July 2009 - Neams-pmt - mailman3.cels.anl.gov

Logistics for FMM meeting?
by bernholdtde＠ornl.gov 06 Aug '09

06 Aug '09

I think think this is a question for Moe, but I'm not absolutely sure, so please bear with me.. Are there details of the FMM meeting next month set yet? I will be on travel, but I would like to send my colleague Jay Billings (cc'ed) to represent CT and help us get a better understanding of this aspect of the program and their needs from the framework. If the info has been distributed elsewhere, is it possible to either get Jay on the list, forward the info to him? Thanks -- David E. Bernholdt | Email: bernholdtde(a)ornl.gov Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Phone: +1 (865) 574 3147 http://www.csm.ornl.gov/~bernhold/ | Fax: +1 (865) 576 5491

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Latest on Hubs
by Larzelere, Alex 25 Jul '09

25 Jul '09

Everyone, In the interest of keeping you up on the latest - attached are some "words of wisdom" from Under Secretary Johnson concerning the Hub. The memo is dated on July 22nd but I did not see this until today. For the most part, there are not any real surprises in the directions about the execution of the Hubs. Everything here is consistent with what I had found before in Secretary Chu's comments. The biggest surprise is in the subject of the NE Hubs. The original Hubs were in the President's Budget were: * Extreme Materials * Modeling and Simulation In Under Secretary Johnson's guidance they are now: * Nuclear Fuel Management * Modeling and Simulation for Nuclear Reactors The thing that is puzzling is that both the House and Senate Appropriations committees have spoken on the Hubs. The House said only one Hub to be determined by the Secretary of Energy and the Senate said three Hubs. Johnson seems to imply that the Department is still committed to all eight. So - I am not completely sure of what to make of this, but I know you would be interested. I am sure we will learn more next week and I will pass it along when I do. Regards, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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NEAMS PI Meeting Dates
by Larzelere, Alex 24 Jul '09

24 Jul '09

Everyone, It looks like the best place for the September PI meeting is the DOE Germantown Auditorium. For that reason, the date are going to have to be: Wednesday September 30th, Thursday October 1st and Friday October 2nd I realize that this is not ideal for a number of reasons, but it looks like the best we can do. One good thing is that it will give us a few more weeks to organize the event. The really good news is that we get to use the DOE Auditorium. For those who have not seen it, the auditorium is located on the Germantown campus, but not insider the main building. This means that people will have to get onto the grounds, but will not be required to go through security. There is also a rather nice cafeteria a short walk from auditorium (also outside of security). Also the auditorium is quite large (seats about 300 people) so space will not be an issue. I am expecting that we will only have about 75 to 100 participants, but there will be no need to worry about extras. The best part of course is that we will have ready access to a number of different DOE offices and other federal agencies. So my apologies in advance for the presenters on Friday afternoon, but I think this will be for the best. We will talk more about this on next Monday. Regards, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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PMT Conference Call - Monday July 27th
by Larzelere, Alex 23 Jul '09

23 Jul '09

Everyone, Another two weeks, another PMT conference call! So -- let's plan on doing it again this coming Monday, July 27th. Topics will include: - Review of agenda and modification as necessary - Planning Package Meeting in Germantown on July 28 - 30 - PMT Face to Face Follow-up on August 12th - FMM and FMM-like Project Meeting on August 10 & 11 - PI Meeting Preparation The call-in information is: Domestic dial number: 1-888-455-3126 International dial number: 1-517-319-9706 Passcode: 73818 Remember that thanks to Mary Dzielski, this the call in number and passcode will remain the same until December. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Regards, Alex

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FW: Upcoming Emails
by Larzelere, Alex 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Everyone, In case you are keeping track -- I have completed my "missive" writing. They did not quite come out in order, but they are all there. Let me know if you missed any or have any questions or comments. Regards, Alex -----Original Message----- From: neams-pmt-bounces(a)lists.mcs.anl.gov [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Larzelere, Alex Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 3:01 PM To: neams-pmt(a)lists.mcs.anl.gov Subject: [Neams-pmt] Upcoming Emails Everyone, Just to give you a heads up - I am in a writing mood and plan to send out several emails in the next day or two. All will be covering topics of importance for the PMT and NEAMS and I do not want any to get lost in the deluge of emails that fly around these days. So - just so you can keep track, here are the topics I plan to cover: * NEAMS General PI Meeting Philosophy * NEAMS September PI Meeting Agenda * FY-10 Budget Planning Endgame including August 12th PMT Meeting * FMM Meeting Expectations * Revised NE Modeling and Simulation Hub Concept * Thoughts on NEAMS & SC09 I cannot guarantee that I will get these out in the order I listed, but they should show up either this afternoon or tomorrow. Please take the time to read them carefully because they will contain a lot of thoughts that Andrew, Ralph, and I have been stewing over last week. Regards, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov _______________________________________________ Neams-pmt mailing list Neams-pmt(a)lists.mcs.anl.gov https://lists.mcs.anl.gov/mailman/listinfo/neams-pmt

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NEAMS VU Lead
by Andrew Siegel 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Dear PMT: Phillip has informed us that his other responsibilities preclude him from assuming the day-to-day, hands-on role necessary to serve effectively as the NEAMS VU lead. He has thus appointed Ralph, previously his Deputy, as his official replacement. The transition for NEAMS PMT should go smoothly as Ralph has been deeply involved in the trenches from the beginning. A lot of work remains to establish a clear NEAMS vision for VU and priorities for the future, but Ralph has the very broad experience and balanced perspective necessary to pull it off; he is clearly the right person for the job. We thank Phillip for his valuable work and contributions to this point. We also look forward to his future involvement and intellectual leadership in this area, albeit in a less day-day- day, down-in-the-trenches mode. -Andrew

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FY-10 Budget Process -- End Game -- Clarification
by Larzelere, Alex 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

A bit of clarification - the result of the meeting that Andrew will be attended on July 28 - 30 will be the approval of what is known as Planning Packages. NEAMS has 8 of those, one for each Program Element. These Planning Packages will be the things that are communicated on July 31st and the guidance for the Work Package Preparation work that will occur on August 1 to 11. Sorry - I forgot to include the right terminology. Alex ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone, I take up this topic with great trepidation - I would like to say that the process by which we will decide the funding for projects and labs in FY-10 is clear, logical and transparent, but I cannot. There are a huge number of factors and caveats that exist - some of which I am probably not even aware of. So - as I try to describe the process by which we will settle on the NEAMS projects and funding for FY-10, please keep in mind that in some ways I am only talking about a process that I expect to see, not necessarily the process that will be in reality. So - given that caution - here is what I see as the process: Date Activity Who July 28 - 30 Review of all AFCI work package by a "Board" of TIO lab managers and Feds resulting in funding level for each campaign Campaign Directors, TIO and Fed Managers July 31 Funding level for NEAMS communicated to PMT, with rough levels per NEAMS program element as adjusted from previous budgets NEAMS Campaign Director Aug 1 - 11 Preparation of rough draft NEAMS work packages describing tasks, and execution labs and desired funding levels. (Caution don't ask for the moon, you are not going to get it) Program Elements Leads Aug 12 PMT meets in Seattle to * Review all rough draft work packages technical scope * Discuss program element coordination * Settle on element funding levels * Settle on executing labs PMT Aug 31 Preparation of final work packages Program Element Leads Sept 1 - 15 Approval of final work packages Campaign Directors, TIO and Fed Managers October 1 Start of FY-10 and NEAMS activities Program Elements Now a few of those caveats I mentioned: * Everything Depends on Congress - right now we do not have passed appropriations. Things on the AFCI side are somewhat clear (somewhere between $129M (House) and $143M (Senate)) but we are miles and miles apart on the Gen IV R&D side. This does present the potential that things could swing wildly during the Conference Committee. We will not see those results until at least September. Also, remember there is always the possibility of going into a Continuing Resolution and that uncertainty. * Believing You Are Free, Does Not Mean You Are Really Free - there are actually many more strings attached to the way the funding is allocated than you might imagine. The complete budget that is prepared for NE includes things like site splits. These are high level numbers that talk about the amounts going to INL, ORNL, LANL, etc., etc.. NE is obligated to hitting those numbers and this sometime means that allocations done at the NEAMS levels seem a bit arbitrary. We will try to make sure the right funds go to the right place, but in the end we might not be always successful. This should not be seen as any nefarious action on anyone's part - it is really just politics. So - here it is - my thoughts on how we will come to work packages, amounts, and who will be doing what. I realize that it is not necessarily pretty, and not necessarily locked into stone, but - hey I work in Washington where our primary products are hot air and sausages. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions. Regards, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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FY-10 Budget Process -- End Game
by Larzelere, Alex 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Everyone, I take up this topic with great trepidation - I would like to say that the process by which we will decide the funding for projects and labs in FY-10 is clear, logical and transparent, but I cannot. There are a huge number of factors and caveats that exist - some of which I am probably not even aware of. So - as I try to describe the process by which we will settle on the NEAMS projects and funding for FY-10, please keep in mind that in some ways I am only talking about a process that I expect to see, not necessarily the process that will be in reality. So - given that caution - here is what I see as the process: Date Activity Who July 28 - 30 Review of all AFCI work package by a "Board" of TIO lab managers and Feds resulting in funding level for each campaign Campaign Directors, TIO and Fed Managers July 31 Funding level for NEAMS communicated to PMT, with rough levels per NEAMS program element as adjusted from previous budgets NEAMS Campaign Director Aug 1 - 11 Preparation of rough draft NEAMS work packages describing tasks, and execution labs and desired funding levels. (Caution don't ask for the moon, you are not going to get it) Program Elements Leads Aug 12 PMT meets in Seattle to * Review all rough draft work packages technical scope * Discuss program element coordination * Settle on element funding levels * Settle on executing labs PMT Aug 31 Preparation of final work packages Program Element Leads Sept 1 - 15 Approval of final work packages Campaign Directors, TIO and Fed Managers October 1 Start of FY-10 and NEAMS activities Program Elements Now a few of those caveats I mentioned: * Everything Depends on Congress - right now we do not have passed appropriations. Things on the AFCI side are somewhat clear (somewhere between $129M (House) and $143M (Senate)) but we are miles and miles apart on the Gen IV R&D side. This does present the potential that things could swing wildly during the Conference Committee. We will not see those results until at least September. Also, remember there is always the possibility of going into a Continuing Resolution and that uncertainty. * Believing You Are Free, Does Not Mean You Are Really Free - there are actually many more strings attached to the way the funding is allocated than you might imagine. The complete budget that is prepared for NE includes things like site splits. These are high level numbers that talk about the amounts going to INL, ORNL, LANL, etc., etc.. NE is obligated to hitting those numbers and this sometime means that allocations done at the NEAMS levels seem a bit arbitrary. We will try to make sure the right funds go to the right place, but in the end we might not be always successful. This should not be seen as any nefarious action on anyone's part - it is really just politics. So - here it is - my thoughts on how we will come to work packages, amounts, and who will be doing what. I realize that it is not necessarily pretty, and not necessarily locked into stone, but - hey I work in Washington where our primary products are hot air and sausages. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions. Regards, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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NEAMS and SC09
by Larzelere, Alex 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Everyone, Believe it or not - November and Supercomputing 2009 are only a little over four months away. If we want to do anything coordinated for NEAMS it may already be too late, but it still might be worth a try. Obviously, we cannot do any sort of stand alone booth, but we might provide some sort of coordinated "presence" at each of the lab booths. Also, we should think about what sort of NEAMS posters and NEAMS talks we might do at the lab booths. Bottom line - for our call next Monday and our meeting in August please be prepared to talk about this. It would be great if you could contact your lab's SC09 coordinator and let them know there is a program that wants to use SC as a showcase. Also, start thinking about what we can do to show off the work we have done in NEAMS and build support for the program. Thanks, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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Updated NE Modeling and Simulation Vision
by Larzelere, Alex 20 Jul '09

20 Jul '09

Everyone, So - if you have been following the saga of the Energy Innovation Hubs, you will know that the NE Hub is hanging by a thread, but at least it is still hanging. Over the last several weeks, the House and Senate appropriators have pretty much managed to kill six of the eight Hubs. The House did not approve any of the Hubs, but left it open for the Secretary to choose just one. The Senate killed five of the eight Hubs, keeping only three. * Fuels from Sunlight * Energy Efficient Building Systems * NE Modeling and Simulation It will be up to the conference committee to resolve the differences between the House and Senate bills and that will tell the tale of whether or not the NE Modeling and Simulation Hub will become reality. So - being the optimist that I am - last week I decided to update the vision I had been working on for the Modeling and Simulation Hub (attached). In this version, you will see that the vision is much more "nuclear oriented." The focus of this vision is for the Hub to provide a tight coupling between a physical nuclear system and a virtual model/simulation of that system. The physical system that the presentation talks about is the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) in Idaho. There are several reasons for doing that (political and practical), but at the end of the day, I suspect when the RFP comes out we will not specify a particular physical site. I think that will be left to the proposers. In any case, the whole Hub idea is hanging by a thread and I think there is a low probability it will become reality this year. Let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions. Regards, Alex ________________________________________________ Alex R. Larzelere Director, Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Management (NE-5) U.S. Department of Energy 202-586-1906 Alex.Larzelere(a)nuclear.energy.gov

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