally, developed code along with calibrated material parameters was used to investigate the effect of the hydride phase formation in Zircaloy which is a typical case observed for nuclear applications. It was found that the volume fraction of the hydride phase has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of Zircaloy.
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Original text here: https://www.pnnl.gov/publications/sensitivity-analysis-twinning-crystal-plasticity-finite-element-model-using-single
Los Alamos National Laboratory: Advanced Modeling Contributes to Progress in Thwarting HIV in Sweden
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory issued the following news:
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Model developed at Los Alamos offers crucial data and insights to meet HIV-elimination targets
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In a landmark achievement for the fight against HIV, Sweden has attained the critical "95-95-95" target on the path to tackling the disease. Advanced bioinformatics modeling developed by a team from Los Alamos National Laboratory was deployed to track and verify the country's progress toward the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory issued the following news:
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Model developed at Los Alamos offers crucial data and insights to meet HIV-elimination targets
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In a landmark achievement for the fight against HIV, Sweden has attained the critical "95-95-95" target on the path to tackling the disease. Advanced bioinformatics modeling developed by a team from Los Alamos National Laboratory was deployed to track and verify the country's progress toward the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organizationtarget.
The 95-95-95 goal refers to 95% of all people with HIV in a population having received a diagnosis, 95% of diagnosed people having received treatment, and 95% of treated people having had their treatment been effective enough to result in unmeasurable virus levels. Sweden now reports 96% diagnosis, 99% of the diagnosed receiving treatment, and 98% of the treated seeing virus suppression to unmeasurable levels.
"This achievement is a monumental moment for public health," said Thomas Leitner, Los Alamos researcher and leader of the Lab's HIV modeling program. "Our team at Los Alamos is proud to contribute the advanced modeling that has helped further the efforts to reach these targets. Being able to track the incidence and prevalence of HIV is essential in combatting the disease with effective prevention and treatment."
Sweden's progress on the 95-95-95 target is the first such effort to be confirmed and described in peer-reviewed literature. A paper in which Los Alamos authors were joined by peers in the Swedish medical, public health and academic communities was recently published in the prestigious journal Eurosurveillance, the official journal of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
A model for incidence and prevalence
The modeling team took on the challenge of estimating how many people in Sweden live with HIV infection; many people may be unaware of their status for years before an official diagnosis. The team used a comprehensive clinical database -- all identifying information such as names, birthdays and addresses being completely anonymized -- to determine the number of people infected per year (incidence) as well as the number currently living with the disease in Sweden (prevalence), diagnosed or not.
To arrive at HIV incidence, the team used biomarkers including a cell count estimating a target cell population known to go down over the course of HIV infection, as well as an estimate of the number of mutations of the HIV virus in the body. The model combines those two biomarkers to estimate time since infection. From there, the model can determine incidence -- the number of diagnosed persons of all that were infected in a year. A robust public health program will diagnose a high percentage of infected people, and that is exactly what Sweden achieved, with 96% in the key first 95 of the 95-95-95 target.
"For public health programs such as the attempted elimination of HIV in a country, it is very important to know how large the epidemic is in a given year," Leitner said. "You need that fundamental measure to assess if prevention attempts such as isolation, vaccinations, behavioral interventions and so forth are working. If the prevention you're doing is working, incidence and prevalence should go down."
A publicly available model
The model created by Leitner and his team -- the entire code -- is publicly available on GitHub. Users with a comprehensive and high-quality data set can apply the methodology to their country, town or other population.
Leitner's team will continue to work on the modeling in collaboration with Swedish public health efforts, for instance, in understanding the origin of virus cases among native and migratory populations. He also anticipates approaching American authorities on how modeling can contribute to combating HIV through programs such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. program.
Paper: "Sweden surpasses the UNAIDS 95-95-95 target: estimating HIV-1 incidence, 2003 to 2022." Eurosurveillance. DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.42.2400058
Funding: The research is supported in the U.S. by the National Institutes of Health.
LA-UR-24-31485
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Original text here: https://discover.lanl.gov/news/1028-hiv-elimination-targets/
FRA Proposes Rule Clarifying the Need to Demonstrate Highest Safety Standards When Submitting Requests for Regulatory Relief
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration issued the following news release on Oct. 28, 2024:
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New proposed rulemaking would amend regulations to define the standard, "in the public interest and consistent with railroad safety," required to obtain waivers and other regulatory relief from FRA safety regulations
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The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to bring clarity, transparency, and consistency to the petition process to help
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration issued the following news release on Oct. 28, 2024:
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New proposed rulemaking would amend regulations to define the standard, "in the public interest and consistent with railroad safety," required to obtain waivers and other regulatory relief from FRA safety regulations
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The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to bring clarity, transparency, and consistency to the petition process to helpensure that petitions seeking regulatory relief align with the agency's safety and public interest priorities.
FRA is proposing to define both the "in the public interest" and "consistent with railroad safety" components of the statutory standard that FRA must use for evaluating whether to grant waiver or suspension requests. FRA proposes that "in the public interest" signify not only how a proposal for regulatory relief may improve railroad operations, but also that they serve the public interest by empowering workers, ensuring fairness, protecting the environment, or creating robust infrastructure amongst other possible positive factors. Requests for waivers and suspensions must also demonstrate that they are "consistent with railroad safety," defined as resulting in railroad operations that are at least as safe as or safer than without the proposed relief.
FRA is also proposing to require petitions for regulatory relief to include evidence of meaningful consultation with stakeholders. FRA has found that petitions for waivers frequently do not address the potential impacts of their requests on key stakeholders, notably rail workers and communities along a railroad's right-of-way, leading to extensive work to fill this gap after a petition's been filed. The proposed rule would streamline this process by requiring railroads to proactively consult and coordinate with appropriate stakeholders most impacted by their requests and submit documentation to FRA.
"FRA's waiver procedures are designed to ensure that regulatory relief is granted in limited and specific circumstances that create benefits for railroads and the public -- such as by advancing innovation, supporting workers, or strengthening infrastructure -- while improving safety," said FRA Administrator Amit Bose. "This proposed rule will help ensure that petitions for regulatory relief meet FRA's safety standards and align with the agency's policy priorities to advance the development of a safe, efficient, and resilient American rail network."
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDOT and FRA have taken unprecedented actions to improve rail safety while urging Congress to pass comprehensive rail safety legislation.
* Finalizing new safety regulations: USDOT has taken historic steps to improve the safety of railroads for workers and communities through rulemaking.
- Train Crew Size Safety Requirements: FRA issued a long-awaited rule that ensures trains are safely staffed by establishing minimum safety requirements for the size of train crews. The new rule will enhance safety in the rail industry by generally requiring and emphasizing the importance and necessity of a second crewmember on all trains.
- Certification of Signal and Dispatcher Employees: FRA issued final rules to require railroads to develop written programs for certifying dispatchers and signal employees.
- Requiring Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus: FRA issued a final rule requiring railroads to provide emergency escape breathing apparatus to train crews and other employees when transporting certain hazardous materials.
- Advanced Notification for First Responders: The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a final rule to require railroads to always maintain -- and update in real-time -- accurate, electronic information about rail hazmat shipments in a train consist that would be accessible to authorized emergency response personnel.
* Utilizing safety oversight authorities: FRA is consistently drawing attention to emerging rail safety concerns with more than 20 Safety Advisories and Bulletins combined over the last three years; holding railroads accountable through enforcement action; assessing one of the highest amounts ever in the agency's records for Class I freight railroads in 2023; and undertaking new, focused efforts to ensure safety, such as conducting safety audits and examining the nation's high-hazard flammable train routes following the 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
* Expanding a vital safety program to include workers at Class I freight railroads: At Secretary Buttigieg's urging, a growing number of workers employed at the Class I freight railroads can finally report their experiences to FRA's Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) -- a vital safety program that allows workers to confidentially report unsafe events and share valuable insight to prevent future incidents.
* Deploying historic infrastructure investments: USDOT continues to deploy the historic resources from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to upgrade rail infrastructure and improve the safety of communities across the country, notably through FRA's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program and Railroad Crossing Elimination Program.
FRA is soliciting public comments on this NPRM for 60 days. Comments may be submitted via http://www.regulations.gov (Docket No. FRA-2024-0033) and by following the online instructions for submitting comments.
The rule, as submitted to the Federal Register, can be viewed here (https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-24586.pdf).
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Original text here: https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/2024-10/FRA%2016-24.pdf
FEC Cites Committees for Failure to File October Quarterly Report
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- The Federal Election Commission issued the following news release on Oct. 28, 2024:
The Federal Election Commission cited nine campaign committees today for failing to file the 2024 October Quarterly Report required by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act).
As of October 25, 2024, the required disclosure report had not been received from:
- Zmich for Congress (NY-06)
- Friends of Dianne Dodson Black (MS-01)
- Santos Limon for Congress (TX-23)
- Campaign Fund for a John Peters (MN-07)
- PickettforCongress (IN-05)
- Stamper for Congress (GA-11)
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- The Federal Election Commission issued the following news release on Oct. 28, 2024:
The Federal Election Commission cited nine campaign committees today for failing to file the 2024 October Quarterly Report required by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act).
As of October 25, 2024, the required disclosure report had not been received from:
- Zmich for Congress (NY-06)
- Friends of Dianne Dodson Black (MS-01)
- Santos Limon for Congress (TX-23)
- Campaign Fund for a John Peters (MN-07)
- PickettforCongress (IN-05)
- Stamper for Congress (GA-11)
-John Whalen for US Congress (DE)
- Hyde for Senate (CT-00)
- Committee to Elect Stacy Andrus to the U.S. Senate (TX-00)
The October Quarterly Report was due on October 15, 2024, and should have included financial activity for the period July 1, 2024, through September 30, 2024. If sent by certified or registered mail, the report should have been postmarked by October 15, 2024.
Some individuals and their committees have no obligation to file reports under federal campaign finance law, even though their names may appear on state ballots. If an individual raises or spends $5,000 or less, he or she is not considered a "candidate" subject to reporting under the Act.
The Commission notified committees involved in 2024 elections of their potential filing requirements on September 30, 2024. Those committees that did not file by the due date were sent notification on October 21, 2024, that their reports had not been received and that their names would be published if they did not respond within four business days.
Other political committees that support Senate and House candidates in elections, but are not authorized units of a candidate's campaign, are also required to file quarterly reports, unless they report monthly. Those committee names are not published by the Commission.
Further Commission action against non-filers and late filers is decided on a case-by-case basis. Federal law gives the Commission broad authority to initiate enforcement actions, and the Commission has implemented an Administrative Fine program with provisions for assessing monetary penalties.
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Original text here: https://www.fec.gov/updates/fec-cites-committees-for-failure-to-file-october-quarterly-report-october-28-2024/