This study focuses on the rate of technological change in electricity production. The dominant role of fossil fuel-fired electricity production in the industry, coupled with the direct association with the emission of greenhouse gases, makes technology parameters particularly significant for...

A major problem with cavitation in pumps and other hydraulic devices is that there is no effective method for detecting or predicting its inception. The traditional approach is to declare the pump in cavitation when the total head pressure drops by some arbitrary value (typically 3o/0) in...

The Nation’s health, wealth, and security rely on the production and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, processes, and organizations across which these goods and services move are called "critical infrastructures".1 This statement is as true in the U.S....

This paper describes a face validation process developed to assess computer models used in Phase I of the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analysis (COEA) and to aid the COEA Study Director in making accreditation decisions for those models. The process was...

Computational models have the potential of being used to make credible predictions in place of physical testing in many contexts, but success and acceptance require a convincing model validation. In general, model validation is understood to be a comparison of model predictions to experimental...

This report describes the structure of, and results from, a spreadsheet model. The model simulates markets for seven services: losses, regulation, spinning reserve, supplemental reserve,load following, energy imbalance, and voltage support. For completeness, the model also calculates costs for...

For more than two decades, risk analysts have relied on powerful logic-based models to perform their analyses. However, the applicability of these models has been limited because they can be complex and expensive to develop. Analysts must frequently start from scratch when analyzing a new (but...

This report is intended as a guide to the use of multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) for incorporating environmental factors in electric utility integrated resource planning (IRP). Application of MCDM is emerging as an alternative and complementary method to explicit economic valuation...

This paper presents an assessment of the radiation dose to the world population and the associated potential health effects from three scenarios of /sup 14/C releases by the nuclear industry between 1975 and 2020. Measures of health impact are derived from source terms through the use of a...

Numerical models on several levels of complexity should be available to the emergency response planner. They are a basic tool but must be used in conjunction with both measurements and experience. When these tools are used in a complimentary fashion they greatly enhance the capability of the...