Thursday, January 26, 2023

Friday, January 27th, 2023 Eric Miller on Hydrogen

Eric Miller, Chief Scientist U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office will speak about the DOE program HydroGEN, Materials Research Supporting U.S. National Priorities in Clean Hydrogen Production. Today, technologies for advancing National clean energy priorities are rapidly evolving, including hydrogen and fuel cell technologies which offer unique versatility within a portfolio of domestic options addressing decarbonization, economic growth, and environmental justice. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Program, in support of the Hydrogen Energy Earthshot (aka the Hydrogen Shot) and the H2@Scale initiative, comprises a broad portfolio of research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) activities focused on advancing technologies for the affordable production, storage, distribution, and utilization of clean hydrogen across sectors. Coordinated by the Department’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, this portfolio includes foundational materials research and development (R&D) leveraging consortia that harness the world-class capabilities and expertise of our national laboratories, including consortia affiliated with the DOE Energy Materials Network (EMN). The HydroGEN EMN Consortia, for example, aims to accelerate the materials R&D of advanced water splitting pathways such as alkaline exchange membrane low-temperature electrolysis and proton-conducting high-temperature electrolysis, as well as photoelectrochemical, and solar thermochemical processes. This talk presents an overview of the DOE Hydrogen Program’s priorities in support of H2@Scale and the Hydrogen Shot, and discusses the HydroGEN Consortium’s high-impact materials R&D to enable diverse options for affordable clean hydrogen production.

Dr. Eric L. Miller is Chief Scientist at the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, where he plays important roles in the Department’s Hydrogen Energy Earthshot and H2@Scale Initiatives. He is also co-founder and Chair of the DOE Energy Materials Network, and a member of the OSTP Subcommittee on the Material Genome Initiative. With a background in applied physics, electrical engineering, and materials science, he has spent over 30 years in the research and development of hydrogen and other clean energy technologies; and is globally recognized as a pioneer in the field of solar hydrogen production.

Friday, January 6, 2023

Friday, January 13th, 2022 - Dan Metlay on Nuclear Waste

Dan Metlay will speak with us on DOE’s Consent Based Siting Process for Nuclear Waste. The importance of public acceptance and the social science aspects of dealing with this matter has come up often in our meetings. In late August of the past year, a copy of Dan’s Social Acceptability of Geologic Disposal, which appeared in Elsevier’s Encyclopedia of Nuclear Energy, was circulated to our group and will provide advance reading for this meeting. A copy is attached.

Dr. Daniel Metlay recently retired after 24‐years of service on the senior professional staff of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Prior to joining the NWTRB, he taught organizational theory and public policy in the political science departments of Indiana University, Bloomington, and at MIT. He served on the steering committee to prepare the Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management: Strategy and Policy report, which was released by Stanford and George Washington Universities in 2018. As a Senior Fellow at the B. John Garrick Institute for Risk Sciences at UCLA, he is now working on a book dealing with the institutional and technical challenges of developing a deep‐mined, geologic repository for high‐activity radioactive waste.