2019 Stanford Energy Internships in California and the West: Western Interstate Energy Board
State- and city-level efforts are essential in our fight against climate change, especially in the field of energy. Stanford University is committed to helping by integrating its best students into the local energy and climate ecosystem through Stanford Energy Internships in California and the West (SEICW), an energy-related summer internship program. This position is funded; you will be one of two Stanford students placed at WIEB.
The program runs from Monday, June 24, 2019 to Friday, August 30, 2019.
Western Interstate Energy Board
The Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB) is an organization of 11 western states and three western Canadian provinces. The governor of each state and the premier of each province appoint a member to the Board. WIEB’s purpose is to “provide the instruments and framework for cooperative state efforts to enhance the economy of the West and contribute to the well-being of the region's people." WIEB works to achieve this purpose through cooperative efforts among member states and provinces and the federal government. WIEB’s office is located in downtown Denver, Colorado.
For more information on WIEB, please visit WIEB’s homepage: http://westernenergyboard.org/wieb/
WIEB Mentors
Melanie K. Snyder, High-Level Radioactive Waste Program Manager at WIEB, will act as the student co-mentor for this project. Ms. Snyder manages the HLRW Committee, providing policy expertise, organization, and direction for its members and activities. She coordinates between the western states and DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other involved federal agencies and interested groups in matters related to the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. She also participates closely in managing the National Transportation Stakeholder’s Forum, which is a group formed by DOE that facilitates communication between DOE and states and tribes on radioactive materials transportation matters of mutual interest. Ms. Snyder holds a J.D. and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Denver.
Maury Galbraith, Executive Director of WIEB, will act as the student co-mentor for this project. Mr. Galbraith manages the efforts of WIEB to facilitate cooperation among western states and Canadian provinces on energy policy. He guides the efforts of the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation (CREPC)—a joint committee of WIEB and the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners—to improve the efficiency of the western electric power system. He also manages the work of the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body (WIRAB)—which provides advice to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—to improve the reliability of the western grid.
Prior to joining WIEB, Mr. Galbraith was the Administrator of the Energy Division at the Oregon Public Utility Commission and a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Previously, he worked as a Resource Analyst with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Mr. Galbraith holds a M.A. in economics from Washington State University and a B.S. in economics from the University of Oregon.
Internship Project
The goal of this project is to create a “Spent Nuclear Fuel Database” to be used to conduct analysis, develop important policy information and insights for the HLRW Committee, and increase the accessibility of spent nuclear fuel data for stakeholders. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects and provides access to information on nuclear fuel that has been discharged from nuclear reactors used in commercial electricity production. Nuclear energy utilities report this information to the EIA on the Form GC-859, “Nuclear Fuel Data Survey,” and the EIA then provides access to the compiled and detailed data upon request from the public. The EIA collected this data annually from 1983 through 1995 and has collected the data on three occasions since then. The next data release date will be in late 2018. Pending the next data release, the current database includes information on spent fuel discharges and storage from 1968 through 2013.
When requested, the EIA sends the particularized spent nuclear fuel data in a Microsoft Access file structured as a relational database, with supplementary Word documents. The data details on an assembly-specific basis (including over 240,000 observations) the fuel discharged by each U.S. commercial nuclear reactor, and includes the assembly’s initial uranium weight and enrichment, when the assembly was discharged, and its burnup. The data also specifies which assemblies are in spent fuel pools and which are in dry cask storage.
The first step in the project will be to develop a database that brings together the most important reported data on nuclear fuel discharges for each nuclear reactor in the U.S. The goal will be to develop year-by-year records of nuclear fuel discharges on a per-site basis.
The students selected for this project will lead WIEB’s effort to develop this database with guidance from WIEB advisors. The students will use the data in the Access file and compile the variables of interest into a single database to facilitate analysis. The students will ensure proper concatenation and alignment of the reactor level data for all of the years that data has been reported.
In the second step of the project, the students will use the completed database to conduct analysis and develop important policy information, with guidance from WIEB advisors. The students will act as lead researchers on the project and will develop a presentation to convey the information to policy makers.
Policy and regulatory information that can be produced by developing this database includes, but is not limited to:
- The age of the spent nuclear fuel held at each reactor site and its resultant potential transportation priority;
- The location of the canisters with fuel ready to ship that could be moved to an interim storage facility;
- Spent fuel transportation routing considerations under a variety of possible scenarios;
- The implications of different modal choices under a variety of possible transportation scenarios;
- The complex safety considerations that flow from canisters containing assemblies of various ages
This project will provide students with substantive policy work experience, clear direction and guidance on how to complete the work, and the autonomy to be creative and to conduct independent research. The students will create written report(s) documenting database development and the research completed. The students will have the opportunity to present their work to WIEB Staff as well as nuclear waste transportation stakeholders including state policymakers. The students will also have the opportunity to showcase their work on WIEB’s website. At the conclusion of a successful project, the students will feel that they are a part of the WIEB team and have made a significant contribution to enhancing nuclear waste transportation policy in the West.
The ideal student candidates will have the following skills and knowledge:
SKILLS:
- Good research and analytic skills.
- Good written and verbal communication skills.
- Experience using Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Ability to work independently and as a member of a research team.
- Ability to work with large data files.
- Ability to use data analysis software (e.g. Excel, SAS, SPSS, etc.).
KNOWLEDGE:
- Coursework in statistics or mathematics.
- Coursework related to energy or environmental policy.
- Interest in public policy, law, transportation, engineering, or related fields.
- Interest in working on nuclear energy policy issues.
- Interest in working with nuclear waste transportation policymakers and other stakeholders
All SEICW students must be enrolled in the spring quarter before their SEICW internship. Absolutely no exceptions are made to this rule.
All SEICW students must take a one-unit workshop spring course, 'Energy Policy in California and the West' taught by Bruce Cain, Sally Benson, and Isaac Sevier that will provide an in-depth analysis of the role of California state agencies, the Western Interstate Energy Board, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in driving energy policy development, technology innovation, and market structures. Course number is CEE 263G / POLISCI 73 / PUBLPOL 73. This course must be taken in person.
Please note that this opportunity is for graduate students. Interested undergraduates can apply via SIG.