Nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eastham, D.A.; Joy, T.

1986-01-01

The paper on 'nuclear structure' is the Appendix to the Daresbury (United Kingdom) Annual Report 1985/86, and contains the research work carried out at the Nuclear Structure Facility, Daresbury, within that period. During the year a total of 74 experiments were scheduled covering the main areas of activity including: nuclear collective motion, nuclei far from stability, and nuclear collisions. The Appendix contains brief reports on these experiments and associated theory. (U.K.)

Continuing challenges in nuclear air cleaning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeller, D.W.

1976-01-01

The safe operation of nuclear facilities is heavily dependent upon the adequate performance of air cleaning systems. Although many problems have been solved, new questions and new challenges continue to arise. These are well illustrated by weaknesses in air cleaning and ventilating systems revealed by the Browns Ferry fire, and the need to develop additional data on the reliability of such systems, particularly under emergency conditions, as revealed by the Reactor Safety Study. Assessments of the degree to which engineered safety features can compensate for deficiencies in nuclear power plant sites continue to challenge those involved in risk/benefit evaluations. Additional challenges are being generated by the air cleaning requirements associated with the commercial development of the liquid metal fast breeder reactor

The Colombian nuclear scenario: Challenges and opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Isabel

2016-07-01

In Colombia, the absence of nuclear-oriented policies based on technical knowledge, the closing of the Nuclear Affairs Institute (1956-1998), the association of the word "nuclear" with weapons, plus the country's last six decades of internal conflict and narcotraffic have discourage the technical, social and environmental nuclear advance. However, there are technical, social and economic national challenges that could be faced by the present nuclear technical capacities.

Nuclear cooperation: challenges and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ollapally, Deepa; Rajagopal, S.

1997-01-01

In this era of globalisation and technology flows, the nuclear field continues to retain strong barriers to international collaboration. From nuclear energy to non-proliferation however, the potential for concerted action exists. The International and Strategic Studies Unit of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) held a two day seminar exploring the challenges and prospects for achieving mutual cooperation between states relating to all aspects of nuclear technology. This volume is based on the proceedings of the seminar. The broad themes that the seminar considered included disarmament and the security link; implementation and verification of nonproliferation regimes; transfer of technology and nuclear energy. The seminar culminated with a round table on confidence building

Environmental and security challenges of nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omar, A.S.

2014-01-01

The world population increase, the acceleration of global requirement for development and the need to expand energy production, have led to the depletion of natural resources. The international efforts are increasing to get clean, safe and economical energy sources . The electricity generated from nuclear energy considers less polluting and high economic competitiveness as well as reliability and efficiency. The nuclear power plants projects face significant challenges, especially after two major accidents, in Chernobyl 1986 and Fukushima 2011 including the fears of radiation effects, nuclear waste management and nuclear proliferation issues, as well as the lack of public acceptance. So those bodies interested in operating nuclear power plants work to increase nuclear safety standards, review the nuclear facilities safety, know the strict application of laws, seek to prove the economic competitiveness, maintain environmental security, assist in the nonproliferation regime and gain public acceptance. This article discusses the most important environmental and security challenges of nuclear power plants. It highlights the importance of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy as a source of sustainable development and environmental security. It also offers a number of recommendations to support the Arab countries trend towards the inclusion of nuclear energy option within their national programs to generate electricity. (author)

Nuclear structure theory

CERN Document Server

Irvine, J M

1972-01-01

Nuclear Structure Theory provides a guide to nuclear structure theory. The book is comprised of 23 chapters that are organized into four parts; each part covers an aspect of nuclear structure theory. In the first part, the text discusses the experimentally observed phenomena, which nuclear structure theories need to look into and detail the information that supports those theories. The second part of the book deals with the phenomenological nucleon-nucleon potentials derived from phase shift analysis of nucleon-nucleon scattering. Part III talks about the phenomenological parameters used to de

Nuclear material management: challenges and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rieu, J.; Besnainou, J.; Leboucher, I.; Chiguer, M.; Capus, G.; Greneche, D.; Durret, L.F.; Carbonnier, J.L.; Delpech, M.; Loaec, Ch.; Devezeaux de Lavergne, J.G.; Granger, S.; Devid, S.; Bidaud, A.; Jalouneix, J.; Toubon, H.; Pochon, E.; Bariteau, J.P.; Bernard, P.; Krellmann, J.; Sicard, B.

2008-01-01

The articles in this dossier were derived from the papers of the yearly S.F.E.N. convention, which took place in Paris, 12-13 March 2008. They deal with the new challenges and prospects in the field of nuclear material management, throughout the nuclear whole fuel cycle, namely: the institutional frame of nuclear materials management, the recycling, the uranium market, the enrichment market, the different scenarios for the management of civil nuclear materials, the technical possibilities of spent fuels utilization, the option of thorium, the convention on the physical protection of nuclear materials and installations, the characterisation of nuclear materials by nondestructive nuclear measurements, the proliferation from civil installations, the use of plutonium ( from military origin) and the international agreements. (N.C.)

Nuclear revival, nuclear safety: challenges for the European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, Claude; Lacoste, Andre-Claude; Stellfox, David; Hajjani, Abdellaziz; Jamet, Philippe; Kaluzny, Yves; Lallier, Michel; Lescoeur, Bruno; Naredo, Fernando; Palm, Martina; Vincent, Cyrille; Faross, Peter; Gillet, Guillaume; Lemaitre, Philippe; Barcelo, Julio; Decobert, Veronique; Doumont, Pierre; Gouze, Jean-Remi; Hohlefelder, Walter; Herczog, Edit; Pouleur, Yvan; Teule, Rianne; Zidi, Latifa; Herzog, Philippe; Ristori, Dominique; Coniam, Jon; Kopp, Gudrun; Lambert de Diesbach, Patrice; Le Roux, Jean-Pierre; Mestrallet, Gerard; Paparizov, Atanas; Rosier, Philippe; Tamburi, Carlo; Lauvergeon, Anne; San Antonio, Santiago; Linkohr, Rolf; Auer, Josef; Bresson, Thierry de; Hohlefelder, Walter; Janouch, Frantisek; MacNaughton, Joan; Onyszkiewicz, Janusz; Reul, Herbert; Dolinsek, Urska; Komarov, Kirill; Boshkov, Aleksander; Bartuska, Vaclav; Gonnot, Francois-Michel; Grimston, Malcolm; Jesien, Leszek; Keussen, Urban; Schmitt von Sydow, Helmut; Sotura, Jean-Pierre; Jouyet, Jean-Pierre

2008-01-01

The nuclear revival is a fact, in Europe and the rest of the world. We are delighted at this. Today, all eyes are on the United Kingdom where the Government intends to do more than merely replace twenty-three aging power plants. The challenge facing them is considerable - Mr. Hutton, Britain's Minister for Trade and Industry, estimates that the work will generate 100,000 jobs. It is to be hoped that the soon-to-end Franco-British summit meeting will have strengthened understanding between the two countries. This would augur well for the French Presidency of the European Union which hopes to launch debate on a common energy policy within the European Council. Since the United Kingdom took the decision to re-launch the construction of nuclear reactors, France is no longer alone; it has a new ally in the nuclear debate. The British decision is also seen as encouraging by all the companies that wish to develop nuclear technology. This development is not only manifest in the United Kingdom; in Germany and a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, there is an obvious, if latent, desire to enter this sector. This document gathers the Proceedings of two symposiums: - the March 2008 conference on 'The Revival of Nuclear Energy, a challenge for the European Union' - and the November 2008 Conference on 'Nuclear safety: a worldwide Public Good'. Contents: Foreword by Claude Fischer; Introduction by Philippe Herzog. Part A: The revival of nuclear energy, a challenge for Europe: Partnerships, Speakers list, Synthesis for decision-makers by Andre Ferron and Michel Cruciani, 1 Address and 3 sessions, Opening Address by Dominique Ristori, First round table: Conditions to re-launch the nuclear industry in Europe, role of companies, banks and public institutions, Second round table: The need for a European energy mix and the necessity to improve the European common Market Model Last round table: The conditions for a European foreign energy policy, Speech of Anne Lauvergeon

Structural dynamic and resistance to nuclear air blast

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qureshi, S.M.

2003-01-01

A need exists to design protective shelters attached to specialized facilities against nuclear airbursts, explosive shocks and impacting projectiles. Designing such structures against nuclear and missile impact is a challenging task that needs to be looked into for design methodology formulation and practicability. Structures can be designed for overpressure pulsed generated by a nuclear explosion as well as the scabbing and perforation/punching of an impacting projectile. This paper discuses and formulates the methods of dynamic analysis and design required to undertake such a task. Structural resistance to peak overpressure pulse for a 20 KT weapons and smaller tactical nuclear weapons of 1 KT (16 psi, overpressure) size as a direct air blast overpressure has been considered in design of walls, beams and slabs of a special structure under review. The design of shear reinforcement as lacing is also carried out. Adopting the philosophy of strengthening and hardening can minimize the effect of air blast overpressure and projectile impact. The objective is to avoid a major structural failure. The structure then needs to be checked against ballistic penetration by a range of weapons or be required to resist explosive penetration from the charge detonated in contact with the structure. There is also a dire need to formulate protective guidelines for all existing and future critical facilities. (author)

USING MAGNETIC MOMENTS TO UNVEIL THE NUCLEAR STRUCTURE OF LOW-SPIN NUCLEAR STATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diego A. Torres

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The experimental study of magnetic moments for nuclear states near the ground state, I ≤ 2, provides a powerful tool to test nuclear structure models. Traditionally, the use of Coulomb excitation reactions has been used to study low spin states, mostly I = 2. The use of alternative reaction channels, such as α transfer, for the production of radioactive species that, otherwise, will be only produced in future radioactive beam facilities has proved to be an alternative to measure not only excited states with I > 2, but to populate and study long-live radioactive nuclei. This contribution will present the experimental tools and challenges for the use of the transient field technique for the measurement of g factors in nuclear states with I ≤ 2, using Coulomb excitation and α-transfer reactions. Recent examples of experimental results near the N = 50 shell closure, and the experimental challenges for future implementations with radioactive beams, will be discussed.

Nuclear fission and nuclear safeguards: Common technologies and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keepin, G.R.

1989-01-01

Nuclear fission and nuclear safeguards have much in common, including the basic physical phenomena and technologies involved as well as the commitments and challenges posed by expanding nuclear programs in many countries around the world. The unique characteristics of the fission process -- such as prompt and delayed neutron and gamma ray emission -- not only provide the means of sustaining and controlling the fission chain reaction, but also provide unique ''signatures'' that are essential to quantitative measurement and effective safeguarding of key nuclear materials (notably 239 Pu and 235 U) against theft, loss, or diversion. In this paper, we trace briefly the historical emergence of safeguards as an essential component of the expansion of the nuclear enterprise worldwide. We then survey the major categories of passive and active nondestructive assay techniques that are currently in use or under development for rapid, accurate measurement and verification of safe-guarded nuclear materials in the many forms in which they occur throughout the nuclear fuel cycle. 23 refs., 14 figs

Nuclear power generation: challenge in the 1980s

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eklund, S.A.

1981-01-01

In the lecture ''Nuclear power generation - challenge in the 1980s'', attempt is made to predict the events arising in 1980s on the basis of the data available in the International Atomic Energy Agency. By the term ''challenge'', emphasis is placed on the potentiality of nuclear power for solving the world energy problem. This is indicated clearly by nuclear power currently accounting for 8%, of the total power generation in the world. The explanation in the above connection with figures and tables is made, including geographical distribution of reactors, nuclear power generation and total power generation in various countries, future capacity of nuclear power generation, situation of reactor operation, future installation of nuclear power plants, uranium demand/supply situation, spent fuel storage, etc. Then, discussion and analysis are made on such problems as waste management, economy, safety, and safeguards. (J.P.N.)

Engineerig of structural modifications for operating nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duffy, T.J.; Gazda, P.A.

1983-01-01

The engineering of structural modifications for operating nuclear plants offers many challenges in the areas of scheduling of work, field adjustments, and engineering staff planning. The scheduling of structural modification work for operating nuclear plants is normally closely tied to planned or unplanned outages of the plant. Coordination between the structural engineering effort, the operating plant staff, and the contractor who will be performing the modifications is essential to ensure that all work can be completed within the allotted time. Due to the inaccessibility of areas in operating plants or the short time available to perform the structural engineering in the case of an unscheduled outage, field verification of a design is not always possible prior to initiating the construction of the modification. This requires the structural engineer to work closely with the contractor to promptly resolve problems due to unanticipated interferences or material procurement that may arise during the course of construction. The engineering staff planning for structural modifications at an operating nuclear plant must be flexible enough to permit rapid response to the common 'fire drills', but controlled enough to assure technically correct designs and minimize the expenditure of man-hours and resulting engineering cost. (orig.)

Component nuclear containment structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harstead, G.A.

1979-01-01

The invention described is intended for use primarily as a nuclear containment structure. Such structures are required to surround the nuclear steam supply system and to contain the effects of breaks in the nuclear steam supply system, or i.e. loss of coolant accidents. Nuclear containment structures are required to withstand internal pressure and temperatures which result from loss of coolant accidents, and to provide for radiation shielding during operation and during the loss of coolant accident, as well as to resist all other applied loads, such as earthquakes. The nuclear containment structure described herein is a composite nuclear containment structure, and is one which structurally combines two previous systems; namely, a steel vessel, and a lined concrete structure. The steel vessel provides strength to resist internal pressure and accommodate temperature increases, the lined concrete structure provides resistance to internal pressure by having a liner which will prevent leakage, and which is in contact with the concrete structure which provides the strength to resist the pressure

Nuclear energy and challenges for India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamalapur, Gopalkrishna Dhruvaraj

2017-01-01

The challenge for the nuclear community is to assure that nuclear power remains a viable option in meeting the energy requirements of the next century. It could be a major provider of electricity for base load as well as for urban transport in megacities. It can play a role in non-electric applications in district heating, process industries, maritime transport. (author)

Implications of nuclear industry globalization for chinese nuclear industry: opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Zhifeng; Ding Qihua; Wang Zheng

2014-01-01

In recent years, globalization of the world nuclear industry has developed into a new phase. Chinese nuclear industry will be inevitably integrated into this trend. Globalization will bring both positive and adverse effects on Chinese nuclear industry. Facing the fierce competition, Chinese companies must rise to many challenges to enter the global nuclear market. And China need to make scientific decisions and take effective measures in various fields of nuclear industry to realized the goal of global development. (authors)

The political challenges of nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andren, Mats; Strandberg, Urban

2005-01-01

This anthology is made up of nine essays on the nuclear waste issue, both its political, social and technical aspects, with the aim to create a platform for debate and planning of research. The contributions are titled: 'From clean energy to dangerous waste - the regulatory management of nuclear power in the Swedish welfare society. An economic-historic review , 'The course of the high-level waste into the national political arena', 'The technical principles behind the Swedish repository for spent fuels', 'Waste, legitimacy and local citizenship', 'Nuclear issues in societal planning', 'Usefulness or riddance - transmutation or just disposal?', 'National nuclear fuel policy in an European Union?', 'Conclusion - the challenges of the nuclear waste issue', 'Final words - about the need for critical debate and multi-disciplinary research'

DOE spent nuclear fuel -- Nuclear criticality safety challenges and safeguards initiatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hopper, C.M.

1994-01-01

The field of nuclear criticality safety is confronted with growing technical challenges and the need for forward-thinking initiatives to address and resolve issues surrounding economic, safe and secure packaging, transport, interim storage, and long-term disposal of spent nuclear fuel. These challenges are reflected in multiparameter problems involving optimization of packaging designs for maximizing the density of material per package while ensuring subcriticality and safety under variable normal and hypothetical transport and storage conditions and for minimizing costs. Historic and recently revealed uncertainties in basic data used for performing nuclear subcriticality evaluations and safety analyses highlight the need to be vigilant in assessing the validity and range of applicability of calculational evaluations that represent extrapolations from ''benchmark'' data. Examples of these uncertainties are provided. Additionally, uncertainties resulting from the safeguarding of various forms of fissionable materials in transit and storage are discussed

Selected topics in nuclear structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solov` ev, V G; Gromov, K Ya; Malov, L A; Shilov, V M

1994-12-31

The Fourth International Conference on selected topics in nuclear structure was held at Dubna in July 1994 on recent experimental and theoretical investigations in nuclear structure. Topics discussed were the following: nuclear structure at low-energy excitations (collective quasiparticle phenomena, proton-neutron interactions, microscopic and phenomenological theories of nuclear structure; nuclear structure studies with charged particles). heavy ions, neutrons and photons; nuclei at high angular momenta and superdeformation, structure and decay properties of giant resonances, charge-exchange resonances and {beta}-decay; semiclassical approach of large amplitude collective motion and structure of hot nuclei.

Selected topics in nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solov'ev, V.G.; Gromov, K.Ya.; Malov, L.A.; Shilov, V.M.

1994-01-01

The Fourth International Conference on selected topics in nuclear structure was held at Dubna in July 1994 on recent experimental and theoretical investigations in nuclear structure. Topics discussed were the following: nuclear structure at low-energy excitations (collective quasiparticle phenomena, proton-neutron interactions, microscopic and phenomenological theories of nuclear structure; nuclear structure studies with charged particles. heavy ions, neutrons and photons; nuclei at high angular momenta and superdeformation, structure and decay properties of giant resonances, charge-exchange resonances and β-decay; semiclassical approach of large amplitude collective motion and structure of hot nuclei

The nuclear energy policy challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanne, H.

2009-01-01

At a time when the nuclear question mobilizes attentions and when a new cycle of debates about non-proliferation opens up, the author recalls the constraints and challenges of a nuclear power generation policy. After a brief history of the development of nuclear energy in France and in the rest of the world, the author presents the risks linked with this energy source (TMI and Chernobyl accidents), the particularities of the fuel cycle with its safety and security aspects, and the promises of some past and future reactor technologies (FBR's and fusion reactors). Then, the author stresses on the importance of investments in this domain as illustrated by the launching of new nuclear programs in France, UK, Italy, Finland and in the US, and by the willing of some emerging countries to develop this energy source (China, India, United Arab Emirates, Jordan..). Finally, nuclear energy must not be considered as a privilege of developed countries but should benefit to the rest of the world as well since it promotes economic development thanks to an abundant and cheap energy. (J.S.)

Structural experiences at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Setlur, A.V.

1983-01-01

This paper discusses the original structural and geotechnical design and subsequent structural experience at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant. The original design of the 535 MWe Westinghouse two loop PWR nuclear plant operated by Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, was started in 1967 and was completed in 1974 when the unit was put into commercial operation. Since 1974 a number of changes in the regulations and additional requirements have been imposed on operating reactors. The paper traces the influence of the original plant criteria on the backfit evaluations and the minimal physical changes required in the plant's structures and components to comply with the new requirements. In addition, the unique design features and construction challenges of the original design are discussed. Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant has had one of the best operating performance records in the world. Also, the exposure to radiation for plant personnel and radioactive waste generation has been significantly lower than the average. This has been achieved by a conscientious team effort of all parties involved. Some of the more significant structural design features contributing to the excellent performance is detailed in this paper. (orig.)

Civil engineering challenge with nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Day, D.

1985-01-01

The civil engineer can help to solve the problems in disposing of nuclear waste in a deep geologic formation. The site for a nuclear waste repository must be carefully selected so that the geology provides the natural barrier between the waste and the accessible environment specified by the NRC and the EPA. This engineer is familiar with the needed structure and conditions of the host and surrounding rocks, and also the hydraulic mechanisms for limiting the migration of water in the rocks. To dispose of the nuclear waste underground requires stable and long-lasting shafts and tunnels such as civil engineers have designed and constructed for many other uses. The planning, design and construction of the ground surface facilities for a nuclear waste repository involves civil engineering in many ways. The transporation of heavy, metal shielded casks requires special attention to the system of highways and railroads accessing the repository. Structures for handling the shipping casks and transferring the waste onsite and into the deep geologic formation need special considerations. The structures must provide the NRC required containment, including hot cells for remote handling. Therefore, structural design strives for buildings, ventilation structures, shaft headframes, etc., to be earthquake and tornado-proof. These important design bases and considerations for the civil engineer working on a nuclear waste repository are discussed in this paper

Advanced nuclear plants: Meeting the economic challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Redding, J.R.; MacGregor, P.R.

1993-01-01

This article examines the economic challenges to nuclear power meeting the forecasted power demand of the end of the century. The topics of the article include the economic challenge, safety, competition from other energy sources, a US case study, environmental costs, capital costs, reducing operation and maintenance costs, and non-technical features

Opportunities and challenges for emerging nuclear power states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nkong-Njock, V.; Facer, R.I.; Boussaha, A.

2009-01-01

Energy and reliable access to energy sources are essential to economic and social development and improved quality of life. However, limited access to modern energy still remains one of the major constraints to socio-economic development in many parts in the world. On the other hand, energy production, distribution and consumption may have many adverse effects on the local, regional and global environment including climate change. Production and consumption of fossil fuels constitutes the main source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Cleaner and affordable energy systems are therefore needed to address all of these effects and to contribute to environmental sustainability. Nuclear power is a proven technology with virtually no greenhouse gas emissions or emission of pollutants, and therefore is expected to play an increasing role in meeting this rapidly growing global requirements for clean and economic electricity. But, it is known that challenges and opportunities are polarities, and as opposite poles of the magnet, they do not exist separately. An opportunity for some can be a challenge for others, or a challenge today can become an opportunity tomorrow. The potential growth of nuclear power has increased, in some quarters, concern that nonproliferation should be given sufficient attention. In particular, since introduction of many new power reactors will require increased uranium enrichment services, with the potential proliferation risk of adding enrichment facilities in new countries. This has urged the international community to strongly support the development of safeguarded and well-regulated nuclear power around the world, with the aim to ensure that nuclear power is deployed through a commitment to the highest possible standards of nuclear safety, security, and non-proliferation. The keys issues and trends for nuclear power expansion include therefore problems related to (i) safety, security and reliability, (ii) public perception and acceptance, (iii

Theoretical studies in nuclear reactions and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallace, S.J.

1991-05-01

This report discusses topics in the following areas: Hadronic structure; hadrons in nuclei; hot hadronic matter; relativistic nuclear physics and NN interaction; leptonic emissions from high-Z heavy ion collisions; theoretical studies of heavy ion dynamics; nuclear pre-equilibrium reactions; classical chaotic dynamics and nuclear structure; and, theory of nuclear fission

The nuclear knowledge management: challenges and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez Garcia, Alejandro; Fernandez Rondon, Manuel

2007-01-01

The knowledge management has a one of its goals to keep and to drive the key organizational competence's to the development of products and services with high scientific and technological value, as proactive reply to a dynamic and complex environment. The International Atomic Energy Agency and nuclear institutions of Member Countries recognize that the pacific use of nuclear technology is supported on the nuclear knowledge collection and that its effective management is oriented to guarantee the continuos availability of scientific and technological information and high qualified people. Recently some nuclear Cuban institutions have started some projects to implement nuclear and organizational knowledge management process. In this paper some challenges and perspectives are presented for the nuclear knowledge management in Cuba and in the world context

Ontario Hydro nuclear - challenges of the future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Field, R.

1996-01-01

The challenges facing Ontario Hydro Nuclear (OHN), as understood at the time of the conference, are discussed. OHN had many strengths to build on in preparing for the competition ahead, including: extremely competitive production costs, strong technical capabilities, advantages of multiple units, environmental advantages favoring nuclear, strong public support, and improving station performance. Even with these advantages, OHN faced the difficult challenge of improving overall performance in the face of a large debt burden, coupled with the reinvestment demands of aging units at Pickering A and Bruce A. At the time of the conference, Bruce 2 had already been shut down, because the cost of retubing it and replacing its boilers could not be justified. The ''drive to nuclear excellence'' involves the simultaneous achievement of top performance in safety, reliability and cost; and to this end, changes were being made to reverse the trends indicated by disappointing ''peer reviews''

Nuclear Power Plant Concrete Structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Basu, Prabir [International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Labbe, Pierre [Electricity of France (EDF); Naus, Dan [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

2013-01-01

A nuclear power plant (NPP) involves complex engineering structures that are significant items of the structures, systems and components (SSC) important to the safe and reliable operation of the NPP. Concrete is the commonly used civil engineering construction material in the nuclear industry because of a number of advantageous properties. The NPP concrete structures underwent a great degree of evolution, since the commissioning of first NPP in early 1960. The increasing concern with time related to safety of the public and environment, and degradation of concrete structures due to ageing related phenomena are the driving forces for such evolution. The concrete technology underwent rapid development with the advent of chemical admixtures of plasticizer/super plasticizer category as well as viscosity modifiers and mineral admixtures like fly ash and silica fume. Application of high performance concrete (HPC) developed with chemical and mineral admixtures has been witnessed in the construction of NPP structures. Along with the beneficial effect, the use of admixtures in concrete has posed a number of challenges as well in design and construction. This along with the prospect of continuing operation beyond design life, especially after 60 years, the impact of extreme natural events ( as in the case of Fukushima NPP accident) and human induced events (e.g. commercial aircraft crash like the event of September 11th 2001) has led to further development in the area of NPP concrete structures. The present paper aims at providing an account of evolution of NPP concrete structures in last two decades by summarizing the development in the areas of concrete technology, design methodology and construction techniques, maintenance and ageing management of concrete structures.

Avoidable challenges of a nuclear medicine facility in a developing nation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adedapo, Kayode Solomon; Onimode, Yetunde Ajoke; Ejeh, John Enyi; Adepoju, Adewale Oluwaseun

2013-01-01

The role of nuclear medicine in disease management in a developing nation is as impactful as it is in other regions of the world. However, in the developing world, the practice of nuclear medicine is faced with a myriad of challenges, which can be easily avoided. In this review, we examine the many avoidable challenges to the practice of nuclear medicine in a developing nation. The review is largely based on personal experiences of the authors who are the pioneers and current practitioners of nuclear medicine in a typical developing nation. If the challenges examined in this review are avoided, the practice of nuclear medicine in such a nation will be more effective and practitioners will be more efficient in service delivery. Hence, the huge benefits of nuclear medicine will be made available to patients in such a developing nation

Nuclear challenges for the 21. century in Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farghen, Morgane

2015-01-01

The author proposes an analysis of the issues of nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons in Asia. She notices a new trend under the form of a strategic arms race under the influence of different factors, notably the increasing political, economic and military power of China. She analyses how this increasing power is present at the international level, impacts the Asian political environment, how nuclear deterrence acts, and how China can use this power to provoke tensions with Japan about territorial disputes. She comments the more traditional issues of proliferation related to North Korea and Pakistan, the challenge that regional disarmament raises for the international community, the challenges raised for deterrence by the re-sizing of strategic forces in Asia, programme diversification and technological competition

The challenge of financing nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Csik, B.J.

1999-01-01

To date, more then 500 nuclear power reactors have been successfully financed and built. Experience in recent nuclear projects confirms that nuclear power will not cease to be a viable option due to a worldwide financing constraint. For financing nuclear plants there are special considerations: large investment; long lead and construction times; complex technology; regulatory risk and political risk. The principal preconditions to financing are a national policy supporting nuclear power; creditworthiness; economic competitiveness; project feasibility; assurance of adequate revenues; acceptability of risks; and no open-ended liabilities. Generally, nuclear power plants are financed conventionally through multi-sources, where a package covers the entire cost. The first source, the investor/owner/operator responsible for building and operating the plant, should cover a sizable portion of the overall investment. In addition, bond issues, domestic bank credits etc. and, in case of State-owned or controlled enterprises, donations and credits from public entities or the governmental budget, should complete the financing. A financially sound utility should be able to meet this challenge. For importing technology, bids are invited. Export credits should form the basis of foreign financing, because these have favorable terms and conditions. Suppliers from several countries may join in a consortium subdividing the scope of supply and involve several Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). There are also innovative financing approaches that could be applied to nuclear projects. Evolutionary Reactors with smaller overall investment, shorter construction times, reliance on proven technology, together with predictable regulatory regimes and reliable long-term national policies favorable to nuclear power, should make it easier to meet the future challenges of financing. (author)

Nuclear Structure Committee annual report 1976-1977, nuclear structure grants and laboratory agreements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

The Annual Report for the period 1 August 1976 to 31 July 1977 of the Nuclear Structure Committee of the Nuclear Physics Board, under the (United Kingdom) Science Research Council, is presented. Details are given of nuclear structure grants and laboratory agreements. (U.K.)

Proceeding of the Fourth Scientific Presentation on Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Technology of Nuclear Fuel Cycle facing the Challenge of Energy Need on the 21-st Century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suripto, A.; Sajuti, D.; Aiman, S.; Yuwono, I.; Fathurrachman; Suwarno, H.; Suwardi; Amini, S.; Widjaksana

1999-03-01

The proceeding contains papers presented in the Fourth Scientific Presentation on Nuclear Fuel Element Cycle with theme of Technology of Nuclear Fuel Cycle facing the Challenge of Energy Need on the 21 s t Century, held on 1-2 December in Jakarta, Indonesia. These papers were divided by three groups that are technology of exploration, processing, purification and analysis of nuclear materials; technology of nuclear fuel elements and structures; and technology of waste management, safety and management of nuclear fuel cycle. There are 36 papers indexed individually. (ID)

Nuclear Structure Near the Drip Lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazarewicz, W.

1998-01-01

Experiments with beams of unstable nuclei will make it possible to look closely into many aspects of the nuclear many-body problem. Theoretically, exotic nuclei represent a formidable challenge for the nuclear many-body theories and their power to predict nuclear properties in nuclear terra incognita

The continuing nuclear challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karp, R.C.

1991-01-01

This paper reports that Declining threat perceptions in the superpower relationship make the need for compellent threats less pressing and reduce demands upon the credibility of extended deterrence. Nuclear arms control and reductions can create survivable forces forestalling all but irrational incentives for a first strike. Conventional arms control can restructure national armies to such an extent that crises can be weathered without recourse to arms, thus reducing the risk of nuclear escalation. The post-cold war era presents an opportunity to make meaningful progress in these areas and should serve to remind states that their security may not need to be based on the threat to use nuclear weapons. States that place a high status value on nuclear weapons and those at the nuclear threshold may not agree with this assessment. But if co-operative security structures can be found and acted upon, the allure of nuclear status may also decline. And, with an improving US-Soviet relationship, regional security problems that have led states to acquire nuclear weapons may become more amenable to solution by joint diplomatic initiatives. None of these measures are easily achievable not are they likely to be undertaken in a concerted fashion. However, unlike in the past, the post-cold war environment makes these steps feasible

The Challenges of Maintaining Nuclear Cultures. US and UK Perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brooks, Linton; McKane, Tom

2016-01-01

After the world entered the nuclear age, civilian and military organizations have witnessed the slow emergence of nuclear cultures, defined as the set of values and knowledge, shared among the national security community, about the relative importance of nuclear weapons in the country's defense posture, the distinctive features of nuclear weapons in terms of security, safety and operational requirements, and the workings of deterrence. Nuclear cultures have helped to ensure some level of coherence in policy-making and, most importantly, to maintain safe and effective deterrents. At a national level, however, each nuclear culture is confronted with significant challenges, such as generational change, decreasing levels of understanding or attention among the political and military leadership, insufficient funding or a growing inability to meet manpower requirements in both the nuclear weapons complexes and the armed forces. This paper looks at the United States and United Kingdom's recent efforts to maintain their nuclear culture, and at the key challenges these two countries face while pursuing this aim. (authors)

Survey of past base isolation applications in nuclear power plants and challenges to industry/regulatory acceptance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malushte, S.R.; Whittaker, A.S.

2005-01-01

Seismic base isolation provides many benefits that can facilitate the standardization of future nuclear power plant structures and equipment while reducing the initial/life-cycle cost and construction schedule. This paper presents a survey of past seismic base isolation applications and studies related to nuclear applications and provides a discussion of the challenges that need to be overcome to gain industry and regulatory acceptance for deployment in future US nuclear power plants. Issues related to design, codes/standards/regulations, procurement, and construction, have been identified. (authors)

Key regulatory challenges for future nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todreas, Neil E.

2001-01-01

Key regulatory challenges for future nuclear power plants are concerned with fuel and cladding materials taken to higher burnup and operated at higher temperatures. Particular challenges are related to reduction in waste toxicity, understanding and control of coolant corrosion, qualification of fuel particles, new maintenance practices

Challenges in Strengthening Regulatory Infrastructure in a Non-Nuclear Country

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bosnjak, J.

2016-01-01

The State Regulatory Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (SRARNS) is established as the effectively independent regulatory body for radiation and nuclear safety based on the Law on Radiation and Nuclear Safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina promulgated in November 2007. After its complete reorganization in the last few years, the regulatory system is compatible with relevant IAEA Safety Standards and Guides for safety and security of radioactive sources. The paper gives an overview of the new regulatory framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with special focus on challenges faced by Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are actually typical challenges for regulator in small non-nuclear country in strengthening regulatory infrastructure in regulating radiation sources and radioactive waste. (author)

Tungsten - Yttrium Based Nuclear Structural Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Ramana, Chintalapalle; Chessa, Jack; Martinenz, Gustavo

2013-04-01

The challenging problem currently facing the nuclear science community in this 21st century is design and development of novel structural materials, which will have an impact on the next-generation nuclear reactors. The materials available at present include reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steels, dispersion strengthened reduced activation ferritic steels, and vanadium- or tungsten-based alloys. These materials exhibit one or more specific problems, which are either intrinsic or caused by reactors. This work is focussed towards tungsten-yttrium (W-Y) based alloys and oxide ceramics, which can be utilized in nuclear applications. The goal is to derive a fundamental scientific understanding of W-Y-based materials. In collaboration with University of Califonia -- Davis, the project is designated to demonstrate the W-Y based alloys, ceramics and composites with enhanced physical, mechanical, thermo-chemical properties and higher radiation resistance. Efforts are focussed on understanding the microstructure, manipulating materials behavior under charged-particle and neutron irradiation, and create a knowledge database of defects, elemental diffusion/segregation, and defect trapping along grain boundaries and interfaces. Preliminary results will be discussed.

Nuclear industry - challenges in chemical engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sen, S.; Sunder Rajan, N.S.; Balu, K.; Garg, R.K.; Murthy, L.G.K.; Ramani, M.P.S.; Rao, M.K.; Sadhukhan, H.K.; Venkat Raj, V.

1978-01-01

Chemical engineering processes and operations are closely involved in every step of the nuclear fuel cycle. Starting from mining and milling of the ore through the production of fuel and other materials and their use in nuclear reactors, fuel reprocessing, fissile material recycle and treatment and disposal of fission product wastes, each step presents a challenge to the chemical engineer to evolve and innovate processes and techniques for more efficient utilization of the energy in the atom. The requirement of high recovery of the desired components at high purity levels is in itself a challenge. ''Nuclear Grade'' specifications for materials put a requirement which very few industries can satisfy. Recovery of uranium and thorium from low grade ores, of heavy water from raw water, etc. are examples. Economical and large scale separation of isotopes particularly those of heavy elements is a task for which processess are under various stages of development. Further design of chemical plants such as fuel reprocessing plants and high level waste treatment plants, which are to be operated and maintained remotely due to the high levels of radio-activity call for engineering skills which are being continually evolved. In the reactor, analysis of the fluid mechanics and optimum design of heat removal system are other examples where a chemical engineer can play a useful role. In addition to the above, the activities in the nuclear industry cover a very wide range of chemical engineering applications, such as desalination and other energy intensive processes, radioisotope and radiation applications in industry, medicine and agriculture. (auth.)

Current challenges for education of nuclear engineers. Beyond nuclear basics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schoenfelder, Christian [AREVA GmbH, Offenbach (Germany). Training Center

2014-07-15

In past decades, curricula for the education of nuclear engineers (either as a major or minor subject) have been well established all over the world. However, from the point of view of a nuclear supplier, recent experiences in large and complex new build as well as modernization projects have shown that important competences required in these projects were not addressed during the education of young graduates. Consequently, in the past nuclear industry has been obliged to either accept long periods for job familiarization, or to develop and implement various dedicated internal training measures. Although the topics normally addressed in nuclear engineering education (like neutron and reactor physics, nuclear materials or thermohydraulics and the associated calculation methods) build up important competences, this paper shows that the current status of nuclear applications requires adaptations of educational curricula. As a conclusion, when academic nuclear engineering curricula start taking into account current competence needs in nuclear industry, it will be for the benefit of the current and future generation of nuclear engineers. They will be better prepared for their future job positions and career perspectives, especially on an international level. The recommendations presented should not only be of importance for the nuclear fission field, but also for the fusion community. Here, the Horizon 2020 Roadmap to Fusion as published in 2012 now is focusing on ITER and on a longer-term development of fusion technology for a future demonstration reactor DEMO. The very challenging work program is leading to a strong need for exactly those skills that are described in this article.

Current challenges for education of nuclear engineers. Beyond nuclear basics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schoenfelder, Christian

2014-01-01

In past decades, curricula for the education of nuclear engineers (either as a major or minor subject) have been well established all over the world. However, from the point of view of a nuclear supplier, recent experiences in large and complex new build as well as modernization projects have shown that important competences required in these projects were not addressed during the education of young graduates. Consequently, in the past nuclear industry has been obliged to either accept long periods for job familiarization, or to develop and implement various dedicated internal training measures. Although the topics normally addressed in nuclear engineering education (like neutron and reactor physics, nuclear materials or thermohydraulics and the associated calculation methods) build up important competences, this paper shows that the current status of nuclear applications requires adaptations of educational curricula. As a conclusion, when academic nuclear engineering curricula start taking into account current competence needs in nuclear industry, it will be for the benefit of the current and future generation of nuclear engineers. They will be better prepared for their future job positions and career perspectives, especially on an international level. The recommendations presented should not only be of importance for the nuclear fission field, but also for the fusion community. Here, the Horizon 2020 Roadmap to Fusion as published in 2012 now is focusing on ITER and on a longer-term development of fusion technology for a future demonstration reactor DEMO. The very challenging work program is leading to a strong need for exactly those skills that are described in this article.

Challenges of deploying nuclear energy for power generation in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Jaafar, Mohd Zamzam; Nazaruddin, Nurul Huda; Lye, Jonathan Tan Thiam

2017-01-01

Under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2010-2015) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), nuclear energy was identified as a potential long-term option to be explored for electricity generation in Peninsular Malaysia. The energy sector in Malaysia currently faces several concerns including depleting domestic gas supply which will affect security and reliability of supply as well as overdependance on fossil fuels - mainly gas and imported coal, and nuclear energy may offer a possible solution to these issues as well as global climate change concern. Pursuing the nuclear option, Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC) is undertaking a series of comprehensive studies to facilitate an informed Government decision on the matter. This paper aims to discuss the many challenges towards the peaceful use of nuclear energy for electricity generation in the context of the New Energy Policy 2010 to achieve a balanced and sustainable energy mix. This effort will continue in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) with emphasis on implementing a comprehensive communications plan and public awareness programme for the potential use of nuclear energy in the future. In analysing the challenges for the development of nuclear energy in Malaysia, the traditional triple bottom line (TBL) framework for sustainability, encompassing economic, social and environmental objectives is utilized. An additional factor, technical, is also included in the analysis to provide a more holistic view. It is opined that the main challenges of developing nuclear energy for electricity generation in a newcomer country like Malaysia can be attributed primarily to domestic non-technical factors compared to the technical factor.

Additional nuclear power in Finland; Challenge for economics and financing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raumolin, H.I.

1989-01-01

The overview of energy situation in Finland is presented. Additional base-load power is needed in the second half of the 1990's. The experience of nuclear power including the price of electricity as well as construction and operation of power plants is presented. Challenges for new nuclear power are described. The challenges can be met by utilizing the good experience gained in Finland, as well as the competitive situation on the international market

Global Energy Challenges of the 21. Century and Nuclear Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gagarinskiy, Andrey

2008-01-01

The paper considers the world energy demand till the middle of the century, as well as possible forecasting solution for this challenge. On the base of the mathematical model developed in the Kurchatov Institute in 2003- 2006, the vision of the global nuclear energy system and its potential contribution in the energy mix was analyzed. The rate of rapprochement between specific energy consumptions in different countries of the world is a key parameter determining the energy market strain. It was shown that a continuation of the current world trends of this rapprochement would result in an energy resource deficit already in the nearest future. The energy mix picture would contain an 'unsatisfied demand' area of about 10 000 Mtoe of total energy to be consumed by the mid-century Supposing that the mankind has to meet the 'unsatisfied demand' by nuclear energy, the global energy challenges of the 21. century energy do not impose any upper limit on nuclear energy development, the scale of which would be determined by development opportunities. Russia, as one of the pioneers of the First Nuclear Era, possesses great experience of solving the key issues of nuclear energy of the 20. century, and is capable to play an important role in dealing with the challenges faced by nuclear in the 21. century. (authors)

Theoretical studies in nuclear reactions and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-05-01

Research in the Maryland Nuclear Theory Group focusses on problems in four basic areas of current relevance. Hadrons in nuclear matter; the structure of hadrons; relativistic nuclear physics and heavy ion dynamics and related processes. The section on hadrons in nuclear matter groups together research items which are aimed at exploring ways in which the properties of nucleons and the mesons which play a role in the nuclear force are modified in the nuclear medium. A very interesting result has been the finding that QCD sum rules supply a new insight into the decrease of the nucleon's mass in the nuclear medium. The quark condensate, which characterizes spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking of the late QCD vacuum, decreases in nuclear matter and this is responsible for the decrease of the nucleon's mass. The section on the structure of hadrons contains progress reports on our research aimed at understanding the structure of the nucleon. Widely different approaches are being studied, e.g., lattice gauge calculations, QCD sum rules, quark-meson models with confinement and other hedgehog models. A major goal of this type of research is to develop appropriate links between nuclear physics and QCD. The section on relativistic nuclear physics represents our continuing interest in developing an appropriate relativistic framework for nuclear dynamics. A Lorentz-invariant description of the nuclear force suggests a similar decrease of the nucleon's mass in the nuclear medium as has been found from QCD sum rules. Work in progress extends previous successes in elastic scattering to inelastic scattering of protons by nuclei. The section on heavy ion dynamics and related processes reports on research into the e + e - problem and heavy ion dynamics

Steel structures for nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

In the guide the requirements concerning design and fabrication of steel structures for nuclear facilities and documents to be submitted to the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (STUK) are presented. Furthermore, regulations concerning inspection of steel structures during construction of nuclear facilities and during their operation are set forth

Theoretical studies in nuclear reactions and nuclear structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-05-01

Research in the Maryland Nuclear Theory Group focusses on problems in four basic areas of current relevance. Hadrons in nuclear matter; the structure of hadrons; relativistic nuclear physics and heavy ion dynamics and related processes. The section on hadrons in nuclear matter groups together research items which are aimed at exploring ways in which the properties of nucleons and the mesons which play a role in the nuclear force are modified in the nuclear medium. A very interesting result has been the finding that QCD sum rules supply a new insight into the decrease of the nucleon's mass in the nuclear medium. The quark condensate, which characterizes spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking of the late QCD vacuum, decreases in nuclear matter and this is responsible for the decrease of the nucleon's mass. The section on the structure of hadrons contains progress reports on our research aimed at understanding the structure of the nucleon. Widely different approaches are being studied, e.g., lattice gauge calculations, QCD sum rules, quark-meson models with confinement and other hedgehog models. A major goal of this type of research is to develop appropriate links between nuclear physics and QCD. The section on relativistic nuclear physics represents our continuing interest in developing an appropriate relativistic framework for nuclear dynamics. A Lorentz-invariant description of the nuclear force suggests a similar decrease of the nucleon's mass in the nuclear medium as has been found from QCD sum rules. Work in progress extends previous successes in elastic scattering to inelastic scattering of protons by nuclei. The section on heavy ion dynamics and related processes reports on research into the e{sup +}e{sup {minus}} problem and heavy ion dynamics.

Nuclear Structure of the Heaviest Elements – Investigated at SHIP-GSI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heßberger Fritz Peter

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The quest for the heaviest nuclei that can exist is a basic topic in natural science as their stability is characterized by a delicate interplay of short range nuclear forces acting between the nucleons (protons and neutrons and long-range Coulomb forces acting solely between charged particles, i.e. the protons. As the stability of a nucleus is strongly correlated to its structure, understanding the nuclear structure of heaviest nuclei is presently a main challenge of experimental and theoretical investigations concerning the field of Superheavy Elements. At the velocity filter SHIP at GSI Darmstadt an extensive program on nuclear structure investigations has been started about a decade ago. The project covered both as well systematic investigations of single particle levels in odd-mass isotopes populated by α-decay as investigation of two- or fourquasi-particle states forming K isomers and was supplemented by direct mass measurements at SHIPTRAP and investigation of spontaneous fission properties. Recent experimental studies allowed to extend the systematics of low lying levels in N = 151 and N = 153 up to 255Rf and 259Sg, investigation of possible relations between nuclear structure and fission properties of odd-mass nuclei and investigation of shell strengths at N = 152 and towards N = 162.

Communication challenges in the perspective of nuclear organizations in Brazil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Machado, Tariana Brocardo, E-mail: tariana@usp.br [Universidade de São Paulo (USP), SP (Brazil). Escola de Comunicações e Artes

2017-07-01

The aim of this paper is to discuss the results of a study which reveals the communication challenges faced by organizations of the nuclear segment in Brazil towards its public acceptance. This is a descriptive study with qualitative approach based on primary data collection made through interview with non-probabilistic sample and categorical content analysis as method. The study was carried out with managers, technicians and communicators of three representative organizations of the segment in the country – CNEN, Eletronuclear and IPEN – in the period ranging from October, 2015, to March, 2016, as part of a greater study composing the author’s Master’s dissertation presented at Universidade de São Paulo in October, 2016. As results, the main communication challenges spotted by nuclear professionals in Brazil are lack of public acceptance of the nuclear energy in the country, followed by low levels of communication of the benefits of the nuclear field, lack of budget for investing in communication strategy and activities and institutional bureaucracy, as well as political motives and professionals being politically appointed for holding communication positions. Other communication-related challenges faced by the nuclear field in Brazil mentioned by interviewees include employees without adequate amount of time to dedicate to communication or unfit for this specific work, excessive use of technical language, discredit of the nuclear area within local society, lack of interest by the media and difficulty for hiring new communication professionals. This research was financially supported by CAPES. 1. (author)

Communication challenges in the perspective of nuclear organizations in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machado, Tariana Brocardo

2017-01-01

The aim of this paper is to discuss the results of a study which reveals the communication challenges faced by organizations of the nuclear segment in Brazil towards its public acceptance. This is a descriptive study with qualitative approach based on primary data collection made through interview with non-probabilistic sample and categorical content analysis as method. The study was carried out with managers, technicians and communicators of three representative organizations of the segment in the country – CNEN, Eletronuclear and IPEN – in the period ranging from October, 2015, to March, 2016, as part of a greater study composing the author’s Master’s dissertation presented at Universidade de São Paulo in October, 2016. As results, the main communication challenges spotted by nuclear professionals in Brazil are lack of public acceptance of the nuclear energy in the country, followed by low levels of communication of the benefits of the nuclear field, lack of budget for investing in communication strategy and activities and institutional bureaucracy, as well as political motives and professionals being politically appointed for holding communication positions. Other communication-related challenges faced by the nuclear field in Brazil mentioned by interviewees include employees without adequate amount of time to dedicate to communication or unfit for this specific work, excessive use of technical language, discredit of the nuclear area within local society, lack of interest by the media and difficulty for hiring new communication professionals. This research was financially supported by CAPES. 1. (author)

Safety, safeguards and security: three challenges for emerging nuclear countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barretto, P.M.C.

2009-01-01

An effective and sustainable national safety and secure regime is a goal and a challenge to countries considering the benefits of power and non-power applications of nuclear energy. This will provide for protection of people and environment from the effects of ionizing radiation. Moreover, this will minimize the possibility of accidents and the occurrence of malicious acts. Such a regime involves the establishment of institutional, legal and technical frameworks to support and sustain the implementation of nuclear applications in a coordinated manner. This paper describes the key constraints and challenges that emerging nuclear countries face in the process of developing such frameworks when preparing themselves to implement the envisaged nuclear activities. The role of the government, the issues involved, the difficulties common to developing countries, the assistance available and the way forward are discussed.(Author)

Energy issues, destabilization challenge? The nuclear power example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castel, Viviane du

2010-01-01

The depletion of oil, geopolitical uncertainties resulting, fluctuation and price volatility leads, since the 2000's, a development in which the economy favors nuclear energy for civilian use. Thus, the development of the international market for nuclear industry is linked to the competitiveness of nuclear deal with their competitors using fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). Nuclear power is both an energy benefit to the countries that we use (low emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, low pollution, stable prices and competitive supply without major obstacles) and worrying (no real solution for waste, transfer risk from civilian to nuclear weapons). The Business Intelligence (BI) appears to be essential for companies in this industry and is based on technical and urgent challenges. BI has become an imperative for companies in the energy sector

Selected topics in nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

The collection of abstracts on selected topics in nuclear structure are given. Special attention pays to collective excitations and high-spin states of nuclei, giant resonance structure, nuclear reaction mechanisms and so on

Nuclear correlations and structure functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Guoju; Irvine, J.M.

1989-01-01

It is argued that the search for a mass number dependence of the nuclear structure function per nucleon is profitably directed to the region of Bjorken scaling variable x > 1. We show that in the convolution model of the nuclear structure function the nuclear momentum distribution and energy spectrum generated by cluster expansion techniques, here realised in the correlated basis function method, invoking tensor correlations and short-range density-dependent repulsions adequately describes the structure function for 12 C in the region x > 1. The results of structure functions for a number of light-, medium- and heavy-mass nuclei are presented. (author)

The nuclear issue in the cuban press. Challenges and realities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Contreras Izquierdo, Marta; Rodriguez Guerra, Ingrids; Gonzalez Montoto, Iosbel; Fernandez Rondon, Manuel

2005-01-01

The work presents an analysis of the impact of nuclear issue on the Cuban press from 1990 to 2005 that was carried out by a group of communications specialists from nuclear area. An analysis of main challenges and actions of this group, aimed at informing the public the present situation of the Cuban nuclear programme and its perspectives, was also included

Emerging Challenges in the Development and Management of Nuclear Knowledge in Kenya

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chesori, R.C.; Kilavi, P.K.; Omondi, C.

2016-01-01

Full text: Nuclear knowledge remains a crucial asset in the nuclear industry. Establishment of new nuclear builds, operations, maintenance and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants (NPPs) essentially are knowledge intensive endeavors that require a lot of technical expertise. The expertise is defined by knowledgeable and competent personnel that range from nuclear engineers to nuclear economists, nuclear lawyers, and environmentalists among others. The technological challenge facing the industry currently is the aging experts that have created a huge knowledge gap that threatens the future of the industry. This realization has caused an alarm and has led to concerted efforts aimed at facilitating knowledge transfer to younger generations at a global scale especially in countries with established nuclear industry. This effort has led to development of nuclear knowledge management best practices models by knowledge experts at IAEA that seeks to assist member states in coping with the present day challenges in the industry. (author

Impact of structural aging on seismic risk assessment of reinforced concrete structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellingwood, B.; Song, J.

1996-03-01

The Structural Aging Program is addressing the potential for degradation of concrete structural components and systems in nuclear power plants over time due to aging and aggressive environmental stressors. Structures are passive under normal operating conditions but play a key role in mitigating design-basis events, particularly those arising from external challenges such as earthquakes, extreme winds, fires and floods. Structures are plant-specific and unique, often are difficult to inspect, and are virtually impossible to replace. The importance of structural failures in accident mitigation is amplified because such failures may lead to common-cause failures of other components. Structural condition assessment and service life prediction must focus on a few critical components and systems within the plant. Components and systems that are dominant contributors to risk and that require particular attention can be identified through the mathematical formalism of a probabilistic risk assessment, or PRA. To illustrate, the role of structural degradation due to aging on plant risk is examined through the framework of a Level 1 seismic PRA of a nuclear power plant. Plausible mechanisms of structural degradation are found to increase the core damage probability by approximately a factor of two

Non-proliferation and nuclear cooperation - accomplishments and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marshall, H.R. Jr.

1983-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to assess the accomplishments in non-proliferation and nuclear co-operation since the beginning of President Reagan's administration, and the challenges remaining to be met in those fields. (NEA) [fr

Challenges in developing human resources for nuclear safety in South Africa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsatsi, Louisa [National Nuclear Regulator, PO BOX 7106, 00046 Centurion (South Africa)

2008-07-01

Challenges in developing Human Resources for nuclear safety in South Africa ESKOM Holding Limited which is the South African Government owned utility, operates over 10 power stations. The total installed is about 40 GW, and nuclear contributes only 6 percent. The existing nuclear power station, Koeberg NPP, is comprised of two 900 MW(e) units at the South African west coast near Cape Town. The South African Government has a policy to increase the share of nuclear in the generation mix from 6 percent to 15 percent before the year 2020. The challenge is that there have been a 'greying' of nuclear experts and a shrinking of nuclear engineering and science departments. As a consequence of this, ESKOM has realized that a large number of young engineers and scientists would have to be recruited and then trained in South Africa and abroad. Some people, especially high performers in the industry are continually looking for new challenges and opportunities and though it is important in the nuclear industry to retain these key staff members it have proved to be a serious challenge. The nuclear industry had to consider their national training infrastructures and the South African government in partnership with ESKOM, NECSA and PBMR has started a process of funding university chairs in reactor engineering and allied subjects. These departments undertake research and provide training for the South African nuclear industry. The recruitment process has initially involved the transfer of personnel from ESKOM, NECSA as well as direct recruitment from the market. The primary recruitment process going forward will be from universities and other Further Education Training (FET) institutions with a focus on ESKOM and PBMR providing the specific nuclear training. In this regard, both ESKOM and PBMR provide bursaries, project work and other assistance to selected candidates. Upon completion of studies, the specific training is provided both in-house and with partner national

Challenges in developing human resources for nuclear safety in South Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsatsi, Louisa

2008-01-01

Challenges in developing Human Resources for nuclear safety in South Africa ESKOM Holding Limited which is the South African Government owned utility, operates over 10 power stations. The total installed is about 40 GW, and nuclear contributes only 6 percent. The existing nuclear power station, Koeberg NPP, is comprised of two 900 MW(e) units at the South African west coast near Cape Town. The South African Government has a policy to increase the share of nuclear in the generation mix from 6 percent to 15 percent before the year 2020. The challenge is that there have been a 'greying' of nuclear experts and a shrinking of nuclear engineering and science departments. As a consequence of this, ESKOM has realized that a large number of young engineers and scientists would have to be recruited and then trained in South Africa and abroad. Some people, especially high performers in the industry are continually looking for new challenges and opportunities and though it is important in the nuclear industry to retain these key staff members it have proved to be a serious challenge. The nuclear industry had to consider their national training infrastructures and the South African government in partnership with ESKOM, NECSA and PBMR has started a process of funding university chairs in reactor engineering and allied subjects. These departments undertake research and provide training for the South African nuclear industry. The recruitment process has initially involved the transfer of personnel from ESKOM, NECSA as well as direct recruitment from the market. The primary recruitment process going forward will be from universities and other Further Education Training (FET) institutions with a focus on ESKOM and PBMR providing the specific nuclear training. In this regard, both ESKOM and PBMR provide bursaries, project work and other assistance to selected candidates. Upon completion of studies, the specific training is provided both in-house and with partner national and

Nuclear Structure Data for the Present Age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baglin, Coral M.

2005-01-01

The US Nuclear Data Program maintains and provides easy and free access to several comprehensive databases that assist scientists to sift through and assess the vast quantity of published nuclear structure and decay data. These databases are an invaluable asset for nuclear-science experimentalists and theorists alike, and the recommended values provided for nuclear properties such as decay modes, level energies and lifetimes, and radiation properties can also be of great importance to specialists in other fields such as medicine, geophysics, and reactor design. The Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) contains experimental nuclear structure data for all known nuclides, evaluated by the US nuclear data program evaluators in collaboration with a number of international data groups; the Nuclear Science Reference (NSR) database provides complementary bibliographic information; the Experimental Unevaluated Nuclear Data Listing (XUNDL) exists to enable rapid access to experimental nuclear-structure data compiled from the most recent publications (primarily in high-spin physics). This paper presents an overview of the nuclear structure and decay data available through these databases, with emphasis on recent and forthcoming additions to and presentations of the available material

GC Side Event: Nuclear Operators Forum: Challenges in Human Resources Management for Sustainable Nuclear Power Generation. Presentations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-01-01

This year’s Forum focussed on human resources challenges and necessary actions to support the future of nuclear energy, including building and maintaining the workforce, economic challenges and new ways of learning

Nuclear Structure References (NSR) file

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewbank, W.B.

1978-08-01

The use of the Nuclear Structure References file by the Nuclear Data Project at ORNL is described. Much of the report concerns format information of interest only to those preparing input to the system or otherwise needing detailed knowledge of its internal structure. 17 figures

Methodologies for nuclear material accounting and control: challenges and expectations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramakumar, K.L.

2007-01-01

Nuclear Material Accounting and Control (NUMAC) represents one of the most important and indispensable responsibilities of any nuclear installation. The emphasis is to ensure that the nuclear material being handled in the nuclear installation is properly accounted for with the expected accuracy and confidence levels. A number of analytical methods based on both destructive and non-destructive assay techniques are available at the disposal of the nuclear analytical scientists for this purpose and they have been enumerated extensively in literature. Instead of recounting the analytical methodologies available, an attempt has been made in this paper to highlight some of the challenges. (author)

India: nuclear policy, opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaddevolu Balaji Nagendra Kumar

2009-01-01

India is not the proliferator of nuclear weapons technology. India FBRs will expand the life of a given consignment of uranium in the nuclear power reactors from 60 to about 211 years and the thorium based reactors to over 2000 years respectively. The Indo-US Nuclear deal has paved the way for uranium supplies to Indian reactors from the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) (comprising 45 countries). It is an opportunity for India to produce energy economically. The major challenge for India is to abstain from using the civilian nuclear reactors for military purpose and to strategically limit the fissile material in content and usage. There are parties interested in supplying Uranium to India and parties interested in imposing checks on the military use of nuclear reactors. In the former category we could place Governments and companies interested in supplying Uranium, companies interested in building and operating nuclear power reactors in India and academia. In the later category, we could place IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), US politicians and Pentagon. (Author)

Flexblue: an immersed SMR with a new and challenging nuclear paradigm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bugat, A.; Felten, P.; Lecomte, M.; Poimboeuf, J-M.; Briffod, F-X.; Perrier, S.

2014-01-01

NucAdvisor gives advice and provides DCNS with studies related to the Flexblue project since the beginning of the project. The present paper will summarize the main results out of technical aspects. The important potential market of SMRs after 2020 has been put in evidence by several studies around the world and also in France. The development of the whole Flexblue system requires an innovative approach which appears to be more stringent and important than the reactor by itself. The interests of an immersed module for nuclear safety will be discussed as well as some challenges related to public acceptance. Flexblue shows also an LCOE in the range of 100 Euro/MWh which structure will be presented and discussed. The licensing process for such a system requires a challenging new approach to be defined at a multinational level. Lastly we will give a brief status of the Flexblue project. (authors)

Nuclear power and European Union enlargement challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chirica, T.; Bilegan, C.; Pall, S.; Sandru, P.

2000-01-01

In the nuclear power sector, the main concern for the candidate countries entering the European Union, remains the nuclear safety. New standards and regulation will be issued for improving the general quality of life in a sound environment. For the candidate countries entering the European Union, this situation represents a real challenge. Their national legislation must be improved to meet the European standards. The conditions are different from country to country, and more difficult for those, which operate ''non west European reactor type''. The paper also present the actual status of the Romanian legislation related to nuclear power and environment. There are presented the principles, terms and responsibilities contained in this legislation. The authors discuss some aspects related to the possibilities to improve the national legislation to meet the actual European Commission or EURATOM standards. (author)

Quark effects in nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watt, A.

1987-01-01

Some experimental data in nuclear structure physics cannot be explained on the assumption that nuclei consist of inert protons and neutrons. The quark model attributes a definite internal structure to nucleons and implies that their properties should change when embedded in a nucleus. This article reviews some of the experimental evidence for these effects and discusses some new aspects of nuclear structure predicted by the quark model

Clustering aspects in nuclear structure functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirai, M.; Saito, K.; Watanabe, T.; Kumano, S.

2011-01-01

For understanding an anomalous nuclear effect experimentally observed for the beryllium-9 nucleus at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, clustering aspects are studied in structure functions of deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering by using momentum distributions calculated in antisymmetrized (or fermionic) molecular dynamics (AMD) and also in a simple shell model for comparison. According to AMD, the 9 Be nucleus consists of two α-like clusters with a surrounding neutron. The clustering produces high-momentum components in nuclear wave functions, which affects nuclear modifications of the structure functions. We investigated whether clustering features could appear in the structure function F 2 of 9 Be along with studies for other light nuclei. We found that nuclear modifications of F 2 are similar in both AMD and shell models within our simple convolution description although there are slight differences in 9 Be. It indicates that the anomalous 9 Be result should be explained by a different mechanism from the nuclear binding and Fermi motion. If nuclear-modification slopes d(F 2 A /F 2 D )/dx are shown by the maximum local densities, the 9 Be anomaly can be explained by the AMD picture, namely by the clustering structure, whereas it certainly cannot be described in the simple shell model. This fact suggests that the large nuclear modification in 9 Be should be explained by large densities in the clusters. For example, internal nucleon structure could be modified in the high-density clusters. The clustering aspect of nuclear structure functions is an unexplored topic which is interesting for future investigations.

Achieving competitive excellence in nuclear energy: The threat of proliferation; the challenge of inertial confinement fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuckolls, J.H.

1994-06-01

Nuclear energy will have an expanding role in meeting the twenty-first-century challenges of population and economic growth, energy demand, and global warming. These great challenges are non-linearly coupled and incompletely understood. In the complex global system, achieving competitive excellence for nuclear energy is a multi-dimensional challenge. The growth of nuclear energy will be driven by its margin of economic advantage, as well as by threats to energy security and by growing evidence of global warming. At the same time, the deployment of nuclear energy will be inhibited by concerns about nuclear weapons proliferation, nuclear waste and nuclear reactor safety. These drivers and inhibitors are coupled: for example, in the foreseeable future, proliferation in the Middle East may undermine energy security and increase demand for nuclear energy. The Department of Energy's nuclear weapons laboratories are addressing many of these challenges, including nuclear weapons builddown and nonproliferation, nuclear waste storage and burnup, reactor safety and fuel enrichment, global warming, and the long-range development of fusion energy. Today I will focus on two major program areas at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL): the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the development of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) energy

Regulatory challenges in the management of aging of structural materials in nuclear power plants; Retos reguladores en la gestion del envejecimiento de los materiales estructurales de centrales nucleares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castelo, C.; Mendoza, C.; Mas, E.; Conde, J. M.

2013-07-01

The article discusses two major pathways by which a regulatory body, and in particular the CSN, may participate in the acquisition of the necessary knowledge on mechanisms of aging of nuclear structural materials: to participate in forums to share operational experience and R and R project, both nationally and internationally. It notes the importance of this participation to carry out its regulatory function based on the knowledge acquired and the unique challenge of transferring that knowledge to rules and guidelines for their application. The article discusses various R and D projects in which the CSN participates directly. It calls for the presence of regulatory bodies in R and D project funded by the EU and the transfer of the results of such projects to codes, standards or guidelines for feasible implementation. (Author)

Concrete structures for nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

The detailed requirements for the design and fabrication of the concrete structures for nuclear facilities and for the documents to be submitted to the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (STUK) are given in the guide. It also sets the requirements for the inspection of concrete structures during the construction and operation of facilities. The requirements of the guide primarily apply to new construction. As regards the repair and modification of nuclear facilities built before its publication, the guide is followed to the extent appropriate. The regulatory activities of the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety during a nuclear facility's licence application review and during the construction and operation of the facility are summarised in the guide YVL 1.1

Problems of structural mechanics in nuclear design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patwardhan, V.M.; Kakodkar, Anil

1975-01-01

A very careful and detailed stress analysis of nuclear presure vessels and components is essential for ensuring the safety and integrity of nuclear power plants. The nuclear designer, therefore, relies heavily on structural mechanics for application of the most advanced stress analysis techniques to practical design problems. The paper reviews the inter-relation between structural mechanics and nuclear design and discusses a few of the specific structural mechanics problems faced by the nuclear designers in the Department of Atomic Energy, India. (author)

The renaissance of nuclear power. Causes and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hillriches, Christian [AREVA NP GmbH, Erlangen (Germany)

2008-07-01

An increase in the use of nuclear energy for power generation is predicted worldwide. Confirmation of this trend can already be found today in extensions to nuclear power plant operating licenses and projects for nuclear plant upgrading and uprating. Numerous countries have decided to build new nuclear power plants or are planning to do so, even countries that have not used nuclear energy in the past. The reasons for this global renaissance include a growing demand for electric power all over the world, awareness that our fossil resources are limited, the desire by many countries to reduce their dependence on energy imports, and the drive to combat climate change. The nuclear industry is rising to this challenge by offering advanced reactors of the 3rd generation, by consolidating and restructuring manufacturing capacities, by building up staffing levels and investing in production facilities and the fuel cycle. Standardizing technology, progressively harmonizing safety requirements across national borders and setting up long-term cooperation agreements between vendors and plant operators are options that can help turn the global renaissance of nuclear power into a sustainable success. (orig.)

Nuclear targets within the project of solving CHAllenges in Nuclear DAta

Science.gov (United States)

Sibbens, Goedele; Moens, André; Vanleeuw, David; Lewis, David; Aregbe, Yetunde

2017-09-01

In the frame of the European Commission funded integrated project CHANDA (solving CHAllenges in Nuclear DAta) the importance of nuclear target preparation for the accurateness and reliability of experimental nuclear data is set in a dedicated work package (WP3). The global aim of WP3 is the development of a network for nuclear target preparation and characterization, enabling to coordinate the target production corresponding to the experimental requirements. Therefore, a set of tasks within the work package needs to be followed. Primarily, an inventory of target related facilities and radioisotope providers was created. In the next step a priority list of target requests was made in agreement with the target user considering the technical specification, the scheduled experiments and the availability of the target laboratories. A set of target requests has been assigned to the Target Preparation laboratory of the European Commission - Joint Research Centre - Directorate G (EC-JRC.G.2) in Geel, Belgium. This contribution gives an overview of the nuclear targets that are produced within the CHANDA project. The equipment and techniques available for the preparation and characterization of uranium, plutonium and neptunium layers with an areal density ranging from 60 to 205 μg cm-2 will be emphasized.

Key technologies for the current and future challenges of the nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez-Sancho, Lou; Roulleaux Dugage, Martin

2017-01-01

The current challenges of the nuclear industry are the result of too many uncertainties: low GDP growth of OECD countries, booming state debts, deregulated electricity markets, growing safety regulation and diminishing public support. As a result, nuclear technology companies tend to entrench in their current installed base, while attempting to develop global partnerships to market their products to new nuclear countries, along with viable financing schemes. But new opportunities are lying ahead. In a future context of effective and global climate policies, nuclear energy will have to play a key role in a new energy ecosystem aside the two other clean air energy production technologies: renewable energies and electricity storage. And still, the perspective of long-term sustainability of nuclear energy is still high. This paper explores the opportunity for key innovative technologies to shift the way we think about nuclear in the future energy system while addressing these major challenges. (author)

The Nuclear Education and Staffing Challenge: Rebuilding Critical Skills in Nuclear Science and Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wogman, Ned A.; Bond, Leonard J.; Waltar, Alan E.; Leber, R E.

2005-01-01

The United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Laboratories, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are facing a serious attrition of nuclear scientists and engineers and their capabilities through the effects of aging staff. Within the DOE laboratories, 75% of nuclear personnel will be eligible to retire by 2010. It is expected that there will be a significant loss of senior nuclear science and technology staff at PNNL within five years. PNNL's nuclear legacy is firmly rooted in the DOE Hanford site, the World War II Manhattan Project, and subsequent programs. Historically, PNNL was a laboratory were 70% of its activities were nuclear/radiological, and now just under 50% of its current business science and technology are nuclear and radiologically oriented. Programs in the areas of Nuclear Legacies, Global Security, Nonproliferation, Homeland Security and National Defense, Radiobiology and Nuclear Energy still involve more than 1,000 of the 3,800 current laboratory staff, and these include more than 420 staff who are certified as nuclear/radiological scientists and engineers. This paper presents the current challenges faced by PNNL that require an emerging strategy to solve the nuclear staffing issues through the maintenance and replenishment of the human nuclear capital needed to support PNNL nuclear science and technology programs

The Nuclear Education and Staffing Challenge: Rebuilding Critical Skills in Nuclear Science and Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wogman, Ned A.; Bond, Leonard J.; Waltar, Alan E.; Leber, R E.

2005-01-01

The United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Laboratories, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are facing a serious attrition of nuclear scientists and engineers and their capabilities through the effects of aging staff. Within the DOE laboratories, 75% of nuclear personnel will be eligible to retire by 2010. It is expected that there will be a significant loss of senior nuclear science and technology staff at PNNL within five years. PNNL's nuclear legacy is firmly rooted in the DOE Hanford site, the World War II Manhattan Project, and subsequent programs. Historically, PNNL was a laboratory where 70% of its activities were nuclear/radiological, and now just under 50% of its current business science and technology are nuclear and radiologically oriented. Programs in the areas of Nuclear Legacies, Global Security, Nonproliferation, Homeland Security and National Defense, Radiobiology and Nuclear Energy still involve more than 1,000 of the 3,800 current laboratory staff, and these include more than 420 staff who are certified as nuclear/radiological scientists and engineers. This paper presents the current challenges faced by PNNL that require an emerging strategy to solve the nuclear staffing issues through the maintenance and replenishment of the human nuclear capital needed to support PNNL nuclear science and technology programs

The nuclear education and staffing challenge: Rebuilding critical skills in nuclear science and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wogman, N.A.; Bond, L.J.; Waltar, A.E.; Leber, R.E.

2005-01-01

The United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Laboratories, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are facing a serious attrition of nuclear scientists and engineers and their capabilities through the effects of aging staff. Within the DOE laboratories, 75% of nuclear personnel will be eligible to retire by 2010. It is expected that there will be a significant loss of senior nuclear science and technology staff at PNNL within five years. PNNL's nuclear legacy is firmly rooted in the DOE Hanford site, the World War II Manhattan Project, and subsequent programs. Historically, PNNL was a laboratory where 70% of its activities were nuclear/radiological, and now just under 50% of its current business science and technology are nuclear and radiologically oriented. Programs in the areas of nuclear legacies, global security, nonproliferation, homeland security and national defense, radiobiology and nuclear energy still involve more than 1,000 of the 3,800 current laboratory staff, and these include more than 420 staff who are certified as nuclear/radiological scientists and engineers. Current challenges faced by PNNL that require an emerging strategy to solve the nuclear staffing issues through the maintenance and replenishment of the human nuclear capital needed to support PNNL nuclear science and technology programs are presented. (author)

Regulatory challenges in using nuclear operating experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

The fundamental objective of all nuclear safety regulatory bodies is to ensure that nuclear utilities operate their plants in an acceptably safe manner at all times. Learning from experience has been a key element in meeting this objective. It is therefore very important for nuclear power plant operators to have an active programme for collecting, analysing and acting on the lessons of operating experience that could affect the safety of their plants. NEA experts have noted that almost all of the recent, significant events reported at international meetings have occurred earlier in one form or another. Counteractions are usually well-known, but information does not always seem to reach end users, or corrective action programmes are not always rigorously applied. Thus, one of the challenges that needs to be met in order to maintain good operational safety performance is to ensure that operating experience is promptly reported to established reporting systems, preferably international in order to benefit from a larger base of experience, and that the lessons from operating experience are actually used to promote safety. This report focuses on how regulatory bodies can ensure that operating experience is used effectively to promote the safety of nuclear power plants. While directed at nuclear power plants, the principles in this report may apply to other nuclear facilities as well. (author)

New challenges in nuclear material detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunlop, W.; Sale, K.; Dougan, A.; Luke, J.; Suski, N.

2002-01-01

Full text: Even before the attacks of September 11, 2001 the International Safeguards community recognized the magnitude of the threat posed by illicit trafficking of nuclear materials and the need for enhanced physical protection. For the first time, separate sessions on illicit trafficking and physical protection of nuclear materials were included in the IAEA Safeguards Symposium. In the aftermath of September 11, it is clear that the magnitude of the problem and the urgency with which it must be addressed will be a significant driver for advanced nuclear materials detection technologies for years to come. Trafficking in nuclear material and other radioactive sources is a global concern. According to the IAEA Illicit Trafficking Database Program, there have been confirmed cases in more than 40 countries and the number of cases per year have nearly doubled since 1996. The challenge of combating nuclear terrorism also brings with it many opportunities for the development of new tools and new approaches. In addition to the traditional gamma-ray imaging, spectrometry and neutron interrogation, there is a need for smaller, smarter, more energy-efficient sensors and sensor systems for detecting and tracking threats. These systems go by many names - correlated sensor networks, wide-area tracking systems, sensor or network fabrics - but the concept behind them is the same. Take a number of wireless sensors and tie them together with a communications network, develop a scheme for fusing the data and make the system easy to deploy. This paper will present a brief survey of nuclear materials detection capability, and discuss some advances in research and development that are particularly suited for illicit trafficking, detection of shielded highly enriched uranium, and border security. (author)

Broyden's method in nuclear structure calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baran, Andrzej; Bulgac, Aurel; Forbes, Michael McNeil; Hagen, Gaute; Nazarewicz, Witold; Schunck, Nicolas; Stoitsov, Mario V.

2008-01-01

Broyden's method, widely used in quantum chemistry electronic-structure calculations for the numerical solution of nonlinear equations in many variables, is applied in the context of the nuclear many-body problem. Examples include the unitary gas problem, the nuclear density functional theory with Skyrme functionals, and the nuclear coupled-cluster theory. The stability of the method, its ease of use, and its rapid convergence rates make Broyden's method a tool of choice for large-scale nuclear structure calculations

Nuclear Deterrence in Cyber-ia: Challenges and Controversies

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

54 | Air & Space Power Journal Nuclear Deterrence in Cyber-ia Challenges and Controversies © Dr. Stephen J. Cimbala* Disclaimer: The views and...into here. 11. Mazanec, “International Order in Cyberspace,” 83. 12. Joel Brenner, Glass Houses: Privacy , Secrecy, and Cyber Insecurity in a Transparent

Nuclear fuel supply: challenges and opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowen, S.

2006-01-01

Prices of uranium, conversion services and enrichment services have all significantly increased in the last few years. These price increases have generally been driven by a tightening in the supply of these products and services, mostly due to long lead times required to bring these products and services to the market. This paper will describe the various steps in the nuclear fuel cycle for natural and enriched uranium fuel, will discuss the development of the front-end fuel cycle for low void reactivity fuel, and will address the challenges faced in the long-term supply of each component, particularly in the light of potential demand increases as a result of a nuclear renaissance. The opportunities for new capacity and uranium production will be outlined and the process required to achieve sufficient new supply will be discussed. (author)

Status of transactinium nuclear data in the evaluated nuclear structure data file

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewbank, W.B.

1980-01-01

The structure and organization of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) which serves as the source data base for the production of drawings and tables for the ''Nuclear Data Sheets'' journal is described. The updating and output features of ENSDF are described with emphasis on nuclear structure and decay data of the transactinium isotopes. (author)

Nuclear Hybrid Energy Systems: Challenges and Opportunities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

P. Sabharwall; S.B. Sitton; S.J. Yoon; C. Stoots

2014-07-01

With growing demand of energy and costs of the fossil fuels, coupled with the environmental concerns have resulted in an increased interest in alternative energy sources. Nuclear hybrid energy systems (NHES) are being considered which incorporates renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy combined with nuclear reactor and energy storage to meet the peak hours demand imposed on the grid, along with providing process heat for other potential industrial applications. This concept could potentially satisfy various energy demands and improve reliability, robustness and resilience for the entire system as a whole, along with economic and net efficiency gains. This paper provides a brief understanding of potential NHES system and architecture along with the challenges

The political challenges of nuclear waste; Kaernavfallets politiska utmaningar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andren, Mats; Strandberg, Urban (eds.)

2005-07-01

This anthology is made up of nine essays on the nuclear waste issue, both its political, social and technical aspects, with the aim to create a platform for debate and planning of research. The contributions are titled: 'From clean energy to dangerous waste - the regulatory management of nuclear power in the Swedish welfare society. An economic-historic review{sup ,} 'The course of the high-level waste into the national political arena', 'The technical principles behind the Swedish repository for spent fuels', 'Waste, legitimacy and local citizenship', 'Nuclear issues in societal planning', 'Usefulness or riddance - transmutation or just disposal?', 'National nuclear fuel policy in an European Union?', 'Conclusion - the challenges of the nuclear waste issue', 'Final words - about the need for critical debate and multi-disciplinary research'.

Selected topics in nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faessler, A.

1990-01-01

Today's dream of nuclear structure physics is to calculate the properties of nuclei starting from Quantum-Chromodynamics (QCD). However, we are definitely not able to do that today and may be even in the future one would wish only to show in principle that this is possible. It probably will never be a daily approach to study excitation energies, transitions probabilities and other properties of nuclei. This paper discusses the possibility of coming from the shore of QCD to the other side of the river, to nuclear structure, not in one great arch buy like medieval bridges in several arches grounded each solidly on pillars going down to the river floor and by that connecting theory with the solid ground of experiments. The first arch is meant to connect QCD and the nucleon-nucleon phase shifts with the help to the nucleon-nucleon phase shifts with the experimentally fitted effective interactions for the final model spaces used in nuclear structure calculations. This is at the moment still by far the weakest arch although a large amount of work and ideas have been invested since about the middle of the 60's to derive a theory of effective interactions and to establish the connection of the effective interaction fitted to nuclear structure data with the bare interaction between nucleons in the vacuum. The last arch is connecting the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction with nuclear structure properties

Evolution of nuclear reactor containments in India: Addressing the present day challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kakodkar, Anil, E-mail: kakodkar@barc.gov.in

2014-04-01

Indigenously developed Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) that form the backbone of current stage of nuclear power development in India have seen continuous evolution of their containment systems. This evolution that has taken place over implementation of 18 PHWRs (200/220/540 MWe) has encompassed all aspects of containment design, viz. the structural system, energy management system, radio-activity management and hydrogen management system. As a part of ongoing efforts toward strengthening of safety performance, India is also ready with the design of Advance Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), which represents a technology demonstrator for advanced reactor systems and for thorium utilization. This reactor has a number of improved passive safety features and it is capable of meeting the demanding safety challenges that future reactor system would be expected to meet as a result of emerging expectations in the background of accidents over the past three decades viz. those at Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986) and most recently at Fukushima (2011). In this lecture I shall focus on the evolution of nuclear reactor containments in India and highlight the design, associated structural and thermal hydraulics safety assessment made over the years for the improvement of containment performance.

ENSDF: a nuclear structure data bank for nuclear physicists

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blachot, J.

1987-02-01

Data Banks have tremendously grown these last years. All the nuclear Structure information are now in the ENSDF. This file is used for the Nuclear Data Sheets publication. The part which contains only Adopted Data could be used as a Data Bank for Nuclear Physicists. Examples of retrevial are given [fr

Nuclear Energy's Role in the 21. Century: Addressing the Challenge of Financing. Conference Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayoub, Rakan; Borovas, George; Burkart, Alex; Gorn, Janet; Cho, Carl; Duncan, Aleshia; ); Gadomski, Chris; Ha, Jaejoo; ); Keppler, Jan Horst; ); Kuchinov, Vladimir; Lipman, Dan; Mathieson, John; McGinnis, Ed; Murphy, Paul; Mussler, Robert; Paillere, Henri; ); Reilly, Fiona; Sadayasu, Motomitsu; Schapiro, Regine; Shropshire, David; ); Duncan, Aleshia; Kmiec, Weronika; Grosch, Gisela; Lundell, Charlotta; Pham Van, Andree; Vuillaume; Allen Hamilton, Booz; Barkatullah, Nadira; Rollat, Xavier

2016-01-01

In May 2016, the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) held a conference in cooperation with the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) on 'Nuclear Energy's Role in the 21. Century: Addressing the Challenge of Financing'. This conference brought together over 150 stakeholders from more than 30 countries, including government representatives and members of the nuclear and finance communities, as well as experts from the NEA and the OECD. Conference participants discussed the primary challenges faced by the markets, including how to secure financing for new nuclear projects, as well as approaches and solutions to such challenges. Through multiple expert presentations, moderated sessions and scenario discussions, participants acquired a better understanding of the unique challenges, approaches and techniques involved in financing new nuclear power plants. Throughout the conference, experts set the stage to understand why financing new NPPs is so difficult and complex. The following are the key challenges identified through discussions: - unstable electricity prices in a liberalized market; - electricity market designs that do not provide investment signals for low-carbon technologies; - insufficient carbon pricing to promote nuclear investments; - explicit governmental support for renewables; - uncertain and changing political support; - poor social and political perception of safety; - historical new nuclear project budget and schedule overruns; - long-term nature of capital investments. Final recommendations for consideration Conclusions were reached through discussions and debate on how to best address the aforementioned challenges. Although not all of these challenges can be resolved, there are methods to address the risks involved and to build the confidence necessary for investment. The key recommendations from the conference for financing new NPPs include: - conduct electricity market reform to level the playing field across all

Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhat, M.R.

1991-01-01

The Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF), is maintained by the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) on behalf of the international Nuclear Structure and Decay Data (NSDD) network organized under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency. ENSDF provides evaluated experimental nuclear structure and decay data for basic and applied research. The activities of the NSDD network, the publication of the evaluations, and their use in different applications are described. Since 1986, the ENSDF and related numeric and bibliographic data bases have been made available for on-line access. The current status of these data bases, and future plans to improve the on-line access to their contents are discussed. 8 refs., 4 tabs

Future nuclear regulatory challenges. A report by the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

Future challenges are considered that may arise from technical, socio-economic and political issues; organizational, management and human aspects; and international issues. The perceived challenges have been grouped into four categories, each covered by a chapter. Technical issues are addressed that many present regulatory challenges in the future: ageing nuclear power plants. External changes to industry are considered next that have an effect on regulators, privatization, cost reduction consequences, commercialization etc. It is followed by the impacts of internal changes: organizational, managerial, human-resources, licensing, staff training etc. Finally, international issues are discussed with potential regulatory impact. (R.P.)

Overview of principles and challenges of fusion nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdou, M.

2007-01-01

Fusion offers very attractive features as a sustainable, broadly available energy source: no emissions of greenhouse gases, no risk of severe accident, and no long-lived radioactive waste. Significant advances in the science and technology of fusion have been realized in the past decades. Seven countries (EU, Japan, USA, Russia, S. Korea, China, and India) comprising about half the world population are constructing a major magnetic fusion facility, called ITER, in France. The objectives of ITER are to demonstrate self-sustaining burning fusion plasma and to test fusion technologies relevant to fusion reactor. Many challenges to the practical utilization of fusion energy remain ahead. Among these challenges is the successful development of Fusion Nuclear Technology (FNT). FNT includes those fusion system components circumscribing the plasma and responsible for tritium production and processing, heat removal at high temperature and power density, and high heat flux components. FNT components face a new and more challenging environment than experienced by any previous nuclear application. Beyond plasma physics, FNT has most of the remaining feasibility and attractiveness issues in the development of fusion as an energy source. The blanket, a key FNT component, determines the critical path to DEMO. The blanket is exposed to an intense radiation environment. Radioactivity and decay heat can be produced in the structure and other blanket elements. Hence, material choices have a large impact on safety and environmental attractiveness. The unique conditions of the fusion environment include high radiation flux, high surface heat flux, strong 3-D-component magnetic field with large gradients, and ultra-low vacuum. These conditions, together with the requirements for high-temperature operation and tritium self-sufficiency, make blanket design and development challenging tasks. The blanket concepts being considered worldwide can be classified into solid breeders and liquid

Theoretical studies in nuclear reactions and nuclear structure. Progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-05-01

Research in the Maryland Nuclear Theory Group focusses on problems in four basic areas of current relevance. Hadrons in nuclear matter; the structure of hadrons; relativistic nuclear physics and heavy ion dynamics and related processes. The section on hadrons in nuclear matter groups together research items which are aimed at exploring ways in which the properties of nucleons and the mesons which play a role in the nuclear force are modified in the nuclear medium. A very interesting result has been the finding that QCD sum rules supply a new insight into the decrease of the nucleon`s mass in the nuclear medium. The quark condensate, which characterizes spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking of the late QCD vacuum, decreases in nuclear matter and this is responsible for the decrease of the nucleon`s mass. The section on the structure of hadrons contains progress reports on our research aimed at understanding the structure of the nucleon. Widely different approaches are being studied, e.g., lattice gauge calculations, QCD sum rules, quark-meson models with confinement and other hedgehog models. A major goal of this type of research is to develop appropriate links between nuclear physics and QCD. The section on relativistic nuclear physics represents our continuing interest in developing an appropriate relativistic framework for nuclear dynamics. A Lorentz-invariant description of the nuclear force suggests a similar decrease of the nucleon`s mass in the nuclear medium as has been found from QCD sum rules. Work in progress extends previous successes in elastic scattering to inelastic scattering of protons by nuclei. The section on heavy ion dynamics and related processes reports on research into the e{sup +}e{sup {minus}} problem and heavy ion dynamics.

Overview of nuclear structure with electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geesaman, D. F.

1999-01-01

Following a broad summary of the author's view of nuclear structure in 1974, he will discuss the key elements they have learned in the past 25 years from the research at the M.I.T. Bates Linear Accelerator center and its sister electron accelerator laboratories. Electron scattering has provided the essential measurements for most of the progress. The future is bright for nuclear structure research as their ability to realistically calculate nuclear structure observables has dramatically advanced and they are increasingly able to incorporate an understanding of quantum chromodynamics into their picture of the nucleus

Challenging today's nuclear industry to be competitive in a changing tomorrow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plug, B.

1996-01-01

As the millennium approaches, the future of the nuclear power generation appears desolate. Today's nuclear executives are facing challenges resulting from worldwide change and have forced utilities to reevaluate their corporation's future directions. The nuclear industry must be competitive more than ever to address today's rapid changing marketplace and pressures exerted from: regulatory reformation; increased competition; changes in technology; customer evolution; and globalization. These factors have compelled nuclear executives to address questions such as: What impact will these changes have on today's marketplace, and on my corporation? What will characterize tomorrow's successful nuclear facility? How can today's nuclear corporation compete in tomorrow's marketplace? Will my corporation survive? (author)

Ab initio nuclear structure - the large sparse matrix eigenvalue problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vary, James P; Maris, Pieter [Department of Physics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011 (United States); Ng, Esmond; Yang, Chao [Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Sosonkina, Masha, E-mail: jvary@iastate.ed [Scalable Computing Laboratory, Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011 (United States)

2009-07-01

The structure and reactions of light nuclei represent fundamental and formidable challenges for microscopic theory based on realistic strong interaction potentials. Several ab initio methods have now emerged that provide nearly exact solutions for some nuclear properties. The ab initio no core shell model (NCSM) and the no core full configuration (NCFC) method, frame this quantum many-particle problem as a large sparse matrix eigenvalue problem where one evaluates the Hamiltonian matrix in a basis space consisting of many-fermion Slater determinants and then solves for a set of the lowest eigenvalues and their associated eigenvectors. The resulting eigenvectors are employed to evaluate a set of experimental quantities to test the underlying potential. For fundamental problems of interest, the matrix dimension often exceeds 10{sup 10} and the number of nonzero matrix elements may saturate available storage on present-day leadership class facilities. We survey recent results and advances in solving this large sparse matrix eigenvalue problem. We also outline the challenges that lie ahead for achieving further breakthroughs in fundamental nuclear theory using these ab initio approaches.

Ab initio nuclear structure - the large sparse matrix eigenvalue problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vary, James P; Maris, Pieter; Ng, Esmond; Yang, Chao; Sosonkina, Masha

2009-01-01

The structure and reactions of light nuclei represent fundamental and formidable challenges for microscopic theory based on realistic strong interaction potentials. Several ab initio methods have now emerged that provide nearly exact solutions for some nuclear properties. The ab initio no core shell model (NCSM) and the no core full configuration (NCFC) method, frame this quantum many-particle problem as a large sparse matrix eigenvalue problem where one evaluates the Hamiltonian matrix in a basis space consisting of many-fermion Slater determinants and then solves for a set of the lowest eigenvalues and their associated eigenvectors. The resulting eigenvectors are employed to evaluate a set of experimental quantities to test the underlying potential. For fundamental problems of interest, the matrix dimension often exceeds 10 10 and the number of nonzero matrix elements may saturate available storage on present-day leadership class facilities. We survey recent results and advances in solving this large sparse matrix eigenvalue problem. We also outline the challenges that lie ahead for achieving further breakthroughs in fundamental nuclear theory using these ab initio approaches.

Online Monitoring of Concrete Structures in Nuclear Power Plants: Interim Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mahadevan, Sankaran [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Cai, Guowei [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Agarwal, Vivek [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-03-01

The existing fleet of nuclear power plants in the United States have initial operating licenses of 40 years, and many of these plants have applied for and received license extensions. As plant structures, systems, and components age, their useful life—considering both structural integrity and performance—is reduced as a result of deterioration of the materials. Assessment and management of aging concrete structures in nuclear plants require a more systematic approach than simple reliance on existing code-based design margins of safety. Structural health monitoring is required to produce actionable information regarding structural integrity that supports operational and maintenance decisions. The online monitoring of concrete structures project conducted under the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Technologies Pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability program at Idaho National Laboratory is seeking to develop and demonstrate capabilities for concrete structures health monitoring. Through this research project, several national laboratories and Vanderbilt University propose to develop a framework of research activities for the health monitoring of nuclear power plant concrete structures that includes the integration of four elements—damage modeling, monitoring, data analytics, and uncertainty quantification. This report briefly discusses activities in this project during October-December, 2014. The most significant activity during this period was the organizing of a two-day workshop on research needs in online monitoring of concrete structures, hosted by Vanderbilt University in November 2014. Thirty invitees from academia, industry and government participated in the workshop. The presentations and discussions at the workshop surveyed current activities related to concrete structures deterioration modeling and monitoring, and identified the challenges, knowledge gaps, and opportunities for advancing the state of the art; these

Microscopic nuclear structure with sub-nucleonic degrees of freedom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sauer, P.U.

1986-01-01

The paper reviews microscopic theories of nuclear structure. The subject is discussed under the topic headings: microscopic nuclear structure with nucleons only; microscopic nuclear structure with nucleons, isobars and mesons; and microscopic nuclear structure with nucleons, mesons and dibaryons. (U.K.)

Challenges of Communicating Nuclear and Radiation Information: The Case of Zimbabwe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mudota, B.

2015-01-01

Communication is paramount in all human activities and appears to be a very easy subject. But in actual fact it is a complicated process with a capacity to change perceptions from being negative to positive or vice versa. The issue of communication becomes even more challenging when it involves issues or topics which are generally perceived as complex in various societies. A case in point involves the communication challenges faced in communicating radiation/nuclear issues especially to third world country audiences where the concept is still in its infancy and therefore not well understood by the public. Increasing awareness to the public on issues to do with nuclear/radiation is critical especially in terms of developing and building future competencies which are currently skewed towards males in Zimbabwe. The ratio of female citizens engaged in nuclear/radiation fields is still very low in Zimbabwe. There is therefore need to start communicating nuclear/radiation issues from an early age with a focus on changing women’s perceptions over such issues. The Radiation Protection Authority of Zimbabwe’s Corporate Communications Department presents a study based on the experiences of the Corporate Communications Officer over a period of four years in that capacity. This study provides reasons why third world country publics, especially in Zimbabwe s are showing little interest in nuclear/radiation issues. Experiences are also shared on how the Corporate Communications Officer has managed to increase awareness of /nuclear issues from two percent to five percent over the last four years. The different methods of communication used are also detailed together with the accompanying challenges. (author)

Global Status of Nuclear Power: Prospects and Challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tayobeka, B. M.

2010-01-01

Global energy requirements and the share of electricity in total energy consumption are increasing rapidly, and the contribution of nuclear power is projected to increase significantly. Out of the 29 countries currently using nuclear power for electricity generation, 22 intend to allow new plants to be built, and, of those, the majority are actively supporting the increased use of nuclear power, some by providing incentives. Most of these countries are expected to build reactors with a generating capacity of over 1000 MW(e). Only three countries continue to have a policy to phase out the use of nuclear energy in the future by not replacing existing operating nuclear power plants and with no consideration of the option of new nuclear plants.In addition, a growing number of countries are expressing interest in introducing nuclear power. Of the more than 60 countries that have expressed such an interest in recent years, over 20 are actively considering nuclear power programmes to meet their energy needs and the others have expressed interest in understanding the issues associated with the introduction of nuclear power.The drivers for rising expectations for nuclear power include: growing energy demand, concern over national energy supply security, the increasingly volatile price of fossil fuels and global environmental concerns. The drivers appear to be the same for countries expanding existing nuclear programmes and those seeking to introduce programmes. The projections made by different international organizations indicate a significant growth in the use of nuclear power. The IAEA projections indicate a world total for nuclear electrical generating capacity of between 445 and 543 GW(e) by 2020 and between 511 and 807 GW(e) by 2030. This paper takes a detailed look into the global status of nuclear power, highlighting challenges and prospects of the technology going into the next century.(author).

Experimental overview and challenge in strangeness nuclear physics — strangeness in the past and coming decades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imai, Kenichi

2010-01-01

A great progress has been made in strangeness nuclear physics in the past decade. Examples are; 1) The "hyperfine" structure of hypernuclei were measured with the Hyperball, and ΛN spin dependent interactions in p-shell hypernuclei were determined. 2) The "complete measurements" of the weak decay of hypernuclei were made and the np ratio puzzle in the non-mesonic decay was solved. 3) The discovery of a clean event of "Lambpha" and determination of its binding energy concluded that the Λ-Λ interaction is weak attractive. However, we still have important questions to be answered in this field, especially in relation with QCD and nuclear physics. For the future strangeness nuclear physics, we have and will have facilities such as JLab, SPring-8, Daphne, J-PARC, FAIR. We discuss experimental challenges in the strangeness nuclear physics and related fields in the next decade. (author)

Nuclear Structure: Dubna Symposium 1968. Invited Papers from the International Symposium on Nuclear Structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1968-01-01

Invited papers of a Symposium organized by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, supported by IUPAP and IAEA, and held in Dubna from 4 to 11 July 1968. The meeting was attended by about 450 scientists from 30 countries. The volume contains the invited papers, all by distinguished scientists, and the discussions and short contributions that followed the presentation of these papers. Contents: I. Nuclear structure at low excitations (15 papers) ; II. Nuclear structure at high excitations (6 papers): III. Open problems in nuclear physics (3 papers); IV. Equilibrium deformations (6 papers); V. General properties of nuclei (6 papers); VI. Closing remarks; List of contributions; List of seminar papers; List of participants; Author index. All papers, discussions and short contributions are in English; the abstracts are in English and Russian, which were the working languages of the Symposium. (author)

Radiation and physical protection challenges at advanced nuclear fuel cycle facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pickett, Susan E.

2008-01-01

Full text: The purpose of this study is to examine challenges and opportunities for radiation protection in advanced nuclear reactors and fuel facilities proposed under the Generation IV (GEN IV) initiative which is examining and pursuing the exploration and development of advanced nuclear science and technology; and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which seeks to develop worldwide consensus on enabling expanded use of economical, carbon-free nuclear energy to meet growing energy demand. The International Energy Agency projects nuclear power to increase at a rate of 1.3 to 1.5 percent a year over the next 20 years, depending on economic growth. Much of this growth will be in Asia, which, as a whole, currently has plans for 40 new nuclear power plants. Given this increase in demand for new nuclear power facilities, ranging from light water reactors to advanced fuel processing and fabrication facilities, it is necessary for radiation protection and physical protection technologies to keep pace to ensure both worker and public health. This paper is based on a review of current initiatives and the proposed reactors and facilities, primarily the nuclear fuel cycle facilities proposed under the GEN IV and GNEP initiatives. Drawing on the Technology Road map developed under GEN IV, this work examines the potential radiation detection and protection challenges and issues at advanced reactors, including thermal neutron spectrum systems, fast neutron spectrum systems and nuclear fuel recycle facilities. The thermal neutron systems look to improve the efficiency of production of hydrogen or electricity, while the fast neutron systems aim to enable more effective management of actinides through recycling of most components in the discharged fuel. While there are components of these advanced systems that can draw on the current and well-developed radiation protection practices, there will inevitably be opportunities to improve the overall quality of radiation

Nuclear accident evacuee bullying and structural violence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsujiuchi, Takuya

2018-01-01

Nuclear accident sufferers should be now referred to as nuclear accident victims. The authors discuss why nuclear accident victims receive not only psychological bullying where no peculiar causes exist, but also corporal and physical bullying and mental suffering, based on the results of questionnaire survey conducted by the authors from January to February 2017, the 'survey on bullying problems related to evacuation from the nuclear accident.' The reasons why the nuclear power evacuation bullying has become a problem at present can be largely classified to the following three categories: (1) opinion that 'bullying' that originally existed just after the nuclear accident became surfaced recently, (2) opinion that latent problems exist as background, and (3) opinion that socially underlying issues are involved in the generation of bullying. Thus, various factors existing under nuclear power evacuation bullying were structurally clarified. In the background of children's nuclear evacuation bullying, adult nuclear power evacuation bullying exists, and there are 'lack of understanding, prejudice, and discrimination against nuclear power and Fukushima' under that. The author thought that 'structural violence' to create the disparity, discrimination, inequality, and injustice of society exists as the basis of such lack of understanding, prejudice, and discrimination, and discussed the 'structural violence' as the basis of bullying. As the upper structure of structural violence associated with nuclear accidents, there are two big phenomena: (1) setting of evacuation/return area not based on reasonable radiation dose standards and (2) fabricated safety and carefreeness myth. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's report on nuclear bullying could give an impression that 'nuclear power evacuation bullying' is 'not so big problem'. (A.O.)

Annual report of the Nuclear Structure Committee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

The Annual Report for the period 1 August 1975 to 31 July 1976 of the Nuclear Structure Committee of the Nuclear Physics Board, under the (United Kingdom) Science Research Council, is presented. Details are given of nuclear structure grants and laboratory agreements. (U.K.)

Nuclear structure and radioactive decay resources at the US National Nuclear Data Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sonzogni, A.A.; Burrows, T.W.; Pritychenko, B.; Tuli, J.K.; Winchell, D.F.

2008-01-01

The National Nuclear Data Center has a long tradition of evaluating nuclear structure and decay data as well as offering tools to assist in nuclear science research and applications. With these tools, users can obtain recommended values for nuclear structure and radioactive decay observables as well as links to the relevant articles. The main databases or tools are ENSDF, NSR, NuDat and the new Endf decay data library. The Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) stores recommended nuclear structure and decay data for all nuclei. ENSDF deals with properties such as: -) nuclear level energies, spin and parity, half-life and decay modes, -) nuclear radiation energy and intensity for different types, -) nuclear decay modes and their probabilities. The Nuclear Science References (NSR) is a bibliographic database containing nearly 200.000 nuclear sciences articles indexed according to content. About 4000 are added each year covering 80 journals as well as conference proceedings and laboratory reports. NuDat is a software product with 2 main goals, to present nuclear structure and decay information from ENSDF in a user-friendly way and to allow users to execute complex search operations in the wealth of data contained in ENSDF. The recently released Endf-B7.0 contains a decay data sub-library which has been derived from ENSDF. The way all these databases and tools have been offered to the public has undergone a drastic improvement due to advancements in information technology

Formulation of nuclear safety under various induced events. Part 1. Current status and challenges for risk-informed activities in nuclear safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoi, Tatsuya; Hayashi, Kentaro; Yamato, Masaaki

2016-01-01

The Nuclear Safety Subcommittee published in March 2013 a report on 'Seminar on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident' (hereinafter referred to as Seminar Report), and has thereafter continued discussions on the challenges that were pointed out in Seminar Report as the target of discussions. This commentary series summarizes the current situation and challenges for the ideal way of nuclear safety against a variety of causal events as one of the above challenges. This paper, as Part 1 of the above theme, firstly summarizes the current state of the challenges of regulatory bodies and business operators who are engaging risk information utilization. It secondly discusses the future risk information utilization of regulations and business operators, realization of integrated decision-making process, timeliness and promptness required in decision-making, and future efforts including incentives. (A.O.)

PREFACE: Open Problems in Nuclear Structure Theory: Introduction Open Problems in Nuclear Structure Theory: Introduction

Science.gov (United States)

Dobaczewski, Jacek

2010-06-01

Nuclear structure theory is a domain of physics faced at present with great challenges and opportunities. A larger and larger body of high-precision experimental data has been and continues to be accumulated. Experiments on very exotic short-lived isotopes are the backbone of activity at numerous large-scale facilities. Over the years, tremendous progress has been made in understanding the basic features of nuclei. However, the theoretical description of nuclear systems is still far from being complete and is often not very precise. Many questions, both basic and practical, remain unanswered. The goal of publishing this special focus issue of Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics on Open Problems in Nuclear Structure Theory (OPeNST) is to construct a fundamental inventory thereof, so that the tasks and available options become more clearly exposed and that this will help to stimulate a boost in theoretical activity, commensurate with the experimental progress. The requested format and scope of the articles on OPeNST was quite flexible. The journal simply offered the possibility to provide a forum for the material, which is very often discussed at conferences during the coffee breaks but does not normally have sufficient substance to form regular publications. Nonetheless, very often formulating a problem provides a major step towards its solution, and it may constitute a scientific achievement on its own. Prospective authors were therefore invited to find their own balance between the two extremes of very general problems on the one hand (for example, to solve exactly the many-body equations for a hundred particles) and very specific problems on the other hand (for example, those that one could put in one's own grant proposal). The authors were also asked not to cover results already obtained, nor to limit their presentations to giving a review of the subject, although some elements of those could be included to properly introduce the subject matter

Facing the challenges of nuclear power at Ontario Power Generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howes, H.

1999-01-01

Nuclear power represents a major portion of Ontario Power Generation's generation mix and it will be the bedrock upon which we build a successful, competitive company. Our nuclear units offer many environmental and economic benefits, the one most relevant to this meeting is their significant contribution to the relatively low carbon intensity of Ontario's and Canada's electricity supply. In recent weeks, we have listened with great interest to the endorsement by our federal Minister of the Environment of nuclear technology as a means of reducing global warming. But endorsements of this type alone are not sufficient to ensure that nuclear remains an acceptable option for managing greenhouse gas emissions. Without public acceptance and support, the entire nuclear investment is endangered. At OPG we face three challenges to building this public support: we must continue to improve our safety margins and operating performance; we must continue to improve the environmental performance at our stations; and we must increase our community outreach. Today I would like to focus on the last two challenges and the actions that we are taking to maintain our social and environmental 'licence to operate.' But before I describe these initiatives, I will tell you about: the new company - Ontario Power Generation; the changes in store for Ontario's electricity sector; and our greenhouse gas emissions - the legacy from Ontario Hydro. (author)

Durability and safety of concrete structures in the nuclear context. The case of the containment vessel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torrenti, J.M. [Universite Paris Est, LCPC (France); Nahas, G. [IRSN/DSR (France)

2011-07-01

The durability of structures, because of its economic and environmental implications, is one of the actual hot topics in civil engineering. In the field of nuclear energy, we are facing very challenging problems like: how could we prolong the service life of actual nuclear containments and how can we assure the durability of a radioactive storage on the very long term (several centuries)? These already difficult questions in a classical civil engineering view are even more complicated in the field of nuclear energy where the structures are massive and the safety of the installations has to be considered. For the containment of nuclear power plants, these stakes will be lit with some examples of research concerning the mechanical behaviour of concrete and concrete structures (at early age, in service on long scales of time and in the event of an accident), the durability of the concrete structures (leaching, swelling due to delayed ettringite formation - DEF -) and the couplings between mechanics and durability. Finally, the importance of probabilistic aspects and the inherent difficulties will be shown. (authors)

Durability and safety of concrete structures in the nuclear context. The case of the containment vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torrenti, J.M.; Nahas, G.

2011-01-01

The durability of structures, because of its economic and environmental implications, is one of the actual hot topics in civil engineering. In the field of nuclear energy, we are facing very challenging problems like: how could we prolong the service life of actual nuclear containments and how can we assure the durability of a radioactive storage on the very long term (several centuries)? These already difficult questions in a classical civil engineering view are even more complicated in the field of nuclear energy where the structures are massive and the safety of the installations has to be considered. For the containment of nuclear power plants, these stakes will be lit with some examples of research concerning the mechanical behaviour of concrete and concrete structures (at early age, in service on long scales of time and in the event of an accident), the durability of the concrete structures (leaching, swelling due to delayed ettringite formation - DEF -) and the couplings between mechanics and durability. Finally, the importance of probabilistic aspects and the inherent difficulties will be shown. (authors)

Challenges for development and provision of metrological quality control tools in nuclear safeguards, nuclear forensics and nuclear security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aregbe, Y.; Richter, S.; Jakopic, R.; Bauwens, J.; Truyens, J.; Sturm, M.; Bujak, R.; Eykens, R.; Kehoe, F.; Kuehn, H.; Hennessy, C.

2013-01-01

Joint advancements in quality control tools and measurement sciences of international reference and safeguards laboratories include: -) successful integration of the Modified Total Evaporation technique (MTE) as a new tool for routine thermal ionization mass spectrometry in nuclear safeguards and security, -) research and feasibility studies for the development of new materials standard, particularly for nuclear forensics (Certified Reference Materials - CRMs for age-dating), -) quality control tools to support the additional protocol and nuclear security (particle CRMs, NUSIMEP (inter-laboratory comparisons for U particle analysis), and -) scientific/technical advice, training and knowledge transfer. The European Safeguards Research and Development Association (ESARDA), the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) and the CETAMA Commission from the French Commission of Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA/CETAMA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Meetings are the platforms to exchange views on the needs and challenges for new Quality Control tools for nuclear safeguards and security. The paper is followed by the slides of the presentation

The Eurosafe Forum 2003: Nuclear expertise and challenges of the enlargement of the European Union

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lacronique, Jean-Francois; Repussard, Jacques [Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire, IRSN, B.P. 17, F - 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex (France); Hahn, Lothar [Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbH, GRS, Schwertnergasse 1, D - 50667 Koeln (Germany)

2003-07-01

EUROSAFE is an international forum for discussions among experts from technical safety organisations, research institutes, safety authorities, utilities, the industry, public authorities and non-governmental organisations concerning the status of and recent achievements in nuclear installation safety, waste management, radiation safety and nuclear material security. The Eurosafe Forum 2003 - the fifth of its kind - was held at the Palais Brongniart in Paris on November 25 and 26, 2003. This year's theme was: 'Nuclear expertise and challenges of the enlargement of the European Union: speakers in the various European countries about the environmental scan before enlargement, development and structuring perspectives within the enlarged Europe'. The event brought together 445 experts and researchers from around the world (including 124 from Germany, 184 from France, 88 from Eastern Europe, as well as representatives from Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada, Cuba, and Armenia. The proceedings of the symposium can now be consulted online. The fifth edition of the forum focused on nuclear expertise and the challenge of EU-enlargement and the latest work carried out by GRS, IRSN and their partners from the European Union, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Nuclear energy contributes approximately one third of European electricity production. A high level of nuclear safety is a priority for the countries of Europe. The technical safety organisations play an important role in contributing to that objective through appropriate approaches to major safety issues as part of their assessments and research activities. The challenges to nuclear safety are increasingly international. Changes in underlying technologies such as instrumentation and control, the impact of electricity market deregulation, demands for improved safety, the ageing of nuclear facilities, waste management, maintaining and improving scientific and technical knowledge and the need for greater transparency

The Eurosafe Forum 2003: Nuclear expertise and challenges of the enlargement of the European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacronique, Jean-Francois; Repussard, Jacques

2003-01-01

EUROSAFE is an international forum for discussions among experts from technical safety organisations, research institutes, safety authorities, utilities, the industry, public authorities and non-governmental organisations concerning the status of and recent achievements in nuclear installation safety, waste management, radiation safety and nuclear material security. The Eurosafe Forum 2003 - the fifth of its kind - was held at the Palais Brongniart in Paris on November 25 and 26, 2003. This year's theme was: 'Nuclear expertise and challenges of the enlargement of the European Union: speakers in the various European countries about the environmental scan before enlargement, development and structuring perspectives within the enlarged Europe'. The event brought together 445 experts and researchers from around the world (including 124 from Germany, 184 from France, 88 from Eastern Europe, as well as representatives from Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada, Cuba, and Armenia. The proceedings of the symposium can now be consulted online. The fifth edition of the forum focused on nuclear expertise and the challenge of EU-enlargement and the latest work carried out by GRS, IRSN and their partners from the European Union, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Nuclear energy contributes approximately one third of European electricity production. A high level of nuclear safety is a priority for the countries of Europe. The technical safety organisations play an important role in contributing to that objective through appropriate approaches to major safety issues as part of their assessments and research activities. The challenges to nuclear safety are increasingly international. Changes in underlying technologies such as instrumentation and control, the impact of electricity market deregulation, demands for improved safety, the ageing of nuclear facilities, waste management, maintaining and improving scientific and technical knowledge and the need for greater transparency

The Eurosafe Forum 2003: Nuclear expertise and challenges of the enlargement of the European Union

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lacronique, Jean-Francois; Repussard, Jacques (eds.) [Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire, IRSN, B.P. 17, F - 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex (France); Hahn, Lothar (ed.) [Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbH, GRS, Schwertnergasse 1, D - 50667 Koeln (Germany)

2003-07-01

EUROSAFE is an international forum for discussions among experts from technical safety organisations, research institutes, safety authorities, utilities, the industry, public authorities and non-governmental organisations concerning the status of and recent achievements in nuclear installation safety, waste management, radiation safety and nuclear material security. The Eurosafe Forum 2003 - the fifth of its kind - was held at the Palais Brongniart in Paris on November 25 and 26, 2003. This year's theme was: 'Nuclear expertise and challenges of the enlargement of the European Union: speakers in the various European countries about the environmental scan before enlargement, development and structuring perspectives within the enlarged Europe'. The event brought together 445 experts and researchers from around the world (including 124 from Germany, 184 from France, 88 from Eastern Europe, as well as representatives from Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada, Cuba, and Armenia. The proceedings of the symposium can now be consulted online. The fifth edition of the forum focused on nuclear expertise and the challenge of EU-enlargement and the latest work carried out by GRS, IRSN and their partners from the European Union, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Nuclear energy contributes approximately one third of European electricity production. A high level of nuclear safety is a priority for the countries of Europe. The technical safety organisations play an important role in contributing to that objective through appropriate approaches to major safety issues as part of their assessments and research activities. The challenges to nuclear safety are increasingly international. Changes in underlying technologies such as instrumentation and control, the impact of electricity market deregulation, demands for improved safety, the ageing of nuclear facilities, waste management, maintaining and improving scientific and technical knowledge and the need for greater

Privatisation of the UK's nuclear power industry: nuclear's triple challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fraser, W.R.I.

1997-01-01

At the British Nuclear Congress in December 1996, Lord Fraser of Caryllie, then UK energy minister, set out the three key issues the nuclear industry must tackle for a successful future: (1) increased competition from other energy sources, (2) a growing world market for its skills and (3) a continuing tough regulatory regime. Nuclear power, with electricity generated in the UK rising to 25%, has responded well to competition from other energy sources, and also to the further competition generated by privatisation which has already generated benefits for the public. As other countries with nuclear programmes diversify and upgrade their technology this will create new export opportunities for Britain over and above those already in existence, notably by BNFL in Japan. Other areas that Britain has to offer relate to safety improvements, notably in eastern Europe, and decommissioning, in which Magnox Electric is one of the few operators in the world with experience in decommissioning a full scale commercial reactor. The regulatory framework for the nuclear industry will continue to be as rigorous as ever, but, however the industry is structured, it should be noted that commercial success and continued safe operations are inextricably linked. The industry must operate within the framework of the development of international treaties and agreements in the nuclear field. The Government will continue to take a close interest in the safety, security and prosperity of the nuclear industry, and help Britain as a whole to be a successful and influential player in the international nuclear community. (UK)

New nuclear build and evolving radiological protection challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazo, T.

2010-01-01

Many trends and indicators suggest that the use of nuclear power for generating electricity will increase, perhaps significantly, in the coming 10 to 20 years and beyond. Any such expansion will not take place in a static scientific or social context, but rather in the midst of ongoing changes in many relevant fields, radiological protection, radioactive waste management and nuclear safety to name a few. Regarding radiological protection, this evolution can be characterised in many different ways, but can conveniently be described as having scientific and socially driven aspects. These may well pose challenges to radiological protection (RP) policy, regulation and application in the future

Nuclear structure studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walters, W.B.

1992-01-01

New results are reported for the decay and nuclear orientation of 114,116 I and 114 Sb as well as data for the structure of daughter nuclides 114,116 Te. New results for IBM-2 calculations for the structure of 126 Xe are also reported. A new approach to the problem of the underproduction of A = 120 nuclides in the astrophysical r-process is reported

Nuclear moments as a probe of electronic structure in material, exotic nuclear structure and fundamental symmetry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsuta, K., E-mail: matsuta@vg.phys.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp; Minamisono, T.; Mihara, M.; Fukuda, M. [Osaka Univ., Dept. of Physics (Japan); Zhu, Shengyun [CIAE (China); Masuda, Y. [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) (Japan); Hatanaka, K. [Osaka Univ., RCNP (Japan); Yuan Daqing; Zheng Yongnan; Zuo Yi; Fang Ping; Zhou Dongmei [CIAE (China); Ohtsubo, T. [Niigata Univ., Dept. of Physics (Japan); Izumikawa, T. [Niigata Univ., RI Center (Japan); Momota, S. [Kochi Univ. of Technology (Japan); Nishimura, D. [Tokyo Univ. of Science (Japan); Matsumiya, R. [Osaka Univ., RCNP (Japan); Kitagawa, A.; Sato, S.; Kanazawa, M. [Nat. Inst. Radiological Sciences (Japan); Collaboration: Osaka-CIAE-NIRS-Niigata-Kochi-LBL Collaboration; and others

2013-05-15

We report our studies in various fields of Physics through nuclear moments utilizing the {beta}-NMR technique, including material sciences, nuclear structures and fundamental symmetries. Especially, we focus on the recent progress in the studies on the electronic structure in Pt through Knight shifts of various impurities, lattice locations of impurities, electric field gradients, the analysis of nuclear spin in terms of its components, anomaly in the spin expectation value for {sup 9}C-{sup 9}Li mirror pair, the G-parity conservation law, and the Ramsey resonance on UCN for future neutron EDM measurements.

NEW WEB-BASED ACCESS TO NUCLEAR STRUCTURE DATASETS.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

WINCHELL,D.F.

2004-09-26

As part of an effort to migrate the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) databases to a relational platform, a new web interface has been developed for the dissemination of the nuclear structure datasets stored in the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File and Experimental Unevaluated Nuclear Data List.

The nuclear challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillon, L.

1979-01-01

Information is given about the world-wide energy resources, with a particular accent on the part delivered by nuclear power plants. General trends of energetic needs and consumption and the participation of actually used energy sources are outlined. All the aspects of nuclear power production are considered: the fission and fusion process, the fuel cycle and a short description is given of the different reactor types. The pollution and contamination due to different energy sources, the effects of nuclear radiation on man and environment and the risk of accidents due to different human activities or natural events is reviewed. The Three Mile Island accident is analysed. The author analyses the economical aspects of the development of nuclear power plants, the cost of the electricity production and the Belgian and French nuclear programmes. A short reference to the non-proliferation treaty and possible diversion of nuclear materials is given. Finally the social implications of nuclear energy developments are reviewed. (MDC)

Antiprotonic Radioactive Atom for Nuclear Structure Studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wada, M.; Yamazaki, Y.

2005-01-01

A future experiment to synthesize antiprotonic radioactive nuclear ions is proposed for nuclear structure studies. Antiprotonic radioactive nuclear atom can be synthesized in a nested Penning trap where a cloud of antiprotons is prestored and slow radioactive nuclear ions are bunch-injected into the trap. By observing of the ratio of π+ and π- produced in the annihilation process, we can deduce the different abundance of protons and neutrons at the surface of the nuclei. The proposed method would provide a unique probe for investigating the nuclear structure of unstable nuclei

Microscopic calculations of nuclear structure and nuclear correlations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiringa, R.B.

1992-01-01

A major goal in nuclear physics is to understand how nuclear structure comes about from the underlying interactions between nucleons. This requires modelling nuclei as collections of strongly interacting particles. Using realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials, supplemented with consistent three-nucleon potentials and two-body electroweak current operators, variational Monte Carlo methods are used to calculate nuclear ground-state properties, such as the binding energy, electromagnetic form factors, and momentum distributions. Other properties such as excited states and low-energy reactions are also calculable with these methods

The challenge of nuclear proliferation control in South Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mian, J.A.

1996-01-01

Prevention of nuclear weapon proliferation in South Asia is considered a a difficult challenge. The paper discusses the difficulties met in implementing the nuclear non-proliferation policy due to numerous disputes concerning China, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, and the countries of former Soviet Union. Matters preventing proliferation are mentioned as well as obstacles to non-proliferation proposing that decisions whether voluntary or, eventually, compulsory would have to be consistently enforced by the Security Council, if states are to rely upon those methods for their security

Challenges new entrant countries face in establishing a nuclear program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brister, J.

2012-01-01

Challenges new entrant countries face in establishing a nuclear programme are distilled into four major categories: human resource development, financing, infrastructure and process. In implementing a successful nuclear programme role of the government is key to success. It requires clear and sustained policy support, international and bilateral agreements, developing the depth required of technical skills and infrastructure, proven delivery programme, management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, decommissioning and electricity market regulation.

Chiral nucleon-nucleon forces in nuclear structure calculations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coraggio L.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Realistic nuclear potentials, derived within chiral perturbation theory, are a major breakthrough in modern nuclear structure theory, since they provide a direct link between nuclear physics and its underlying theory, namely the QCD. As a matter of fact, chiral potentials are tailored on the low-energy regime of nuclear structure physics, and chiral perturbation theory provides on the same footing two-nucleon forces as well as many-body ones. This feature fits well with modern advances in ab-initio methods and realistic shell-model. Here, we will review recent nuclear structure calculations, based on realistic chiral potentials, for both finite nuclei and infinite nuclear matter.

Nuclear structure theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

French, J.B.; Koltun, D.S.

1990-06-01

This report summarizes progress during the past ten months in the following areas of research: pion double charge exchange reactions, including a theory of the isotensor term in the pion-nucleus optical potential, and a study of meson exchange contributions to the reactions at low energies. Nuclear inelastic scattering, using quark models to calculate nuclear structure functions, and to test for sensitivity to the substructure of nucleons in nuclei. Fluctuation-free statistical spectroscopy including the theory and computer programs for interacting-particle densities, spin cutoff factors, occupancies, strength sums, and other expectation values

A Priority-Based View of Future Challenges in International Nuclear Safeguards.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matteucci, Kayla [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-06-01

The international nuclear safeguards community is faced with a host of challenges in the coming years, many of which have been outlined but have not been described in terms of their urgency. Literature regarding safeguards challenges is either broad and devoid of any reference to prioritization or tailored to a specific problem and removed from the overall goals of the safeguards community. For example, developing new methods of environmental sampling, improving containment and surveillance (C/S) technologies to increase efficiency and decrease inspection time, advancing nuclear material accountancy (NMA) techniques, and planning safeguards approaches for new types of nuclear facilities are all important. They have not, however, been distinctly prioritized at a high level within the safeguards community. Based on a review of existing literature and interviews with experts on these upcoming challenges, this paper offers a high-level summary of present and future priorities in safeguards, with attention both to what is feasible and to what is most imperative. In doing so, the paper addresses the potential repercussions for failing to prioritize, with a focus on the risk of diversion of nuclear material. Within the context of shifts in the American political landscape, and keeping in mind that nonproliferation issues may take a backseat to others in the near future, a prioritized view of safeguards objectives will be vital. In the interest of expanding upon this work, the paper offers several potential conceptual models for prioritization which can be explored in greater depth upon further research.

Challenges faced by nuclear research centres in Indonesia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subki, I.R.; Soentono, S.

2001-01-01

Nuclear research centres in Indonesia are mainly owned and operated by the National Nuclear Energy Agency, covering basically various research and development facilities for non-energy and energy related activities. The research and development activities cover a broad spectrum of basic, applied, and developmental research involving nuclear science and technology in supporting various fields ranging from basic human needs, e.g. food and health; natural resources and nuclear and environmental safety; as well as industry. Recent economic crisis, triggered by monetary turmoil, has dictated the IAEA to face new challenges and to give more efforts on the application of the so called 'instant technology' i.e. the technology which has been developed and is ready for implementation, especially on food and health, to be better utilized to overcome various problems in the society. Various short and medium term programmes on the application of isotopes, radiation, and nuclear techniques for non-energy related activities have emerged in accord with these efforts. In this regard, besides the intensification of the instant technology implementation on food and health, the nuclear research and development on food plant mutation, fertilizers, radio-vaccines, production of meat and milk, production processes of various radiopharmaceuticals, and radioisotopes as well as radiation processing related to agro-industry have to be intensified using the available laboratories processing facilities. The possibility of the construction of irradiators for post harvesting processes in some provinces is being studied, while the designing and manufacturing of various prototypes of devices, equipment, and instruments for nuclear techniques in health and industry are continued. Considering the wide applications of accelerators for non-energy and energy related research and development, construction of accelerator-based laboratories is being studied. In energy related research the feasibility of

Nuclear reactions as structure probes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez, Bernard; Cugnon, Joseph; Roussel-Chomaz, Patricia; Sparenberg, Jean-Marc; Oliveira Santos, Francois de; Bauge, Eric; Poves, Alfredo; Keeley, Nicholas; Simenel, Cedric; Avez, Benoit; Lacroix, Denis; Baye, Daniel; Cortina-Gil, Dolores; Pons, Alexandre

2007-09-01

This publication gathers courses which aim at giving a view on new experiments which are performed by using radioactive beams, notably low intensity beams, in different accelerators, and allow the structure of very exotic nuclei to be characterized. Experimental as well as theoretical aspects are thus addressed. The contributions propose: a brief history of nuclear reactions and of instruments used to study them from the discovery of nucleus to the DWBA (Distorted Wave Born Approximation); an overview of nuclear reactions; experimental techniques; the theory of collisions at low energy; resonant elastic scattering, inelastic scattering and astrophysical reactions; to probe nuclear structure with nucleons; shell model and spectroscopic factors; analysis of transfer reactions and determination of spectroscopic factors; microscopic approaches of nuclear dynamics; theoretical aspects of dissociation reactions; experimental aspects of knockout reactions; research in oenology with the chemical characterisation of defective ageing of dry white wines

Theoretical nuclear structure and astrophysics at FAIR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodríguez, Tomás R

2014-01-01

Next generation of radioactive ion beam facilities like FAIR will open a bright future for nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics research. In particular, very exotic nuclei (mainly neutron rich) isotopes will be produced and a lot of new exciting experimental data will help to test and improve the current nuclear models. In addition, these data (masses, reaction cross sections, beta decay half-lives, etc.) combined with the development of better theoretical approaches will be used as the nuclear physics input for astrophysical simulations. In this presentation I will review some of the state-of-the-art nuclear structure methods and their applications.

Report of seminar on relativistic approach to nuclear reaction and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-05-01

A seminar on 'Relativistic Approach to Nuclear Reaction and Nuclear Structure' was held in 1985 at Osaka University. This booklet includes twenty-four reports given at the seminar, which deal with: Conventional Nonrelativistic Description of Nuclear Matter and Nuclear Spin-Orbit Interactions; Relativistic Approach to Nuclear Structure; Atomic and Molecular Structure Calculations; Electromagnetic Interaction in Nucleus and Relativistic Effect; Nuclear Magnetic Moment in the Relativistic Mean Field Theory, Effective Mass and Particle-Vibration Coupling in the Relativistic σ-ω Model; Gauge Invariance in Relativistic Many-Body Theory; Relativistic Description of Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction in Review; σ-Particle in NN Interaction; Nuclear Optical Potentials Based on the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock Approach; Elastic Backscattering and Optical Potential; Description of Intermediate-Energy Nuclear Reactions; Dirac Phenomenology at E(p) = 65 MeV; Relativistic Impulse Approximation; Reaction Studies with Intermediate Energy Deuterons at SATURNE; Folding Model for Intermediate-Energy Deutron Scattering; Folding Model for Polarized Deutron Scattering at 700 MeV; Dirac Approach Problems and a Different Viewpoint; Relativistic Approach and EMC Effect; Quasielastic Electron Scattering; Response Function of Quasielastic Electron Scattering; Relativistic Hartree Response Function for Quasielastic Electron Scattering on 12 C and 40 Ca; Backflow-, Retardation- and Relativistic Effects on the Longitudinal Response Function of Nuclear Matter; Pion-Photoproduction in the σ-ω Model. (Nogami, K.)

Nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joy, T.; Price, H.G.

1984-01-01

The appendix to the Daresbury Annual report contains detailed summaries of experiments carried out, or in progress, for the period 1983/84, using the Nuclear Structure Facility tandem accelerator. The experimental work is carried out by University groups from the UK and abroad, and Daresbury Staff. Developments in instrumentation, and a report on the first year of scheduled operation of the Facility, are also given. (U.K.)

Structural analysis of nuclear components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikonen, K.; Hyppoenen, P.; Mikkola, T.; Noro, H.; Raiko, H.; Salminen, P.; Talja, H.

1983-05-01

THe report describes the activities accomplished in the project 'Structural Analysis Project of Nuclear Power Plant Components' during the years 1974-1982 in the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory at the Technical Research Centre of Finland. The objective of the project has been to develop Finnish expertise in structural mechanics related to nuclear engineering. The report describes the starting point of the research work, the organization of the project and the research activities on various subareas. Further the work done with computer codes is described and also the problems which the developed expertise has been applied to. Finally, the diploma works, publications and work reports, which are mainly in Finnish, are listed to give a view of the content of the project. (author)

Book of abstracts of 13. national conference on nuclear structure and 9. symposium on 'nuclear structure and quantum mechanics'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-07-01

13. national conference on nuclear structure and 9. symposium on 'nuclear structure and quantum mechanics' was held by China Nuclear Physics Society in Chifeng, 25 to 30 July, 2010. The proceedings collects the abstracts of 102 articles

Human Resources Development Challenges for Nuclear Newcomers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perrette, Xavier

2014-01-01

Conclusion and take away messages: • HRD solution is dependent upon country’s economical, societal, industrial situation and development strategy. • HRD to be integrated in the global HCB approach (education and training, KM, knowledge networks). • Maximum local benefit with national development. • International collaboration and partnership with competent and experienced partners is recommended (lever effect). • Anticipation is key. → HRD for a nuclear program is challenging but achievable. Countries already did it and are ready to build long term partnerships

Structure of the subsaturated nuclear matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maruyama, Toshiki; Maruyama, Tomoyuki; Chiba, Satoshi; Iwamoto, Akira [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Niita, Koji; Oyamatsu, Kazuhiro

1998-07-01

Quantum molecular dynamics is applied to study the ground state and excited state properties of nuclear matter at subsaturation densities. The structure of nuclear matter at subsaturation density shows some exotic shapes with variation of the density. However, the structure in our result is rather irregular compared to those of previous works due to the existence of local minimum configurations. (author)

Atomic parity nonconservation: Electroweak parameters and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pollock, S.J.; Fortson, E.N.; Wilets, L.

1992-01-01

There have been suggestions to measure atomic parity nonconservation (PNC) along an isotopic chain, by taking ratios of observables in order to cancel complicated atomic-structure effects. Precise atomic PNC measurements could make a significant contribution to tests of the standard model at the level of one-loop radiative corrections. However, the results also depend upon certain features of nuclear structure, such as the spatial distribution of neutrons in the nucleus. To examine the sensitivity to nuclear structure, we consider the case of Pb isotopes using various recent relativistic and nonrelativistic nuclear model calculations. Contributions from nucleon internal weak structure are included, but found to be fairly negligible. The spread among present models in predicted sizes of nuclear-structure effects may preclude using Pb isotope ratios to test the standard model at better than a 1% level, unless there are adequate independent tests of the nuclear models by various alternative strong and electroweak nuclear probes. On the other hand, sufficiently accurate atomic PNC experiments would provide a unique method to measure neutron distributions in heavy nuclei

The national system of nuclear material control development and challenges. Vol. 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badawy, I.

1996-01-01

This paper presents the major factors which may affect the implementation of the National System of Nuclear Material Accounting and Safeguards in Egypt. Developments of this National System-being a division of the Nuclear Regulatory Body in the country-are discussed. Also, recent requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency within the policy of strengthening its regime of international nuclear control are reviewed. The challenges facing the National System are indicated taking in consideration the anticipated growth in the nuclear field in Egypt by the year 2000 and after. 2 figs

The national system of nuclear material control development and challenges. Vol. 3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Badawy, I [National Centre for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo (Egypt)

1996-03-01

This paper presents the major factors which may affect the implementation of the National System of Nuclear Material Accounting and Safeguards in Egypt. Developments of this National System-being a division of the Nuclear Regulatory Body in the country-are discussed. Also, recent requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency within the policy of strengthening its regime of international nuclear control are reviewed. The challenges facing the National System are indicated taking in consideration the anticipated growth in the nuclear field in Egypt by the year 2000 and after. 2 figs.

Nuclear Structure and Decay Data (NSDD) network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pronyaev, V.G.

2001-02-01

This report provides a brief description of the Nuclear Structure and Decay Data (NSDD) Network in response to a request from the Advisory Group Meeting on ''Co-ordination of the International Network of Nuclear Structure and Decay Data Evaluators'' (IAEA, Vienna, 14-17 December 1998, report IAEA(NDS)-399 (1999)). This report supersedes the special issue of the Nuclear Data Newsletter No. 20 published in November 1994. (author)

Nuclear structure in deep-inelastic reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rehm, K.E.

1986-01-01

The paper concentrates on recent deep inelastic experiments conducted at Argonne National Laboratory and the nuclear structure effects evident in reactions between super heavy nuclei. Experiments indicate that these reactions evolve gradually from simple transfer processes which have been studied extensively for lighter nuclei such as 16 O, suggesting a theoretical approach connecting the one-step DWBA theory to the multistep statistical models of nuclear reactions. This transition between quasi-elastic and deep inelastic reactions is achieved by a simple random walk model. Some typical examples of nuclear structure effects are shown. 24 refs., 9 figs

Relativistic models of nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillet, V.; Kim, E.J.; Cauvin, M.; Kohmura, T.; Ohnaka, S.

1991-01-01

The introduction of the relativistic field formalism for the description of nuclear structure has improved our understanding of fundamental nuclear mechanisms such as saturation or many body forces. We discuss some of these progresses, both in the semi-classical mean field approximation and in a quantized meson field approach. (author)

Generalized Nuclear Data: A New Structure (with Supporting Infrastructure) for Handling Nuclear Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattoon, C.M.; Beck, B.R.; Patel, N.R.; Summers, N.C.; Hedstrom, G.W.; Brown, D.A.

2012-01-01

The Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) format was designed in the 1960s to accommodate neutron reaction data to support nuclear engineering applications in power, national security and criticality safety. Over the years, the scope of the format has been extended to handle many other kinds of data including charged particle, decay, atomic, photo-nuclear and thermal neutron scattering. Although ENDF has wide acceptance and support for many data types, its limited support for correlated particle emission, limited numeric precision, and general lack of extensibility mean that the nuclear data community cannot take advantage of many emerging opportunities. More generally, the ENDF format provides an unfriendly environment that makes it difficult for new data evaluators and users to create and access nuclear data. The Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG) has begun the design of a new Generalized Nuclear Data (or 'GND') structure, meant to replace older formats with a hierarchy that mirrors the underlying physics, and is aligned with modern coding and database practices. In support of this new structure, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has updated its nuclear data/reactions management package Fudge to handle GND structured nuclear data. Fudge provides tools for converting both the latest ENDF format (ENDF-6) and the LLNL Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (ENDL) format to and from GND, as well as for visualizing, modifying and processing (i.e., converting evaluated nuclear data into a form more suitable to transport codes) GND structured nuclear data. GND defines the structure needed for storing nuclear data evaluations and the type of data that needs to be stored. But unlike ENDF and ENDL, GND does not define how the data are to be stored in a file. Currently, Fudge writes the structured GND data to a file using the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), as it is ASCII based and can be viewed with any text editor. XML is a meta-language, meaning that it

Generalized Nuclear Data: A New Structure (with Supporting Infrastructure) for Handling Nuclear Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mattoon, C.M. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore CA (United States); Beck, B.R.; Patel, N.R.; Summers, N.C.; Hedstrom, G.W. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore CA (United States); Brown, D.A. [National Nuclear Data Center, Upton NY (United States)

2012-12-15

The Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) format was designed in the 1960s to accommodate neutron reaction data to support nuclear engineering applications in power, national security and criticality safety. Over the years, the scope of the format has been extended to handle many other kinds of data including charged particle, decay, atomic, photo-nuclear and thermal neutron scattering. Although ENDF has wide acceptance and support for many data types, its limited support for correlated particle emission, limited numeric precision, and general lack of extensibility mean that the nuclear data community cannot take advantage of many emerging opportunities. More generally, the ENDF format provides an unfriendly environment that makes it difficult for new data evaluators and users to create and access nuclear data. The Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG) has begun the design of a new Generalized Nuclear Data (or 'GND') structure, meant to replace older formats with a hierarchy that mirrors the underlying physics, and is aligned with modern coding and database practices. In support of this new structure, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has updated its nuclear data/reactions management package Fudge to handle GND structured nuclear data. Fudge provides tools for converting both the latest ENDF format (ENDF-6) and the LLNL Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (ENDL) format to and from GND, as well as for visualizing, modifying and processing (i.e., converting evaluated nuclear data into a form more suitable to transport codes) GND structured nuclear data. GND defines the structure needed for storing nuclear data evaluations and the type of data that needs to be stored. But unlike ENDF and ENDL, GND does not define how the data are to be stored in a file. Currently, Fudge writes the structured GND data to a file using the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), as it is ASCII based and can be viewed with any text editor. XML is a meta-language, meaning that it

Issues related to structural aging in probabilistic risk assessment of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellingwood, Bruce R.

1998-01-01

Structural components and systems have an important safety function in nuclear power plants. Although they are essentially passive under normal operating conditions, they play a key role in mitigating the impact of extreme environmental events such as earthquakes, winds, fire and floods on plant safety. Moreover, the importance of structural components and systems in accident mitigation is amplified by common-cause effects. Reinforced concrete structural components and systems in NPPs are subject to a phenomenon known as aging, leading to time-dependent changes in strength and stiffness that may impact their ability to withstand various challenges during their service lives from operation, the environment and accidents. Time-dependent changes in structural properties as well as challenges to the system are random in nature. Accordingly, condition assessment of existing structures should be performed within a probabilistic framework. The mathematical formalism of a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) provides a means for identifying aging structural components that may play a significant role in mitigating plant risk. Structural condition assessments supporting a decision regarding continued service can be rendered more efficient if guided by the logic of a PRA

Safety-Related Contractor Activities at Nuclear Power Plants. New Challenges for Regulatory Oversight

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chockie, Alan

2005-09-01

The use of contractors has been an integral and important part of the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of nuclear power plants. To ensure the safe and efficient completion of contracted tasks, each nuclear plant licensee has developed and refined formal contract management processes to meet their specific needs and plant requirements. Although these contract management processes have proven to be effective tools for the procurement of support and components tailored to the needs of nuclear power plants, contractor-related incidents and accidents have revealed some serious weaknesses with the implementation of these processes. Identifying and addressing implementation problems are becoming more complicated due to organizational and personnel changes affecting the nuclear power industry. The ability of regulators and licensees to effectively monitor and manage the safety-related performance of contractors will likely be affected by forthcoming organization and personnel changes due to: the aging of the workforce; the decline of the nuclear industry; and the deregulation of nuclear power. The objective of this report is to provide a review of current and potential future challenges facing safety-related contractor activities at nuclear power plants. The purpose is to assist SKI in establishing a strategy for the proactive oversight of contractor safety-related activities at Swedish nuclear power plants and facilities. The nature and role of contractors at nuclear plants is briefly reviewed in the first section of the report. The second section describes the essential elements of the contract management process. Although organizations have had decades of experience with the a contract management process, there remain a number of common implantation weaknesses that have lead to serious contractor-related incidents and accidents. These implementation weaknesses are summarized in the third section. The fourth section of the report highlights the

Safety-Related Contractor Activities at Nuclear Power Plants. New Challenges for Regulatory Oversight

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chockie, Alan [Chockie Group International, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States)

2005-09-15

The use of contractors has been an integral and important part of the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of nuclear power plants. To ensure the safe and efficient completion of contracted tasks, each nuclear plant licensee has developed and refined formal contract management processes to meet their specific needs and plant requirements. Although these contract management processes have proven to be effective tools for the procurement of support and components tailored to the needs of nuclear power plants, contractor-related incidents and accidents have revealed some serious weaknesses with the implementation of these processes. Identifying and addressing implementation problems are becoming more complicated due to organizational and personnel changes affecting the nuclear power industry. The ability of regulators and licensees to effectively monitor and manage the safety-related performance of contractors will likely be affected by forthcoming organization and personnel changes due to: the aging of the workforce; the decline of the nuclear industry; and the deregulation of nuclear power. The objective of this report is to provide a review of current and potential future challenges facing safety-related contractor activities at nuclear power plants. The purpose is to assist SKI in establishing a strategy for the proactive oversight of contractor safety-related activities at Swedish nuclear power plants and facilities. The nature and role of contractors at nuclear plants is briefly reviewed in the first section of the report. The second section describes the essential elements of the contract management process. Although organizations have had decades of experience with the a contract management process, there remain a number of common implantation weaknesses that have lead to serious contractor-related incidents and accidents. These implementation weaknesses are summarized in the third section. The fourth section of the report highlights the

Scientific Solutions to Nuclear Waste Environmental Challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, Bradley R.

2014-01-01

The Hidden Cost of Nuclear Weapons The Cold War arms race drove an intense plutonium production program in the U.S. This campaign produced approximately 100 tons of plutonium over 40 years. The epicenter of plutonium production in the United States was the Hanford site, a 586 square mile reservation owned by the Department of Energy and located on the Colombia River in Southeastern Washington. Plutonium synthesis relied on nuclear reactors to convert uranium to plutonium within the reactor fuel rods. After a sufficient amount of conversion occurred, the rods were removed from the reactor and allowed to cool. They were then dissolved in an acid bath and chemically processed to separate and purify plutonium from the rest of the constituents in the used reactor fuel. The acidic waste was then neutralized using sodium hydroxide and the resulting mixture of liquids and precipitates (small insoluble particles) was stored in huge underground waste tanks. The byproducts of the U.S. plutonium production campaign include over 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste stored in 177 large underground tanks at Hanford and another 34 million gallons stored at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This legacy nuclear waste represents one of the largest environmental clean-up challenges facing the world today. The nuclear waste in the Hanford tanks is a mixture of liquids and precipitates that have settled into sludge. Some of these tanks are now over 60 years old and a small number of them are leaking radioactive waste into the ground and contaminating the environment. The solution to this nuclear waste challenge is to convert the mixture of solids and liquids into a durable material that won't disperse into the environment and create hazards to the biosphere. What makes this difficult is the fact that the radioactive half-lives of some of the radionuclides in the waste are thousands to millions of years long. (The half-life of a radioactive substance is the amount

Nuclear data newsletter. No. 20. Nuclear structure and decay data network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-11-01

This special issue of the Nuclear Data Newsletter dated November 1994 gives information on the Nuclear Structure and Decay Data (NSDD) Network established in 1974 under the auspices of the IAEA and comprising 17 laboratories and universities in 10 countries. The procedures for online access to US National Nuclear Data Center, NEA Data Bank in Paris and IAEA Nuclear Data Section in Vienna are presented

Nuclear data newsletter. No. 20. Nuclear structure and decay data network

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1994-11-01

This special issue of the Nuclear Data Newsletter dated November 1994 gives information on the Nuclear Structure and Decay Data (NSDD) Network established in 1974 under the auspices of the IAEA and comprising 17 laboratories and universities in 10 countries. The procedures for online access to US National Nuclear Data Center, NEA Data Bank in Paris and IAEA Nuclear Data Section in Vienna are presented.

Aging of concrete structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Pland, C.B.; Arndt, E.G.

1991-01-01

The Structural Aging (SAG) Program, sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) and conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), had the overall objective of providing the USNRC with an improved basis for evaluating nuclear power plant structures for continued service. The program consists of three technical tasks: materials property data base, structural component assessment/repair technology, and quantitative methodology for continued service determinations. Major accomplishments under the SAG Program during the first two years of its planned five-year duration have included: development of a Structural Materials Information Center and formulation of a Structural Aging Assessment Methodology for Concrete Structures in Nuclear Power Plants. 9 refs

Nuclear cooperation targets global challenges. States back main pillars of the IAEA's work to strengthen nuclear safety, verification and technology transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

States meeting at the 44th IAEA General Conference in Vienna have set a challenging agenda for international nuclear cooperation into the 21st century that targets issues of global safety, security, and sustainable development. They adopted resolutions endorsing the Agency's programmes for strengthening activities under its three main pillars of work - nuclear verification, safety, and technology - that are closely linked to major challenges before the world. The document presents the main actions taken during the conference

Marginalization and challenge: the production of knowledge and landscape in Canadian nuclear waste management policy making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stanley, A.E.

2006-01-01

Aboriginal peoples have recently become politically significant in Canadian nuclear fuel waste (NFW) management policy making. Their newfound significance comes on the heels of an important challenge to the knowledge and authority of the nuclear industry with respect to its plans for NFW lead by a number of public groups and Aboriginal peoples from across Canada, including the Serpent River First Nation. This dissertation examines the relationships between the discourses of the Serpent River First Nation (SRFN) about their experiences of the nuclear fuel chain and the discourses of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) about the management of NFW. Two trends are found to characterize these relationships: marginalization and challenge. The discourses of the NWMO marginalize the SRFN, excluding their experiences of the nuclear fuel chain, radioactivity, and the effects of nuclear industries from the policy making process. The discourses of the SRFN challenge the claims of the NWMO about the effects of nuclear wastes and radioactivity, as well as about the safe and beneficial development of the nuclear fuel chain. I identify discourses of 'modern risk' and 'citizenship' found in the work of the NWMO as instrumental for maintaining the nuclear industry's control over the production of knowledge about NFW and its effects and subjugating the knowledge of the SRFN. I also identify discourses of identity, oppression, and 'situated knowledge' as important challenges to the content, method and premises of the claims of the nuclear industry about the management of NFW. While I conclude that the NWMO's discourses of risk and citizenship constitute a colonial politics of exclusion, I note that their discourses are contingent on the exclusion of the experiences of the SRFN with the fuel chain. For their accounts to be coherent, the NWMO need to maintain a strategic silence on the overwhelming implication Aboriginal peoples, as a category, in the nuclear fuel chain

Nuclear safeguards in challenging times [Experts on nuclear safeguards and verification assess the global picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, W.S.; Hillerman, J.

2007-01-01

Meeting at the IAEA's International Safeguards Symposium in October 2006, more than 500 experts from 60-plus countries and organizations addressed current and future challenges related to safeguards concepts, approaches, technologies, and experience. Sessions addressed five main issues driving developments: Current challenges to the safeguards system; Further strengthening safeguards practices and approaches; Improving the collection and analysis of safeguards information; Advances in safeguards techniques and technology; and Future challenges. Every four to five years, the IAEA brings together safeguards experts from all over the world at international symposia. In October 2001, they met in the shadow of 9/11 and the symposium included a special session on the prevention of nuclear terrorism

Digital Innovation and Nuclear Engineering Education in UNED: Challenges, Trends and Opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alonso-Ramos, M.; Sánchez-Elvira Paniagua, Á.; Martín, S.; Castro Gil, M.; Sanz Gozalo, J.

2016-01-01

Full text: Innovation in nuclear engineering education should reflect the current challenges, trends and opportunities that digital technologies are promoting in the whole educational field. The European Commission has recently stressed that technology and open educational resources represent clear opportunities to reshape EU education, contributing to the necessary modernization of higher education in order to give response to XXI century challenges. In this paper, the innovations that the Spanish National Distance Education University (UNED) are making in the digital education domain, including open educational resources (OER) and massive open online courses (MOOCs) developments applied to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and the nuclear engineering field, are presented. (author

Tornado-resistance design for the nuclear safety structure of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xia Zufeng.

1987-01-01

The primary design consideration of anti-tornado of the nuclear safety structure of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant is briefly presented. It mainly includes estimating the probability of tornado arising in the site, ascertaining the design requirments of the anti-tornado structures and deciding the tornado load acted on the structures

CSNI Technical Opinion Papers No. 14 - Nuclear Licensee Organisational Structures, Resources and Competencies: Determining their Suitability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

The way in which nuclear licensees' organisations are structured and resourced clearly has a potential impact on nuclear safety. As experience has continually demonstrated, operating organisations with a strong training programme for personnel, adequate resourcing and overall effective leadership and management perform more effectively in times of crisis than those lacking in one or more of these areas. In parallel, the nuclear industry is developing new resource deployment strategies which are making increased use of contractors and leading to changes in organisational structure, which in turn create challenges for the continued safe operation of nuclear facilities. This technical opinion paper represents the consensus among human and organisational factor specialists in NEA member and associated countries on the methods, approaches and good practices to be followed in designing an organisation with a strong safety focus while meeting business needs. It also considers some of the attributes that an organisation which is effectively managing its resources and capabilities might demonstrate

Nuclear structure references coding manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramavataram, S.; Dunford, C.L.

1984-02-01

This manual is intended as a guide to Nuclear Structure References (NSR) compilers. The basic conventions followed at the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC), which are compatible with the maintenance and updating of and retrieval from the Nuclear Structure References (NSR) file, are outlined. The structure of the NSR file such as the valid record identifiers, record contents, text fields as well as the major topics for which [KEYWORDS] are prepared are ennumerated. Relevant comments regarding a new entry into the NSR file, assignment of [KEYNO ], generation of [SELECTRS] and linkage characteristics are also given. A brief definition of the Keyword abstract is given followed by specific examples; for each TOPIC, the criteria for inclusion of an article as an entry into the NSR file as well as coding procedures are described. Authors submitting articles to Journals which require Keyword abstracts should follow the illustrations. The scope of the literature covered at NNDC, the categorization into Primary and Secondary sources, etc. is discussed. Useful information regarding permitted character sets, recommended abbreviations, etc. is given

Is nuclear structure relevant to non-mesonic hyper-nuclear weak decay?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, H.C.; Ponce, W.A.

2001-01-01

Full text: The focus of existing studies of the non-mesonic hypernuclear weak decay has been on the two-body process ΛN → NN, whereas the investigation on effects of nuclear structure is relatively rare. Some authors even assumed that the nuclear structure is irrelevant to the non mesonic hypernuclear weak decay. In this work we try to reveal the importance of nuclear structure in non mesonic weak decay of the Λ - hypernuclei through examining the relevance of many-body properties as well as the single particle properties of different nuclear models. For hypernucleus 12 Λ C, a comparison between the L-S coupling (realized by the symmetry model SU(4) x SU(3) and the j-j coupling (realized by the single particle shell model) gives an estimate of the range of nuclear structure effects. It has been found that while the total decay rate is almost independent of coupling schemes, the ratio Γn/Γp has a difference of around 30% between the two limits of many-body wave functions. There also exists a strong dependence of the total decay rate and the ratio Γn/Γp on the single particle properties of shell model, such as the binding energy of nucleon and the parameters of harmonic oscillator orbits, etc. Therefore, one may conclude that the nuclear structure is relevant to the non-mesonic hypernuclear weak decay. With the mechanism of ΛN → NN transition being restricted to one pion exchange (OPE) only, the consequences of possible contribution from the ΔI = 3/2 channel is investigated in a phenomenological manner. It has been shown that a mixing of ΔI = 3/2 channel will change the total decay rate as well as the ratio Γn/Γp considerably. (Author)

Structural materials for innovative nuclear systems (SMINS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

Structural materials research is a field of growing relevance in the nuclear sector, especially for the different innovative reactor systems being developed within the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), for critical and subcritical transmutation systems, and of interest to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Under the auspices of the NEA Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) the Workshop on Structural Materials for Innovative Nuclear Systems (SMINS) was organised in collaboration with the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in Germany. The objectives of the workshop were to exchange information on structural materials research issues and to discuss ongoing programmes, both experimental and in the field of advanced modelling. These proceedings include the papers and the poster session materials presented at the workshop, representing the international state of the art in this domain. (author)

Development of analysis methods for seismically isolated nuclear structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, Bong; Lee, Jae-Han; Koo, Gyeng-Hoi

2002-01-01

KAERI's contributions to the project entitled Development of Analysis Methods for Seismically Isolated Nuclear Structures under IAEA CRP of the intercomparison of analysis methods for predicting the behaviour of seismically isolated nuclear structures during 1996-1999 in effort to develop the numerical analysis methods and to compare the analysis results with the benchmark test results of seismic isolation bearings and isolated nuclear structures provided by participating countries are briefly described. Certain progress in the analysis procedures for isolation bearings and isolated nuclear structures has been made throughout the IAEA CRPs and the analysis methods developed can be improved for future nuclear facility applications. (author)

Nuclear structure theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

French, J.B.; Koltun, D.S.

1989-01-01

This report summarizes progress during the past year in the following areas of research: Pion charge exchange reactions, including a theory of the contribution of pion absorption and correlated double scattering to double charge exchange, new coupled channel calculations for single and double charge exchange from 14 C. Nuclear inelastic scattering, using quark models to calculate nuclear structure functions, and test for sensitivity to the substructure of nucleons in nuclei. Fluctuation-free statistical spectroscopy including the theory and computer programs for interacting-particle densities, spin cutoff factors, occupancies, strength sums, and other expectation values. Proposed research for the coming year in each area is presented

Relativistic approach to nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen Van Giai; Bouyssy, A.

1987-03-01

Some recent works related with relativistic models of nuclear structure are briefly reviewed. The Dirac-Hartree-Fock and Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock are recalled and illustrated by some examples. The problem of isoscalar current and magnetic moments of odd nuclei is discussed. The application of the relativistic model to the nuclear response function is examined

Investigations of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions induced by complex projectiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarantites, D.G.

1991-01-01

The research program of our group touches five areas of nuclear physics: (1) Nuclear structure studies at high spin; (2) Studies at the interface between structure and reactions; (3) Production and study of hot nuclei; (4) Incomplete fusion and fragmentation reactions; and (5) Development and use of novel techniques and instrumentation in the above areas of research. The papers from these areas are discussed in this report

Fundamental challenging problems for developing new nuclear safety standard computer codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, P.K.; Wong, A.E.; Wong, A.

2005-01-01

Based on the claims of the US Basic patents number 5,084,232; 5,848,377 and 6,430,516 that can be obtained from typing the Patent Numbers into the Box of the Web site http://164.195.100.11/netahtml/srchnum.htm and their associated published technical papers having been presented and published at International Conferences in the last three years and that all these had been sent into US-NRC by E-mail on March 26, 2003 at 2:46 PM., three fundamental challenging problems for developing new nuclear safety standard computer codes had been presented at the US-NRC RIC2003 Session W4. 2:15-3:15 PM. at the Washington D.C. Capital Hilton Hotel, Presidential Ballroom on April 16, 2003 in front of more than 800 nuclear professionals from many countries worldwide. The objective and scope of this paper is to invite all nuclear professionals to examine and evaluate all the current computer codes being used in their own countries by means of comparison of numerical data from these three specific openly challenging fundamental problems in order to set up a global safety standard for all nuclear power plants in the world. (authors)

Nuclear Reaction and Structure Databases of the National Nuclear Data Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pritychenko, B.; Arcilla, R.; Herman, M. W.; Oblozinsky, P.; Rochman, D.; Sonzogni, A. A.; Tuli, J. K.; Winchell, D. F.

2006-01-01

The National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) collects, evaluates, and disseminates nuclear physics data for basic research and applied nuclear technologies. In 2004, the NNDC migrated all databases into modern relational database software, installed new generation of Linux servers and developed new Java-based Web service. This nuclear database development means much faster, more flexible and more convenient service to all users in the United States. These nuclear reaction and structure database developments as well as related Web services are briefly described

Toward Transatlantic Cooperation in Meeting the Iranian Nuclear Challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perkovich, G.

2005-01-01

After having showed how the United States and the European Union have divergent assessments of the most effective means of achieving nuclear non proliferation common objectives, the author wants to outline that convergence is needed to deal with the current challenge over Iran's nuclear program. He comments the United States and European approaches and objectives, and outlines the fact that Iran does not want to be isolated in the international system. He discusses the regional stability issue and the permanencies and changes of the Iranian society about which a coordinated tactics can be built up by the United States and the European countries involved in the negotiations

Electron scattering and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frois, B.

1987-01-01

The search for the appropriate degrees of freedom to describe nuclei is the central focus of nuclear physics today. Therefore the authors explore in this review their current understanding of nuclear structure as defined by electromagnetic data. The precision of the electromagnetic probe allows us to define accurately the limits of present theoretical descriptions. The authors review here a broad range of subjects that have been addressed by recent experiments, from the study of meson exchange currents and single-particle distributions to collective excitations in heavy nuclei. However, they do not discuss elastic magnetic scattering, inelastic excitation of discrete states, or single-nucleon knockout reactions since these reactions were recently reviewed. The principal aim of this review is to offer a fresh perspective on nuclear structure, based on the new generation of electron scattering data presented here and in the above-mentioned articles

Nuclear Data Covariances in the Indian Context – Progress, Challenges, Excitement and Perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ganesan, S.

2015-01-01

We present a brief overview of progress, challenges, excitement and perspectives in developing nuclear data covariances in the Indian context in relation to target accuracies and sensitivity studies that are of great importance to Bhabha's 3-stage nuclear programme for energy and non-energy applications

Microscopic description of nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Girod, M.; Berger, J.F.; Peru, S.; Dancer, H.

2002-01-01

After briefly recalling the formalism of the mean field approach with an effective nucleon-nucleon interaction, the theoretical framework of the nuclear structure studies performed at CEA-DAM, applications of this theory to various nuclear systems: shape and spin isomeric states, neutron and proton rich nuclei, superheavy and hyper-heavy nuclei, and to the fission process are presented. (authors)

Nuclear structure from radioactive decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, J.L.

1991-01-01

This report discusses nuclear structure from radioactive decay of the following: Neutron-Deficient Iridium Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Platinum Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Gold Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Mercury Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Thallium Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Lead Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Samarium Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Promethium Isotopes; Neutron-Deficient Neodymium Isotopes; and Neutron-Deficient Praseodymium Isotopes. Also discussed are Nuclear Systematics and Models

Nuclear Structure at the Limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazarewicz, W.

1998-01-01

One of the frontiers of todays nuclear science is the journey to the limits of atomic charge and nuclear mass, of neutron-to-proton ratio, and of angular momentum. The tour to the limits is not only a quest for new, exciting phenomena, but the new data are expected, as well, to bring qualitatively new information about the fundamental properties of the nucleonic many-body system, the nature of the nuclear interaction, and nucleonic correlations at various energy-distance scales. In this series of lectures, current developments in nuclear structure at the limits are discussed from a theoretical perspective, mainly concentrating on medium-mass and heavy nuclei

Nuclear enhanced power corrections to DIS structure functions

OpenAIRE

Guo, Xiaofeng; Qiu, Jianwei; Zhu, Wei

2001-01-01

We calculate nuclear enhanced power corrections to structure functions measured in deeply inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). We find that the nuclear medium enhanced power corrections at order of $O(\\alpha_s/Q^2)$ enhance the longitudinal structure function $F_L$, and suppress the transverse structure function $F_1$. We demonstrate that strong nuclear effects in $\\sigma_A/\\sigma_D$ and $R_A/R_D$, recently observed by HERMES Collaboration, can be explained in ...

ENSDF: The evaluated nuclear structure data file

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, M.J.

1986-01-01

The structure, organization, and contents of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File, ENSDF, will be discussed. This file summarizes the state of experimental nuclear structure data for all nuclei as determined from consideration of measurements reported world wide. Special emphasis will be given to the data evaluation procedures and consistency checks utilized at the input stage and to the retrieval capabilities of the system at the output stage

Investigations of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions induced by complex projectiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarantites, D.G.

1992-01-01

The research program described touches five areas of nuclear physics: nuclear structure studies at high spin (hyperdeformation in the mass A ≅ 182 region, structure of 182 Hg and 182 Au at high spin, a highly deformed band in 136 Pm and the anomalous h 11/2 proton crossing in the A∼135 superdeformed region), studies at the interface between structure and reactions (population of entry states in heavy-ion fusion reactions, nuclear structure effects in proton evaporation spectra, nuclear structure- dependent entry state population by total spectroscopy, entrance channel effects in fusion near the barrier, lifetimes of subbarrier α particles by the atomic clock method), production and study of hot nuclei (the statistical model evaporation code EVAP, statistical emission of deuterons and tritons from highly excited compound nuclei, heavy-fragment emission as a probe of the thermal properties of highly excited compound nuclei, use of incoming-wave boundary condition transmission coefficients in the statistical model: implications in the particle evaporation spectra, study of transparency in the optical model), reaction mechanism studies (binary character of highly dissipative 209 Bi + 136 Xe collisions at E/A=28.2 MeV), and development and use of novel techniques and instrumentation in these areas of research (including a 4π channel selection device, a novel x-ray detector, and a simple channel-selecting detector)

Radiation damage studies of nuclear structural materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barat, P.

2012-01-01

Maximum utilization of fuel in nuclear reactors is one of the important aspects for operating them economically. The main hindrance to achieve this higher burnups of nuclear fuel for the nuclear reactors is the possibility of the failure of the metallic core components during their operation. Thus, the study of the cause of the possibility of failure of these metallic structural materials of nuclear reactors during full power operation due to radiation damage, suffered inside the reactor core, is an important field of studies bearing the basic to industrial scientific views.The variation of the microstructure of the metallic core components of the nuclear reactors due to radiation damage causes enormous variation in the structure and mechanical properties. A firm understanding of this variation of the mechanical properties with the variation of microstructure will serve as a guide for creating new, more radiation-tolerant materials. In our centre we have irradiated structural materials of Indian nuclear reactors by charged particles from accelerator to generate radiation damage and studied the some aspects of the variation of microstructure by X-ray diffraction studies. Results achieved in this regards, will be presented. (author)

Compilations and evaluations of nuclear structure and decay data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lorenz, A.

1978-10-01

This is the fourth issue of a report series on published and to-be-published compilations and evaluations of nuclear structure and decay (NSD) data. This compilation is published and distributed by the IAEA Nuclear Data Section every year. The material contained in this compilation is sorted according to eight subject categories: General compilations; basic isotopic properties; nuclear structure properties; nuclear decay processes, half-lives, energies and spectra; nuclear decay processes, gamma-rays; nuclear decay processes, fission products; nuclear decay processes (others); atomic processes

Development of deterioration models and tests of structural materials for nuclear containment structures(III)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oh, Byung Hwan [Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea)

2002-03-01

The nuclear containment structures are very important infrastructures which require much cost for construction and maintenance. If these structures lose their functions and do not ensure their safety, great losses of human lives and properties will result. Therefore, the nuclear containment structures should secure appropriate safety and functions during these service lives. The nuclear concrete structures start to experience deterioration due to severe environmental condition, even though the concrete structures exhibit generally superior durability. It is, therefore, necessary to take appropriate actions at each stage of planning, design and construction to secure safety and functionability. Thorough examination of deterioration mechanism and comprehensive tests have been conducted to explore the durability characteristics of nuclear concrete structures. 88 refs., 70 figs., 12 tabs. (Author)

Challenges and Opportunities to Introduce the First Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haque, M.M.; Islam, M.S.; Zulquarnain, M.A.

2011-01-01

Nuclear activities were first started in Bangladesh in 1964 through the establishment of Atomic Energy Centre at Dhaka. Since then development of the nuclear activities for sustainable future is progressing gradually. Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) is responsible for developing and promoting nuclear activities for peaceful purposes with assured safety and support for nuclear power program in the country. The Government of Bangladesh has decided to set up the country's first nuclear power plant with a generation capacity between 600 MW and 1,000 MW at Rooppur in Pabna district, 125 km North-West of the capital city, Dhaka. In this context, the challenges and opportunities to introduce the first Rooppur nuclear power plant (RNPP) project are identified and then discussed in this paper. It is finally concluded that nuclear power is an inevitable option for Bangladesh. (author)

Nuclear Pore-Like Structures in a Compartmentalized Bacterium.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evgeny Sagulenko

Full Text Available Planctomycetes are distinguished from other Bacteria by compartmentalization of cells via internal membranes, interpretation of which has been subject to recent debate regarding potential relations to Gram-negative cell structure. In our interpretation of the available data, the planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus contains a nuclear body compartment, and thus possesses a type of cell organization with parallels to the eukaryote nucleus. Here we show that pore-like structures occur in internal membranes of G.obscuriglobus and that they have elements structurally similar to eukaryote nuclear pores, including a basket, ring-spoke structure, and eight-fold rotational symmetry. Bioinformatic analysis of proteomic data reveals that some of the G. obscuriglobus proteins associated with pore-containing membranes possess structural domains found in eukaryote nuclear pore complexes. Moreover, immunogold labelling demonstrates localization of one such protein, containing a β-propeller domain, specifically to the G. obscuriglobus pore-like structures. Finding bacterial pores within internal cell membranes and with structural similarities to eukaryote nuclear pore complexes raises the dual possibilities of either hitherto undetected homology or stunning evolutionary convergence.

Is nuclear structure relevant to non-mesonic hyper-nuclear weak decay?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, H.C.; Aristizabal, M.F.; Ponce, W.A.

2002-01-01

This work studies the relevance of nuclear structure in the non-mesonic weak decay of Λ-hypernuclei, with the mechanism of ΛN → NN transition being restricted to one pion exchange (OPE) only. As an application, for the hypernucleus Λ 12 C a comparison between the L-S coupling and the j-j coupling gives an estimate of the range of nuclear structure effects. A considerable dependence is found of the total decay rate and the ratio Γ n /Γ p on the single particle properties of nuclear models. The possible contribution from the ΔI = 3/2 channel is investigated in a phenomenological manner. (author)

Nuclear Structure Research at TRIUMF

Science.gov (United States)

Garrett, P. E.; Andreyev, A.; Austin, R. A. E.; Ball, G. C.; Bandyopadhyay, D.; Becker, J. A.; Boston, A. J.; Chakrawarthy, R. S.; Cline, D.; Cooper, R. J.; Churchman, R.; Cross, D.; Dashdorj, D.; Demand, G. A.; Dimmock, M. R.; Drake, T. E.; Finlay, P.; Gagon-Miosan, F.; Gallant, A. T.; Green, K. L.; Grint, A. N.; Grinyer, G. F.; Hackman, G.; Harkness, L. J.; Hayes, A. B.; Kanungo, R.; Kulp, W. D.; Leach, K. G.; Lee, G.; Leslie, J. R.; Martin, J.-P.; Mattoon, C.; Mills, W. J.; Morton, A. C.; Mythili, S.; Nelson, L.; Newman, O.; Nolan, P. J.; Padilla-Rodal, E.; Pearson, C. J.; Phillips, A. A.; Porter-Peden, M.; Ressler, J. J.; Roy, R.; Ruiz, C.; Savajols, H.; Sarazin, F.; Schumaker, M. A.; Scraggs, D. P.; Scraggs, H. C.; Strange, M. D.; Svensson, C. E.; Waddington, J. C.; Wan, J. M.; Whitbeck, A.; Williams, S. J.; Wong, J.; Wood, J. L.; Wu, C. Y.; Zganjar, E. F.

2007-04-01

The radioactive beam laboratory at TRIUMF is currently the highest power ISOL facility in the world. Taking advantage of the high-intensity beams, major programs in nuclear astrophysics, nuclear structure, and weak interaction studies have begun. The low-energy area, ISAC-I, is capable of delivering beams up to mass 30 at approx 1.7 MeV/u or 60 keV up to the mass of the primary target, whereas ISAC-II will ultimately provide beams up to mass 150 and approx 6.5 MeV/u. Major gamma -ray spectrometers for nuclear structure research consist of the 8pi spectrometer at ISAC-I, and the TIGRESS spectrometer now being constructed for ISAC-II. Results from recent experiments investigating the beta -decay of nuclei near N=90 and Coulomb excitation of 20,21Na are presented that highlight the capabilities of the spectrometers.

15th National Conference on Nuclear Structure in China

CERN Document Server

Wang, Ning; Zhou, Shan-Gui; Nuclear Structure in China 2014; NSC2014

2016-01-01

This volume is a collection of the contributions to the 15th National Conference on Nuclear Structure in China (NSC2014), held on October 25-28, 2014 in Guilin, China and hosted by Guangxi Normal University. It provides an important updated resource in the nuclear physics literature for researchers and graduate students studying nuclear structure and related topics. Recent progress made in the study of nuclear spectroscopy of high-spin states, nuclear mass and half-life, nuclear astrophysics, super-heavy nuclei, unstable nuclei, density functional theory, neutron star and symmetry energy, nuclear matter, and nuclear shell model are covered.

Nuclear Data for Astrophysics: Resources, Challenges, Strategies, and Software Solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, Michael Scott; Lingerfelt, Eric J.; Nesaraja, Caroline D.; Hix, William Raphael; Roberts, Luke F.; Koura, Hiroyuki; Fuller, George M.; Tytler, David

2008-01-01

One of the most exciting utilizations of nuclear data is to help unlock the mysteries of the Cosmos -- the creation of the chemical elements, the evolution and explosion of stars, and the origin and fate of the Universe. There are now many nuclear data sets, tools, and other resources online to help address these important questions. However, numerous serious challenges make it important to develop strategies now to ensure a sustainable future for this work. A number of strategies are advocated, including: enlisting additional manpower to evaluate the newest data; devising ways to streamline evaluation activities; and improving communication and coordination between existing efforts. Software projects are central to some of these strategies. Examples include: creating a virtual 'pipeline' leading from the nuclear laboratory to astrophysics simulations; improving data visualization and management to get the most science out of the existing datasets; and creating a nuclear astrophysics data virtual (online) community. Recent examples will be detailed, including the development of two first-generation software pipelines, the Computational Infrastructure for Nuclear Astrophysics for stellar astrophysics and the bigbangonline suite of codes for cosmology, and the coupling of nuclear data to sensitivity studies with astrophysical simulation codes to guide future research.

Nuclear structure at high-spin and large-deformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, Yoshifumi R.

2000-01-01

Atomic nucleus is a finite quantal system and shows various marvelous features. One of the purposes of the nuclear structure study is to understand such features from a microscopic viewpoint of nuclear many-body problem. Recently, it is becoming possible to explore nuclear states under 'extreme conditions', which are far different from the usual ground states of stable nuclei, and new aspects of such unstable nuclei attract our interests. In this lecture, I would like to discuss the nuclear structure in the limit of rapid rotation, or the extreme states with very large angular momenta, which became accessible by recent advent of large arrays of gamma-ray detecting system; these devices are extremely useful to measure coincident multiple γ-rays following heavy-ion fusion reactions. Including such experimental aspects as how to detect the nuclear rotational states, I review physics of high-spin states starting from the elementary subjects of nuclear structure study. In would like also to discuss the extreme states with very large nuclear deformation, which are easily realized in rapidly rotating nuclei. (author)

The electric monopole transition: Nuclear structure, and nuclear spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zganiar, E.F.

1992-01-01

The electric monopole (E0) transition process provides unique information on the structure of nuclei. For example, δI=0 transitions between nuclear configurations of different shape have enhanced EO components. The authors have observed I π→Iπ (I=0) transitions in 185 Pt and 184 Pt which are pure E0. This is unprecedented. Further, they have initiated searches for the location of the superdeformed band in 192 Hg utilizing internal conversion spectroscopy and, for the first time, internal pair spectroscopy. Additionally, the lifetime of the 0 + 2 level in 188 Hg was measured with a newly developed picosecond lifetime system which utilized the 0 + 2 →0 + 1 E0 internal conversion transition as an energy gate and its associated atomic X-ray as a fast trigger. The role of the E0 internal conversion process in the study of nuclear structure and as a tool in nuclear spectroscopy are discussed

Challenges in Implementing IAEA National Nuclear Safety Knowledge Platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samba, R.N.; Simo, A.

2016-01-01

Full text: Integrated Management Systems and human resource development of nuclear knowledge have always been a challenge for developing countries. NRPA staff when trained by IAEA return and restitute with all colleagues the themes acquired in nuclear knowledge. NRPA became a member of Forum for Nuclear Regulatory Bodies in Africa (FNRBA) in 2009. FNRBA organized with IAEA a workshop from 14th to 18th October 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya on Knowledge Safety Network. NRPA of Cameroon created the first National Nuclear Portail under FNRBA. This was linked to other national websites. During the IAEA review missions, most counterparts took opportunity from the thermatic site to share information and develop advance reference materials. The IAEA Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team also shared materials that could not be transferred through email with national counterparts using the Global Nuclear Safety and Security Network (GNSSN) sharepoint website due to large file sizes.The regulatory documents have been uploaded on the platform and can be accessed through FNRBA and NRPA website (www.anrp.cm). UN organizations implementing projects in Cameroon are also linked to the platform. The action plans and progress reports for IAEA/AFRA projects are also available. Moreover, NRPA regulatory activities and licensing sources are available on this platform. (author

Nuclear structure data file. A manual for preparation of data sets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewbank, W.B.; Schmorak, M.R.; Bertrand, F.E.; Feliciano, M.; Horen, D.J.

1975-06-01

The Nuclear Data Project at ORNL is building a computer-based file of nuclear structure data, which is intended for use by both basic and applied users. For every nucleus, the Nuclear Structure Data File contains evaluated nuclear structure information. This manual describes a standard input format for nuclear structure data. The format is sufficiently structured that bulk data can be entered efficiently. At the same time, the structure is open-ended and can accommodate most measured or deduced quantities that yield nuclear structure information. Computer programs have been developed at the Data Project to perform consistency checking and routine calculations. Programs are also used for preparing level scheme drawings. (U.S.)

Nuclear reactor structural material forming less radioactive corrosion product

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakazawa, Hiroshi.

1988-01-01

Purpose: To provide nuclear reactor structural materials forming less radioactive corrosion products. Constitution: Ni-based alloys such as inconel alloy 718, 600 or inconel alloy 750 and 690 having excellent corrosion resistance and mechanical property even in coolants at high temperature and high pressure have generally been used as nuclear reactor structural materials. However, even such materials yield corrosion products being attacked by coolants circulating in the nuclear reactor, which produce by neutron irradiation radioactive corrosion products, that are deposited in primary circuit pipeways to constitute exposure sources. The present invention dissolves dissolves this problems by providing less activating nuclear reactor structural materials. That is, taking notice on the fact that Ni-58 contained generally by 68 % in Ni changes into Co-58 under irradiation of neutron thereby causing activation, the surface of nuclear reactor structural materials is applied with Ni plating by using Ni with a reduced content of Ni-58 isotopes. Accordingly, increase in the radiation level of the nuclear reactor structural materials can be inhibited. (K.M.)

ENEA activities on seismic isolation of nuclear and non-nuclear structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martelli, A.; Masoni, P.; Forni, M.; Indirli, M.; Spadoni, B.; Di Pasquale, G.; Lucarelli, V.; Sano, T.; Bonacina, G.; Castoldi, A.

1989-01-01

Work on seismic isolation of nuclear and non-nuclear structures was started by ENEA in cooperation with ISMES in 1988. The first activity consisted of a proposal for guidelines for seismically isolated nuclear plants using high-damping, steel-laminated elastomer bearings. This is being performed in the framework of an agreement with General Electric Company. Furthermore, research and development work has been defined and recently initiated to support development of the seismic isolation guidelines as well as that of qualification procedures for seismic isolation systems in general. The present R and D work includes static and dynamic experiments on single bearings, shake table tests with multi-axial simultaneous excitations on reduced-scale mockups of isolated structures supported by multiple bearings, and dynamic tests on large-scale isolated structures with on-site test techniques. It also includes the development and validation of finite-element nonlinear models of the single bearings, as well as those of simplified design tools for the analysis of the isolated structures dynamic behavior. Extension of this work is foreseen in a wider national frame

Structural mechanics in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han Liangbi

1998-01-01

The main research works in structural mechanics in reactor technology are emphatically introduced. It is completed by structural mechanics engineers at Shanghai Nuclear Research and Design Institute associated with the design and construction problems for Qinshan NPP Unit 1 and Pakistani CHASNUPP. About structural mechanics problem for the containment, the rock and soft soil two different bases are considered. For the later the interaction between soil and structure is carefully studied. About the structural mechanics problem for the equipment and pipings, the three dimensional stress and fracture analyses are studied. For the structural dynamics problem, including flow induced vibration, the response analyses under earthquake and loss coolant accident loadings are studied. For pipings, the leak before break technique has been emphatically introduced. A lot of mathematical models, the used computer codes, analytical calculations and experimental results are also introduced. This is a comprehensive description about structural mechanics problem in pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant

Superheavy Element Synthesis and Nuclear Structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ackermann, D.

2009-01-01

The search for the next closed proton and neutron shells beyond 2 08P b has yielded a number of exciting results in terms of the synthesis of new elements [1,2,3]. The superheavy elements (SHE), however, are a nuclear structure phenomenon. They owe their existence to the quantum mechanical origin of shell correction energies without which they would not be bound. In recent years the development of efficient experimental set-ups including separators and advanced particle and photon detection arrangements allowed for more and more detailed nuclear structure studies for nuclei at and beyond Z=100. A review of those recent achievements is given in ref. [4]. Among the most interesting features is the observation of K-isomeric states. Experimentally about 14 cases have been identified in the region of Z>96 as shown in Fig. 1. K-isomers or indications of their existence have been found for almost all even-Z elements in the region Z=100 to 110. We could recently establish and/or confirm such states in the even-even isotopes 2 52,254N o [5]. The heaviest nucleus where such a state was found is 2 70D s with Z=110 as we reported in 2001 [6]. Those nuclear structure studies lay out the grounds for a detailed understanding of these heavy and high-Z nuclear systems, and contribute at the same time valuable information to preparation of strategies to successfully continue the hunt for the localisation of the next spherical proton and neutron shells after 2 08P b. The recent activities for both SHE synthesis and nuclear structure investigations at GSI will be reported.(author)

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technologies: Current Challenges and Future Plans - 12558

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Griffith, Andrew [U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States)

2012-07-01

The mission of the Office of Nuclear Energy's Fuel Cycle Technologies office (FCT program) is to provide options for possible future changes in national nuclear energy programs. While the recent draft report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future stressed the need for organization changes, interim waste storage and the establishment of a permanent repository for nuclear waste management, it also recognized the potential value of alternate fuel cycles and recommended continued research and development in that area. With constrained budgets and great expectations, the current challenges are significant. The FCT program now performs R and D covering the entire fuel cycle. This broad R and D scope is a result of the assignment of new research and development (R and D) responsibilities to the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), as well as reorganization within NE. This scope includes uranium extraction from seawater and uranium enrichment R and D, used nuclear fuel recycling technology, advanced fuel development, and a fresh look at a range of disposal geologies. Additionally, the FCT program performs the necessary systems analysis and screening of fuel cycle alternatives that will identify the most promising approaches and areas of technology gaps. Finally, the FCT program is responsible for a focused effort to consider features of fuel cycle technology in a way that promotes nonproliferation and security, such as Safeguards and Security by Design, and advanced monitoring and predictive modeling capabilities. This paper and presentation will provide an overview of the FCT program R and D scope and discuss plans to analyze fuel cycle options and support identified R and D priorities into the future. The FCT program is making progress in implanting a science based, engineering driven research and development program that is evaluating options for a sustainable fuel cycle in the U.S. Responding to the BRC recommendations, any resulting legislative

NRSAS: Nuclear Receptor Structure Analysis Servers.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bettler, E.J.M.; Krause, R.; Horn, F.; Vriend, G.

2003-01-01

We present a coherent series of servers that can perform a large number of structure analyses on nuclear hormone receptors. These servers are part of the NucleaRDB project, which provides a powerful information system for nuclear hormone receptors. The computations performed by the servers include

Micro-structured nuclear fuel and novel nuclear reactor concepts for advanced power production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popa-Simil, Liviu

2008-01-01

Many applications (e.g. terrestrial and space electric power production, naval, underwater and railroad propulsion and auxiliary power for isolated regions) require a compact-high-power electricity source. The development of such a reactor structure necessitates a deeper understanding of fission energy transport and materials behavior in radiation dominated structures. One solution to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions and delay the catastrophic events' occurrences may be the development of massive nuclear power. The actual basic conceptions in nuclear reactors are at the base of the bottleneck in enhancements. The current nuclear reactors look like high security prisons applied to fission products. The micro-bead heterogeneous fuel mesh gives the fission products the possibility to acquire stable conditions outside the hot zones without spilling, in exchange for advantages - possibility of enhancing the nuclear technology for power production. There is a possibility to accommodate the materials and structures with the phenomenon of interest, the high temperature fission products free fuel with near perfect burning. This feature is important to the future of nuclear power development in order to avoid the nuclear fuel peak, and high price increase due to the immobilization of the fuel in the waste fuel nuclear reactor pools. (author)

Changes in Nuclear Structure During Wheat Endosperm Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wegel, E.

2005-01-01

This thesis is an investigation into the structure of wheat endosperm nuclei starting with nuclear divisions and migration during syncytium formation followed by the development of nuclear shape and positioning of chromosome territories and ending with changes in subchromosomal structure during the

Women’s Participation in Africa’s Nuclear Development-Challenges and Opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mkhosi-Motsaathebe, M.

2015-01-01

Expansion of nuclear technologies and plans for new plants in Africa makes this an exciting time for more women to be involved in the nuclear sector and there are lots of opportunities across the nuclear value chain for women to be involved. In recent decades, more and more women are are now entering the nuclear field and many people are starting to recognise opportunities for women, since the role played by women in the nuclear field enhances the development goals for many countries. In developing countries and in Africa in particular, however, there is a greater need for awareness of women’s involvement in STEM fields in general, and to change prevailing attitudes about women’s participation in the nuclear science and technology in particular. This paper will look at various opportunities women have in the expanding nuclear sector in the continent, and how these opportunities can be utilised, not only for those in sciences but also in business disciplines. The approaches organizations and countries can take in broadening participation of the female gender in the nuclear development in Africa; will also be presented, as well as how to address the challenges faced by women in the dynamic nuclear field. (author)

Progress on nuclear modifications of structure functions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kumano S.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We report progress on nuclear structure functions, especially on their nuclear modifications and a new tensor structure function for the deuteron. To understand nuclear structure functions is an important step toward describing nuclei and QCD matters from low to high densities and from low to high energies in terms of fundamental quark and gluon degrees of freedom beyond conventional hadron and nuclear physics. It is also practically important for understanding new phenomena in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. Furthermore, since systematic errors of current neutrinooscillation experiments are dominated by uncertainties of neutrino-nucleus interactions, such studies are valuable for finding new physics beyond current framework. Next, a new tensor-polarized structure function b1 is discussed for the deuteron. There was a measurement by HERMES; however, its data are inconsistent with the conventional convolution estimate based on the standard deuteron model with D-state admixture. This fact suggests that a new hadronic phenomenon should exist in the tensor-polarized deuteron at high energies, and it will be experimentally investigated at JLab from the end of 2010’s.

Teaching nuclear energy: the challenges of interdisciplinarity in the classroom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bratt, D. [Mount Royal Univ., Dept. of Policy Studies, Calgary, Alberta (Canada); McCollum, B. [Mount Royal Univ. Dept. of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Calgary, Alberta (Canada)

2012-07-01

Drs. Bratt and McCollum teach a third year undergraduate course entitled 'The Science and Politics of Nuclear Energy' at Mount Royal University in Calgary. To the best of our knowledge this is the only course of its kind offered in Canada that combines science and politics of nuclear energy in the same course and taught by specialists in both of those areas. The presentation would cover the following key points: Why was the course conceived? What was the role of MRU's focus on General Education? How was the course conceived? What is unique about it? What is the course content? How is the material delivered? What is the student profile? Explaining the success of the course. From Winter 2011 when there were only 5 registered students in a 30 seat course, to 31 registered students in a 30 seat course in Winter 2012. Challenges of a multi-disciplinary course, ie., science students who are afraid of writing long political papers, social science students who are afraid of the periodic table and math. Challenges of teaching such a course in Calgary, ie., lack of a nuclear industry, lack of guest speakers, etc. The methodology for the course includes: Demographic statistics from student enrolments; Content analysis of course documents Instructor's views on the course; and, A student survey.

Teaching nuclear energy: the challenges of interdisciplinarity in the classroom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bratt, D.; McCollum, B.

2012-01-01

Drs. Bratt and McCollum teach a third year undergraduate course entitled 'The Science and Politics of Nuclear Energy' at Mount Royal University in Calgary. To the best of our knowledge this is the only course of its kind offered in Canada that combines science and politics of nuclear energy in the same course and taught by specialists in both of those areas. The presentation would cover the following key points: Why was the course conceived? What was the role of MRU's focus on General Education? How was the course conceived? What is unique about it? What is the course content? How is the material delivered? What is the student profile? Explaining the success of the course. From Winter 2011 when there were only 5 registered students in a 30 seat course, to 31 registered students in a 30 seat course in Winter 2012. Challenges of a multi-disciplinary course, ie., science students who are afraid of writing long political papers, social science students who are afraid of the periodic table and math. Challenges of teaching such a course in Calgary, ie., lack of a nuclear industry, lack of guest speakers, etc. The methodology for the course includes: Demographic statistics from student enrolments; Content analysis of course documents Instructor's views on the course; and, A student survey.

Technical and management challenges associated with structural materials degradation in nuclear reactors in the future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, F.P.

2007-01-01

There are active plans worldwide to increase nuclear power production by significant amounts. In the near term (i.e. by 2020) this will be accomplished by, (a) increasing the power output of the existing reactors and extending their life, and by, (b) constructing new reactors that are very similar to the current water-cooled designs. Beyond 2025-2030, it is possible that new reactors (i.e. the 'GEN IV' designs) will be very different from those currently in service. A full discussion of the technical and management concerns associated with materials degradation that might arise over the next 40 years would need to address a wide range of topics. Quite apart from discussing the structural integrity issues for the materials of construction and the fuel cladding, the debate would also need to cover, for example, fuel resources and the associated issues of fuel cycle management and waste disposal, manufacturing capacity, inspection capabilities, human reliability, etc., since these all impact to one degree or another on the choice of material and the reactor operating conditions. For brevity, the scope of this article is confined to the integrity of the materials of construction for passive components in the current water-cooled reactors and the evolutionary designs (which will dominate the near term new constructions), and the very different GEN IV reactor designs. In all cases the operating environments will be more aggressive than currently encountered. For instance, the concerns for flow accelerated corrosion and flow-induced vibration will be increased under extended power uprate conditions for the current water-cooled reactors. Of greater concern, the design life will be at least 60 years for all of the new reactors and for those current reactors operating with extended licenses. This automatically presents challenges with regard to managing both irradiation damage in metallic and non-metallic materials of construction, and environmentally assisted cracking. This

Nuclear structure and neutrino-nucleus interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krmpotic, Francisco

2011-01-01

Recent years have witnessed an intense experimental and theoretical activity oriented towards a better comprehension of neutrino nucleus interaction. While the main motivation for this task is the demand coming from oscillation experiments in their search for a precise determination of neutrino properties, the relevance of neutrino interaction with matter is more wide-ranging. It is imperative for astrophysics, hadronic and nuclear physics, and physics beyond the standard model. The experimental information on neutrino induced reactions is rapidly growing, and the corresponding theoretical description is a challenging proposition, since the energy scales of interest span a vast region, going from few MeV for solar neutrinos, to tens of MeV for the interpretation of experiments with the muon and pion decay at rest and the detection of neutrinos coming from the core collapse of supernova, and to hundreds of MeV or few GeV for the detection of atmospheric neutrinos, and for the neutrino oscillation program of the MiniBooNE experiment. The presence of neutrinos, being chargeless particles, can only be inferred by detecting the secondary particles created in colliding and interacting with the matter. Nuclei are often used as neutrino detectors, and in particular 12 C which is a component of many scintillator detectors. Thus, the interpretation of neutrino data heavily relies on detailed and quantitative knowledge of the features of the neutrino-nucleus interaction. The nuclear structure methods used in the evaluation of the neutrino-nucleus cross section are reviewed. Detailed comparison between the experimental and theoretical results establishes benchmarks needed for verification and/or parameter adjustment of the nuclear models. Having a reliable tool for such calculation is of great importance in a variety of applications, such as the description of the r-process nucleosynthesis. (author)

Compilations and evaluations of nuclear structure and decay data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lorenz, A.

1977-03-01

This is the second issue of a report series on published and to-be-published compilations and evaluations of nuclear structure and decay (NSD) data. This compilation of compilations and evaluations is designed to keep the nuclear scientific community informed of the availability of compiled or evaluated NSD data, and contains references to laboratory reports, journal articles and books containing selected compilations and evaluations. It excludes references to ''mass-chain'' evaluations normally published in the ''Nuclear Data Sheets'' and ''Nuclear Physics''. The material contained in this compilation is sorted according to eight subject categories: general compilations; basic isotopic properties; nuclear structure properties; nuclear decay processes; half-lives, energies and spectra; nuclear decay processes: gamma-rays; nuclear decay processes: fission products; nuclear decay processes: (others); atomic processes

Global nuclear renaissance - today's issues, challenges and differences relative to the first wave of nuclear plant projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gardner, William N.

2010-01-01

The development and negotiation of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract is a multi-disciplined and time consuming process. Relative to the first wave on new nuclear build projects of the 1950's - 1970's, today's EPC contracts are more complex for a variety of reasons including more demanding regulatory and environmental requirements, global supply chain versus localization issues and different world wide economic considerations. This paper discusses the impacts of some of these challenges on developing an EPC contract in today's Nuclear Renaissance. (authors)

Nuclear physics, neutron physics and nuclear energy. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrejtscheff, W.; Elenkov, D.

1994-01-01

The book contains of proceedings of XI International School on Nuclear Physics, Neutron Physics and Nuclear Energy organized traditionally every two years by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Physics Department of Sofia University held near the city of Varna. It provides a good insight to the large range of theoretical and experimental results, prospects, problems, difficulties and challenges which are at the core of nuclear physics today. The efforts and achievements of scientists to search for new phenomena in nuclei at extreme circumstances as superdeformation and band crossing in nuclear structure understanding are widely covered. From this point of view the achievements and future in the field of high-precision γ-spectroscopy are included. Nuclear structure models and methods, models for strong interaction, particle production and properties, resonance theory and its application in reactor physics are comprised also. (V.T.)

Safety classification of nuclear power plant systems, structures and components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

The Safety Classification principles used for the systems, structures and components of a nuclear power plant are detailed in the guide. For classification, the nuclear power plant is divided into structural and operational units called systems. Every structure and component under control is included into some system. The Safety Classes are 1, 2 and 3 and the Class EYT (non-nuclear). Instructions how to assign each system, structure and component to an appropriate safety class are given in the guide. The guide applies to new nuclear power plants and to the safety classification of systems, structures and components designed for the refitting of old nuclear power plants. The classification principles and procedures applying to the classification document are also given

Reinforcement course 2013. Challenges at the operation end of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rey, Matthias

2014-01-01

The reinforcement course 2013 of the Nuclear Forum in Switzerland dedicated itself to the question, of which challenges are implicated by decommissioning and dismantling nuclear power plants. The course has been divided into 4 blocks, discussing concepts regarding decommissioning, special points such as organisational or psychological aspects as well as juridical and practical questions. Around 140 persons accepted the invitation of the committee for educational questions under the patronage of Urs Weidmann, head of the nuclear power plant Beznau. Altogether 17 presentations dealt with the following topics: 'Strategies and Steps of Decommissioning' by Roger Lundmark, 'Decommissioning from the Perspective of the Swiss Regulatory Authority' by Hannes Haenggi, 'Operating Period Management Using the Example of the Nuclear Power Plant Leibstadt' by Johannis Noeggerath, 'Questions and Concepts from the Perspective of a Nuclear Power Plant Operator' by Roland Schmidiger, 'Decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the UK' by Andrew Munro, 'Practical experiences of transferring nuclear power plants from operating to out of operation' by Gerd Reinstrom, 'Dismantling of Nuclear Facilities: From the Pilot Scheme to Industrialized Disassembling' by Anke Traichel and Thomas Seipolt, 'Organisational challenges: From Decommissioning Strategy to Decommissioning Targets' by Michael Kruse, Anton von Gunten, Julia Heizinger, Joerg Sokoll, 'Knowing That and Knowing How - Motivational Aspects of Safety-Related Knowledge Management for the Post-Operational phase and dismantling' by Frank Ritz, 'The Juridical Frame of Decommissioning' by Peter Koch, 'The Path to the Decommissioning Order and its Guidelines Ensi-G17' by Torsten Krietsch, 'Requirements for a Safe and Economical Decommissioning From the Perspective of the Operator' by Anton Von Gunten, Michael Kruse, Thomas Herren, Erwin Neukaeter, Mario Radke and Anton Schegg, 'Evaluation of Activation Distribution in a Nuclear Power Plant

An overlook of the new global nuclear scenario and the emergent challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solanilla, Roberto B.A.

2007-01-01

The aim of this paper is to make a short overlook of the world nuclear renaissance and point out some emergent challenges. The presentation covers different subjects in which the nuclear energy shows great advantage to face concerns about climate change, energy demand growth, and relative cost of competing technologies in a global scenario. Additionally nuclear technology can deploy in a middle term an important potential development oriented to improve even more that nuclear design, safety, environment protection, economic and sustainability of the present nuclear reactors generation. The world nuclear energy scenario reveals a renaissance after a long period of lethargy. Now is the focus of considerable attention and debate about the risks and benefits of its expansion. Many countries are again planning ambitious nuclear programs. In the case of Argentina, a decision was taken to end the construction of Atucha 750 MWe power plant (NPP) and to begin the construction of another two NPP in the next decade. In the middle term and expansion of 60 % of the present world nuclear capabilities is foreseen. For the long term there could be much more if today's performance data is maintained or improved. It would require the nuclear industry to return immediately to the most rapid period of growth experienced in the past. The training of the young people is also an important challenge. But some countries are still reluctant due to the adverse local public opinion. In spite of the great accessibility and availability of the NPP confirmed by the global experience of the 350 operating nuclear power plants, the public acceptability is not confirmed. Some sectors of the society -with the support in some case of the media- are against the use of the nuclear energy. In this paper some reasons of the public concerns is explained and actions are mentioned to change its perceptions. At the end, the global society in front of the real means available to fulfill the growing energy

Investigations of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions induced by complex projectiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarantites, D.G.

1993-01-01

This is a progress report on activities of the Washington University group in nuclear reaction studies for the period Sept 1, 1992 to Aug 31, 1993. This group has a research program which touches five areas of nuclear physics: nuclear structure studies at high spin; studies at the interface between structure and reactions; production and study of hot nuclei; reaction mechanism studies; development and use of novel techniques and instrumentation in the above areas of research. Specific activities of the group include in part: superdeformation in 82 Sr; structure of and identical bands in 182 Hg and 178 Pt; a highly deformed band in 136 Pm; particle decay of the 164 Yb compound nucleus; fusion reactions; proton evaporation; two-proton decay of 12 O; modeling and theoretical studies; excited 16 O disassembly into four alpha particles; 209 Bi + 136 Xe collisions at 28.2 MeV/amu; and development work on 4π solid angle gamma detectors, and x-ray detectors

Challenge nuclear power: portrait of the Framatome ANP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gueldner, R.

2004-01-01

The energy industry, which needs to meet the global energy and in particular the power demand of a world population that is continuously increasing - at present there are over 6.2 billion living on this Earth -, has for a few years now been undergoing fundamental change: In the wake of liberalization the course has been set for global competition. The companies involved in the field of nuclear energy, both plant operators and suppliers, have also been impacted by this change. Besides internal programs to cut costs and enhance capabilities, corporate mergers at the national and international level are also playing a significant role. Companies will thus be able to tackle future challenges, with good prospects for nuclear energy as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly form of power generation. In response to market trends the nuclear business activities of Framatome and Siemens were merged in early 2001 to form Framatome ANP, which now is an AREVA ad Siemens company. Framatome ANP is dedicated to the development and turnkey construction of nuclear power plants and research reactors as well as comprehensive engineering, electrical and I and C systems, plant services, modernization, fuel supplies and heavy component manufacture for many reactor designs, including those supplied by other vendors. The company is headquartered in Paris with regional subsidiaries in Germany and the U.S. AREVA has a 66 percent stake and Siemens a 34 percent stake in Framatome ANP. The German regional subsidiary Framatome ANP GmbH has its head offices in Erlangen. Its subsidiaries are Advanced Nuclear Fuels GmbH (ANF), which focuses on fuel production, and intelligeNDT Systems and Services GmbH and Co. KG, which performs nondestructive testing in the field of nuclear engineering and other high-tech branches of industry. (orig.)

Nuclear data for astrophysics: resources, challenges, strategies, and software solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, M.S.; Lingerfelt, E.J.; Nesaraja, C.D.; Raphael Hix, W.; Roberts, L.F.; Hiroyuki, Koura; Fuller, G.M.; Tytler, D.

2008-01-01

One of the most exciting utilizations of nuclear data is to help unlock the mysteries of the Cosmos - the creation of the chemical elements, the evolution and explosion of stars, and the origin and fate of the Universe. There are now many nuclear data sets, tools, and other resources online to help address these important questions. However, numerous serious challenges make it important to develop strategies now to ensure a sustainable future for this work. A number of strategies are advocated, including: enlisting additional manpower to evaluate the newest data; devising ways to streamline evaluation activities; and improving communication and coordination between existing efforts. Software projects are central to some of these strategies. Examples include: creating a virtual - pipeline - leading from the nuclear laboratory to astrophysics simulations; improving data visualization and management to get the most science out of the existing datasets; and creating a nuclear astrophysics data virtual (online) community. Recent examples will be detailed, including the development of two first-generation software pipelines, the Computational Infrastructure for Nuclear Astrophysics for stellar astrophysics and the Bigbangonline suite of codes for cosmology, and the coupling of nuclear data to sensitivity studies with astrophysical simulation codes to guide future research. (authors)

The quest for nuclear technology and the challenges of knowledge management in Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mundu, A.; Umar, A.M.

2004-01-01

The major milestones in the quest for nuclear technology were highlighted, followed by a review of nuclear application in research and development, health, water resource management and agriculture.the past activities of the national INIS centre particularly with respect to submission of input, promotion and knowledge management were examined. And a repositioned INIS centre to meet the challenges of nuclear information management and the emerging trend in knowledge management was presented with specific target in the short and the long term. (author)

The world energetic demand, one key challenge for the nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graber, U.

2009-01-01

A reappraisal of nuclear power is currently underway worldwide , with an increase in the use of nuclear energy for power generation predicted. The reasons for this global renaissance include a growing demand for electric power throughout the world, awareness the our fossil resources are limited,d protection of the environment and the need for further development of various renewable energy technologies to ensure their competitiveness and base-load capability. Leading energy agencies are predicting an increase in nuclear capacity worldwide from the current figure of 370 GW to 415 -833 GW by the year 2030. Numerous countries have decided to build new nuclear power plants or are planning to do so, even countries that have not used nuclear energy in the past. The nuclear industry is rising to this challenge by offering advanced Generation III+reactors, y building up staffing levels and investing in production facilities and the fuel cycle. Standardizing technology, progressively harmonizing safety requirements across national borders and setting un long-term cooperation agreements between vendors and plant operators are options that can help turn the global renaissance of nuclear power into a sustainable success. (Author)

Status of transactinium nuclear data in the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewbank, W.B.

1979-01-01

The organization and program of the Nuclear Data Project are described. An Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) was designed to contain most of the data of nuclear structure physics. ENSDF includes adopted level information for all 1950 known nuclei, and detailed data for approximately 1500 decay schemes. File organization, management, and retrieval are reviewed. An international network of data evaluation centers has been organized to provide for a four-year cycle of ENSDF revisions. Standard retrieval and display programs can prepare various tables of specific data, which can serve as a good first approximation to a complete up-to-date compilation. Appendixes list, for A > 206, nuclear levels with lifetimes > or = 1 s, strong γ rays from radioisotopes (ordered by nuclide and energy), and strong α particle emissions (similarly ordered). 8 figures

Reliability assessment of nuclear structural systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reich, M.; Hwang, H.

1983-01-01

Reliability assessment of nuclear structural systems has been receiving more emphasis over the last few years. This paper deals with the recent progress made by the Structural Analysis Division of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), in the development of a probability-based reliability analysis methodology for safety evaluation of reactor containments and other seismic category I structures. An important feature of this methodology is the incorporation of finite element analysis and random vibration theory. By utilizing this method, it is possible to evaluate the safety of nuclear structures under various static and dynamic loads in terms of limit state probability. Progress in other related areas, such as the establishment of probabilistic characteristics for various loads and structural resistance, are also described. Results of an application of the methodology to a realistic reinforced concrete containment subjected to dead and live loads, accidental internal pressures and earthquake ground accelerations are presented

Examining work structure in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bauman, M.B.; Boulette, M.D.; Van Cott, H.P.

1985-01-01

This paper describes the assessment of the work structure of ten nuclear power plants. Work structure factors are those factors that relate to the way in which work at all levels in a plant is organized, staffed, managed, rewarded, and perceived by plant personnel. Questionnaires given to a cross-section of personnel at the plants were the primary source of data collection. Structured ''critical incident'' interviews were conducted to verify the questionnaire results. The study revealed that a variety of work structure factor problem areas do exist in nuclear power plants. The paper highlights a prioritized set of candidate research themes to be considered in EPRI's Work Structure and Performance Research Program

Nuclear Research Institute Rez: Its past and present and future challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pazdera, F.

2001-01-01

The paper gives an overview of the history of the Nuclear Research Institute Rez development over forty years of its existence. Its present activities are discussed in some detail. These historical and present activities represent the basis for discussing: challenges faced by the NRI; interactions of NRI with their environment; collaboration and co-operation. Nuclear research centres would continue to be the main source of expertise for power plant operation, radiation and isotope applications, regulatory practices and waste management. Future developments should ensure viability of these centres. (author)

Regulatory challenges for independent organization and licensing procedures for Egypt first nuclear power program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elsheikh, B.M.

2012-01-01

In March 2010 the Government of Egypt issued an Ordinance creating an independent regulatory body the Egypt Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (NRRA) reporting directly to the Prime Minister and responsible for matters dealing with protection of the radiation worker, public and environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. A little more than 2 years have elapsed since this date. Some of the challenges faced by NRRA to its regulatory independence are given below. This paper will discuss the major challenges relating to Egyptian nuclear power program and specially the regulatory effectiveness and licensing procedures compared to international comparison.

Report on aging of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B.; Ellingwood, B.R.

1996-03-01

The Structural Aging Program provides the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission with potential structural safety issues and acceptance criteria for use in continued service assessments of nuclear power plant safety-related concrete structures. The program was organized under four task areas: Program Management, Materials Property Data Base, Structural Component Assessment/Repair Technology, and Quantitative Methodology for Continued Service Determinations. Under these tasks, over 90 papers and reports were prepared addressing pertinent aspects associated with aging management of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures. Contained in this report is a summary of program results in the form of information related to longevity of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures, a Structural Materials Information Center presenting data and information on the time variation of concrete materials under the influence of environmental stressors and aging factors, in-service inspection and condition assessments techniques, repair materials and methods, evaluation of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures, and a reliability-based methodology for current and future condition assessments. Recommendations for future activities are also provided. 308 refs., 61 figs., 50 tabs

Report on aging of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Ellingwood, B.R. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Civil Engineering

1996-03-01

The Structural Aging Program provides the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission with potential structural safety issues and acceptance criteria for use in continued service assessments of nuclear power plant safety-related concrete structures. The program was organized under four task areas: Program Management, Materials Property Data Base, Structural Component Assessment/Repair Technology, and Quantitative Methodology for Continued Service Determinations. Under these tasks, over 90 papers and reports were prepared addressing pertinent aspects associated with aging management of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures. Contained in this report is a summary of program results in the form of information related to longevity of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures, a Structural Materials Information Center presenting data and information on the time variation of concrete materials under the influence of environmental stressors and aging factors, in-service inspection and condition assessments techniques, repair materials and methods, evaluation of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures, and a reliability-based methodology for current and future condition assessments. Recommendations for future activities are also provided. 308 refs., 61 figs., 50 tabs.

Accelerating the global nuclear renaissance: the central challenge of sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ritch, J.

2006-01-01

The rebirth of nuclear energy has become an unmistakable reality that is gathering speed and momentum on the full world stage. All around the world, old-school anti-nuclear environmentalism is being eclipsed by a new realism that recognises nuclear energy's essential virtue: its capacity to deliver cleanly generated power safely, reliably, and on a massive scale. For serious environmentalists, the real challenge is that nuclear energy is not yet growing fast enough to play its needed role in the clean-energy revolution our world so desperately needs. A fair assessment shows that not one of the commonly cited ''public concerns'' poses a reasonable obstacle to a global expansion of nuclear power: Proliferation, Operational Safety, Cost Reduction, Waste Management. In three areas, governments must take decisive action to grow the nuclear industry: (1) Construct a comprehensive global regime to curtail greenhouse emissions; (2) Elevate nuclear investment to a national and international policy priority; and (3) Support educational development of the nuclear profession for an expanded global role. The global nuclear industry will be indispensable if humanity is to preserve the environment that enabled civilisation to evolve. Governments must emerge from postures of timidity and equivocation to act decisively in support of that industry. Our world is in dire peril, and we have no time to lose

Improved predictions of nuclear data: A continued challenge in astrophysics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goriely, S.

2001-01-01

Although important effort has been devoted in the last decades to measure reaction cross sections and decay half-lives of interest in astrophysics, most of the nuclear astrophysics applications still require the use of theoretical predictions to estimate experimentally unknown rates. The nuclear ingredients to the reaction or weak interaction models should preferentially be estimated from microscopic or semi-microscopic global predictions based on sound and reliable nuclear models which, in turn, can compete with more phenomenological highly-parametrized models in the reproduction of experimental data. The latest developments made in deriving the nuclear inputs of relevance in astrophysics applications are reviewed. It mainly concerns nuclear structure properties (atomic masses, deformations, radii, etc...), nuclear level densities, nucleon and α-optical potentials, γ-ray and Gamow-Teller strength functions

Force-detected nuclear magnetic resonance: recent advances and future challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Poggio, M; Degen, C L

2010-08-27

We review recent efforts to detect small numbers of nuclear spins using magnetic resonance force microscopy. Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is a scanning probe technique that relies on the mechanical measurement of the weak magnetic force between a microscopic magnet and the magnetic moments in a sample. Spurred by the recent progress in fabricating ultrasensitive force detectors, MRFM has rapidly improved its capability over the last decade. Today it boasts a spin sensitivity that surpasses conventional, inductive nuclear magnetic resonance detectors by about eight orders of magnitude. In this review we touch on the origins of this technique and focus on its recent application to nanoscale nuclear spin ensembles, in particular on the imaging of nanoscale objects with a three-dimensional (3D) spatial resolution better than 10 nm. We consider the experimental advances driving this work and highlight the underlying physical principles and limitations of the method. Finally, we discuss the challenges that must be met in order to advance the technique towards single nuclear spin sensitivity-and perhaps-to 3D microscopy of molecules with atomic resolution.

Multi-project, multi-national, geographically dispersed: Challenges for the Nuclear Renaissance in the United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathews, T.A.

2007-01-01

The nuclear renaissance in the United States is moving at a rapid pace due to the incentives in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, recognition of the environmental benefits of nuclear energy, and the need for stable, reliable, and diverse sources of energy. The U.S. is looking externally to capitalize on French, German, Japanese, and other worldwide experience. A number of challenges to the resurgence of nuclear power are common worldwide, including project management, workforce and supplier availability and large-project construction management experience. For example, AREVA's new plant project teams are comprised of resources drawn from various U.S. centers of technical expertise and backed up by AREVA's worldwide capabilities. However, the challenge lies in having the information infrastructure in place to integrate that expertise and share information across working groups. In another example, the U.S. regulatory process has changed significantly for the better, but the new streamlined combined license process has not been tested. Reactor vendors and utilities have injected new thinking into the process by pursuing Design Certification, Early Site Permit, and Combined License approval in parallel rather than in series. This paper will discuss these and other challenges to licensing and building new nuclear plants, and the approaches being used by AREVA to lead the Nuclear Renaissance in the United States. (author)

Some highlights of the Daresbury nuclear structure programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gelletly, W.

1984-01-01

The paper concerns the nuclear structure programme at the Daresbury laboratory, United Kingdom. A description is given of the Nuclear Structure Facility (NSF), along with its principal properties and design features. Some of the latest equipment used at the NSF is discussed, including the isotope separator, recoil separator, magnetic spectrometer and gamma-ray detectors. Uses of this equipment at the NSF to study the nuclear properties at high angular momentum and nuclei far from stability, are also described. (U.K.)

Structural design of nuclear power plant using stiffened steel plate concrete structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moon, Ilhwan; Kim, Sungmin; Mun, Taeyoup; Kim, Keunkyeong; Sun, Wonsang

2009-01-01

Nuclear power is an alternative energy source that is conducive to mitigate the environmental strains. The countries having nuclear power plants are encouraging research and development sector to find ways to construct safer and more economically feasible nuclear power plants. Modularization using Steel Plate Concrete(SC) structure has been proposed as a solution to these efforts. A study of structural modules using SC structure has been performed for shortening of construction period and enhancement of structural safety of NPP structures in Korea. As a result of the research, the design code and design techniques based on limit state design method has been developed. The design code has been developed through various structural tests and theoretical studies, and it has been modified by application design of SC structure for NPP buildings. The code consists of unstiffened SC wall design, stiffened SC wall design, Half-SC slab design, stud design, connection design and so on. The stiffened steel plate concrete(SSC) wall is SC structure whose steel plates with ribs are composed on both sides of the concrete wall, and this structure was developed for improved constructability and safety of SC structure. This paper explains a design application of SC structure for a sample building specially devised to reflect all of major structural properties of main buildings of APR1400. In addition, Stiffening effect of SSC structure is evaluated and structural efficiency of SSC structure is verified in comparison with that of unstiffened SC structure. (author)

ICNC2003: Proceedings of the seventh international conference on nuclear criticality safety. Challenges in the pursuit of global nuclear criticality safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-10-01

This proceedings contain (technical, oral and poster papers) presented papers at the Seventh International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety ICNC2003 held on 20-24 October 2003, in Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan, following ICNC'99 in Versailles, France. The theme of this conference is 'Challenges in the Pursuit of Global Nuclear Criticality Safety'. This proceedings represent the current status of nuclear criticality safety research throughout the world. The 81 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

ICNC2003: Proceedings of the seventh international conference on nuclear criticality safety. Challenges in the pursuit of global nuclear criticality safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-10-01

This proceedings contain (technical, oral and poster papers) presented papers at the Seventh International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety ICNC2003 held on 20-24 October 2003, in Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan, following ICNC'99 in Versailles, France. The theme of this conference is 'Challenges in the Pursuit of Global Nuclear Criticality Safety'. This proceedings represent the current status of nuclear criticality safety research throughout the world. The 79 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

Reference Structures: Stagnation, Progress, and Future Challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenberg, Jane

1997-01-01

Assesses the current state of reference structures in online public access catalogs (OPACs) in a framework defined by stagnation, progress, and future challenges. Outlines six areas for reference structure development. Twenty figures provide illustrations. (AEF)

Selected topic in nuclear structure. V. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broda, R.; Stachura, Z.; Styczen, J.

1985-01-01

A report of recent experiments performed in different laboratories and a review of fundamental problems of nuclear physics connected with study of nuclear structure, that had just been solved are presented. The proceedings contain 33 articles. (M.F.-W.)

Regulatory challenges facing the global nuclear energy partnership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyman, Edwin S.

2007-01-01

In January 2006 the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the creation of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), an ambitious plan to reshape the nuclear energy production sector both in the United States and worldwide. If fully realized in the United States, GNEP would entail the construction of a large number of sodium-cooled fast reactors utilizing actinide-based fuels, multiple commercial-scale reprocessing plants for both light-water and fast reactors, and fast reactor fuel fabrication plants. It appears likely that the first commercial-scale GNEP facilities, as well as a future full-scale GNEP complex, would fall under the licensing jurisdiction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This will be a challenging endeavor for the NRC, primarily because the proposed GNEP facilities will in large part be based on novel and untested designs and processes that have not been developed on a commercial scale. In order to effectively regulate the GNEP complex, the NRC will have to quickly address the many technical and policy questions that will arise in any GNEP licensing scheme. This paper identifies some difficult issues that will be encountered in GNEP licensing by examining the potential implications of NRC's current policies and regulatory requirements, and analyzing the impacts of some emerging post-9/11 security issues. (author)

Strategic disruption of nuclear pores structure, integrity and barrier for nuclear apoptosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahin, Victor

2017-08-01

Apoptosis is a programmed cell death playing key roles in physiology and pathophysiology of multi cellular organisms. Its nuclear manifestation requires transmission of the death signals across the nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). In strategic sequential steps apoptotic factors disrupt NPCs structure, integrity and barrier ultimately leading to nuclear breakdown. The present review reflects on these steps. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nuclear safety culture in Finland and Sweden - Developments and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reiman, T.; Pietikaeinen, E.; Kahlbom, U.; Rollenhagen, C.

2011-02-01

The project aimed at studying the concept of nuclear safety culture and the Nordic nuclear branch safety culture. The project also aimed at looking how the power companies and the regulators view the current responsibilities and role of subcontractors in the Nordic nuclear safety culture as well as to inspect the special demands for safety culture in subcontracting chains. Interview data was collected in Sweden (n = 14) and Finland (n = 16) during 2009. Interviewees represented the major actors in the nuclear field (regulators, power companies, expert organizations, waste management organizations). Results gave insight into the nature and evaluation of safety culture in the nuclear industry. Results illustrated that there is a wide variety of views on matters that are considered important for nuclear safety within the Nordic nuclear community. However, the interviewees considered quite uniformly such psychological states as motivation, mindfulness, sense of control, understanding of hazards and sense of responsibility as important for nuclear safety. Results also gave insight into the characteristics of Nordic nuclear culture. Various differences in safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were uncovered. In addition to the differences, historical reasons for the development of the nuclear safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were pointed out. Finally, results gave implications that on the one hand subcontractors can bring new ideas and improvements to the plants' practices, but on the other hand the assurance of necessary safety attitudes and competence of the subcontracting companies and their employees is considered as a challenge. The report concludes that a good safety culture requires a deep and wide understanding of nuclear safety including the various accident mechanisms of the power plants as well as a willingness to continuously develop one's competence and understanding. An effective and resilient nuclear safety culture has to foster a constant sense of

On line nuclear orientation: opportunity and challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stone, N.J.

1985-01-01

The development of the on-line nuclear orientation (OLNO) technique is reviewed. The present potential of the technique is discussed in the light of the attainable temperatures, the use of ion implantation and the required isotope flux. Limitations associated with spin-lattice relaxation are considered in some detail and a survey of accessible nuclei is presented. An outline comparison is given between OLNO and other methods for producing orientation of nuclei, for measuring nuclear spins and static moments and for the study of level structure and transition probabilities. The conclusion is drawn that the method in its present form has extensive potential over a wide range of nuclei. Future prospects for in-beam polarisation giving access to nuclei of shorter half lives are referred to briefly. (Auth.)

Dipole rescattering and the nuclear structure function

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvalho, F. [Depto de Ciencias Exatas e da Terra, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Goncalves, V. P. [Instituto de Fisica e Matematica, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Caixa Postal 354, CEP 96010-900, Pelotas, RS (Brazil); Navarra, F. S.; Oliveira, E. G. [Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo Rua do Matao, Travessa R, 187, 05508-090 Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

2013-03-25

In the framework of the dipole model, we study the effects of the dipole multiple scatterings in a nuclear target and compute the nuclear structure function. We compare different unitarization schemes and confront our results with the E665 data.

A Japan's challenge - towards creating a most robust nuclear energy future

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suzuki, A. [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki (Japan)

2014-07-01

'Full text:' The Fukushima Daiichi accident raises a fundamental question: Can science and technology prevent the inevitability of serious accidents, especially those with low probabilities and high consequences? This question reminds us of a longstanding issue with the trans-sciences, originally addressed by a great physicist, Alvin Weinberg, well before the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents. A most robust nuclear energy future would not come to pass without answering it. With the human-behavior-linked nature of the Fukushima Daiichi accident in mind, an innovative way to assure the safety is to be developed not merely from the standpoint of technical measures but rather from a view of point of inter-related institutional structure between the technology and the social system. In other words, social and institutional arrangements to strengthen self-efforts for continuous improvement of safety are to be made specifically dedicated to pursuing procedural rationality between the inner and outer environments, in which a communicative action with transparency and a self-regulating system are especially useful. This is the challenge facing the global nuclear future as well as Japan to be tackled in the wake of the accident. (author)

Risks and challenges associated with the design and construction of a nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liebana Martinez, B.; Armas Garcia, A.; Martinez Gozalo, I.

2011-01-01

The construction of a nuclear power plant project, considering the period prior to the operation of the plant, requires a very strict risk control to ensure compliance with a series of challenges. The present paper identifying the most important challenges facing the construct ability and license requirements of the process, identifying the interfaces and proposing a methodology of construction to meet the challenge of a construction process in 5 years.

Aging management of containment structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B.; Ellingwood, B.R.; Graves, H.L. III; Norris, W.E.

1996-01-01

Research is being conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory under US nuclear regulatory commission (USNRC) sponsorship to address aging management of nuclear power plant containment and other safety-related structures. Documentation is being prepared to provide the USNRC with potential structural safety issues and acceptance criteria for use in continued service evaluations of nuclear power plants. Accomplishments include development of a structural materials information center containing data and information on the time variation of 144 material properties under the influence of pertinent environmental stressors or aging factors, evaluation of models for potential concrete containment degradation factors, development of a procedure to identify critical structures and degradation factors important to aging management, evaluations of non-destructive evaluation techniques, assessments of European and North American repair practices for concrete, review of parameters affecting corrosion of metals embedded in concrete, and development of methodologies for making current condition assessments and service life predictions of new or existing reinforced concrete structures in nuclear power plants. (orig.)

Aging management of containment structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B.; Ellingwood, B.R.

1994-01-01

Research is being conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory under U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sponsorship to address aging management of nuclear power plant containment and other safety-related structures. Documentation is being prepared to provide the US-NRC with potential structural safety issues and acceptance criteria for use in continued service evaluations of nuclear power plants. Accomplishments include development of a Structural Materials Information Center containing data and information on the time variation of 144 material properties under the influence of pertinent environmental stressors or aging factors, evaluation of models for potential concrete containment degradation factors, development of a procedure to identify critical structures and degradation factors important to aging management, evaluations of nondestructive evaluation techniques, assessments of European and North American repair practices for concrete, review of parameters affecting corrosion of metals embedded in concrete, and development of methodologies for making current condition assessments and service life predictions of new or existing reinforced concrete structures in nuclear power plants. (author). 29 refs., 2 figs

Aging management of containment structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B.; Ellingwood, B.R.; Graves, H.L. III; Norris, W.E.

1994-01-01

Research is being conducted by ORNL under US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) sponsorship to address aging management of nuclear power plant containment and other safety-related structures. Documentation is being prepared to provide the USNRC with potential structural safety issues and acceptance criteria for use in continued service evaluations of nuclear power plants. Accomplishments include development of a Structural Materials Information Center containing data and information on the time variation of 144 material properties under the influence of pertinent environmental stressors or aging factors, evaluation of models for potential concrete containment degradation factors, development of a procedure to identify critical structures and degradation factors important to aging management, evaluations of nondestructive evaluation techniques. assessments of European and North American repair practices for concrete, review of parameters affecting corrosion of metals embedded in concrete, and development of methodologies for making current condition assessments and service life predictions of new or existing reinforced concrete structures in nuclear power plants

Many-body perturbation theory for ab initio nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tichai, Alexander

2017-01-01

The solution of the quantum many-body problem for medium-mass nuclei using realistic nuclear interactions poses a superbe challenge for nuclear structure research. Because an exact solution can only be provided for the lightest nuclei, one has to rely on approximate solutions when proceeding to heavier systems. Over the past years, tremendous progress has been made in the development and application of systematically improvable expansion methods and an accurate description of nuclear observables has become viable up to mass number A ∼ 100. While closed-shell systems are consistently described via a plethora of different many-body methods, the extension to genuine open-shell systems still remains a major challenge and up to now there is no ab initio many-body method which applies equally well to systems with even and odd mass numbers. The goal of this thesis is the development and implementation of innovative perturbative approaches with genuine open-shell capabilities. This requires the extension of well-known single-reference approaches to more general vacua. In this work we choose two complementary routes for the usage of generalized reference states. First, we derive a new ab initio approach based on multi-configurational reference states that are conveniently derived from a prior no-core shell model calculation. Perturbative corrections are derived via second-order many-body perturbation theory, thus, merging configuration interaction and many-body perturbation theory. The generality of this ansatz enables for a treatment of medium-mass systems with arbitrary mass number, as well as the extension to low-lying excited states such that ground and excited states are treated on an equal footing. In a complementary approach, we use reference states that break a symmetry of the underlying Hamiltonian. In the simplest case this corresponds to the expansion around a particle-number-broken Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov vacuum which is obtained from a mean-field calculation

Dealing with the regional challenge of physical protection of nuclear materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paschoa, A.S.

2002-01-01

Full text: The problem of protecting sensitive fissile and fissionable nuclear materials of misuses by governments has been the subject of the convention on physical protection of nuclear material (CPPNM), which entered into force on February 8, 1987. However, in May 2001 the final report of the expert meeting had already recognized 'a clear need to strengthen the international physical protection regime'. The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decided then to convene a group, which would meet in Vienna from 3 to 7 December 2001, to draft on amendment to the CPPNM. The tragic occurrences of September 11, 2001, however, changed the then generally accepted view on the problem of physical protection, because nuclear materials had to be protected from falling into the hands of terrorists rather than of governments thirst of nuclear sensitive materials. Moreover, crude explosive devices could be made by terrorists, or hired scientists, using readily available radioactive materials, like 226 Ra or 137 Cs to inflict damage to civilians. Thus physical protection of those and other radioactive materials became an instant challenge for national and international authorities to prevent the use of such materials in terrorist actions. The prevention of illicit trafficking of radioactive materials is now in the priority list of these authorities. Fortunately; an international conference on 'Measures to Detect, Intercept and Respond to the Illicit Uses of Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Sources' was held in Stockholm, Sweden, in May 2001. An IAEA document - GOV/2001/37-GC(45)/20 - recommended in its plan of activities a series of projects to be implemented between 2002 and 2005, which included developing and providing assistance for the application of: (i) standards for physical protection of nuclear materials and nuclear facilities in member states; (ii) norms and guidelines for nuclear material accounting and control in member states; (iii

Challenges to a Man-Machine Interface System in Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Yeon Sub [KHNP, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2009-10-15

When the APR1400 project started nearly 20 years ago, advanced features such as intelligent alarms, computer-based procedures, and soft control technology were introduced. Although some of these technologies had been utilized in fossil plants, APR1400 opened a new horizon in MMIS for nuclear power plants. Currently, however, it appears that further challenges do not exist in the MMIS area. Engineers are simply busy in designing and constructing the next nuclear plant without exploiting the new features of MMIS. This paper explains newly emerging and feasible technology and suggests new ideas for MMIS compared with other industries.

Challenges to a Man-Machine Interface System in Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Yeon Sub

2009-01-01

When the APR1400 project started nearly 20 years ago, advanced features such as intelligent alarms, computer-based procedures, and soft control technology were introduced. Although some of these technologies had been utilized in fossil plants, APR1400 opened a new horizon in MMIS for nuclear power plants. Currently, however, it appears that further challenges do not exist in the MMIS area. Engineers are simply busy in designing and constructing the next nuclear plant without exploiting the new features of MMIS. This paper explains newly emerging and feasible technology and suggests new ideas for MMIS compared with other industries

Advanced nuclear plants: Meeting the economic challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Redding, J.R.; MacGregor, P.R.

1993-01-01

As the end of the century draws closer, utilities all over the world face a daunting challenge. Forecasts, such as those prepared by General Electric show a dramatic increase in the need for additional electrical generating capacity (>1000 GW for the world from 1996 through 2006). In the case of the United States, such increases are almost one-third of existing capacity. Furthermore, this capacity must be environmentally benign to satisfy mounting concerns over the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels. This paper discusses economic analyses, similar to least-cost option studies, conducted by General Electric to determine the cost levels that new, advanced nuclear plants must meet to compete with other available generating options

Structural aging program to assess the adequacy of critical concrete components in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Marchbanks, M.F.; Oland, C.B.; Arndt, E.G.

1989-01-01

The Structural Aging (SAG) Program is carried out by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) under sponsorship of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). The Program has evolved from preliminary studies conducted to evaluate the long-term environmental challenges to light-water reactor safety-related concrete civil structures. An important conclusion of these studies was that a damage methodology, which can provide a quantitative measure of a concrete structure's durability with respect to potential future requirements, needs to be developed. Under the SAG Program, this issue is being addressed through: establishment of a structural materials information center, evaluation of structural component assessment and repair technologies, and development of a quantitative methodology for structural aging determinations. Progress to date of each of these activities is presented as well as future plans. 7 refs., 5 figs

Nuclear energy development in China: A study of opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Sheng; Zhang, Xiliang

2010-01-01

With rapid economic development, China faces a great challenge to meet its increasing energy demand. Currently, China's energy supply is dominated by coal consumption, while natural gas and oil are in relative short supply. At the same time, nuclear energy is a relatively clean energy without green-house gas emissions. Considering the growing cost of fossil energy and the limited resources in China, oil supply security, coal mining disasters, the domestic environment pressure, and global climate warming, nuclear energy is an inevitable strategic option. Generally speaking, nuclear energy development has a promising future in China. Its driving factors include the brisk electricity demand, environment impact pressure, oil supply security, and positive public acceptance. Meanwhile, the question still remains whether nuclear energy development in China is sustainable. Just like in other parts of the world, China is also bewildered by the problems of reactor safety, nuclear waste treatment, and risk of proliferation of weapons material. In addition, nuclear technology diversity, shortage of uranium resources, and weak market competitiveness of nuclear power in the short term are certain barriers that China's nuclear energy development also faces. There are also other worrying issues such as: whether public acceptance in the future will change? Whether the current approaches to nuclear waste disposal are still acceptable when nuclear plants gains scale? In this paper, some suggestions and recommendations are put forward on the measures to be followed to 1) enhance domestic nuclear technology development and imported technology localization; 2) reduce the cost of nuclear power and enhance its market competitiveness; 3) accelerate the process of cleanly developing nuclear technology; 4) accelerate the process of developing more efficient reactor and nuclear fuel cycle; and 5) conduct effective publicity work to uphold public acceptance.

21st century challenges and opportunities for nuclear waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKinley, I.G.

2009-01-01

The technical arguments for massive expansion of nuclear power generation are convincing, but such a renaissance requires public acceptance. For diehard nuclear opponents, criticism now focuses on its Achilles heel - the unsolved (and often claimed to be insoluble) problem of disposal of the resultant long-lived waste. In fact, the geological disposal of nuclear waste can be managed safely with existing technology and should really be touted as one of the advantages of this option. Clearly, there is a major challenge in communicating disposal safety to key stakeholders in order to realise this benefit. Nevertheless, the growth of environmental concern about global warming and the present economic climate may present opportunities to initiate dialogue with relevant communities, allowing the attractions of hosting future disposal facilities to be seen. Rather than being the archetypal focus for NIMBY reactions, maybe within a few years we can look forward to growing competition to host geological repositories for radioactive waste.(Author)

Compilations and evaluations of nuclear structure and decay date

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lorenz, A.

The material contained in this compilation is sorted according to eight subject categories: 1. General Compilations; 2. Basic Isotopic Properties; 3. Nuclear Structure Properties; 4. Nuclear Decay Processes: Half-lives, Energies and Spectra; 5. Nuclear Decay Processes: Gamma-rays; 6. Nuclear Decay Processes: Fission Products; 7. Nuclear Decay Processes: (Others); 8. Atomic Processes

Some major challenges: Nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear arms control and nuclear terrorism. Vienna, 29 October 2001. Statement to the symposium on international safeguards: Verification and nuclear material security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

2001-01-01

The main topics dealt with the ensuring of an effective, universal and adequately financed system for the verification of nuclear non-proliferation, namely as follows: Effectiveness of the system; Participation in the system ; Financing of the system; Making Progress in Nuclear Arms Control; Protection Against Nuclear Terrorism. In the Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR) for 2000, the Agency was able to conclude that for all 140 states with safeguards agreements in place the nuclear material and other items placed under safeguards remained in peaceful nuclear activities or were otherwise adequately accounted for. The Agency currently safeguards over 900 facilities in 70 countries on a regular safeguards budget of approximately US $80 million per year. Turning to the major recent challenge, protection against nuclear terrorism, the IAEA has long been active in encouraging States to make security an integral part of the management of their nuclear programmes. The recent attacks in the United States were, however, a wake-up call to all that more can and must be done. In the week immediately following the tragedy, the IAEA General Conference adopted a resolution which requested a thorough review of Agency activities and programmes relevant to preventing acts of nuclear terrorism

Proceedings of second national workshop on nuclear structure physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chintalapudi, S.N.; Jain, A.K.

1995-01-01

The Second National Workshop on Nuclear Structure Physics was held at Calcutta during February 7-10 1995. The topics discussed have been quite broad based and covered many areas of nuclear structure physics and radiochemistry. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

Nuclear power and the global challenges of energy security, 6 September 2007, London, England, World Nuclear Association Annual Symposium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

2007-01-01

In the Atoms for Peace speech given by US President Eisenhower in 1953 - the speech that paved the way for the creation of the IAEA - he declared that a special purpose of Atoms for Peace would be 'to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world'. That vision has yet to be realized. And it should not be taken to mean that nuclear power is the solution for all countries, or for all developing countries. But I would reiterate what I said at the outset - that the global challenges of security and development are interlinked, and that addressing the energy security needs of all countries will be a key to progress on both fronts. It is incumbent upon us to see to it that nuclear power will fulfil its potential in addressing these challenges

TH-AB-206-00: Challenges and Opportunities for Nuclear Medicine Theranostics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2016-06-15

In the past few decades, the field of nuclear medicine has made long strides with the continued advancement of related sciences and engineering and the availability of diagnostic and therapeutic radionuclides. Leveraging these advancements while combining the advantages of therapeutic and diagnostic radionuclides into one radiopharmaceutical has also created a new subfield “theranostics” in nuclear medicine that has the potential to further propel the field into the future. This session is composed of two talks; one focused on the physics principles of theranostics from properties of beta and alpha emitting radionuclides to dosimetric models and quantification; while the second describes preclinical and clinical applications of theranostics and discusses the challenges and opportunities of bringing them to the clinic. At the end of the session the listener should be able to identify: The different properties of beta and alpha emitting radionuclides Which radionuclides are selected for which nuclear medicine therapies and why How PET can be used to accurately quantify the uptake of tumor targeting molecules How individualized dosimetry can be performed from the management of thyroid cancer to novel radiolabeled antibody therapies Promising pre-clinical radiopharmaceutical pairs in prostate cancer and melanoma. Promising clinical Theranostics in neuroendocrine cancers. Challenges of bringing Theranostics to the clinic. E. Delpassand, RITA Foundation -Houston; SBIR Grant; CEO and share holder of RadioMedix.

TH-AB-206-00: Challenges and Opportunities for Nuclear Medicine Theranostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-01-01

In the past few decades, the field of nuclear medicine has made long strides with the continued advancement of related sciences and engineering and the availability of diagnostic and therapeutic radionuclides. Leveraging these advancements while combining the advantages of therapeutic and diagnostic radionuclides into one radiopharmaceutical has also created a new subfield “theranostics” in nuclear medicine that has the potential to further propel the field into the future. This session is composed of two talks; one focused on the physics principles of theranostics from properties of beta and alpha emitting radionuclides to dosimetric models and quantification; while the second describes preclinical and clinical applications of theranostics and discusses the challenges and opportunities of bringing them to the clinic. At the end of the session the listener should be able to identify: The different properties of beta and alpha emitting radionuclides Which radionuclides are selected for which nuclear medicine therapies and why How PET can be used to accurately quantify the uptake of tumor targeting molecules How individualized dosimetry can be performed from the management of thyroid cancer to novel radiolabeled antibody therapies Promising pre-clinical radiopharmaceutical pairs in prostate cancer and melanoma. Promising clinical Theranostics in neuroendocrine cancers. Challenges of bringing Theranostics to the clinic. E. Delpassand, RITA Foundation -Houston; SBIR Grant; CEO and share holder of RadioMedix.

Proceeding of the Fourth Scientific Presentation on Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Technology of Nuclear Fuel Cycle facing the Challenge of Energy Need on the 21-st Century; Prosiding presentasi ilmiah daur bahan bakar nuklir IV. Tema: teknologi daur bahan bakar nuklir menghadapi tantangan kebutuhan ketenagaan pada abad-21

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suripto, A [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia); Sajuti, D [Research and Development Center for Calibration Instrumentation and Metrology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Serpong (Indonesia); Aiman, S [Research and Development Center for Applied Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Serpong (Indonesia); Yuwono, I [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia); Fathurrachman, [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia); Suwarno, H [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia); Suwardi, [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia); Amini, S [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia); Widjaksana, [National Atomic Energy Agency, Serpong (Indonesia)

1999-03-01

The proceeding contains papers presented in the Fourth Scientific Presentation on Nuclear Fuel Element Cycle with theme of Technology of Nuclear Fuel Cycle facing the Challenge of Energy Need on the 21{sup s}t Century, held on 1-2 December in Jakarta, Indonesia. These papers were divided by three groups that are technology of exploration, processing, purification and analysis of nuclear materials; technology of nuclear fuel elements and structures; and technology of waste management, safety and management of nuclear fuel cycle. There are 36 papers indexed individually. (ID)

Nuclear structure with coherent states

CERN Document Server

Raduta, Apolodor Aristotel

2015-01-01

This book covers the essential features of a large variety of nuclear structure properties, both collective and microscopic in nature. Most of results are given in an analytical form thus giving deep insight into the relevant phenomena. Using coherent states as variational states, which allows a description in the classical phase space, or provides the generating function for a boson basis, is an efficient tool to account, in a realistic fashion, for many complex properties. A detailed comparison with all existing nuclear structure models provides readers with a proper framework and, at the same time, demonstrates the prospects for new developments. The topics addressed are very much of current concern in the field. The book will appeal to practicing researchers and, due to its self-contained account, can also be successfully read and used by new graduate students.

Procedures manual for the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhat, M.R.

1987-10-01

This manual is a collection of various notes, memoranda and instructions on procedures for the evaluation of data in the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF). They were distributed at different times over the past few years to the evaluators of nuclear structure data and some of them were not readily avaialble. Hence, they have been collected in this manual for ease of reference by the evaluators of the international Nuclear Structure and Decay Data (NSDD) network contribute mass-chains to the ENSDF. Some new articles were written specifically for this manual and others are reivsions of earlier versions

EVALUATED NUCLEAR STRUCTURE DATA FILE. A MANUAL FOR PREPARATION OF DATA SETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

TULI, J.K.

2001-01-01

This manual describes the organization and structure of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF). This computer-based file is maintained by the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory for the international Nuclear Structure and Decay Data Network. For every mass number (presently, A ≤ 293), the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) contains evaluated structure information. For masses A ≥ 44, this information is published in the Nuclear Data Sheets; for A < 44, ENSDF is based on compilations published in the journal Nuclear Physics. The information in ENSDF is updated by mass chain or by nuclide with a varying cycle time dependent on the availability of new information

Structural integrity monitoring of critical components in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Maria; Constantinescu, Dan Mihai; Brad, Sebastian; Ducu, Catalin; Malinovschi, Viorel

2007-01-01

Full text: The paper presents the results obtained as part of the Project 'Integrated Network for Structural Integrity Monitoring of Critical Components in Nuclear Facilities', RIMIS, a research work underway within the framework of the Ministry of Education and Research Programme 'Research of Excellence'. The main objective of the Project is to constitute a network integrating the national R and D institutes with preoccupations in the structural integrity assessment of critical components in the nuclear facilities operating in Romania, in order to elaborate a specific procedure for this field. The degradation mechanisms of the structural materials used in the CANDU type reactors, operated by Unit 1 and Unit 2 at Cernavoda (pressure tubes, fuel elements sheaths, steam generator tubing) and in the nuclear facilities relating to reactors of this type as, for instance, the Hydrogen Isotopes Separation facility, will be investigated. The development of a flexible procedure will offer the opportunity to extend the applications to other structural materials used in the nuclear field and in the non-nuclear fields as well, in cooperation with other institutes involved in the developed network. The expected results of the project will allow the integration of the network developed at national level in the structures of similar networks operating within the EU, the enhancement of the scientific importance of Romanian R and D organizations as well as the increase of our country's contribution in solving the major issues of the nuclear field. (authors)

Underwater nuclear power plant structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Severs, S.; Toll, H.V.

1982-01-01

A structure for an underwater nuclear power generating plant comprising a triangular platform formed of tubular leg and truss members upon which are attached one or more large spherical pressure vessels and one or more small cylindrical auxiliary pressure vessels. (author)

Nuclear safety culture in Finland and Sweden - Developments and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reiman, T.; Pietikaeinen, E. (Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT (Finland)); Kahlbom, U. (RiskPilot AB (Sweden)); Rollenhagen, C. (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) (Sweden))

2011-02-15

The project aimed at studying the concept of nuclear safety culture and the Nordic nuclear branch safety culture. The project also aimed at looking how the power companies and the regulators view the current responsibilities and role of subcontractors in the Nordic nuclear safety culture as well as to inspect the special demands for safety culture in subcontracting chains. Interview data was collected in Sweden (n = 14) and Finland (n = 16) during 2009. Interviewees represented the major actors in the nuclear field (regulators, power companies, expert organizations, waste management organizations). Results gave insight into the nature and evaluation of safety culture in the nuclear industry. Results illustrated that there is a wide variety of views on matters that are considered important for nuclear safety within the Nordic nuclear community. However, the interviewees considered quite uniformly such psychological states as motivation, mindfulness, sense of control, understanding of hazards and sense of responsibility as important for nuclear safety. Results also gave insight into the characteristics of Nordic nuclear culture. Various differences in safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were uncovered. In addition to the differences, historical reasons for the development of the nuclear safety cultures in Finland and Sweden were pointed out. Finally, results gave implications that on the one hand subcontractors can bring new ideas and improvements to the plants' practices, but on the other hand the assurance of necessary safety attitudes and competence of the subcontracting companies and their employees is considered as a challenge. The report concludes that a good safety culture requires a deep and wide understanding of nuclear safety including the various accident mechanisms of the power plants as well as a willingness to continuously develop one's competence and understanding. An effective and resilient nuclear safety culture has to foster a constant

Structure of high excited nuclear states and elastic scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhivopistsev, F.A.; Rzhevskij, E.S.

1979-01-01

An approach to a unified description of nuclear reactions and nuclear structure based on the formalism of the quantum Green functions and on the ideas of the theory of finite Fermi systems has been formulated. New structural vertices are introduced, which are responsible for nucleon collectivization in an atomic nucleus and for the excitation of many-phonon, quasideuteron, quasitriton and other configurations. The vertices define both the processes of particle scattering by atomic nuclei (T matrix and optical potentials) and the nuclear structure (secular equations and wave functions). The vertices are determined from the equations with effective many-particle forces Fsub(nm)sup(c). In their turn the Fsub(nm)sup(c) forces are either determined from a comparison of theory and experiment, or calculated from the equations with more fundamental nucleon-nucleon forces in a nucleus. The effective forces Fsub(nm)sup(c) are more universal than the constants of the theory of finite Fermi-systems, which extends the boundaries of applicability of the particle-hole formalism in the description of nuclear processes. In this approach the traditional methods of description of the nuclear structure, based on particular models of hamiltonian and wave functions, acquire a natural interpretation

Probing nuclear structure with nucleons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bauge, E.

2007-01-01

The goal of this lecture is to show how nucleon scattering can be used to probe the structure of target nuclei, and how nucleon scattering observables can be interpreted in terms of nuclear structure using microscopic optical potentials. After a brief overview of the specificities of nucleon-nucleus scattering, and a quick reminder on scattering theory, the main part of this lecture is devoted to the construction of optical potentials in which the target nuclei structure information is folded with an effective interaction. Several examples of such microscopic optical model potentials are given. (author)

Structure-soil-structure interaction of nuclear structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snyder, M.D.; Shaw, D.E.; Hall, J.R. Jr.

1975-01-01

Structure-to-structure interaction resulting from coupling of the foundations through the soil has traditionally been neglected in the seismic analysis of nuclear power plants. This paper examines the phenomenon and available methods of analytical treatment, including finite element and lumped parameter methods. Finite element techniques have lead to the treatment of through soil coupling of structural foundations using two dimensional plane strain models owing to the difficulty of considering three dimensional finite element models. The coupling problem is treated by means of a lumped parameter model derived from elastic half-space considerations. Consequently, the method is applicable to the interaction of any number of foundations and allows the simultaneous application of tri-directional excitation. The method entails the idealization of interacting structures as lumped mass/shear beams with lumped soil springs and dampers beneath each foundation plus a coupling matrix between the interacting foundations. Utilizing classical elastic half-space methods, the individual foundation soil springs and dampers may be derived, accounting for the effects of embedment and soil layering, analogous to the methods used for single soil-structure, interaction problems. The coupling matrix is derived by generating influence coefficients based on the geometric relationship of the structures using classical half-space solutions. The influence coefficients form the coupling flexibility matrix which is inverted to yield the coupling matrix for the lumped parameter model

Thailand: Infrastructure Development and Challenges to Launch Nuclear Power Programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keinmeesuke, Sirichai

2011-01-01

In June 2007, the cabinet passed a resolution for Thailand's Power Development Plan (PDP 2007). It was mentioned in the plan that Thailand will have 2 x 1,000 MWe nuclear power plants in 2020 and another 2 x 1,000 MWe in 2021. The PDP 2007 was revised in March 2009 and it was agreed to change the nuclear power generation to only 1 x 1,000 MWe in 2020 and 2021 respectively due to the large excess capacity at present. Many activities related to development of infrastructures in order to support electricity generation using nuclear power are being executed. Milestones for nuclear power program implementation has been developed using the IAEA document 'Milestones in the Development of a National Infrastructure for Nuclear Power' with some amendment/additions to suit the country situation. According to the schedule, a lot of activities related to infrastructure establishment, feasibility study, utility preparation and public education and participation are being performed. Within the year 2011, various issues such as legal and regulatory systems and international commitment, industrial and commercial infrastructure, technology transfer and human resource development, safety and environmental protection, public information and public acceptance, preparation of the nuclear power utility establishment, etc. must be solved out and undertaken to assure the cabinet to make final decision to go nuclear. There are many challenges for Thailand embarking of the nuclear power programme. It is essential to plan for the establishment of a regulatory body at the national level to support and regulate the nuclear power plant industry. Currently, the application for a license and the monitoring of a power plant are administered by the authorities of various agencies under different ministries; hence the process is very time-consuming and overlaps with one another. The approach that the regulatory body and the authorities to issue licenses relevant to the nuclear power plant operation

Hypernuclei and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rayet, M.

1977-01-01

The relations between several aspects of nuclear structure and the Λ hyperon properties inside nuclei are discussed, particularly in connexion with the possibilities offered by the development of new experimental techniques. It is emphasized that Hartree-Fock methods provide an interesting tool for predicting hypernuclear phenomena where the Λ hyperon may be used as a probe of the nucleus [fr

Progress report on nuclear structure studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walters, W.B.

1991-01-01

In this report, new results are reported for the decay and nuclear orientation of 114,116 I and 114 Sb as well as data for the structure of daughter nuclides 114,116 Te. New results for IBM-2 calculations for the structure of 126 Xe are also reported. 6 figs., 5 tabs

Structural mechanics of nuclear plant components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roche, R.

1986-10-01

Sound structural analysis are needed for designing safe and reliable components, hence his play is very important in nuclear industry. This report is a provisional writing on the good practice in structural mechanics. Emphasis is put on non elastic analysis, damage appraisal, fatigue, fracture mechanics and also on elevated temperature behaviour [fr

International conference: Features of nuclear excitation states and mechanisms of nuclear reactions. 51. Meeting on nuclear spectroscopy and nuclear structure. The book of abstracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

Results of the LI Meeting on Nuclear Spectroscopy and Nuclear Structure are presented. Properties of excited states of atomic nuclei and mechanisms of nuclear reactions are considered. Studies on the theory of nucleus and fundamental interactions pertinent to experimental study of nuclei properties and mechanisms of nuclear reactions, technique and methods of experiment, application of nuclear-physical method, are provided [ru

Time-domain soil-structure interaction analysis of nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coleman, Justin L.; Bolisetti, Chandrakanth; Whittaker, Andrew S.

2016-01-01

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulation 10 CFR Part 50 Appendix S requires consideration of soil-structure interaction (SSI) in nuclear power plant (NPP) analysis and design. Soil-structure interaction analysis for NPPs is routinely carried out using guidance provided in the ASCE Standard 4-98 titled “Seismic Analysis of Safety-Related Nuclear Structures and Commentary”. This Standard, which is currently under revision, provides guidance on linear seismic soil-structure-interaction (SSI) analysis of nuclear facilities using deterministic and probabilistic methods. A new appendix has been added to the forthcoming edition of ASCE Standard 4 to provide guidance for time-domain, nonlinear SSI (NLSSI) analysis. Nonlinear SSI analysis will be needed to simulate material nonlinearity in soil and/or structure, static and dynamic soil pressure effects on deeply embedded structures, local soil failure at the foundation-soil interface, nonlinear coupling of soil and pore fluid, uplift or sliding of the foundation, nonlinear effects of gaps between the surrounding soil and the embedded structure and seismic isolation systems, none of which can be addressed explicitly at present. Appendix B of ASCE Standard 4 provides general guidance for NLSSI analysis but will not provide a methodology for performing the analysis. This paper provides a description of an NLSSI methodology developed for application to nuclear facilities, including NPPs. This methodology is described as series of sequential steps to produce reasonable results using any time-domain numerical code. These steps require some numerical capabilities, such as nonlinear soil constitutive models, which are also described in the paper.

RATU - Nuclear power plant structural safety research programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rintamaa, R.

1992-07-01

Studies on the structural materials in nuclear power plants create the experimental data and background information necessary for the structural integrity assessments of mechanical components. The research is carried out by developing experimental fracture mechanics methods including statistical analysis methods of materials property data, and by studying material ageing and, in particular, mechanisms of material deterioration due to neutron irradiation, corrosion and water chemistry. Besides material studies, new testing methods and sensors for measurement of loading and water chemistry parameters have been developed. The monitoring data obtained in real power plants has been used to simulate more precisely the real environment during laboratory tests. The research on structural analysis has focused on extending and verifying the analysis capabilities for structural assessments of nuclear power plants. A widely applicable system including various computational fracture assessment methods has been created with which different structural problems can be solved reliably and effectively. Research on reliability assessment of maintenance in nuclear power plants is directed to practical case studies on components and structures of safety importance, and to the development of models for maintenance related decision support. A systematic analysis of motor-operated valve has been performed

Integrative structure and functional anatomy of a nuclear pore complex

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seung Joong; Fernandez-Martinez, Javier; Nudelman, Ilona; Shi, Yi; Zhang, Wenzhu; Raveh, Barak; Herricks, Thurston; Slaughter, Brian D.; Hogan, Joanna A.; Upla, Paula; Chemmama, Ilan E.; Pellarin, Riccardo; Echeverria, Ignacia; Shivaraju, Manjunatha; Chaudhury, Azraa S.; Wang, Junjie; Williams, Rosemary; Unruh, Jay R.; Greenberg, Charles H.; Jacobs, Erica Y.; Yu, Zhiheng; de La Cruz, M. Jason; Mironska, Roxana; Stokes, David L.; Aitchison, John D.; Jarrold, Martin F.; Gerton, Jennifer L.; Ludtke, Steven J.; Akey, Christopher W.; Chait, Brian T.; Sali, Andrej; Rout, Michael P.

2018-03-01

Nuclear pore complexes play central roles as gatekeepers of RNA and protein transport between the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. However, their large size and dynamic nature have impeded a full structural and functional elucidation. Here we determined the structure of the entire 552-protein nuclear pore complex of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at sub-nanometre precision by satisfying a wide range of data relating to the molecular arrangement of its constituents. The nuclear pore complex incorporates sturdy diagonal columns and connector cables attached to these columns, imbuing the structure with strength and flexibility. These cables also tie together all other elements of the nuclear pore complex, including membrane-interacting regions, outer rings and RNA-processing platforms. Inwardly directed anchors create a high density of transport factor-docking Phe-Gly repeats in the central channel, organized into distinct functional units. This integrative structure enables us to rationalize the architecture, transport mechanism and evolutionary origins of the nuclear pore complex.

Integrative structure and functional anatomy of a nuclear pore complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seung Joong; Fernandez-Martinez, Javier; Nudelman, Ilona; Shi, Yi; Zhang, Wenzhu; Raveh, Barak; Herricks, Thurston; Slaughter, Brian D; Hogan, Joanna A; Upla, Paula; Chemmama, Ilan E; Pellarin, Riccardo; Echeverria, Ignacia; Shivaraju, Manjunatha; Chaudhury, Azraa S; Wang, Junjie; Williams, Rosemary; Unruh, Jay R; Greenberg, Charles H; Jacobs, Erica Y; Yu, Zhiheng; de la Cruz, M Jason; Mironska, Roxana; Stokes, David L; Aitchison, John D; Jarrold, Martin F; Gerton, Jennifer L; Ludtke, Steven J; Akey, Christopher W; Chait, Brian T; Sali, Andrej; Rout, Michael P

2018-03-22

Nuclear pore complexes play central roles as gatekeepers of RNA and protein transport between the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. However, their large size and dynamic nature have impeded a full structural and functional elucidation. Here we determined the structure of the entire 552-protein nuclear pore complex of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at sub-nanometre precision by satisfying a wide range of data relating to the molecular arrangement of its constituents. The nuclear pore complex incorporates sturdy diagonal columns and connector cables attached to these columns, imbuing the structure with strength and flexibility. These cables also tie together all other elements of the nuclear pore complex, including membrane-interacting regions, outer rings and RNA-processing platforms. Inwardly directed anchors create a high density of transport factor-docking Phe-Gly repeats in the central channel, organized into distinct functional units. This integrative structure enables us to rationalize the architecture, transport mechanism and evolutionary origins of the nuclear pore complex.

Romanian network for structural integrity assessment of nuclear components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Maria; Constantinescu, Dan Mihai; Brad, Sebastian; Ducu, Catalin

2008-01-01

Full text: Based of the Romanian option to develop and operate nuclear facilities, using as model the networks created at European level and taking into account the international importance of the structural integrity assessments for lifetime extension of the nuclear components, a national Project started since 2005 in the framework of the National Program 'Research of Excellence', Modulus I 2006-2008, managed by the Ministry of Education and Research. Entitled 'Integrated Network for Structural Integrity Monitoring of Critical Components in Nuclear Facilities', with the acronym RIMIS, the Project had two main objectives: - to elaborate a procedure applicable to the structural integrity assessment of the critical components used in Romanian nuclear facilities; - to integrate the national networking in a similar one, at European level, to enhance the scientific significance of Romanian R and D organizations as well as to increase the contribution to solving one of the major issue of the nuclear field. The paper aimed to present the activities performed in the Romanian institutes, involved in the Project, the final results obtained as part of the R and D activities, including experimental, theoretical and modeling ones regarding structural integrity assessment of nuclear components employed in CANDU type reactors. Also the activity carried out in the framework of the NULIFE network, created at European level of the FP6 Program and sustained by the RIMIS network will be described. (authors)

Two-level convolution formula for nuclear structure function

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Boqiang

1990-05-01

A two-level convolution formula for the nuclear structure function is derived in considering the nucleus as a composite system of baryon-mesons which are also composite systems of quark-gluons again. The results show that the European Muon Colaboration effect can not be explained by the nuclear effects as nucleon Fermi motion and nuclear binding contributions.

Two-level convolution formula for nuclear structure function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Boqiang

1990-01-01

A two-level convolution formula for the nuclear structure function is derived in considering the nucleus as a composite system of baryon-mesons which are also composite systems of quark-gluons again. The results show that the European Muon Colaboration effect can not be explained by the nuclear effects as nucleon Fermi motion and nuclear binding contributions

Design of concrete structures important to safety of nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-10-01

Civil engineering structures in nuclear installations form an important feature having implications to safety performance of these installations. The objective and minimum requirements for the design of civil engineering buildings/structures to be fulfilled to provide adequate assurance for safety of nuclear installations in India (such as pressurised heavy water reactor and related systems) are specified in the Safety standard for civil engineering structures important to safety of nuclear facilities. This standard is written by AERB to specify guidelines for implementation of the above civil engineering safety standard in the design of concrete structures important to safety

Nuclear challenges and progress in designing stellarator power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Guebaly, L.

2007-01-01

As an alternate to the mainline magnetic fusion tokamaks, the stellarator concept offers a steady state operation without external driven current, eliminating the risk of plasma irruptions. Over the past 2-3 decades, stellarator power plants have been studied in the U.S., Japan, and Europe to enhance the physics and engineering aspects and optimize the design parameters that are subject to numerous constraints. The earlier 1980's studies delivered large stellarators with an average major radius exceeding 20 m. The most recent development of the compact stellarator concept has led to the construction of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) in the U.S. and the 3 years power plant study of ARIES-CS, a compact stellarator with 7.75 m average major radius, approaching that of tokamaks. The ARIES-CS first wall configuration deviates from the standard practice of uniform toroidal shape in order to achieve compactness. Modeling such a complex geometry for 3-D nuclear analysis was a challenging engineering task. A novel approach based on coupling the CAD model with the MCNP Monte Carlo code was developed to model, for the first time ever, the complex stellarator geometry for nuclear assessments. The most important parameter that determines the stellarator size and cost is the minimum distance between the plasma boundary and mid-coil. Accommodating the breeding blanket and necessary shield to protect the superconducting magnet represented another challenging task. An innovative approach utilizing a non-uniform blanket combined with a highly efficient WC shield for this highly constrained area reduced the radial standoff (and machine size and cost) by 25- 30%, which is significant. As stellarators generate more radwaste than tokamaks, managing ARIES-CS active materials during operation and after plant decommissioning was essential for the environmental attractiveness of the machine. The geological disposal option could be replaced with more attractive scenarios

Component design challenges for the ground-based SP-100 nuclear assembly test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markley, R.A.; Disney, R.K.; Brown, G.B.

1989-01-01

The SP-100 ground engineering system (GES) program involves a ground test of the nuclear subsystems to demonstrate their design. The GES nuclear assembly test (NAT) will be performed in a simulated space environment within a vessel maintained at ultrahigh vacuum. The NAT employs a radiation shielding system that is comprised of both prototypical and nonprototypical shield subsystems to attenuate the reactor radiation leakage and also nonprototypical heat transport subsystems to remove the heat generated by the reactor. The reactor is cooled by liquid lithium, which will operate at temperatures prototypical of the flight system. In designing the components for these systems, a number of design challenges were encountered in meeting the operational requirements of the simulated space environment (and where necessary, prototypical requirements) while also accommodating the restrictions of a ground-based test facility with its limited available space. This paper presents a discussion of the design challenges associated with the radiation shield subsystem components and key components of the heat transport systems

Ageing evaluation model of nuclear reactors structural elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziliukas, A.; Jutas, A.; Leisis, V.

2002-01-01

In this article the estimation of non-failure probability by random faults on the structural elements of nuclear reactors is presented. Ageing is certainly a significant factor in determining the limits of nuclear plant lifetime or life extensions. Usually the non failure probability rates failure intensity, which is characteristic for structural elements ageing in nuclear reactors. In practice the reliability is increased incorrectly because not all failures are fixed and cumulated. Therefore, the methodology with using the fine parameter of the failures flow is described. The comparison of non failure probability and failures flow is carried out. The calculation of these parameters in the practical example is shown too. (author)

Theoretical studies in nuclear reaction and nuclear structure. Final report, January 1, 1975--June 30, 1976

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banerjee, M.K.; Griffin, J.J.

1977-07-01

Progress in theoretical research is reported under the following readings: (1) few nuclear reactions, Eikonal approximations, and optical models; (2) pion reactions; (3) nuclear structure by reaction studies; (4) nuclear dynamics

Opting out of the commercial use of nuclear power in Germany and challenges arising to nuclear supervision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renneberg, W.

2001-01-01

The governing majority in Germany has decided to opt out of the commercial use of nuclear power and to terminate this use in a safe and managed way. In the opinion of the federal government, the reasons for this decision include the potential for severe accidents, which is considered intolerable in the long run even though the probability of occurrence is low. In addition, there are the problems of final storage of radioactive waste, issues associated with the risk of proliferation, and the need to end a deep-seated societal conflict in Germany. In its function as the Top Regulator, the department responsible for nuclear matters of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) has two important functions: It acts as the federal supervisor of the federal states which execute the Atomic Energy Act on behalf of the federal government, and it exercises the duty of preparing the nuclear policy outlined in the norms established by the federal government. After lengthy discussions with the operators of nuclear power plants an agreement was elaborated in preparation of a solution acceptable to all participants, which essentially defines an electricity quota for nuclear power plant operation and deals with spent fuel and nuclear waste management problems. This implies a number of challenges arising to the BMU as a consequence of the need to further ensure a high safety standard. It also means international efforts as well as the need to counteract the impending loss of competence in the nuclear field. (orig.) [de

Accelerating Full Configuration Interaction Calculations for Nuclear Structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Chao; Sternberg, Philip; Maris, Pieter; Ng, Esmond; Sosonkina, Masha; Le, Hung Viet; Vary, James; Yang, Chao

2008-01-01

One of the emerging computational approaches in nuclear physics is the full configuration interaction (FCI) method for solving the many-body nuclear Hamiltonian in a sufficiently large single-particle basis space to obtain exact answers - either directly or by extrapolation. The lowest eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors for very large, sparse and unstructured nuclear Hamiltonian matrices are obtained and used to evaluate additional experimental quantities. These matrices pose a significant challenge to the design and implementation of efficient and scalable algorithms for obtaining solutions on massively parallel computer systems. In this paper, we describe the computational strategies employed in a state-of-the-art FCI code MFDn (Many Fermion Dynamics - nuclear) as well as techniques we recently developed to enhance the computational efficiency of MFDn. We will demonstrate the current capability of MFDn and report the latest performance improvement we have achieved. We will also outline our future research directions

Investigations of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions induced by complex projectiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarantites, D.G.

1990-01-01

This report discusses research in the following areas: nuclear structure; fusion reactions near and below the barrier; incomplete fusion and fragmentation reactions; and instrumentation and analysis. (LSP)

The challenges of nuclear proliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Guelte, Georges

2015-01-01

The author of this article first outlines that the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a tool of domination used by nuclear powers: they can keep and even develop their own nuclear arsenal, while other countries who sign this treaty commit themselves not to try to acquire nuclear weapons. The USA and USSR kept on persuading various countries to sign this treaty, but eventually let some countries develop their military nuclear programme (Israel, Pakistan, or India). He evokes technical difficulties in the application of the Treaty, notably for the control of centrifugation activities. He outlines that the USA have now a dominant position with respect to this Treaty and its application, but that the Treaty remains a major safety element for the world. He evokes more recent and negative evolutions: the withdrawal of North Korea from the Treaty, the destruction of an Iraqi nuclear reactor by Israel (i.e. the destruction of a nuclear installation belonging to a country who signed the NPT by a country who did not sign it). He proposes an overview of the Iranian issue (history of the Iranian nuclear programme, of the nuclear crisis, of the still going on negotiations), and describes what could be the worst possible scenario

Challenges of adolescent and maturing nuclear plants: a chemistry perspective on maintenance and outages

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberts, J.G. [Bruce Power, Chemistry Design, Plant Design Engineering, Tiverton, Ontario (Canada)]. E-mail: john.roberts@brucepower.com

2003-07-01

In his address to the Canadian Nuclear Society, Bruce Power's Section Manager for Chemistry Design will relate how Designers and Specifiers for Plant and Components have historically limited their approach to that of new plants. As nuclear plants become operational, John G. Roberts will explain how the requirements to protect the assets change as a result of changed capabilities, environments and requirements. John will offer examples to show how challenges were met during construction and commissioning. While plant changes are often necessary following commissioning to prevent serious operational problems, John will also discuss ways in which planners, suppliers and maintenance staff can broaden their views and embrace new work methods to ensure those changes don't unwittingly create new challenges. (author)

Challenges of adolescent and maturing nuclear plants: a chemistry perspective on maintenance and outages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, J.G.

2003-01-01

In his address to the Canadian Nuclear Society, Bruce Power's Section Manager for Chemistry Design will relate how Designers and Specifiers for Plant and Components have historically limited their approach to that of new plants. As nuclear plants become operational, John G. Roberts will explain how the requirements to protect the assets change as a result of changed capabilities, environments and requirements. John will offer examples to show how challenges were met during construction and commissioning. While plant changes are often necessary following commissioning to prevent serious operational problems, John will also discuss ways in which planners, suppliers and maintenance staff can broaden their views and embrace new work methods to ensure those changes don't unwittingly create new challenges. (author)

Laser measurements and nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leander, G.A.

1982-01-01

The nuclear states amenable to laser studies are reviewed with respect to their structure. Systematic predictions are made, e.g., for magnetic moments of parity-mixed intrinsic orbitals in the Ac isotopes and for the shape of the known high-spin isomers in the Pb region

Challenges and Opportunities in Nuclear Science and Radiochemistry Education at the University of Missouri

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robertson, J. David; Etter, Randy L.; Neumeyer, Gayla M.; Miller, William H.

2009-01-01

Over the last thirty years, numerous reports and workshops have documented the decline in nuclear and radiochemistry education programs in the United States. Practitioners and stakeholders are keenly aware of the impact this decline will have on emerging technologies and critical research and are fully committed to rebuilding programs in nuclear and radiochemistry. The challenge is, however, to persuade our academic peers and administrations to invest in nuclear and radiochemistry education and training programs in view of multiple competing priorities. This paper provides an overview of the expansion of the radiochemistry program and the creation of the Nuclear Energy Technology Workforce (NETWork) Center at the University of Missouri, Columbia and the lessons learned along the way.

[Studies of nuclear structure using neutrons and charged particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

This report contains brief discussions on nuclear research done at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory. The major categories covered are: Fundamental symmetries in the nucleus; Dynamics in very light nuclei; D states in light nuclei; Nucleon-nucleus interactions; Nuclear structure and reactions; and Instrumentation and development

Deepening structural reform, and speeding up self-reliant nuclear power development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Binghua

2010-01-01

Combining the implementation practices of the strategy on self-reliant development of the third generation nuclear power plant, the paper set forth that speeding up self-reliant nuclear power development has strategic significance to the national economy and the people's livelihood, which need further deepening structural reform and nuclear power structural reform with an aim to enhance the international competitiveness of China's nuclear industry. (author)

Threedimensional imaging of organ structures by nuclear magnetic resonance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waters, W.; Smolorz, J.; Wellner, U.

1985-01-01

A simple method for threedimensional imaging of organ structures is presented. The method is based on a special acquisition mode in a nuclear resonance tomograph, exciting layers of 20 cm thickness at different angulations. The display is done by cinematography (which is usually used in nuclear cardiology) projecting the structures in a rotating movement. (orig.) [de

Structural Health Monitoring of Nuclear Spent Fuel Storage Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Lingyu

2018-04-10

Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel from reactor sites has gained additional importance and urgency for resolving waste-management-related technical issues. To ensure that nuclear power remains clean energy, monitoring has been identified by DOE as a high priority cross-cutting need, necessary to determine and predict the degradation state of the systems, structures, and components (SSCs) important to safety (ITS). Therefore, nondestructive structural condition monitoring becomes a need to be installed on existing or to be integrated into future storage system to quantify the state of health or to guarantee the safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) during their extended life span. In this project, the lead university and the collaborating national laboratory teamed to develop a nuclear structural health monitoring (n-SHM) system based on in-situ piezoelectric sensing technologies that can monitor structural degradation and aging for nuclear spent fuel DCSS and similar structures. We also aimed to identify and quantify possible influences of nuclear spent fuel environment (temperature and radiation) to the piezoelectric sensor system and come up with adequate solutions and guidelines therefore. We have therefore developed analytical model for piezoelectric based n-SHM methods, with considerations of temperature and irradiation influence on the model of sensing and algorithms in acoustic emission (AE), guided ultrasonic waves (GUW), and electromechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS). On the other side, experimentally the temperature and irradiation influence on the piezoelectric sensors and sensing capabilities were investigated. Both short-term and long-term irradiation investigation with our collaborating national laboratory were performed. Moreover, we developed multi-modal sensing, validated in laboratory setup, and conducted the testing on the We performed multi-modal sensing development, verification and validation tests on very complex structures

The Challenges and Countermeasures of Human Resources on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Mingguang; Ye Cheng; Han Xu

2011-01-01

The paper addresses the situations of nuclear power development and nuclear industry human resources and points out that the development and supply of human resources are becoming the big challenges in the effective and sustainable development of nuclear power. At the same time, the paper analyzes the root causes of human resources shortage and recommends several countermeasures to confront human resources problems. At last, the paper introduces what SNPTC and SNERDI do to overcome the human resources problem and give conclusions. (author)

Complex nuclear-structure phenomena revealed from the nuclide production in fragmentation reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ricciardi, M.V.; Kelic, A.; Napolitani, P.; Schmidt, K.H.; Yordanov, O.; Ignatyuk, A.V.; Rejmund, F.

2003-12-01

Complex structural effects in the nuclide production from the projectile fragmentation of 1 A GeV 238 U nuclei in a titanium target are reported. The structure seems to be insensitive to the excitation energy induced in the reaction. This is in contrast to the prominent structural features found in nuclear fission and in transfer reactions, which gradually disappear with increasing excitation energy. Using the statistical model of nuclear reactions, relations to structural effects in nuclear binding and in the nuclear level density are demonstrated. (orig.)

Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuels, High and Intermediate Level Wastes: A Continuous Challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otton, C.; Blachet, L.

2009-01-01

For more than 45 years TN International has been involved in the radioactive materials transportation field. Since the beginning the used nuclear fuel transportation has been its core business. During all these years TN International, now part of AREVA, has been able to anticipate and fulfil the needs for new transport or storage casks design to fit the nuclear industry evolutions. A whole fleet of casks able to transport all the materials of the nuclear fuel cycle has been developed. In this presentation we will focus on the casks for the spent fuel, high level waste and intermediate level waste transportation. Answering to the constant evolution of the nuclear industry transport needs is a challenge that TN International faces routinely. Concerning the spent nuclear fuel transportation, TN International has developed in the early 80's a fleet of TN12 type casks fitted with several types of baskets able to safely transport all the spent fuel from the nuclear power plant or the research laboratories to AREVA La Hague plant. The current challenge is the design of a new transport cask generation taking into account the needs of the industry for the next 30 years. The replacement of the TN12 cask generation is to be scheduled as the regulations have changed and the fuel characteristics have evolved. The new generation of casks will take into account all the technical evolutions made during the TN12 thirty years of use. MOX spent fuel has now its dedicated cask: the TN112 which certificate of approval has been obtained in July 2008. This cask is able to transport 12 MOX spent fuel elements with a short cooling time. The first loading of the cask has been performed in 2008 in the EDF nuclear power plant of Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux. Concerning the high level waste such as the La Hague vitrified residues a whole fleet of casks has been developed such as the TN 28 VT dedicated to transport, the TN81 and TN85 dedicated to transport and storage. These casks have permitted the

Challenges for the nuclear safety of the deregulation of electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

Eurosafe 2000 was organised around two round tables on the first day and four seminars on the second day. The first round table dealt with general aspects of deregulation including the economic constraints and the special challenges arising during transition from regulated to deregulated structures. The second round table focussed on technical and organisational safety issues which are directly or indirectly related to the changes introduced by deregulation. The four seminars hold in order to provide opportunities for comparing experiences and learning about recent activities of IPSN, GRS and their partners in the European Union and Eastern Europe: Seminar 1 (Nuclear installation safety, assessment and analysis): assessment of the flooding incident at the Blayais nuclear power plant; PSA data base, comparison of the French and German approach; assessment of the Balakovo fire probabilistic study and elaboration of a guide for reviewing fire PSA; comprehensive technical assessment of an advanced German PWR by PSA - objectives and main results; PSA approach for the safety assessment of low-power and shutdown states; correlation of initiating events with the PSA level-2 results; safety assessment for fission products tests in the Phebus reactor; use of NPP simulators for applied human factor studies; assessment of the 'deterministic realistic method' applied to large LOCA analysis; assessment of the feasibility of an improvement programme enabling operation of units 3 and 4 of Kozloduy nuclear power plant. Seminar 2 (nuclear installation safety, research): PHEBUS 2K project on severe accidents; current status of the COCOSYS development; fission product modeling in ASTEC; Euratom Framework Programme (FP) research in reactor safety: main achievements of FP- 4 (1994-1998), some preliminary results of FP-5 (1998-2002) and prospects for beyond 2002; development of coupled systems of 3D neutronics and fluid-dynamic system codes and their application for safety analyses

ISINN-2. Neutron spectroscopy, nuclear structure and related topics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

The proceedings contain the materials presented at the Second International Seminar on Neutron-Nucleus Interactions (ISINN-2) dealing with the problems of neutron spectroscopy, nuclear structure and related topics. The Seminar took place in Dubna on April 26-28, 1994. Over 120 scientists from Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, US and about 10 Russian research institutes took part in the Seminar. The main problems discussed are the following: P-odd and P-even angular correlation and T-reversal invariance in neutron reactions, nuclear structure investigations by neutron capture, the mechanism of neutron reactions, nuclear fission processes, as well as neutron data for nuclear astrophysics

International Nuclear Conference: a new era in Nuclear Science and Technology - the challenge of the 21st century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durante, R.W.

1997-01-01

The part of address discusses the following issue: new era in science and technology: the challenge of the 21st century. Indeed it is in this part of the world that nuclear technology is making the most rapid and effective progress and will dramatically contribute to a new era of social progress and increased standards of living. Nuclear technology can offer the world limitless amounts of clean, economical, environmentally-benign electricity. It can also offer methods for medical diagnoses and treatments to save lives; provide a way to preserve our food supply and prevent foodborne diseases; provide accurate industrial measurements, leak detectors , and corrosion measurements; and literally hundreds of other applications. The challenge is to use this technology wisely and make sure the public understands that, while there are problems and difficulties commensurate with this technology (as there would be with any other technology), these problems can be solved and enormous benefits to humanity accrue when they are solved. It is worth the effort and one must have the courage and wisdom to proceed

Women’s Participation in Africa’s Nuclear Development-Challenges and Opportunities (Poster Presentation)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mkhosi-Motsaathebe, M.

2015-01-01

Expansion of nuclear technologies and plans for new plants in Africa makes this an exciting time for more women to be involved in the nuclear sector and there are lots of opportunities across the nuclear value chain for women to be involved. In recent decades, more and more women are are now entering the nuclear field and many people are starting to recognise opportunities for women, since the role played by women in the nuclear field enhances the development goals for many countries. In developing countries and in Africa in particular, however, there is a greater need for awareness of women’s involvement in STEM fields in general, and to change prevailing attitudes about women’s participation in the nuclear science and technology in particular. This paper will look at various opportunities women have in the expanding nuclear sector in the continent, and how these opportunities can be utilised, not only for those in sciences but also in business disciplines. The approaches organizations and countries can take in broadening participation of the female gender in the nuclear development in Africa; will also be presented, as well as how to address the challenges faced by women in the dynamic nuclear field. (author)

Hirschegg '03: Nuclear structure and dynamics at the limits. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feldmeier, H.; Knoll, J.; Noerenberg, W.; Wambach, J.

2003-01-01

The following topics were dealt with: Nuclear structure ans symmetries, nuclei near the drip line, halo nuclei and nuclear resonances, superheavy elements and fission, fragmentation and multifragmentation, nuclear astrophysics. (HSI)

Dynamic testing of nuclear power plant structures: an evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weaver, H.J.

1980-02-01

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) evaluated the applications of system identification techniques to the dynamic testing of nuclear power plant structures and subsystems. These experimental techniques involve exciting a structure and measuring, digitizing, and processing the time-history motions that result. The data can be compared to parameters calculated using finite element or other models of the test systems to validate the model and to verify the seismic analysis. This report summarizes work in three main areas: (1) analytical qualification of a set of computer programs developed at LLL to extract model parameters from the time histories; (2) examination of the feasibility of safely exciting nuclear power plant structures and accurately recording the resulting time-history motions; (3) study of how the model parameters that are extracted from the data be used best to evaluate structural integrity and analyze nuclear power plants

The policy structure of the Dutch nuclear energy sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zijlstra, G.J.

1982-01-01

The main objective of this study has been to indicate the principle structures through which much of governmental nuclear policy is formed and to develop a model for the analysis of policy communication networks. The first chapter begins with a general outline of the international development of nuclear energy and gives an impression of the Dutch nuclear energy sector with special emphasis on the institutional aspects. In chapter II the author elaborates on the place of structural analysis in public policy analysis and argues that it is one of the indispensable elements of public policy analysis. Relations are treated in chapter III. Personal interlocks are given special attention because these are interrelated with financial, informational and other dependency relations and have a special communicative function in public policy-making. The different functions of the interlocks are 'translated' in graph theoretical concepts. Chapter IV introduces a method derived from graph analysis to analyse public policy networks. Several structural configurations are distinguished. In the same chapter an outline of the empirical research on the nuclear energy network will be given. In chapters V and VI the nuclear energy network is analysed, and in chapter VII the decision-making concerning some nuclear items is described in a general way. (Auth.)

Crystal Structure of the Herpesvirus Nuclear Egress Complex Provides Insights into Inner Nuclear Membrane Remodeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzviya Zeev-Ben-Mordehai

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Although nucleo-cytoplasmic transport is typically mediated through nuclear pore complexes, herpesvirus capsids exit the nucleus via a unique vesicular pathway. Together, the conserved herpesvirus proteins pUL31 and pUL34 form the heterodimeric nuclear egress complex (NEC, which, in turn, mediates the formation of tight-fitting membrane vesicles around capsids at the inner nuclear membrane. Here, we present the crystal structure of the pseudorabies virus NEC. The structure revealed that a zinc finger motif in pUL31 and an extensive interaction network between the two proteins stabilize the complex. Comprehensive mutational analyses, characterized both in situ and in vitro, indicated that the interaction network is not redundant but rather complementary. Fitting of the NEC crystal structure into the recently determined cryoEM-derived hexagonal lattice, formed in situ by pUL31 and pUL34, provided details on the molecular basis of NEC coat formation and inner nuclear membrane remodeling.

Aging of concrete containment structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B.; Ellingwood, B.; Mori, Yasuhiro; Arndt, E.G.

1992-01-01

Concrete structures play a vital role in the safe operation of all light-water reactor plants in the US Pertinent concrete structures are described in terms of their importance design, considerations, and materials of construction. Degradation factors which can potentially impact the ability of these structures to meet their functional and performance requirements are identified. Current inservice inspection requirements for concrete containments are summarized. A review of the performance history of the concrete components in nuclear power plants is provided. A summary is presented. A summary is presented of the Structural Aging (SAG) Program being conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The SAG Program is addressing the aging management of safety-related concrete structures in nuclear power plants for the purpose of providing improved bases for their continued service. The program consists of a management task and three technical tasks: materials property data base, structural component assessment/repair technologies, and quantitiative methodology for continued service conditions. Objectives and a summary of accomplishments under each of these tasks are presented

The nuclear structure and low-energy reactions (NSLER) collaboration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dean, D J

2006-01-01

The long-term vision of the Nuclear Structure and Low-Energy Reactions (NSLER) collaboration is to arrive at a comprehensive and unified description of nuclei and their reactions that is grounded in the interactions between the constituent nucleons. For this purpose, we will develop a universal energy density functional for nuclei and replace current phenomenological models of nuclear structure and reactions with a well-founded microscopic theory that will deliver maximum predictive power with minimal uncertainties that are well quantified. Nuclear structure and reactions play an essential role in the science to be investigated at rare isotope facilities, and in nuclear physics applications to the Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program, next-generation reactors, and threat reduction. We anticipate an expansion of the computational techniques and methods we currently employ, and developments of new treatments, to take advantage of petascale architectures and demonstrate the capability of the leadership class machines to deliver new science heretofore impossible

Three-dimensional structure of low-density nuclear matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okamoto, Minoru; Maruyama, Toshiki; Yabana, Kazuhiro; Tatsumi, Toshitaka

2012-01-01

We numerically explore the pasta structures and properties of low-density nuclear matter without any assumption on the geometry. We observe conventional pasta structures, while a mixture of the pasta structures appears as a metastable state at some transient densities. We also discuss the lattice structure of droplets.

Three-dimensional structure of low-density nuclear matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Okamoto, Minoru, E-mail: okamoto@nucl.ph.tsukuba.ac.jp [Graduate School of Pure and Applied Science, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571 (Japan); Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Shirakata Shirane 2-4, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195 (Japan); Maruyama, Toshiki, E-mail: maruyama.toshiki@jaea.go.jp [Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Shirakata Shirane 2-4, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195 (Japan); Graduate School of Pure and Applied Science, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571 (Japan); Yabana, Kazuhiro, E-mail: yabana@nucl.ph.tsukuba.ac.jp [Graduate School of Pure and Applied Science, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571 (Japan); Center of Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571 (Japan); Tatsumi, Toshitaka, E-mail: tatsumi@ruby.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)

2012-07-09

We numerically explore the pasta structures and properties of low-density nuclear matter without any assumption on the geometry. We observe conventional pasta structures, while a mixture of the pasta structures appears as a metastable state at some transient densities. We also discuss the lattice structure of droplets.

Structural challenges in the development of a truck shipping cask for the OCRWM cask systems development program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mello, R.M.; Severson, W.J.; Nair, B.R.

1990-01-01

The development of a spent fuel transportation cask design based on a structural material without licensing precedent presents many challenges. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires that any new material be qualified to meet the design and fabrication requirements of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, Class 1. This paper discusses the strategy that is being implemented towards obtaining Code Acceptance of a titanium alloy (3A1-2.5V). This alloy has been chosen as the principal structural material for a Legal Weight Truck cask being developed by Westinghouse for the U.S. Department of Energy. The analysis approach used on some of the principal cask components is also presented

Aircraft impact on nuclear power plants concrete structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coombs, R.F.; Barbosa, L.C.B.; Santos, S.H.C.

1980-01-01

A summary about the procedures for the analysis of aircraft on concrete structures, aiming to emphasize the aspects related to the nuclear power plants safety, is presented. The impact force is determined by the Riera model. The effect of this impact force on the concrete structures is presented, showing the advantages to use nonlinear behaviour in the concrete submitted to short loads. The simplifications used are shown through a verification example of the nuclear reactor concrete shielding. (E.G.) [pt

On the introduction of nuclear power in Middle East countries: Promise, strategies, vision and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Genk, Mohamed S.

2008-01-01

Middle eastern countries have been experiencing economical growth at an annual rate of more than 5% and some of the highest population growth rates in the world. Many (>13) have recently expressed interest in nuclear power for meeting future demands of electricity and fresh water. A challenging, but possible goal, particularly for the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and for the countries in North Africa, would be to secure 30% of future needs of electricity and process heat for industrial applications and seawater desalination from nuclear power by 2030. For the GCC states alone, this would be equivalent to building two new, 1500 MWe nuclear power plants each year starting in 2016. Some of the challenges and important consideration include: (a) stimulating private investments, (b) establishing education and training programs that are among the world's best; (c) maintaining close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and countries with advanced nuclear technology and fuel cycle capabilities to ensure safety and compliance at all levels, (c) establishing viable indigence heavy industry and international alliances on all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle; (d) coordinating with other countries in the region on the development of a common electric grid; (e) investing in uranium mining and exploration to secure future resources, (f) identifying and licensing suitable sites for future construction of nuclear plants; (g) establishing a regulatory and safety board with government oversight and sound regulations that would make it possible to build and operate new nuclear power plants within 40-50 months, (h) investing in high technology and R and D infrastructure, and (i) investigating the options of standardization versus diversification in the nuclear reactor types

Potentially of using vertical and three dimensional isolation systems in nuclear structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Zhiuang [Research Institute of Structural Engineering and Disaster Reduction, Tongji University, Shanghai (China); Wong, Jenna [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Berkeley (United States); Mahin, Stephen [University of California, Berkeley (United States)

2016-10-15

Although the horizontal component of an earthquake response can be significantly reduced through the use of conventional seismic isolators, the vertical component of excitation is still transmitted directly into the structure. Records from instrumented structures, and some recent tests and analyses have actually seen increases in vertical responses in base isolated structures under the combined effects of horizontal and vertical ground motions. This issue becomes a great concern to facilities such as a Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), with specialized equipment and machinery that is not only expensive, but critical to safe operation. As such, there is considerable interest worldwide in vertical and three-dimensional (3D) isolation systems. This paper examines several vertical and 3D isolation systems that have been proposed and their potential application to modern nuclear facilities. In particular, a series of case study analyses of a modern NPP model are performed to examine the benefits and challenges associated with 3D isolation compared with horizontal isolation. It was found that compared with the general horizontal isolators, isolators that have vertical frequencies of no more than 3 Hz can effectively reduce the vertical in-structure responses for the studied NPP model. Among the studied cases, the case that has a vertical isolation frequency of 3 Hz is the one that can keep the horizontal period of the isolators as the first period while having the most flexible vertical isolator properties. When the vertical frequency of isolators reduces to 1 Hz, the rocking effect is obvious and rocking restraining devices are necessary.

Potentially of using vertical and three dimensional isolation systems in nuclear structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Zhiuang; Wong, Jenna; Mahin, Stephen

2016-01-01

Although the horizontal component of an earthquake response can be significantly reduced through the use of conventional seismic isolators, the vertical component of excitation is still transmitted directly into the structure. Records from instrumented structures, and some recent tests and analyses have actually seen increases in vertical responses in base isolated structures under the combined effects of horizontal and vertical ground motions. This issue becomes a great concern to facilities such as a Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), with specialized equipment and machinery that is not only expensive, but critical to safe operation. As such, there is considerable interest worldwide in vertical and three-dimensional (3D) isolation systems. This paper examines several vertical and 3D isolation systems that have been proposed and their potential application to modern nuclear facilities. In particular, a series of case study analyses of a modern NPP model are performed to examine the benefits and challenges associated with 3D isolation compared with horizontal isolation. It was found that compared with the general horizontal isolators, isolators that have vertical frequencies of no more than 3 Hz can effectively reduce the vertical in-structure responses for the studied NPP model. Among the studied cases, the case that has a vertical isolation frequency of 3 Hz is the one that can keep the horizontal period of the isolators as the first period while having the most flexible vertical isolator properties. When the vertical frequency of isolators reduces to 1 Hz, the rocking effect is obvious and rocking restraining devices are necessary

Potentiality of Using Vertical and Three-Dimensional Isolation Systems in Nuclear Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiguang Zhou

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Although the horizontal component of an earthquake response can be significantly reduced through the use of conventional seismic isolators, the vertical component of excitation is still transmitted directly into the structure. Records from instrumented structures, and some recent tests and analyses have actually seen increases in vertical responses in base isolated structures under the combined effects of horizontal and vertical ground motions. This issue becomes a great concern to facilities such as a Nuclear Power Plants (NPP, with specialized equipment and machinery that is not only expensive, but critical to safe operation. As such, there is considerable interest worldwide in vertical and three-dimensional (3D isolation systems. This paper examines several vertical and 3D isolation systems that have been proposed and their potential application to modern nuclear facilities. In particular, a series of case study analyses of a modern NPP model are performed to examine the benefits and challenges associated with 3D isolation compared with horizontal isolation. It was found that compared with the general horizontal isolators, isolators that have vertical frequencies of no more than 3 Hz can effectively reduce the vertical in-structure responses for the studied NPP model. Among the studied cases, the case that has a vertical isolation frequency of 3 Hz is the one that can keep the horizontal period of the isolators as the first period while having the most flexible vertical isolator properties. When the vertical frequency of isolators reduces to 1 Hz, the rocking effect is obvious and rocking restraining devices are necessary.

Changes in attitude structure toward nuclear power in the nuclear power plant locations of Tohoku district

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsujikawa, Norifumi; Tsuchida, Shoji; Shiotani, Takamasa; Nakagawa, Yuri

2012-01-01

This survey was examined the changes in structure of attitude toward nuclear power and the influence of environmental value on the attitude structure before and after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. With residents of Aomori, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures as participants, we conducted online surveys in November 2009 and October 2011. Comparing the results before and after the accident, we found that trust in the management of nuclear power plants had a stronger influence on the perceived risk and benefit regarding nuclear power after the accident than before the accident. The value of concern about environmental destruction resulted in reduced trust in the management. (author)

Trends and impact of prudence challenges on operating nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoke, J.R. II

1989-01-01

Although the concept and standard for prudence associated with capital investments were first defined by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis in 1923, prudence reviews have become a growing phenomenon within the electric utility industry over the past decade. These examinations were primarily initiated by state public utilities commissions (PUCs) in response to public and political pressure in the evaluation of delays, cancellations, and cost overruns associated with large nuclear construction projects. The early application of the prudence standard was intended to be, not so much a part of the normal means of regulatory oversight, but a specific review of the management process that could not be adequately addressed within the existing regulatory framework. Since these initial construction reviews, however, the regulators have found the prudence examination to be an effective regulatory tool to evaluate other utility functions, operations, and projects. The broadening in application and scope of these reviews has introduced a new and growing dimension of concern for utility management. The primary target for prudence challenges has been the utility's decision-making process, which typically has not been well defined or documented. This paper briefly presents the trends and issues of prudence within the nuclear industry to date, the form and focus of future examinations, and the strategic measures to prepare for these preemptive challenges

Status of the evaluated nuclear structure data file

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, M.J.

1991-01-01

The structure, organization, and contents of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) are discussed in this paper. This file contains a summary of the state of experimental nuclear structure data for all nuclides as determined from consideration of measurements reported worldwide in the literature. Special emphasis is given to the data evaluation procedures, the consistency checks, and the quality control utilized at the input stage and to the retrieval capabilities of the system at the output stage. Recent enhancements of the on-line interaction with the file contents is addressed as well as procedural changes that will improve the currency of the file

Proceedings of the conference on nuclear structure at the limits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-12-31

This report contains the papers from the Proceedings of the Conference on Nuclear Structure at the Limits. Some of the areas covered by these papers are: nuclear deformation; nuclear decay; nuclear spectroscopy; radioactive ion beams; nuclear models; high spin states; and heavy ion reactions. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

Proceedings of the conference on nuclear structure at the limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

This report contains the papers from the Proceedings of the Conference on Nuclear Structure at the Limits. Some of the areas covered by these papers are: nuclear deformation; nuclear decay; nuclear spectroscopy; radioactive ion beams; nuclear models; high spin states; and heavy ion reactions. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database

Complementarity between neutron capture and heavy-ion reactions in nuclear structure studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schult, O.W.B.

1978-01-01

The study of the complementarity of certain nuclear reactions in nuclear structure studies includes spectroscopic methods, nuclear rotation and coupling of nucleons to the core, and the de-excitation and structure of high lying states. 23 references

The evaluated nuclear structure data file: Philosophy, content, and uses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burrows, T.W.

1990-01-01

The Evaulated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) is maintained by the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) on behalf of the international Nuclear Structure and Decay Data Network sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. Data for A=5 to 44 are extracted from the evaluations published in Nuclear Physics; for A≥45 the file is used to produce the Nuclear Data Sheets. The philosophy and methodology of ENSDF evaluations are outlined, along with the file contents of relevance to radionuclide metrologists; the service available at various nuclear data centers and the NNDC on-line capabilities are also discussed. Application codes have been developed for use with ENSDF, and the program RADLST is used as an example. The interaction of ENSDF evaluation with other evaluations is also discussed. (orig.)

Shield structure for a nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rouse, C.A.; Simnad, M.T.

1979-01-01

An improved nuclear reactor shield structure is described for use where there are significant amounts of fast neutron flux above an energy level of approximately 70 keV. The shield includes structural supports and neutron moderator and absorber systems. A portion at least of the neutron moderator material is magnesium oxide either alone or in combination with other moderator materials such as graphite and iron. (U.K.)

Regulatory assessment of safety culture in nuclear organisations - current trends and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tronea, M.

2010-01-01

The paper gives an overview of the current practices in the area of regulatory assessment of safety culture in nuclear organisations and of the associated challenges. While the assessment and inspection procedures currently in use by regulatory authorities worldwide are directed primarily at verifying compliance with the licensing basis, there is a recognised need for a more systematic approach to the identification, collection and review of data relevant to the safety culture in licensees' organisations. The paper presents a proposal for using the existing regulatory inspection practices for gathering information relevant to safety culture and for assessing it in an integrated manner. The proposal is based on the latest requirements and guidance issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on management systems for nuclear facilities and activities, particularly as regards the attributes needed for a strong nuclear safety culture. (author)

Nuclear Cartography: Patterns in Binding Energies and Subatomic Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Simpson, E. C.; Shelley, M.

2017-01-01

Nuclear masses and binding energies are some of the first nuclear properties met in high school physics, and can be used to introduce radioactive decays, fusion, and fission. With relatively little extension, they can also illustrate fundamental concepts in nuclear physics, such as shell structure and pairing, and to discuss how the elements…

Update on nuclear structure effects in light muonic atoms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hernandez, Oscar Javier, E-mail: javierh@triumf.ca; Dinur, Nir Nevo; Ji, Chen; Bacca, Sonia [TRIUMF (Canada); Barnea, Nir [The Hebrew University, Racah Institute of Physics (Israel)

2016-12-15

We present calculations of the nuclear structure corrections to the Lamb shift in light muonic atoms, using state-of-the-art nuclear potentials. We outline updated results on finite nucleon size contributions.

Integrated software system for seismic evaluation of nuclear power plant structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, J.; Graves, H.L.

1993-01-01

The computer software CARES (Computer Analysis for Rapid Evaluation of Structures) was developed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It represents an effort to utilize established numerical methodologies commonly employed by industry for structural safety evaluations of nuclear power plant facilities and incorporates them into an integrated computer software package operated on personal computers. CARES was developed with the objective of including all aspects of seismic performance evaluation of nuclear power structures. It can be used to evaluate the validity and accuracy of analysis methodologies used for structural safety evaluations of nuclear power plants by various utilities. CARES has a modular format, each module performing a specific type of analysis. The seismic module integrates all the steps of a complete seismic analysis into a single package with many user-friendly features such as interactiveness and quick turnaround. Linear structural theory and pseudo-linear convolution theory are utilized as the bases for the development with a special emphasis on the nuclear regulatory requirements for structural safety of nuclear plants. The organization of the seismic module is arranged in eight options, each performing a specific step of the analysis with most of input/output interfacing processed by the general manager. Finally, CARES provides comprehensive post-processing capability for displaying results graphically or in tabular form so that direct comparisons can be easily made. (author)

New nuclear projects: structure, supply chain and financing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keppler, J.H.; Cometto, M.

2015-01-01

In 2015 there were 68 reactors being constructed throughout the world and 159 projects were planned. The projects for the construction of nuclear reactors face challenging issues like financing and management. The NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency) has analysed the feedback experience on a sample of reactor projects and of reactors recently commissioned in order to draw lessons on 3 issues: financing, long-term electricity price, and project management including the supply chain. It is already known that technologies requiring high initial capital like nuclear power or renewable energies, are very sensitive to the long-term price of electricity. The study shows that for a debt ratio below 60%, the risk for the investor is low even if the long-term electricity price drops by 30 %. Because of the complexity of the construction of a nuclear power plant there are mainly 3 types of project management: the turnkey project, the split package approach (a relatively low number of suppliers) and the multi-contract approach. The turnkey approach is favoured by the new entrants in the nuclear world. The harmonization of regulations and the convergence of the safety requirements are necessary to build an efficient and competitive supply chain. (A.C.)

Aging management of safety-related concrete structures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naus, D.J.; Oland, C.B.; Arndt, E.G.

1990-01-01

The Structural Aging Program has the overall objective of providing the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission with an improved basis for evaluating nuclear power plants for continued service. In meeting this objective, a materials property data base is being developed as well as an aging assessment methodology for concrete structures in nuclear power plants. Furthermore, studies are well under way to review and assess inservice inspection techniques for concrete structures and to develop a methodology which can be used for performing current as well as reliability-based future conditions assessments of these structures. 16 refs., 2 tabs

Nuclear matrix - structure, function and pathogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wasąg, Piotr; Lenartowski, Robert

2016-12-20

The nuclear matrix (NM), or nuclear skeleton, is the non-chromatin, ribonucleoproteinaceous framework that is resistant to high ionic strength buffers, nonionic detergents, and nucleolytic enzymes. The NM fulfills a structural role in eukaryotic cells and is responsible for maintaining the shape of the nucleus and the spatial organization of chromatin. Moreover, the NM participates in several cellular processes, such as DNA replication/repair, gene expression, RNA transport, cell signaling and differentiation, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis and carcinogenesis. Short nucleotide sequences called scaffold/matrix attachment regions (S/MAR) anchor the chromatin loops to the NM proteins (NMP). The NMP composition is dynamic and depends on the cell type and differentiation stage or metabolic activity. Alterations in the NMP composition affect anchoring of the S/MARs and thus alter gene expression. This review aims to systematize information about the skeletal structure of the nucleus, with particular emphasis on the organization of the NM and its role in selected cellular processes. We also discuss several diseases that are caused by aberrant NM structure or dysfunction of individual NM elements.

Nuclear structure/nuclei far from stability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casten, R.F.; Garrett, J.D.; Moller, P.; Bauer, W.W.; Brenner, D.S.; Butler, G.W.; Crawford, J.E.; Davids, C.N.; Dyer, P.L.; Gregorich, K.; Hagbert, E.G.; Hamilton, W.D.; Harar, S.; Haustein, P.E.; Hayes, A.C.; Hoffman, D.C.; Hsu, H.H.; Madland, D.G.; Myers, W.D.; Penttila, H.T.; Ragnarsson, I.; Reeder, P.L.; Robertson, G.H.; Rowley, N.; Schreiber, F.; Seifert, H.L.; Sherrill, B.M.; Siciliano, E.R.; Sprouse, G.D.; Stephens, F.S.; Subotic, K.; Talbert, W.; Toth, K.S.; Tu, X.L.; Vieira, D.J.; Villari, A.C.C.; Walters, W.B.; Wildenthal, B.H.; Wilhelmy, J.B.; Winger, J.A.; Wohn, F.K.; Wouters, J.M.; Zhou, X.G.; Zhou, Z.Y.

1990-01-01

This report outlines some of the nuclear structure topics discussed at the Los Alamos Workshop on the Science of Intense Radioactive Ion Beams (RIB). In it we also tried to convey some of the excitement of the participants for utilizing RIBs in their future research. The introduction of radioactive beams promises to be a major milestone for nuclear structure perhaps even more important than the last such advance in beams based on the advent of heavy-ion accelerators in the 1960's. RIBs not only will allow a vast number of new nuclei to be studies at the extremes of isospin, but the variety of combinations of exotic proton and neutron configurations should lead to entirely new phenomena. A number of these intriguing new studies and the profound consequences that they promise for understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus, nature's only many-body, strongly-inteacting quantum system, are discussed in the preceeding sections. However, as with any scientific frontier, the most interesting phenomena probably will be those that are not anticipated--they will be truly new

Nuclear ``pasta'' structures in low-density nuclear matter and properties of the neutron-star crust

Science.gov (United States)

Okamoto, Minoru; Maruyama, Toshiki; Yabana, Kazuhiro; Tatsumi, Toshitaka

2013-08-01

In the neutron-star crust, nonuniform structure of nuclear matter—called the “pasta” structure—is expected. From recent studies of giant flares in magnetars, these structures might be related to some observables and physical quantities of the neutron-star crust. To investigate the above quantities, we numerically explore the pasta structure with a fully three-dimensional geometry and study the properties of low-density nuclear matter, based on the relativistic mean-field model and the Thomas-Fermi approximation. We observe typical pasta structures for fixed proton number fraction and two of them for cold catalyzed matter. We also discuss the crystalline configuration of “pasta.”

Charge-exchange giant resonances as probes of nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blomgren, J.

2001-09-01

Giant resonances populated in charge-exchange reactions can reveal detailed information about nuclear structure properties, in spite of their apparent featurelessness. The (p,n) and (n,p) reactions - as well as their analog reactions - proceed via the same nuclear matrix element as beta decay. Thereby, they are useful for probing electroweak properties in nuclei, especially for those not accessible to beta decay. The nuclear physics aspects of double beta decay might be investigated in double charge-exchange reactions. detailed nuclear structure information, such as the presence of ground-state correlations, can be revealed via identification of 'first-forbidden' transitions. In addition, astrophysics aspects and halo properties of nuclei have been investigated in charge exchange. Finally, these experiments have questioned our knowledge of the absolute strength of the strong interaction

Discussion on organization structure system of nuclear power projects in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Zhi

2011-01-01

With the development of the nuclear power industry in China, several AE companies were born and now play a major role in building nuclear power projects in China and overseas. After studying current organization structure systems of all nuclear power AE companies in China and comparing with successful foreign ones, this paper proposes some approaches to optimize the structure. (author)

Present status and future challenges of nuclear forensics technology developments in JAEA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kimura, Yoshiki; Shinohara, Nobuo; Okubo, Ayako; Toda, Nobufumi; Funatake, Yoshio; Kataoka, Osamu; Matsumoto, Tetsuya; Watahiki, Masaru; Kuno, Yusuke

2014-01-01

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has started a nuclear forensics (NF) technology development project from JFY 2011, according to the National Statement of Japan in Nuclear Security Summit 2010. This paper will present the progress and future prospects of the development project during JFY 2011 to 2013. The project on NF technology in JAEA includes the development of analytical technologies such as isotope and impurity measurements, morphology analysis, age determination technique, and the prototype of nuclear forensics library (NFL) for future national NFL. Some analytical devices were installed for the analytical technology developments, and various uranium materials produced in JAEA facilities at Ningyo-toge have been measured to verify the analytical technologies. A nuclear material database of the prototype NFL was also developed with brief tools of multivariate analysis and image analysis. The implementation of the analytical technologies, the development of advanced analytical technologies and the system improvements of the prototype NFL will be continued from JFY 2014 in JAEA. The national regime and national response plan are remained as a big challenge to establish the national NF capabilities in Japan. (author)

Evaluated Nuclear Structure data file: a manual for preparation of data sets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ewbank, W.B.; Schmorak, M.R.

1978-02-01

A standard input format for nuclear structure data is described. The format is sufficiently structured that bulk data can be entered efficiently. At the same time, the structure is open-ended and can accommodate most measured or deduced quantities that yield nuclear structure information

Selected topics in nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stachura, Z.

1984-09-01

19. winter school in Zakopane was devoted to selected topics in nuclear structure such as: production of spin resonances, heavy ions reactions and their applications to the investigation of high spin states, octupole deformations, excited states and production of new elements etc. The experimental data are ofen compared with theoretical predictions. Report contains 28 papers. (M.F.W.)

Overturning behaviour of nuclear power plant structures during earthquakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalal, J.S.; Perumalswami, P.R.

1977-01-01

Nuclear power plant structures are designed to withstand severe postulated seismic forces. Structures subjected to such forces may be found to ''overturn'', if the factor of safety is computed in the traditional way, treating these forces as static. This study considers the transient nature of the problem and draws distinction between rocking, tipping and overturning. Responses of typical nuclear power plant structures to earthquake motions are used to assess their overturning potential more realistically. Structures founded on both rock and soil are considered. It is demonstrated that the traditional factor of safety, when smaller than unity, indicates only minimal base rotations and not necessarily overturning. (auth.)

Nuclear weapons, scientists, and the post-Cold War challenge selected papers on arms control

CERN Document Server

Drell, Sidney D

2007-01-01

This volume includes a representative selection of Sidney Drell's recent writings and speeches (circa 1993 to the present) on public policy issues with substantial scientific components. Most of the writings deal with national security, nuclear weapons, and arms control and reflect the author's personal involvement in such issues dating back to 1960. Fifteen years after the demise of the Soviet Union, the gravest danger presented by nuclear weapons is the spread of advanced technology that may result in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Of most concern would be their acquisition by hostile governments and terrorists who are unconstrained by accepted norms of civilized behavior. The current challenges are to prevent this from happening and, at the same time, to pursue aggressively the opportunity to escape from an outdated nuclear deterrence trap.

Nuclear Structure in China 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Hong-Bo; Meng, Jie; Zhao, En-Guang; Zhou, Shan-Gui

2011-08-01

Personal view on nuclear physics research / Jie Meng -- High-spin level structures in [symbol]Zr / X. P. Cao ... [et al.] -- Constraining the symmetry energy from the neutron skin thickness of tin isotopes / Lie-Wen Chen ... [et al.] -- Wobbling rotation in atomic nuclei / Y. S. Chen and Zao-Chun Gao -- The mixing of scalar mesons and the possible nonstrange dibaryons / L. R. Dai ... [et al.] -- Net baryon productions and gluon saturation in the SPS, RHIC and LHC energy regions / Sheng-Qin Feng -- Production of heavy isotopes with collisions between two actinide nuclides / Z. Q. Feng ... [et al.] -- The projected configuration interaction method / Zao-Chun Gao and Yong-Shou Chen -- Applications of Nilsson mean-field plus extended pairing model to rare-earth nuclei / Xin Guan ... [et al.] -- Complex scaling method and the resonant states / Jian-You Guo ... [et al.] -- Probing the equation of state by deep sub-barrier fusion reactions / Hong-Jun Hao and Jun-Long Tian -- Doublet structure study in A[symbol]105 mass region / C. Y. He ... [et al.] -- Rotational bands in transfermium nuclei / X. T. He -- Shape coexistence and shape evolution [symbol]Yb / H. Hua ... [et al.] -- Multistep shell model method in the complex energy plane / R. J. Liotta -- The evolution of protoneutron stars with kaon condensate / Ang Li -- High spin structures in the [symbol]Lu nucleus / Li Cong-Bo ... [et al.] -- Nuclear stopping and equation of state / QingFeng Li and Ying Yuan -- Covariant description of the low-lying states in neutron-deficient Kr isotopes / Z. X. Li ... [et al.] -- Isospin corrections for superallowed [symbol] transitions / HaoZhao Liang ... [et al.] -- The positive-parity band structures in [symbol]Ag / C. Liu ... [et al.] -- New band structures in odd-odd [symbol]I and [symbol]I / Liu GongYe ... [et al.] -- The sd-pair shell model and interacting boson model / Yan-An Luo ... [et al.] -- Cross-section distributions of fragments in the calcium isotopes projectile

Generation of floor response spectra for a model structure of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaidyanathan, C.V.; Kamatchi, P.; Ravichandran, R.; Lakshmanan, N.

2003-01-01

The importance of Nuclear power plants and the consequences of a nuclear accident require that the nuclear structures be designed for the most severe environmental conditions. Earthquakes constitutes major design consideration for the system, structures and equipment of a nuclear power plant. The design of structures on ground is based on the ground response spectra. Many important parts of a nuclear power plant facility are attached to the principal parts of the structure and respond in a manner determined by the structural response rather than by the general ground motion to which the structure is supported. Hence the seismic response of equipment is generally based on the response spectrum of the floor on which it is mounted. In this paper such floor response spectra have been generated at different nodes of a chosen model structure of a nuclear power plant. In the present study a detailed nonlinear time history analysis has been carried out on the mathematical model of the chosen Nuclear Power Plant model structure with the spectrum compatible time history. The acceleration response results of the time history analysis has been used in the spectral analysis and the response spectra are generated. Further peak broadening has been done to account for uncertainties in the material properties and soil characteristics. (author)

Nuclear security - New challenge to the safety of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Ganjie

2008-01-01

The safety of nuclear power plants involves two aspects: one is to prevent nuclear accidents resulted from systems and equipments failure or human errors; the other is to refrain nuclear accidents from external intended attack. From this point of view, nuclear security is an organic part of the nuclear safety of power plants since they have basically the same goals and concrete measures with each other. In order to prevent malicious attacks; the concept of physical protection of nuclear facilities has been put forward. In many years, a series of codes and regulations as well as technical standard systems on physical protection had been developed at international level. The United Nations passed No. 1540 resolution as well as 'Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear terrorism', and revised 'Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials', which has enhanced a higher level capacity of preparedness by international community to deal with security issues of nuclear facilities. In China, in order to improve the capability of nuclear power plants on preventing and suppressing the external attacks, the Chinese government consecutively developed the related codes and standards as well as technical documents based on the existing laws and regulations, including 'Guide for the Nuclear Security of Nuclear Power Plants' and 'Guide for the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials', so as to upgrade the legislative requirements for nuclear security in power plants. The government also made greater efforts to support the scientific research and staff training on physical protection, and satisfying the physical protection standards for newly-built nuclear facilities such as large scale nuclear power plants to meet requirement at international level. At the same time old facilities were renovated and the Chinese government established a nuclear emergency preparedness coordination mechanism, developed corresponding emergency preparedness plans, intensified the

Opinions differ on whether nuclear energy industry is ready for cyber-challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalton, David

2017-01-01

In October 2015 the UK's respected Chatham House think-tank published a report that drew some worrying conclusions about the civil nuclear industry. It said many in the sector do not fully understand the risks posed by hackers and the industry needs to be ''more robust'' on taking the initiative in cyberspace and funding effective responses to the challenge. The industry does not seem to be prepared for a large-scale cyber security emergency and needs to invest in counter-measures and response plans, the report said. It warned that developing countries are ''particularly vulnerable'' to cyber-attacks at nuclear facilities. The industry should develop guidelines to measure cyber security risk, including an integrated risk assessment that takes both security and safety measures into account. All countries with nuclear facilities should adopt an effective regulatory approach to cyber security e.g. on the basis of IAEA guidance.

Scientific Grand Challenges: Forefront Questions in Nuclear Science and the Role of High Performance Computing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khaleel, Mohammad A.

2009-01-01

This report is an account of the deliberations and conclusions of the workshop on 'Forefront Questions in Nuclear Science and the Role of High Performance Computing' held January 26-28, 2009, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Physics (ONP) and the DOE Office of Advanced Scientific Computing (ASCR). Representatives from the national and international nuclear physics communities, as well as from the high performance computing community, participated. The purpose of this workshop was to (1) identify forefront scientific challenges in nuclear physics and then determine which-if any-of these could be aided by high performance computing at the extreme scale; (2) establish how and why new high performance computing capabilities could address issues at the frontiers of nuclear science; (3) provide nuclear physicists the opportunity to influence the development of high performance computing; and (4) provide the nuclear physics community with plans for development of future high performance computing capability by DOE ASCR.

Scientific Grand Challenges: Forefront Questions in Nuclear Science and the Role of High Performance Computing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khaleel, Mohammad A.

2009-10-01

This report is an account of the deliberations and conclusions of the workshop on "Forefront Questions in Nuclear Science and the Role of High Performance Computing" held January 26-28, 2009, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Physics (ONP) and the DOE Office of Advanced Scientific Computing (ASCR). Representatives from the national and international nuclear physics communities, as well as from the high performance computing community, participated. The purpose of this workshop was to 1) identify forefront scientific challenges in nuclear physics and then determine which-if any-of these could be aided by high performance computing at the extreme scale; 2) establish how and why new high performance computing capabilities could address issues at the frontiers of nuclear science; 3) provide nuclear physicists the opportunity to influence the development of high performance computing; and 4) provide the nuclear physics community with plans for development of future high performance computing capability by DOE ASCR.

Challenges and achievements - Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subramani, V.A.; Dhere, S.S.; Manoharan, V.; Subbaraman, P.

2010-01-01

Prototype fast breeder reactor presently under construction poses several challenges in materials, design and construction. The civil structure and equipment are of very large size and complex in nature. This paper presents the features of the design and construction of the PFBR excavation, raft, civil structure of the nuclear island connected buildings and reactor vault. This paper also brings out the details of the large size equipment of special stainless steel and handling structure for their lifting and placement inside the reactor vault. The paper is divided into three parts viz. introduction, challenges and achievements during construction of civil structures and erection of large size components. (author)

Nuclear effects in the F3 structure function for finite and asymptotic Q2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulagin, S.A.

1998-01-01

We study nuclear effects in the structure function F 3 which describes the parity violating part of the charged-current neutrino nucleon deep inelastic scattering. Starting from a covariant approach we derive a factorized expression for the nuclear structure function in terms of the nuclear spectral function and off-shell nucleon structure functions valid for arbitrary momentum transfer Q and in the limit of weak nuclear binding, i.e. when a nucleus can be treated as a non-relativistic system. We develop a systematic expansion of nuclear structure functions in terms of a Q -2 series caused by nuclear effects (''nuclear twist'' series). Basing ourselves on this expansion we calculate nuclear corrections to the Gross-Llewellyn-Smith sum rule as well as to higher moments of F 3 . We show that corrections to the GLS sum rule due to nuclear effects cancel out in the Bjorken limit and calculate the corresponding Q -2 correction. Special attention is paid to the discussion of the off-shell effects in the structure functions. A sizable impact of these effects both on the Q 2 and x dependence of nuclear structure functions is found. (orig.)

Structural challenges in the development of a truck shipping cask for the OCRWM Cask Systems Development Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mello, R.M.; Severson, W.J.; Nair, B.R.

1990-01-01

The development of a spent fuel transportation cask design based on a structural material without licensing precedent presents many challenges. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires that any new material be qualified to meet the design and fabrication requirements of the ASME Boiler ampersand Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, Class 1. This paper discusses the strategy that is being implemented towards obtaining Code acceptance of a titanium alloy (3A1-2.5V). This alloy has been chosen as the principal structural material for a Legal Weight Truck cask being developed by Westinghouse for the US Department of Energy. The analysis approach used on some of the principal cask components is also presented. 5 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs

A structured approach to introduce knowledge management practice in a national nuclear research institution in Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daud, A.H.

2004-01-01

In 2002, the Government of Malaysia has launched the Knowledge Management Master Plan with the aim to transform Malaysian from a production-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. In June 2003, the 2nd National Science and Technology policy was launched. The policy puts in place programmes, institutions and partnerships to enhance Malaysian economic position. Several initiatives developed emphasize on the important roles of national nuclear research institutions in the knowledge based economy. The Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (MINT) as a national nuclear research institution is thus expected to make significant contributions to the knowledge economy. To a certain extent MINT has been successful in knowledge acquisition and exploitation from more advanced countries as well as in knowledge generation and in the knowledge application and diffusion to the socio-economic sectors. This paper describes a structured approach to introduce the knowledge management practices or initiatives in MINT. It also describes some of the challenges foreseen in adopting the practices. (author)

Nuclear power and European Union enlargement challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chirica, Teodor; Bilegan, Constantin

2001-01-01

From 1991 through 1996 the European Union signed the Association Agreements with ten East European countries (EE10), namely: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. In the period 1994-1996 European Union received membership applications from all ten countries. The paper analyzes the approach of complying the requirements and regulations for European Union accession in the field of the Romanian nuclear power based on the CANDU technology. In this process, the real challenge is represented by the preparation and implementation of new regulations aiming to improve the general business environment by introducing International Accounting Standards simplification of bankruptcy laws, reform of taxation procedures and secureness of financial instruments. A new stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank was set out in late April 1999 for an one-year loan of 475 million dollars. (authors)

Structuring Cooperative Nuclear RIsk Reduction Initiatives with China.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brandt, Larry [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Reinhardt, Jason Christian [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Hecker, Siegfried [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

2017-03-01

The Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation engaged several Chinese nuclear organizations in cooperative research that focused on responses to radiological and nuclear terrorism. The objective was to identify joint research initiatives to reduce the global dangers of such threats and to pursue initial technical collaborations in several high priority areas. Initiatives were identified in three primary research areas: 1) detection and interdiction of smuggled nuclear materials; 2) nuclear forensics; and 3) radiological (“dirty bomb”) threats and countermeasures. Initial work emphasized the application of systems and risk analysis tools, which proved effective in structuring the collaborations. The extensive engagements between national security nuclear experts in China and the U.S. during the research strengthened professional relationships between these important communities.

The nuclear challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1967-01-01

This film, made on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency, tells the story of the many aspects of the IAEA's work in nuclear power, medicine, agriculture and in the field of technical assistance to developing countries

Electromagnetic studies of nuclear structure and reactions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hersman, F.W.; Dawson, J.F.; Heisenberg, J.H.; Calarco, J.R.

1990-06-01

This report contains papers on the following topics: giant resonance studies; deep inelastic scattering studies; high resolution nuclear structure work; and relativistic RPA; and field theory in the Schroedinger Representation.

Electromagnetic studies of nuclear structure and reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hersman, F.W.; Dawson, J.F.; Heisenberg, J.H.; Calarco, J.R.

1990-06-01

This report contains papers on the following topics: giant resonance studies; deep inelastic scattering studies; high resolution nuclear structure work; and relativistic RPA; and field theory in the Schroedinger Representation

Construction of special structures for nuclear power projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raghavan, N.

2003-01-01

Construction is a very important stage in the course of realization of Nuclear Power Projects and as much care has be devoted to this stage as to the planning and engineering stages. While the setting up of nuclear power projects used to take over seven years in the past, the time period has now been considerably reduced to about five years with advancements in construction engineering, project management and design techniques, on the basis of new initiatives from the owner agency, Nuclear Power Corporation of India. In this article, the constructional aspects of the specialized structures for nuclear power generation are looked into. (author)

Nuclear structure studies at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics using ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy, carried out at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in the recent past, using heavy-ion projectiles from the pelletron accelerator centres in the country and multi-detector arrays have yielded significant data on the structure of a large number of nuclei spanning different mass regions.

The nuclear challenge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1968-12-31

This film, made on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency, tells the story of the many aspects of the IAEA`s work in nuclear power, medicine, agriculture and in the field of technical assistance to developing countries

Economic challenges of nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Legee, F.; Devezeaux de Lavergne, J.G.; Duquesnoy, T.; Mathonniere, G.

2012-01-01

The costs of nuclear power is detailed. Concerning the construction costs, the mean value over the French fleet of reactors is 1,2 billions euros/GWe and 1.5 billions euros/GWe when the engineering and pre-exploitation costs are included. The construction costs of future reactors will be far higher than expected: 6 billion euros versus 3.5 billions euros for the EPR. The Audit Office has recently made public the real cost of today's nuclear electricity in France: 54 euros/MWh, this value is given by the CCE method and includes all the aspects of nuclear energy: construction, operation, dismantling, maintenance, upgrading works required for life extension, new safety requirements due to Fukushima feedback and long-term managing of wastes. The cost of nuclear accidents is not taken into account. The costs of dismantling can be estimated from the feedback experience from the dismantling of nuclear reactors in the Usa, the value obtained is consistent with the OECD rule that states that it represents 15% of the construction cost. The economic impact of decommissioning a plant after 40 years of operating life while its operating life could have been extended to reach 50 or even 60 years has a cost of losing 1 billion to 2 billion euros per reactor. Despite the fact that tomorrow's nuclear systems will be more expensive than today's, it will stay in a competitive range. (A.C.)

Opinions differ on whether nuclear energy industry is ready for cyber-challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalton, David [NucNet, Brussels (Belgium)

2017-05-15

In October 2015 the UK's respected Chatham House think-tank published a report that drew some worrying conclusions about the civil nuclear industry. It said many in the sector do not fully understand the risks posed by hackers and the industry needs to be ''more robust'' on taking the initiative in cyberspace and funding effective responses to the challenge. The industry does not seem to be prepared for a large-scale cyber security emergency and needs to invest in counter-measures and response plans, the report said. It warned that developing countries are ''particularly vulnerable'' to cyber-attacks at nuclear facilities. The industry should develop guidelines to measure cyber security risk, including an integrated risk assessment that takes both security and safety measures into account. All countries with nuclear facilities should adopt an effective regulatory approach to cyber security e.g. on the basis of IAEA guidance.

Theoretical nuclear structure. Progress report for 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazarewicz, W.; Strayer, M.R.

1997-01-01

This research effort is directed toward theoretical support and guidance for the fields of radioactive ion beam physics, gamma-ray spectroscopy, and the interface between nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. The authors report substantial progress in all these areas. One measure of progress is publications and invited material. The research described here has led to more than 25 papers that are published, accepted, or submitted to refereed journals, and to 25 invited presentations at conferences and workshops

Examining Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine Practice as a lifelong learning process: opportunities and challenges to the nuclear medicine professional and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Pascual, Thomas N B

2016-08-01

This essay will explore the critical issues and challenges surrounding lifelong learning for professionals, initially exploring within the profession and organizational context of nuclear medicine practice. It will critically examine how the peer-review process called Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine Practice (QUANUM) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can be considered a lifelong learning opportunity to instill a culture of quality to improve patient care and elevate the status of the nuclear medicine profession and practice within the demands of social changes, policy, and globalization. This will be explored initially by providing contextual background to the identity of the IAEA as an organization responsible for nuclear medicine professionals, followed by the benefits that QUANUM can offer. Further key debates surrounding lifelong learning, such as compulsification of lifelong learning and impact on professional change, will then be weaved through the discussion using theoretical grounding through a qualitative review of the literature. Keeping in mind that there is very limited literature focusing on the implications of QUANUM as a lifelong learning process for nuclear medicine professionals, this essay uses select narratives and observations of QUANUM as a lifelong learning process from an auditor's perspective and will further provide a comparative perspective of QUANUM on the basis of other lifelong learning opportunities such as continuing professional development activities and observe parallelisms on its benefits and challenges that it will offer to other professionals in other medical speciality fields and in the teaching profession.

The nuclear structure dependence of (p,α) reactions on light nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leitner, W.

1985-01-01

As the theoretical predictions on nuclear structure and on nucleon-nucleon correlations implied by the nuclear wave functions are not subject to an immediate experimental verification the authors require a reaction theory connecting these state functions with observable quantities. The application of (rho,α) reactions as a spectroscopic tool has found widespread interest, as a number of microscopic descriptions of the reaction mechanism have facilitated the extraction of nuclear structure information. A microscopic formulation results in a strong dependence of the cross section on the nuclear structure of the reaction partners. The different basic configurations of the transferred nucleon system contribute coherently, thus causing a great sensitivity to the relative phases of the wave functions' amplitudes. A major disadvantage inherent to these microscopic theories of multinucleon-transfer reactions is based on the destruction of the transition amplitude's formal symmetry in the dynamic and in the nuclear structure part. In order to retain the factorization of the reaction amplitude, the authors applied the cluster ansatz to the microscopic theory of an earlier studies. The attractive features of this procedure are the conservation of the coherence properties of the structure term and the straightforward determination of transition strengths, independent of an elaborate DWBA treatment

Challenges in education and qualification of human resources for next nuclear generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pupak, Marcia Orrico

2009-01-01

The general goal of this paper is to present an overview of Higher Education and personnel qualification for Nuclear Field by the perspective of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD and by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). On the other hand to present the challenge of the Brazilian Government in redesigning, since 2003, the role of the state in order to make it active for younger generations, while promoting growth and social justice, has guided in all actions carried out under the Policy of Human Resources Management of public personnel. The government should be able to formulate and implement public policies and decide among various options, what is the most appropriate for its Human Resources. For this, they require the strengthening of strategic intelligence and government adoption of new ways of interaction and participation. The role played by the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) in looking forward to replace and qualify its nuclear staff, as soon as up, since that the qualification of a human resource in this field demands more than one decade. Last but not least the proactive work of IPEN-CNEN/SP to encourage young generation to enter nuclear area, and the efforts of the Brazilian government to implement an integrated Nuclear Programme to form human resources, to attract and retain students in nuclear engineering and related specialized fields, and how this problem should attract the attention of the entire nuclear community, government and industry. (author)

The horizon of nuclear structure studies and its roots in the country

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warke, C.S.

1995-01-01

The current aims and goals of nuclear spectroscopic studies are brought out. The concepts and physical pictures developed from the experimental results of high spin nuclear spectroscopy are discussed. The importance of nuclear structure in sub-barrier fusion reaction is presented. A sketch of recent developments in giant resonance studies is given. The structure and nuclear matter problems of interest in astro-nuclear physics are covered. References are cited to the relevant contributions made to workshop. The open problems that will attract attention and efforts are speculated. (author)

The control of nuclear proliferation: future challenges. Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm, 23 April 1998

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

1998-01-01

The document reproduces the text of the conference given by the Director General of the IAEA at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm on 23 April 1998. After a short presentation of the Agency's current verification activities, particularly in Iraq and Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Director General focuses on the present and future role of the IAEA in the control of nuclear proliferation through its strengthened safeguards system, in the prevention of nuclear terrorism, and future challenges of controlling nuclear proliferation from both political and technical point of view

Nuclear power: the political challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adam, G.

2009-01-01

A brief overview of the political and economical situation and nuclear energy problems in Europe is given. The author presented his opinion on topic such as need of nuclear power, Kozloduy NPP units 1-4 shutdown, climate change , energy security, environmental problems

An introduction to the axiology of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Tetsuo

2005-01-01

Nuclear energy was developed during World War II and grew immensely within the era of the Cold War. After the Cold War came to an end during the early 1990s, those who benefited from the development of nuclear energy were most likely confronted with a challenge by a new tide of civilization. Although the challenge had not been closely questioned since then, such a new movement abruptly manifested itself after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. After these attacks, many began to realize that global circumstances, especially those concerned with global security, must have changed with the reordering of the world's basic structures that support political and economical developments. Here the world's basic structure is closely related with values, i.e., the system of values. This paper describes the thoughts that reveal the causes and the backgrounds of the events of September 11, the linkage to nuclear energy development, and nuclear civilization in pursuit of the future regime of nuclear energy's harmonization with the global society of the 21st century. (author)

Nuclear structure and fusion at the barrier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reisdorf, W.

1985-01-01

A comparative study of measured fusion excitation functions in the vicinity of the barrier reveals nuclear structure effects, due in particular to the coupling of the fusion process to direct-reaction channels. (orig.)

Nuclear structure from radioactive decay: Annual progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, J.L.

1988-01-01

The primary focus this year has been the continuing studies of intruder states and shape coexistence in the neutron-deficient Z /approximately/ 82 region. Most notably, an extensive region of odd-mass nuclei is emerging within which low-lying low-energy electric monopole (EO) transitions occur. This is a completely new nuclear structure phenomenon. The empirical results are based on on-line decay scheme spectroscopy of mass-separated isotopes at UNISOR. In particular, many transition multipolarities are determined from conversion electron subshell ratios observed in γ-gated electron coincidence spectra. This is a completely new nuclear spectroscopic technique. To cite a specific example: our studies of the 185 Au → 185 Pt decay scheme reveal at least 11 transitions with EO components. This is unprecedented in nuclear structure. The role of EO transitions is being pursued in the larger framework of a signature of shape coexistence in nuclei

After a nuclear year of mixed fortunes, let's embrace the challenges of 2016

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shepherd, John [nuclear 24, Brighton (United Kingdom)

2016-01-15

As we usher in the new year, it is worth taking time to reflect on the key developments for the world's nuclear energy industry in 2015. The past year was certainly one of mixed fortunes for the industry. Looking ahead into 2016, key challenges will include the need to recruit and train the skilled workforce that will be needed to support extended operations of nuclear plants, in addition to new-build and decommissioning projects.

On elastic structural elements for nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Povolo, F.

1978-03-01

The in-pile stress-relaxation behaviour of materials usually employed for the elastic structural elements, in nuclear reactors, is critically reviewed and the results are compared with those obtained in commercial zirconium alloys irradiated under similar conditions. Finally, it is shown that, under certain conditions, some zirconium alloys may be used as an alternative material for these structural elements. (orig.) [de

Nuclear weapons: new threats, new challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durand, D.

2005-01-01

After a brief history of the Iranian nuclear crisis since 2003, the author discusses the four aspects of this crisis which make it a textbook case: a country which wants to control the whole nuclear process and therefore may reach the capacity to produce military-grade uranium (this raises the question of the relationship between nuclear energy and disarmament), the validity and efficiency of international controls is at stake, divergence may appear on the ways to have international treaties respected (different approaches between Europe and the USA), a country which is looking for nuclear weapon for matters of regional security and power (this raises the issue of a new approach to security). Then, the author describes the new nuclear threats: proliferating states, terrorist groups, and states with nuclear weapons (attitude of the USA, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, perspective of a nuclear disarmament of Europe). He gives an overview of the current status of disarmament and of treaties (START, NPT), and discusses the opportunities to save the non proliferation treaty from collapsing in 2005

Proceedings of the Workshop on Justifying the Suitability of Nuclear Licensee Organisational Structure, Resources and Competencies - Methods, Approaches and Good Practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

The nuclear industry is currently facing a range of organisational challenges. The nuclear renaissance is resulting in renewed interest in new reactor build programmes; existing plants are being modernised; ageing plants and an ageing workforce are being replaced. The industry is developing new models of working in a competitive, and increasingly global market which has seen increased use of contractors and organisational change taking place at an unparalleled rate. It is clear that the way in which nuclear licensees' organisations are structured and resourced has a potential impact on nuclear safety. For example, nuclear safety may be challenged if organisational structures create uncertainty concerning authority and responsibilities or if nuclear safety functions are not adequately resourced. Inasmuch as this is so, then it is reasonable to expect both licensees and regulatory bodies to seek assurance that licensee organisations are suitable to manage nuclear safety and discharge the responsibilities associated with operating as a nuclear licensee. Although licensees should have the authority to organise their plant activities in different ways, they should also be able to demonstrate that they understand the potential impact that these activities may have on plant safety. They should be able to show how their organisations are designed to carry out these activities safely and effectively, and to verify that the nuclear safety functions are being delivered as expected. There is a growing interest from some nuclear regulatory bodies, as well as licensees, in methods and approaches that can be used to ensure that the licensee organisations are well structured and have sufficient resources and competencies to manage safety. To address these and other nuclear plant organisational safety-related issues a NEA/CSNI workshop was held in Uppsala (Sweden) hosted by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority with support from the European Union's Joint Research Centre (JRC