Brian A. Craig

NGFAST: a simulation model for rapid assessment of impacts of natural gas pipeline breaks and flow reductions at U.S. state borders and import points

This paper describes NGfast, the new simulation and impact-analysis tool developed by Argonne National Laboratory for rapid, first-stage assessments of impacts of major pipeline breaks. The methodology, calculation logic, and main assumptions are discussed. The concepts presented are most useful to state and national energy agencies tasked as first responders to such emergencies. Within minutes of the occurrence of a break, NGfast can generate an HTML-formatted report to support briefing materials for state and federal emergency responders. Sample partial results of a simulation of a real system in the United States are presented.

Epfast: a model for simulating uncontrolled islanding in large power systems

This paper describes the capabilities, calculation logic, and foundational assumptions of EPfast, a new simulation and impact analysis tool developed by Argonne National Laboratory. The purpose of the model is to explore the tendency of power systems to spiral into uncontrolled islanding triggered by either man-made or natural disturbances. The model generates a report that quantifies the megawatt reductions in all affected substations, as well as the number, size, and spatial location of the formed island grids. The model is linear and is intended to simulate the impacts of high-consequence events on large-scale power systems. The paper describes a recent application of the model to examine the effects of a high-intensity New Madrid seismic event on the U.S. Eastern Interconnection (USEI). The models final upgrade and subsequent application to the USEI were made possible via funding from U.S. Department of Energys Office of Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration.

Modeling Electric Power and Natural Gas System Interdependencies

AbstractTo promote the resilience and protection of infrastructure assets from an all-hazards perspective, this paper describes the progress of interdependencies modeling and integration efforts to...

Simulating the seismic performance of a large-scale electric network in the U.S. midwest

This paper summarizes the methodology and simulation tools used by Argonne National Laboratory to examine the impact that a high-intensity New Madrid seismic event could have on local electric assets and the performance of surrounding regional electric networks. Local impacts are expressed in terms of the number of assets (under various equipment categories) most likely to be damaged. The total megawatt equivalent of damage-prone power plants is assessed, as is an estimate of power flows that could be disrupted. Damage functions and fragility curves are employed to identify specific electric assets that could be affected. The potential of large-scale electric system collapse is explored via a series of network simulations. The methodology employs two models, the FEMA-developed HAZUS MH-MR3 and Argonne-developed EPfast tool for simulating uncontrolled islanding in electric systems. The models are described, and their complementary roles are discussed.

New Madrid and Wabash Valley seismic study: simulating the impacts on natural gas transmission pipelines and downstream markets

This paper summarizes the methodology, simulation tools, and major initial findings made by Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) on the potential impact of simultaneous, high-intensity New Madrid and Wabash Valley Seismic Events on the natural gas interstate pipelines and their subsequent impacts on the downstream customers, particularly on the states under the purview of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region V operations. Downstream impacts are expressed in terms of percent reduction in deliveries, population affected, and numbers of commercial and industrial customers shed. Damage functions and fragility curves are employed to identify specific pipelines that could potentially be affected, as well as the probable location(s) of the pipeline breaks and leaks. Effects of emergency remedial measures to mitigate impacts are also simulated. The methodology employed two models: (1) the FEMA-developed HAZUS MH-MR3 and (2) the Ar-gonne-developed NGFast pipeline break simulation tool. The models are described, and their complementary roles are discussed.

A natural gas modeling framework for conducting infrastructure analysis studies

Increased emphasis on national critical infrastructure protection has accelerated the need to respond to infrastructure assessment requests in a timely manner with reasonable certainty of system consequences following either natural or deliberate system disruptions. Natural gas supply, transmission, and distribution networks provide an important capability to dependent electric power, industrial, commercial, military, and residential customers. This paper describes the natural gas infrastructure analysis and modeling framework (NGtools) at Argonne National Laboratory that directly supports the analysis of the natural gas transmission network given various system disruptions. Infrastructure analysts, given the task to assess the resiliency of the natural gas infrastructure under various disruption scenarios, efficiently respond with increased certainty to various requests by using the in-house-developed analytical suite of tools within NGtools. Analysts use NGtools to identify critical system components and equipment, assess potential network-wide impacts, and suggest measures to mitigate undesirable system responses.

Report on a 2009 Mini-Demonstration of the ARG-US Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System in Transportation

The Packaging Certification Program (PCP) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM), Office of Packaging and Transportation (EM-14), has developed a radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking and monitoring system for the management of nuclear materials during storage and transportation. The system, developed by the PCP team at Argonne National Laboratory, consists of hardware (Mk-series sensor tags, fixed and handheld readers, form factor for multiple drum types, seal integrity sensors, and enhanced battery management), software (application programming interface, ARG-US software for local and remote/web applications, secure server and database management), and cellular/satellite communication interfaces for vehicle tracking and item monitoring during transport. The ability of the above system to provide accurate, real-time tracking and monitoring of the status of multiple, certified containers of nuclear materials has been successfully demonstrated in a week-long, 1,700-mile DEMO performed in April 2008. While the feedback from the approximately fifty (50) stakeholders who participated in and/or observed the DEMO progression were very positive and encouraging, two major areas of further improvements - system integration and web application enhancement - were identified in the post-DEMO evaluation. The principal purpose of the MiniDemo described in this report was to verify these two specific improvements. The MiniDemo was conducted on August 28, 2009. In terms of system integration, a hybrid communication interface - combining the RFID item-monitoring features and a commercial vehicle tracking system by Qualcomm - was developed and implemented. In the MiniDemo, the new integrated system worked well in reporting tag status and vehicle location accurately and promptly. There was no incompatibility of components. The robust commercial communication gear, as expected, helped improve system reliability. The MiniDemo confirmed that system integration is technically feasible and reliable with the existing RFID and Qualcomm satellite equipment. In terms of web application, improvements in mapping, tracking, data presentation, and post-incident spatial query reporting were implemented in ARG-US, the application software that manages the dataflow among the RFID tags, readers, and servers. These features were tested in the MiniDemo and found to be satisfactory. The resulting web application is both informative and user-friendly. A joint developmental project is being planned between the PCP and the DOE TRANSCOM that uses the Qualcomm gear in vehicles for tracking and communication of radioactive material shipments across the country. Adding an RFID interface to TRANSCOM is a significant enhancement to the DOE.

Additional Capability Being Developed from UNF-ST&DARDS Unified Database: System Analysis and Fuel Cycle Option Analysis

Abstract The Used Nuclear Fuel Storage, Transportation & Disposal Analysis Resource and Data System (UNF-ST&DARDS) is being developed for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy by the national laboratories. An important part of UNF-ST&DARDS is the Unified Database (UDB), which contains information that can support a variety of activities including fuel storage, fuel transportation, and disposal-related system analysis. Currently, the main application of the UDB is to support evaluation of the characteristics of discharged spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from the U.S. commercial reactors. However, because of the extensive amount of data that has been collected and analyzed for UNF-ST&DARDS, there are many more applications that can utilize the UDB including system analysis with the Next-Generation System Analysis Model (NGSAM) and fuel cycle analysis with fuel cycle simulation codes such as ORION. Going forward, NGSAM and fuel cycle transition analysis with ORION integrate UDB data wherever possible in the UDB’s development plan. These advances in NGSAM and fuel cycle analysis can be used in conjunction with the UDB to help answer more complex questions about the optimization, utilization, storage, and eventual disposal of SNF.