Mechanism of crud migration into the fuelling machine and its effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sie, T.

2003-01-01

'Full text:' The objective of this paper is to summarize the opinion of experts on the mechanism of crud deposit formation and its migration into the fueling machine. Also to point out the negative effects of crud on the performance of the fueling machine head and the head overhaul / maintenance program in general. There are numerous moving/rotating components (ball screws, linear and rotating bearings, mechanical gears, mechanical seals, etc.) inside the fueling machine. By design, all these are lubricated by D2O. Because of the delicate nature of the moving components, crud contaminated D2O is obviously not a good choice of lubricant. Crud causes poor performance of the FM drive systems, premature wear of the mechanical seals, and other internal components. Due to the fuelling machine's role in maintaining reactor power and safety related functions, it is of extreme importance that the performance of the fueling machine is controlled. Major field functional failures must be prevented. In the extreme case the effect of the crud contaminated D2O could lead to a major functional failure while the fueling machine is locked on channel or has irradiated fuel on board. The next worse scenario is intolerably frequent process stops, thus requiring costly and premature fuelling machine overhaul / repairs with its associated negative effects: maintenance cost, radiation exposure, reduced fueling rates, and major upsets to the general head overhaul schedule. (author)

Crud formation evaluation at the advanced fuel operating in Angra-1 NPP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gomez, Diego; Palheiros, Franklin; Gomes, Sydney, E-mail: franklin@inb.gov.br, E-mail: diegogomez@inb.gov.br, E-mail: sydney@inb.gov.br [Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB), Resende, RJ (Brazil). Superintendência de Engenharia do Combustível

2017-07-01

In nuclear engineering, 'crud' is a technical term. It stands for Chalk River Unidentified Deposit, originally found on the cladding surface of some fuel rods in the referred canadian reactor, for which it was named. The deposit can be flaky, porous, or hard depending on its chemical composition. In most cases, it reduces the power output of nuclear reactors - the deposits absorb boron and the neutrons that keep the fission reaction going, as well lead to a more corrosion scenario by increasing the oxide/metal interface surface temperature. This issue might been a concern at Angra 1 where many design alterations have been performed in the new Fuel assembly design. The so called 16NGF has a smaller fuel rod diameter, different burnable absorber - gadolinium instead of pyrex borosilicate glass, hydraulic mismatch compared to 16STD fuel, new IFM grids, higher FDeltaH and several other characteristics. All those features lead to a increase in the subcooled boiling rates, which might favour particles depositions in fuel cladding forming the undesired Crud deposits. In order to evaluate how those implementations could impact negatively the new fuel performance at Angra 1, a study has ben carried out using Thermal Hydraulic calculations. With that, an existing methodology was used to assess the associated risks and what could be the done to mitigate further development of crud in 16NGF Fuel in Angra 1. (author)

Potential impacts of crud deposits on fuel rod behaviour on high powered PWR fuel rods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, W.; Comstock, R.J.

1999-01-01

Fuel assemblies operating with significant sub-cooled boiling are subject to deposition of surface deposits commonly referred to as crud. This crud can potentially cause concentration of chemical species within the deposits which can be detrimental to cladding performance in PWRs. In addition, these deposits on the surface of the cladding can result in power anomalies and erroneous reporting of fuel rod oxide thickness which can substantially hamper corrosion and core performance modeling efforts. Data is presented which illustrates the importance of accounting for the presence of crud on fuel cladding surfaces. Several methods used to correct for this phenomenon when collecting and analyzing zirconium alloy field oxide thickness measurements are described. Various observations related to crud characteristics and its impact on fuel rod performance are also addressed. (author)

Crud removal with deep bed type condensate demineralizer in Tokai-2 BWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abe, Ayumi; Takiguchi, Hideki; Numata, Kunio; Saito, Toshihiko

1996-01-01

The major objective and functions for the installation of the deep bed type condensate polishers in BWR power plants is to remove both ionic impurities caused by sea water leakage and suspended impurities called crud mainly consisting of metal oxides which are produced from metal corrosion. In considering the reduction of occupational radiation exposure level, it is extremely important to remove the crud effectively. In recent Japanese BWR power plants, condensate pre-filters with powdered ion exchange resins or with hollow fiber membrane have been installed to remove the crud at the upper stream of the deep bed polishers. In such plants, the crud removal is conventionally the secondary objective for the deep bed polishers. The Japan Atomic Power Company has introduced the small particle ion exchange resin and a soak regeneration method since April 1985, and then applied the low cross-linked resin since July 1995 at Tokai-2 Power Station, to improve the crud removal performance by using only deep bed type condensate demineralizer, and as a result condensate demineralizer outlet iron level has been kept below 1 ppb since 1991

Crud in the solvent extraction process for spent fuel reprocessing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Jing

2004-01-01

The crud occurred in Purex process is caused by the degradations of extractant and solvent and the existence of insoluble solid particle in the nuclear fuel reprocessing. The crud seriously affects the operation of the extraction column. The present paper reviews the study status on the crud in the Purex process. It is generally accepted that in the Purex process, particularly in the first cycle, the crud occurrence is related to the capillary chemistry phenomena resulting from the deposits of Zr with TBP degradation products HDBP, H 2 MBP, H 3 PO 4 and the insoluble particle RuO 2 and Pd. The occurrence of deposits and the type of crud are tightly related to the molar ratio of HDBP and Zr, and the aqueous pH. In addition, the effect of degradation products from the diluent, such as kerosene, is an unnegligible factor to cause the crud. The crud can be discharged from the extraction equipment with Na 2 CO 3 or oxalic acid. In the study on simulating the crud, the effects of the deposits of Zr with TBP degradation products HDBP, H 2 MBP and H 2 PO 4 , and the insoluble particle RuO 2 and Pd should be considered at the same time. (authors)

Technical description of the NRC long-term whole-rod and crud performance test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Einziger, R.E.; Fish, R.L.; Knecht, R.L.

1982-09-01

Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) and EG and G-Idaho are jointly conducting a long-term, low-temperature, spent-fuel, whole rod and crud behavior test to provide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with information to assist in the licensing of light water reactor (LWR) spent-fuel, dry storage facilities. Readily available fuel rods from an H.B. Robinson Unit 2 (PWR) fuel assembly and a Peach Bottom-II (BWR) fuel assembly were selected for use in the 50-month test. Both intact and defected rods will be tested in inert and oxidizing atmospheres. A 230 0 C test temperature was selected for the first 10-month run. Both nondestructive and destructive examinations are planned to characterize the fuel rod behavior during the 5-y test. Four interim examinations and a final examination will be conducted. Crud spallation behavior will be investigated by sampling the crud particulate from the test capsules at each of the four interim examinations and at the end of the test. The background to whole rod testing, description of rod breach mechanisms, and a detailed description of the test are presented in this document

Mobile crud and transportation of radioactivity in BWR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hermansson, H-P. [Studsvik Nuclear AB, Nykoping (Sweden); LTU, Div. of Chemical Engineering, Lulea (Sweden); Hagg, J. [Ringhals AB, Varobacka (Sweden)

2010-07-01

Mobile crud is here referred to as a generic term for all types of particles that occur in the reactor water in BWRs and that are able to carry radioactivity. Previous results in this on-going series of studies in Swedish BWRs suggest that there are particles of different origins and function. A share may come from fuel crud and others may come from detachment, precipitation and dissolution processes in different parts of the BWR primary system, as well as from other system parts, such as the turbine/condenser. In addition, crud particles in this sense may come from purely mechanical processes such as degradation of graphite containing parts of the control rod drives. Therefore, the overall aim was to evaluate which particles are responsible for the transportation and distribution of radioactivity and also to clarify the chemical conditions under which they are formed. Furthermore the aim was to draw conclusions about how the chemistry would be like in order to avoid or at least minimize the formation of radioactivity distributing particles. A specific objective has also been to look into the importance of particle size for spreading of radioactivity in the primary system. Different types of crud particles are likely to have different characteristics in terms of function associated with transportation of radioactivity. The fuel crud is radioactive from the source and other types of crud can via surface processes, co-precipitation and other chemical and mechanical processes potentially affect the distribution of radioactivity in the primary system. In order to predict how operating parameters (e.g. stable, full power operation and scram) and chemical parameters (NWC/HWC/Zn, etc.) will affect the activity build-up on the system surfaces, it is important to know how the different types of crud are affected by these and related parameters. Fuel crud fixed on cladding ring samples, as well as mobile crud from the reactor water captured on filters, were examined by

Field Demonstration of Fuel Crud Filtration System at Ulchin Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Duk-Won; Lee, Doo-Ho; Park, Jong-Youl; Choi, In-Kyu

2007-01-01

Crud deposited onto the fuel assemblies in nuclear power plants was not a serious problem until an upper core flux depression named Axial Offset Anomaly (AOA) was found at Callaway, USA in 1989. Though the mechanism of an AOA is not completely understood, crud is believed to be a key component of initiating AOA. After the sufficient amount of corrosion products in the reactor cooling system are deposited on the fuel clad by a sub-cooled nucleate boiling, boron is adsorbed in the crud. Thus a measurable reduction in the neutron flux occurs which causes an AOA problem. A filtration system has been developed to remove the fuel crud from irradiated fuel assemblies for mitigating the axial offset anomaly under a technical cooperation agreement with DEI (Dominion Engineering Inc.). This filtration system with a fuel cleaning fixture was successfully demonstrated at Ulchin plant unit 2. Within several minutes, detachable crud deposits were effectively removed from the clad surfaces of the fuel assembly. Also, to characterize the crud particles for each fuel assembly, a small crud sampling device and radiation monitor devices were connected to the filtration system during the cleaning operation. In this study, we completed a functional test and demonstration of an ultrasonic fuel cleaning system by using four spent fuel assemblies. It took only 5 minutes to remove the fuel crud from each fuel assembly. In addition, collective dose rates indicated an average of 8 R/Hr per assembly

Estimate of the crud contribution to shipping cask containment requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandoval, R.P.; Einziger, R.E.; Jordan, H.; Malinauskas, A.P.; Mings, W.J.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that a methodology is developed to relate U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 71 (10CFR71) containment requirements to leak rates for the special case in which the only radioactive species having a potential for escape form the cask is that associated with debris (crud) contained on the fuel assemblies being transported. The methodology accounts for the characteristics of the crud and for attenuation of the gas-borne crud particulates once they become suspended within the cask. Calculations are performed for typical spent-fuel transport cask geometries and the normal and accident conditions prescribed in 10CFR71. The most current published data are used for crud composition and structure, specific activity, spallation mechanics and fractions, and crud particle size. The containment criteria leak rates are calculated assuming 5-yr-old spent fuel. In each accident case, the containment leak rate criteria are well in excess of 10 cm 3 /s. Under normal conditions of transport, the regulatory containment requirements are met by leak rates ranging from 1.5 x 10 -3 cm 3 /s to 1.5 x 10 -4 cm 3 /s for the transport of boiling water reactor fuel assemblies and form 1.8 x 10 -2 cm 3 /s to 1.3 x 10 -3 cm 3 /s for pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies. The calculated leak rates are most sensitive to the cask design, type of fuel, and particle size distribution. Conservatism of the limiting leak rates is discussed

A comparison of crud phases appearing on some Swedish BWR fuel rods using Laser Raman Spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hermansson, H.P. [Studsvik Nuclear AB, Nykoeping (Sweden)]|[Lulea Univ. of Technology (Sweden)

2002-07-01

Previous investigations showed that laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS) can be used as a phase specific analytical tool for radioactive fuel crud samples and also for details in the underlying layer of zirconium dioxide. It is relatively easy to record Raman spectra that discriminate between chemical phases for all crud oxides of interest. The method has therefore been recommended for crud investigations within the Swedish program. At ideal conditions the resolution is about 1 {mu}m, permitting detailed position determination of crud phases in the sample. Therefore LRS is a very good complement to X-ray diffraction (XRD). The methods for sample preparation and handling of radioactive crud samples for LRS turn out to be relatively simple. A detailed LRS study on fuel crud samples from Barsebaeck 2, Forsmark 2, Forsmark 3 and Ringhals 1 was performed in this work. All of those Swedish BWRs were operated at different conditions at the time of sampling. The chemistry regimes covered NWC, HWC and other variable conditions. Also different types of fuel, exposure times and sampling positions were selected. (authors)

Preliminary Study on Effect of the Crud Deposits during LBLOCA Condition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huh, Byung Gil; Lee, Joo Suk; Bang, Young Seok; Oh, Deog Yeon; Woo, Sweng Woong [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2008-10-15

The severe crud deposits on fuel rod could result in the increment of the fuel temperature during the operation of nuclear power plants. The crud inhibits heat transfer, causing the cladding temperature to increase due to the low thermal conductivity. In the event of LBLOCA at the NPP operated with heavy crud layers, the peak cladding temperature (PCT) will be higher than it would be if the cladding were clean. Therefore, NRC has been reviewing a petition for rule making to set the limit of crud and/or oxide thickness. Also, it requires that LOCA analysis be calculated by factoring the role of crud. Since the crud deposits caused the stored energy in the fuel to increase, it could influence the following requirement: The Initial Stored Energy in the Fuel in Appendix K to Part 50. ECCS Evaluation Models, to require that the steady-state temperature distribution and stored energy in the fuel at the onset of a postulated LOCA. Also, safety review guidelines in NUREG-0800.

Report to the DOE on the ''Crud II'' project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dawn Elizabeth Janney; Douglas L. Porter; O. Keener Earle; Joshua L. Peterson; Rick Demmer; Jeffrey J. Giglio; Mark W. Huntley; Michael G. Jones

2006-01-01

This report documents SEM, TEM, and chemical analyses from crud samples from a commercially operating reactor. Crud (radioactive corrosion products forming in operating reactors) is a major problem for the electric power industry. Conditions leading to its formation are complex and poorly understood, and it is widely recognized that accurate materials characterization of crud is essential to understanding how to prevent it or reduce the operating and health hazards it creates. However, crud samples are difficult to collect and analyze because of their high radioactivity and common formation on activated fuel pins. This report documents analyses of crud samples from a commercial boiling water reactor that were provided by the Electric Power Research Institute to Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as part of an on-going effort to develop the capabilities of INL to address problems associated with currently operating commercial reactors. The samples represent material collected during two refueling outages. Each sample was analyzed by gamma scanning, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy in the Analytical Laboratory at INL. Seven of the samples were also analyzed using optical microscopy in the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at INL. Two of the samples were further analyzed using transmission and scanning electron microscopy and electron diffraction at INL. Although not comprehensive, the electron-microscopy analyses are among the few published examples of similar work in the last several decades

On-line, in-core measurement of the thermal conductivity of a BWR fuel rod with a tenacious crud deposit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bennett, Peter

2012-09-01

Several corrosion-related fuel failures in US BWRs have been reported where the failed rods had thick, tenacious crud deposits, including events at River Bend and Browns Ferry. Although investigations did not identify the root cause of these failures, it was noted that there was an industry perception that the level of crud on the fuel in a number of plants - including Browns Ferry - particularly those using NMCA, zinc and moderate to high Fe, was too high from a fuel performance perspective. The exact role of the crud was unknown, but there was a suspicion that some unknown water chemistry condition was responsible for the failures at Browns Ferry. Fuel failures have also occurred in Limerick-1, Cycle 2 and in Vermont Yankee, although the direct role of crud in these cases was not clear. While laboratory measurements have shown that the thermal conductivities of the species comprising the crud are not lower than that of ZrO 2 , the effect of the crud in impeding heat transfer has been implicated in the failure mechanisms. It is believed that steam blanketing (formation of a layer of steam between the rod surface and the crud) may be the cause of failure. Hence, to determine whether crud deposits impede heat transfer and thus cause or contribute to rod failure, it is necessary to measure their thermal conductivity during power operation under representative thermal-hydraulic and water chemistry conditions. The purpose of this test, conducted in the Halden Reactor, was to measure the heat transfer through BWR crud at power. Two test rods were manufactured from segments of a fuel rod irradiated in a commercial BWR to a burn-up of 41 GWd/MTU; one test rod had a thin crud layer (< 5 μm) while the other had a thick layer (> 25 μm). The rods were irradiated under representative thermal-hydraulic and water chemistry conditions (25 kW/m, 275 deg. C, outlet void fraction 4 per cent, 300 - 400 ppb H 2 ). Each rod was instrumented with a cladding elongation detector, and

Optimization method to determine mass transfer variables in a PWR crud deposition risk assessment tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Do, Chuong; Hussey, Dennis; Wells, Daniel M.; Epperson, Kenny

2016-01-01

Optimization numerical method was implemented to determine several mass transfer coefficients in a crud-induced power shift risk assessment code. The approach was to utilize a multilevel strategy that targets different model parameters that first changes the major order variables, mass transfer inputs, then calibrates the minor order variables, crud source terms, according to available plant data. In this manner, the mass transfer inputs are effectively simplified as 'dependent' on the crud source terms. Two optimization studies were performed using DAKOTA, a design and analysis toolkit, with the difference between the runs, being the number of model runs using BOA, allowed for adjusting the crud source terms, therefore, reducing the uncertainty with calibration. The result of the first case showed that the current best estimated values for the mass transfer coefficients, which were derived from first principle analysis, can be considered an optimized set. When the run limit of BOA was increased for the second case, an improvement in the prediction was obtained with the results deviating slightly from the best estimated values. (author)

L3.PHI.CTF.P10.02-rev2 Coupling of Subchannel T/H (CTF) and CRUD Chemistry (MAMBA1D)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salko, Robert K. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Palmtag, Scott [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Collins, Benjamin S. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Kendrick, Brian [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Seker, Jeffrey [Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry Township, PA (United States)

2015-05-15

The purpose of this milestone is to create a preliminary capability for modeling light water reactor (LWR) thermal-hydraulic (T/H) and CRUD growth using the CTF subchannel code and the subgrid version of the MAMBA CRUD chemistry code, MAMBA1D. In part, this is a follow-on to Milestone L3.PHI.VCS.P9.01, which is documented in Report CASL-U-2014-0188-000, titled "Development of CTF Capability for Modeling Reactor Operating Cycles with Crud Growth". As the title suggests, the previous milestone set up a framework for modeling reactor operation cycles with CTF. The framework also facilitated coupling to a CRUD chemistry capability for modeling CRUD growth throughout the reactor operating cycle. To demonstrate the capability, a simple CRUD \\surrogate" tool was developed and coupled to CTF; however, it was noted that CRUD growth predictions by the surrogate were not considered realistic. This milestone builds on L3.PHI.VCS.P9.01 by replacing this simple surrogate tool with the more advanced MAMBA1D CRUD chemistry code. Completing this task involves addressing unresolved tasks from Milestone L3.PHI.VCS.P9.01, setting up an interface to MAMBA1D, and extracting new T/H information from CTF that was not previously required in the simple surrogate tool. Speci c challenges encountered during this milestone include (1) treatment of the CRUD erosion model, which requires local turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) (a value that CTF does not calculate) and (2) treatment of the MAMBA1D CRUD chimney boiling model in the CTF rod heat transfer solution. To demonstrate this new T/H, CRUD modeling capability, two sets of simulations were performed: (1) an 18 month cycle simulation of a quarter symmetry model of Watts Bar and (2) a simulation of Assemblies G69 and G70 from Seabrook Cycle 5. The Watts Bar simulation is merely a demonstration of the capability. The simulation of the Seabrook cycle, which had experienced CRUD-related fuel rod failures, had actual CRUD-scrape data to compare with

Study on the Simulation of Crud Formation using Piping Materials of Nuclear Power Plant in High Temperature Water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sang Hyun; Kim, In Sup; Lee, Kun Jai

2005-01-01

High temperature - high pressure apparatus was developed to simulate nickel fewite corrosion products which were main compositions of the radioactive crud in the nuclear power plant. Corrosion product similar to the crud was obtained by a tube accumulator system. Nickel alloy (Inconel 690) and carbon steel (SA106 Gr. C) were corroded at 270 in the corrosion product generator. Ni ions and Fe ions dissolved by corrosion reaction were able to be transported to the accumulator because the crud generation mechanism was the solubility change with temperature. To evaluate the properties of simulated corrosion products, scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation and EDAX analysis were performed. SEM observation of corrosion product showed the needle like or crystal structure of oxide depending on precipitating location. The crystal oxide was the nickel ferrite, which was similar to the crud in nuclear power plants.

Study of Crud Formation Using One Stage Mixer Settler for U-Th Extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busron-Masduki; Mashudi; Didiek-Herhady, R; Endang-Susiantini

2000-01-01

It was carried out solvent extraction of used fuel simulation solution ofU-Th using one stage of mixer settler. The ratio of U/Th was 1/9. Thesolution of U- Th and extractant of 30% TBP diluted in the diluent ofn-dodecane filled in the mixer chamber with the ratio of 1/1 then stirred.The first experiment determined equilibrium time and optimum rpm and thensearched the influenced parameter of crud formation of thorium, zirconium(fission product), phosphate acid, butanol, bentonite powder (represent offines solid), ferrum, silicium according to the TBP degradation of DBP.Zirconium and thorium are significant parameter of crud formation. Theequilibrium time was 1.5 hour, optimum rpm was 1800. The weightest crud wasobtained related to the cumulative parameter which result of 250 gram crud.According to this result and for radiation dose of 1 watt, the extractantmust be regenerated before exceed 48 days to hold the crud formation whichdisturbance the extraction process. (author)

Crud treatment with 3 phase centrifuge in heap leach uranium process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartmann, T.

2010-01-01

The presence of crud represents a permanent challenge for solvent extraction in the hydro-metal Uranium industry. The crud forms in the settlers of SX extraction. The crud is a stable emulsion which slowly spreads along the phase boundary between the aqueous and organic phase. Spreading of this intermediate phase is determined by the following influencing factors. Wind blows dust into the open settlers, some suspended solids coming with the pregnant leach solution (PLS) and wrong design of the mixers cause stable emulsions. Metallic solid residue is likewise responsible for the growth rate of the crud at the above-mentioned phase boundary. The crud can significantly impair the efficiency of hydro-metal extraction because the phase boundary between the aqueous and organic phases assumes substantial proportions, and the settlers cannot react flexibly. In a chain reaction, all settlers connected in series become infected with crud. The transfer of organic phase to the electrowinning (EW) cell can cause 'cathode burn'. The entrainment of electrolyte into the extraction stage can result in loss of pH control in the extraction circuit which will cause a drop in extraction efficiency. On the other hand, entrainment of the organic in the raffinate will result in organic losses to the leach circuit. Continuous treatment of the crud is extremely effective and reliable with a 3-phase separating solid bowl centrifuge. All three phases are separated distinctly from one another. All associated process steps exhibit a steady uniform efficiency. The main benefit for the customer is that process fluctuations in the extraction process will no longer occur. The 3-phase separating solid bowl centrifuge consists of an axial solid-wall bowl. The solid-wall bowl has a cylindrical section for simultaneous separation and clarification of the aqueous and organic liquid phase and a conical section for efficient solids dewatering. The 3-phase feed suspension is fed into the solid bowl

Crud removal by ion exchange resin DIAION HPAN10 and its mechanisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuhara, Ryosuke; Goda, Takashi; Tokumaru, Izuru; Yano, Katsuhiko

2014-01-01

The metal corrosion products generated in the water systems of nuclear power plants (crud) should be efficiently removed from the water in order to maintain the safety and reliability of the plants' constituent materials and reduce radiation exposure to workers. Recently, we developed a new highly porous type of anion exchange resin product, 'DIAION HPAN10', which has a high crud removal capability. HPAN10 has a highly-developed porous structure, and it is considered that the structure contributes to the efficient capture of curd. Furthermore, HPAN10 was designed specially for the capture of crud, including physical properties such as proper macro pore size, particle size and strength. Therefore, the model crud removal capability of HPAN10 is ten times greater than that of conventional gel types. In regards to the mechanisms of curd removal by resin, it is generally considered that there are three factors which affect the capture of curd: they are filter effect, electric potential and curd penetration into resin particles by partially dissolution. On this report, new experimental data and the consideration about crud removal mechanisms are introduced. (author)

The status of AOA and the CRUD deposition in Korean PWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maeng, Wan Young; Choi, Byung Seon; Min, Duck Kee; Kwon, Hyung Moon; Choi, In Kyu; Yeon, Je Won; Kim, Jae Ik; Woo, Hae Seuk; Kim, Young Koo; Park, Jong Youl

2009-01-01

Korean nuclear power plants have experienced several times of AOA (Axial Offset Anomaly). AOA in Korean plants seems to be the consequence of high burn-up and long term cycle of the nuclear fuel as experienced in the foreign plants. The root cause of AOA is not clearly understood until now. Even though plants which have similar operation condition (similar thermo-hydraulic condition, water chemistry and structural materials), the AOA behavior of each plant is different from other plants. To have an understanding of the plant specific behavior of each plant and to have the countermeasures to AOA, the mechanism of CRUD deposition should be clarified. The purpose of this study is to investigate the AOA status and the CRUD characteristics in Korean power utilities. We surveyed the current AOA occurrence history and collected the Korean CRUD data which are scattered in various sources. To have some understanding on the key variables of AOA, we built experimental apparatus for CRUD deposition in simulated PWR environment. The status and the investigation plans of our experimental study are introduced in the paper

Optimization of reactor coolant shutdown chemistry practices for crud inventory management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fellers, B.; Barnette, J.; Stevens, J.; Perkins, D.

2002-01-01

This report describes reactor coolant shutdown chemistry control practices at Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station (CPSES, TXU-Generation, USA). The shutdown evolution is managed from a process control perspective to achieve conditions most favorable to crud decomposition and to avoiding re-precipitation of metals. The report discusses the evolution of current industry practices and the necessity for greater emphasis on shutdown chemistry control in response to Axial Offset Anomaly and growth of ex-core radiation fields during outage conditions. Nuclear Industry experience with axial offset anomaly (AOA), radiation field growth and unexpected behavior of crud during reactor shutdowns has encouraged the refinement of chemistry control practices during plant shutdown and startup. The strong implication of nickel rich crud as a cause of AOA and unexpected crud behavior has resulted in a focus on nickel inventory management. The goals for Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station (CPSES) include maintaining solubility of metals and radioisotopes, maximizing nickel removal and effective cleanup with demineralizers. This paper provides results and lessons learned from long term efforts to optimize the shutdown process. (authors)

Characteristics of fuel crud and its impact on storage, handling, and shipment of spent fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazelton, R.F.

1987-09-01

Corrosion products, called ''crud,'' form on out-of-reactor surfaces of nuclear reactor systems and are transported by reactor coolant to the core, where they deposit on external fuel-rod cladding surfaces and are activated by nuclear reactions. After discharge of spent fuel from a reactor, spallation of radioactive crud from the fuel rods could impact wet or dry storage operations, handling (including rod consolidation), and shipping. It is the purpose of this report to review earlier (1970s) and more recent (1980s) literature relating to crud, its characteristics, and any impact it has had on actual operations. Crud characteristics vary from reactor type to reactor type, reactor to reactor, fuel assembly to fuel assembly in a reactor, circumferentially and axially in an assembly, and from cycle to cycle for a specific facility. To characterize crud of pressurized-water (PWRs) and boiling-water reactors (BWRs), published information was reviewed on appearance, chemical composition, areal density and thickness, structure, adhesive strength, particle size, and radioactivity. Information was also collected on experience with crud during spent fuel wet storage, rod consolidation, transportation, and dry storage. From experience with wet storage, rod consolidation, transportation, and dry storage, it appears crud spallation can be managed effectively, posing no significant radiological problems. 44 refs., 11 figs

Prediction of CRUD deposition on PWR fuel using a state-of-the-art CFD-based multi-physics computational tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petrov, Victor [Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2355 Bonisteel Boulv, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Kendrick, Brian K. [Theoretical Division (T-1, MS B221), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Walter, Daniel [Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2355 Bonisteel Boulv, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Manera, Annalisa, E-mail: manera@umich.edu [Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2355 Bonisteel Boulv, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Secker, Jeffrey [Westinghouse Electric Company Nuclear Fuel Division, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (United States)

2016-04-01

In the present paper we report about the first attempt to demonstrate and assess the ability of state-of-the-art high-fidelity computational tools to reproduce the complex patterns of CRUD deposits found on the surface of operating Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) fuel rods. A fuel assembly of the Seabrook Unit 1 PWR was selected as the test problem. During Seabrook Cycle 5, CRUD induced power shift (CIPS) and CRUD induced localized corrosion (CILC) failures were observed. Measurements of the clad oxide thickness on both failed and non-failed rods are available, together with visual observations and the results from CRUD scrapes of peripheral rods. Blind simulations were performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code STAR-CCM+ coupled to an advanced chemistry code, MAMBA, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The blind simulations were then compared to plant data, which were released after completion of the simulations.

Effect of surface oxidation of ZIRLO fuel cladding tube on crud deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Moon Sic; Baek, Seung Heon; Shim, Hee-Sang; Kim, Jung Gu; Hur, Do Haeng

2016-01-01

Crud has often led a lot of problems in the primary coolant system such as fuel cladding corrosion, power distortion and reduction, and radio-activity build-up of out-of-core [2-3]. Although a crud-induced localized corrosion (CILC) is a severe accident, in which fuel is leaked into the coolant, it is rarely happened but a crud-induced power shift (CIPS) has frequently occurred in worldwide PWR plants. CIPS, or power axial offset anomaly (AOA) has long been realized in the nuclear industry since early 1970s. In late 1980s, severe AOA phenomena were found in Callaway plants in U. S. and later in many power plants around the world. The axial offset (AO) is defined by the power distortion between the top half of the core and the bottom half of the core. When the plant exceeds acceptable limit of 3% in AO value, it is judged as AOA occurrence and this is forced to reduce power or shutdown. AOA is caused by a hideout for large accumulation of boron into porous crud and its formation is accelerated by increased sub-cooled nucleate boiling (SNB) with sufficient corrosion product supply. Crud has often led a lot of problems in the primary coolant system such as fuel cladding corrosion, power distortion and reduction, and radio-activity build-up of out-of-core. Although a crud-induced localized corrosion (CILC) is a severe accident, in which fuel is leaked into the coolant, it is rarely happened but a crud-induced power shift (CIPS) has frequently occurred in worldwide PWR plants. CIPS, or power axial offset anomaly (AOA) has long been realized in the nuclear industry since early 1970s. In late 1980s, severe AOA phenomena were found in Callaway plants in U. S. and later in many power plants around the world. The axial offset (AO) is defined by the power distortion between the top half of the core and the bottom half of the core. When the plant exceeds acceptable limit of 3% in AO value, it is judged as AOA occurrence and this is forced to reduce power or shutdown. AOA is

Detection and replacement of crud accumulating fuel assemblies at the Loviisa-2 reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antila, M.

1995-01-01

At unit 2 of Loviisa NPP fuel bundle outlet temperatures had been increasing slowly from the beginning of November 1994 mainly at the six lead fuel bundles with new zirconium spacer grids (Z). The unit was taken to cold shut-down and started up again in January 1995. After a few days the increase of the outlet temperatures was confirmed to continue. It was decided to shut down the reactor again to examine and remove the new Z-bundles. One bundle was taken to closer investigations in the poolside inspection stand. The hexagonal shroud tube was removed and quite a lot of crud was detected on the lower surfaces of the spacer grids. All the six Z-bundles were removed and replaced by older bundles with steel spacers. A small reshuffling was performed to control the radial power distribution. The cause for the partial flow blockage causing the increasing temperatures was accumulation of crud particularly on the Zr-spacers. The root cause of the accumulation of crud has not yet been definitely cleared. It seems evident that it is related to the decontamination of the primary circuit performed last August. The extensive incore temperature measurement instrumentation and reactor core monitoring system had a central role in the early detection of the anomaly. Thus core thermal margins were not violated and possible fuel failures could be avoided. (orig.) (3 refs., 5 figs.)

Experiences of ultra-low-crud high-nickel control in Onagawa nuclear power station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saito, M.; Goto, Y.; Shinomiya, T.; Sato, M.; Yamazaki, K.; Hirasawa, H.; Yotsuyanagi, T.

2002-01-01

We have adopted various countermeasures for worker dose reduction to plants in Onagawa Nuclear Power Station. ''Ni/Fe ratio control'' has been adopted to Unit 1, and ''ultra-low-crud high-nickel control'' has been adopted to Unit 2 and 3, along with other countermeasures like wide utilization of low Co materials, for the purpose of dose rate reduction of primary recirculation piping which is thought to be one of the main exposure sources. In this paper, we describe, first, the reason and background that ultra-low-crud high-nickel control has been adopted to Unit 2, and, second, water chemistry of Unit 2 up to the 5. cycle under ultra-low-crud high-nickel control compared to that of Unit 1 under Ni/Fe ratio control. Following those, we show brief analysis of the fuel crud of Unit 2 and water chemistry of Unit 3 only at the startup stage. (authors)

Results from the first cycle of the PWR crud deposition test (IFA-665.1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bennett, Peter

2004-03-01

The main objective of IFA-665.1 is to deposit crud on fuel rods operating under PWR thermal-hydraulic and water chemistry conditions, and to measure the resulting power reduction due to incorporation of boron into the crud. The test has operated for 160 days at power. Water chemistry conditions were 3.15 ppm LiOH and 1400 ppm boron (pH 300 =7.0). The coolant inlet temperature was 290/294 C, with sub-cooled nucleate boiling along the upper half of the fuel bundle. This report presents the results from the first cycle of operation. Three methods have been used to attempt to accelerate crud formation: (i) injection of simulated crud particles (NiFe 2 O 4 ); (ii) pH transients (reduction of pH 300 from 7.0 to 6.0 for periods of 48 hours); and (iii) oxygen addition transients. While the pH transients resulted in movement of large amounts of corrosion products around the loop, no significant deposition onto the fuel surfaces was measured. Comparison of the heat fluxes in IFA-665 with those in previous tests in which crud deposition has occurred does not clearly identify reasons for the lack of crud formation, although it is noted that higher heat fluxes may be required. In addition, the relatively benign boiling conditions in the current test (small void fraction with no detached voidage) may partly explain the absence of crud formation. For the second cycle of the test, changes will be made to the water chemistry to attempt to increase the concentrations of dissolved and colloidal Fe and Ni in the test rig, such that a continuous (Fe + Ni) level of 100 ppb will be targeted, with short-term concentrations of colloids of up to 500 ppb. (Author)

Improved crud iron removal efficiency for powder resin type condensate filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Hiroshi; Ino, Takao

1989-01-01

In 1984, a precoat type condensate filtration system was delivered to The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. by Ebara and stable operation of the system is reported ever since. Originally, condensate filtration systems are used to remove crud iron in condensate water. However, it has become desirable to freely control the crud iron in the outlet flow of such filtration system. The main source of radioactivity in a BWR plant, is Cobalt 60, and it is necessary to optimally control the amount of crud iron released into the reactor to match the nickel and cobalt amounts in the reactor feed water for achieving an overall reduction of the concentration of radioactivity within the BWR plant. The method of such control, developed by the authors, is outlined in the following. By this method, the radioactive level within the overall plant is significantly decreased. Consequently, the risk of radioactive exposure of personnel at time of periodical checkup is greatly reduced. (author)

Structural investigation of the spinel phase formed in fuel CRUD before and after zinc injection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, J.

2002-01-01

Spinel phase is an important constituent of fuel CRUD. Since it can accommodate 60 Co in its crystal structure, its stability in reactor water environment is crucial for the radioactivity control in LWR plants. With increasing curiosity about zinc injection technology, the mechanism of the interaction of zinc with the spinel has drawn much attention. This paper describes the crystal and microstructures of spinel phase in the fuel CRUD collected on four fuel rods of 1- and 5-cycle, respectively, from Barsebaeck 2 BWR before and after zinc injection operation. High precision X-ray powder diffraction technique has been applied to identify the phase compositions of fuel CRUD and to measure the cell length of the spinel phase formed. The results show that, after about 1-cycle zinc injection operation, the tenacious CRUD formed on the fresh fuel rod contains defective zinc oxide, in addition to hematite and spinel as commonly seen. Moreover, the phase ratio of spinel to hematite is much increased. The cell length of the spinel is increased accordingly, which is the direct evidence for the presence of zinc in the spinel structure. For the 5-cycle rod, however, neither zinc oxide nor any change in the phase ratio has been detected. The cell length of the spinel has been increased, in a less degree, however, as compared to that for the 1-cycle rod. The cell lengths of spinel are similar in both tenacious and loose CRUD layers, indicating that zinc was able to easily penetrate through the tenacious CRUD layer. (authors)

Primary side crud sampling and characterization: how it may help to better maintain CANDU reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawicki, J.A.; Dymarski, M.; Sawicka, B.D.

1997-01-01

The paper reports a corrosion-product transport study in the primary-side of CANDU reactors. The study is based on systematic crud sampling examinations at Darlington NGS. Emphasis is placed on the corrosion-product transport and oxidation state as a monitor of primary water chemistry state, and as a monitor of system corrosion effects. The D 2 O was sampled at reactor outlet headers and the deposits collected on 0.45 μm membrane filters were analyzed by using γ-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and Moessbauer effect techniques. In the beginning of this study in 1994 and 1995, the steady state crude concentration used to be as high as 20 to 30 μg/kg D 2 O and the crud contained large fractions of highly oxidized species (40 to 60% Fe), in the form of ferrihydrite, lepidocrocite, goethite and hematite. During start-up operations, the crud concentrations were as high as 8 mg/kg D 2 O and contained 70 to 80% Fe in the form of oxidized iron species. However, as a result of various improvements, and especially because of better oxygen control during lay-ups (nitrogen blanketing) and better pH control (lower and more stable values), in recent steady-state runs, the crud concentrations were found to be lower than 3 to 5 μg/kg D 2 O. At present, the steady-state crud consists mostly of Fe, largely in the form of magnetite (60 to 80% Fe), and hematite (20 to 40% Fe). The steady-state concentration of crud was found to increase markedly with pH a in the range from 10.3 to 10.7. This seems to be in accord with the trend predicted by flow-assisted solubility of magnetite in lithiated water at ∼ 300 degrees C, and is generally in accord with the model of dissolution, transport, and redeposition of iron in the primary heat transport system of CANDU reactors. The crud contains also significant amounts of Zr (∼ 5 to 30 wt. % Fe), apparently in the form of zirconium oxide. Zirconium oxide particles may originate largely from the wear of fuel bundle pads and pressure tube

Crud separation from equipment drain of BWR atomic power station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayashi, Masaru; Yamaguchi, Hisashi; Moriya, Yasuhiro; Koshiba, Yukihiko; Ota, Yoshiharu.

1977-01-01

In the primary cooling systems of BWR nuclear power stations, radioactive crud is generated and accumulates in reactors and circulating systems, which causes the radiation exposure of workers at the time of the inspection and maintenance of reactors. The chemical composition and grain size distribution of crud differ largely according to the construction of primary systems, the operational conditions of reactors, and the process of operation. The study on the application of nuclear pore membrane filter NPMF to the separation of crud in the waste water from equipment drain systems has been carried out. With the NPMF, clarified filtrate can be obtained without any filter aid, therefore the secondary waste of filter sludge is not generated. When the filter is clogged, the filtration capability can be regenerated by reverse flow washing, and continuous filtration is possible actually because the regeneration takes only short time. The NPMF is the polycarbonate membrane of about 10 μm thick, to which charged particles are irradiated vertically, and the flight tracks are etched with alkali solution, thus the required pore treatment is applied. The basic investigation of waste liquid, the endurance test of actual filters, the filtration test with the pilot apparatus, the demonstration test with an actual equipment, and the design of the actual equipment have been carried out for three years. (Kako, I.)

'Crud' detection and evaluation during the Embalse nuclear power plant's thermal cycle for powers of 100%

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez, A.; Rosales, A.H.; Mura, V.R.; Sentupery, C.; Rascon, H.

1987-01-01

This paper describes the 'crud' measurements performed during the Embalse nuclear power plant's thermal cycle for a power of 100% (645 MWe) under different purification conditions. The aim of this work is to optimize the four steam generators' tube plate cleaning in function of the sweeping produced by their purification. (Author)

Hydrodynamic cavitation characteristics of an orifice system and its effects on CRUD-like SiC deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seong Man; Bang, In Cheol

2016-01-01

Highlights: • CRUD-like SiC deposition was prepared for examining the erosion test in the cavitation field. • We investigated the comparison between swirl flow and common flow on cavitation. • Magnitude of shock pressure was investigated at low cavitation number. - Abstract: In a nuclear power plant, chalk river unidentified deposit (CRUD) is known as a deposit that is composed of corrosion and oxidation materials. It has a porous structure, which combines with boron that is injected into the coolant for controlling power levels. The buildup of corrosion products on the fuel cladding surface has proven to be particularly significant for both BWRs and PWRs. The high temperature of the cladding surface attracts impurities and chemical additives in the reactor coolant that deposit on the fuel rod surface in a process. The deposits on a fuel rod, known as CRUD, can be tenacious, insulative compounds capable of increasing the local clad temperature and accelerating clad corrosion—sometimes to the point of fuel failure. The deposition of CRUD on fuel cladding surfaces causes uneven heating of the reactor core. The situation is exacerbated by boron, which is added to the coolant to control power levels. However, boron becomes concentrated and is deposited within thick CRUD deposits. Ultrasonic mechanisms were developed but they have limitations for decontamination. In this experiment, a decontamination test was conducted using a sample sheet that was composed of SiC/water nanofluids. In addition, it was exposed to swirl flow and common flow for checking enhanced cavitation. It is measured by a pressure film, as shock pressure is associated with cavitation number. As a pressure film is wetted easily in water, it was injected into a holder. In the experiment, the maximum shock pressure was obtained during swirl flow at a low cavitation number. This indicates that pressure was concentrated on the pressure film. Consequently, cavitation can get rid of CRUD layers

Observations of crud deposits, corrosion and erosion of BWR and PWR fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bairiot, H.

1983-01-01

The BWR experience is limited to one reactor but the PWR experience covers a wide range of successive generations of power plants (7 in total). The systems are described and their water chemistry briefly commented. Some R and D performed on the effects of the operating regimes (steady state and transients) are summarized. Observations made by pool-side inspections and postirradiation examinations of fuel are outlined concerning water chemistry effects (crud deposits and corrosion) and ''mechanical'' coolant-cladding interaction (chip deposits and baffle jetting). (author)

Method of eliminating cruds in the primary coolants of reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, Takaaki.

1984-01-01

Purpose: To eliminate cruds in the primary coolants by using rind of onions or peanuts. Method: Since cruds contained in the reactor primary coolants increase the radioactive exposure to reactor operators, they have been intended to remove by ion exchange resins. In this invention, rind of onions or peanuts are crushed into an adequate particle size and packed into an absorption column instead of ion exchange resins into which primary coolants are circulated. The powderous onions or peanuts rind contain glucoside such as cosmosiin and has an effect of cationic exchanger, they satisfactorily catch heavy metals such as Fe and Cu. They have an excellent filtering effect even under a high pH condition and are excellent in economical point of view. They can be decrease the volume of the absorption column, reduce their devolume after use through corrosion and easily subjected to waste procession through oxidizing combustion in liquid. (Nakamoto, H.)

Characterization of molybdenum interfacial crud in a uranium mill that employs tertiary-amine solvent extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moyer, B.; McDowell, W.J.

1983-01-01

In the present work, samples of a molybdenum-caused green gummy interfacial crud from an operating western US uranium mill have been physically and chemically examined. Formaton of cruds of this description has been a long-standing problem in the use of tertiary amine solvent extraction for the recovery of uranium from low-grade ores (Amex Process). The crud is essentially an organic-continuous dispersion containing about 10 wt % aqueous droplets and about 37 wt % greenish-yellow crystalline solids suspended in kerosene-amine process solvent. The greenish-yellow crystals were found to be a previously unknown double salt of tertiary amine molybdophosphate with three tertiary amine chlorides having the empirical formula (R 3 NH) 3 [PMo 12 O 40 ].3(R 3 NH)Cl. To confirm the identification of the compound, a pure trioctylamine (TOA) analog was synthesized. In laboratory extraction experiments, it was demonstrated that organic-soluble amine molydophosphate forms slowly upon contact of TOA solvent with dilute sulfuric acid solutions containing low concentrations of molybdate and phosphate. If the organic solutions of amine molybdophosphate were then contacted with aqueous NaCl solutions, a greenish-yellow precipitate of (TOAH) 3 [PMo 12 O 40 ].3(TOAH)Cl formed at the interface. The proposed mechanism for the formation of the crud under process conditions involves build up of molybdenum in the solvent, followed by reaction with extracted phosphate to give dissolved amine molybdophosphate. The amine molybdophosphate then co-crystallizes with amine chloride, formed during the stripping cycle, to give the insoluble double salt, which precipitates as a layer of small particles at the interface. The proposed solution to the problem is the use of branched-chain, instead of straight-chain, tertiary amine extractants under the expectation that branching would increase the solubility of the double salt. 2 figures, 5 tables

EELS and electron diffraction studies on possible bonaccordite crystals in pressurized water reactor fuel CRUD and in oxide films of alloy 600 material

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Jiaxin [Studsvik Nuclear AB, Nykoping (Sweden); Lindberg, Fredrik [Swerea KIMAB AB, Kista (Sweden); Wells, Daniel [Electric Power Research Institute, Charlotte (United States); Bengysson, Bernt [Ringhals AB, Ringhalsverket, Varobacka (Sweden)

2017-06-15

Experimental verification of boron species in fuel CRUD (Chalk River Unidentified Deposit) would provide essential and important information about the root cause of CRUD-induced power shifts (CIPS). To date, only bonaccordite and elemental boron were reported to exist in fuel CRUD in CIPS-troubled pressurized water reactor (PWR) cores and lithium tetraborate to exist in simulated PWR fuel CRUD from some autoclave tests. We have reevaluated previous analysis of similar threadlike crystals along with examining some similar threadlike crystals from CRUD samples collected from a PWR cycle that had no indications of CIPS. These threadlike crystals have a typical [Ni]/[Fe] atomic ratio of ⁓2 and similar crystal morphology as the one (bonaccordite) reported previously. In addition to electron diffraction study, we have applied electron energy loss spectroscopy to determine boron content in such a crystal and found a good agreement with that of bonaccordite. Surprisingly, such crystals seem to appear also on corroded surfaces of Alloy 600 that was exposed to simulated PWR primary water with a dissolved hydrogen level of 5 mL H{sub 2}/kg H{sub 2}O, but absent when exposed under 75 mL H{sub 2}/kg H{sub 2}O condition. It remains to be verified as to what extent and in which chemical environment this phase would be formed in PWR primary systems.

Product Evaluation Task Force Phase Two report for MEB crud/filter aid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francis, A.J.

1991-01-01

It has been proposed that all Intermediate Level Wastes arising at Sellafield should be encapsulated prior to ultimate disposal. The Product Evaluation Task Force (PETF) was set up to investigate possible encapsulants and to produce an adequate data base to justify the preferred matrices. This report details the work carried out, under Phase 2 of the Product Evaluation Task Force programme, on MEB Crud/Filter Aid. Three possible types of encapsulants for MEB Crud/Filter Aid:- Inorganic cements, Polymer cements, and Polymers are evaluated using the Kepner Tregoe decision and analysis technique. This technique provides a methodology for scoring and ranking alternative options and evaluating any risks associated with an option. The analysis shows that for all four stages of waste management operations, ie Storage, Transport, handling and emplacement, Disposal and, Process, cement matrices are considerably superior to other potential matrices. A matrix, consisting of nine parts Blast Furnace Slag (BFS) to one part Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is recommended as the preferred matrix for Phase 3 studies on MEB/Filter Aid. (author)

Study of deposited crud composition on fuel surfaces in the environment of hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) of a Boiling Water Reactor at Chinshan Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, Tsuey-Lin; Lin, Tzung-Yi; Su, Te-Yen; Wen, Tung-Jen; Men, Lee-Chung

2012-09-01

This paper aimed at the characterization of metallic composition and surface analysis on the crud of fuel rods for unit-1 of BWR-4 at Nuclear Power Plant. The inductively coupled plasma- atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPAES) and the gamma spectrometry were carried out to analyze the corrosion product distributions and to determine the elemental compositions along the fuel rod under conditions of hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) switched from normal water chemistry (NWC) of reactor coolant in this study. Most of the crud consisted of the flakes and irregular shapes via SEM morphology. The loosely adherent oxide layer was mostly composed of hematite (α- Fe 2 O 3 ) with amorphous iron oxides by XRD results. The average deposited amounts of crud was the order of 0.5 mg/cm 2 , indicating that the fuel surface of this plant under HWC environment appeared to be one with the lower crud deposition in terms of low iron level of feedwater. It also showed no significant difference in comparison with NWC condition. (authors)

Method of removing crud deposited on fuel element clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokota, Tokunobu; Yashima, Akira; Tajima, Jun-ichiro.

1982-01-01

Purpose: To enable easy elimination of claddings deposited on the surface of fuel element. Method: An operator manipulates a pole from above a platform, engages the longitudinal flange of the cover to the opening at the upper end of a channel box and starts up a suction pump. The suction amount of the pump is set such that water flow becomes within the channel box at greater flow rate than the operational flow rate in the channel box of the fuel element clusters during reactor operation. This enables to remove crud deposited on the surface of individual fuel elements with ease and rapidly without detaching the channel box. (Moriyama, K.)

Control of Crud and Boron Deposition for AOA Prevention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maeng, W. Y.; Choi, B. S.; Na, J. W.

2010-07-01

Ο Understand effects of water chemistry variables on AOA and investigate AOA mechanism Ο Mitigate AOA in terms of water chemistry control AOA(Axial Offset Anomaly) has been reported in many PWR plants in the world, including Korea, especially in the plants of higher burn-up and longer cycle operation or power up-rate. A test loop has been designed and made by KAERI, in order to investigate and mitigate AOA problems in Korea. This project included the study of hydrodynamic simulation and the modeling about AOA. The analysis of radioactive crud was performed to investigate of NPPs primary water chemical effect on AOA and to reduce the radioactive dose rate. The present primary water chemistry guideline of EPRI is to operate NPPs with AOA in the condition of initial 3.5 ppm Li and pH 7.1. However, the tests in this project indicate that the amount of deposit on fuel cladding can be reduced when an appropriate water chemistry strategy is applied. High pH water chemistry in the beginning of operation is recommended based on the results of this project

Literature Review: Crud Formation at the Liquid/Liquid Interface of TBP-Based Solvent-Extraction Processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Delegard, Calvin H.; Casella, Amanda J.

2016-09-30

This report summarizes the literature reviewed on crud formation at the liquid:liquid interface of solvent extraction processes. The review is focused both on classic PUREX extraction for industrial reprocessing, especially as practiced at the Hanford Site, and for those steps specific to plutonium purification that were used at the Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF) within the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) at the Hanford Site.

Heat Transfer Coefficient Variations in Nuclear Fuel Rod Bundles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conner, Michael E.; Holloway, Mary V.

2007-01-01

The single-phase heat transfer performance of a PWR nuclear fuel rod bundle is enhanced by the use of mixing vanes attached to the downstream edges of the support grid straps. This improved single-phase performance will delay the onset of nucleate boiling, thereby reducing corrosion and delaying crud-related issues. This paper presents the variation in measured single-phase heat transfer coefficients (HTC) for several grid designs. Then, this variation is compared with observations of actual in-core crud patterns. While crud deposition is a function of a number of parameters including rod heat flux, the HTC is assumed to be a primary factor in explaining why crud deposition is a local phenomenon on nuclear fuel rods. The data from this study will be used to examine this assumption by providing a comparison between HTC variations and crud deposition patterns. (authors)

Development of nondestructive measurement system for quantifying radioactivity from crud, liquids and gases in a contaminated pipe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Katagiri, Masaki; Ito, Hirokuni; Wakayama, Naoaki [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1992-11-01

A nondestructive measuring method was developed to quantify separately radioisotope concentrations of crud, liquids and gases in a contaminated pipe. For applying this method to practical in-situ measurement, a nondestructive measurement system was developed. The measurement system consists of an in-situ equipment for gamma-ray scanning measurements and a data-processing equipment for analysis of radioactivity. The communication between both equipments is performed by a wireless telemeter device. To construct the measurement system, a gas-cooled Ge detector of practical use, small-sized electronics circuits, a fast and reliable telemeter device and automatic measurement technics using a computer were developed. Through performance tests, it is confirmed that the measurement system is effective for in-situ measurements of radioactivity in a contaminated pipe. The measurement accuracy with this measurement system is 10 - 20 %, which was determined by comparison with solid and liquid radioisotope concentrations in a mock-up contaminated pipe that had been quantified in advance. (author).

International trade and waste and fuel managment issue, 2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agnihotri, Newal (ed.)

2006-01-15

The focus of the January-February issue is on international trade and waste and fuel managment. Major articles/reports in this issue include: HLW management in France, by Michel Debes, EDF, France; Breakthroughs from future reactors, by Jacques Bouchard, CEA, France; 'MOX for peace' a reality, by Jean-Pierre Bariteau, AREVA Group, France; Swedish spent fuel and radwaste, by Per H. Grahn and Marie Skogsberg, SKB, Sweden; ENC2005 concluding remarks, by Larry Foulke, 'Nuclear Technology Matters'; Fuel crud formation and behavior, by Charles Turk, Entergy; and, Plant profile: major vote of confidence for NP, by Martti Katka, TVO, Finland.

Optimisation of water chemistry to ensure reliable water reactor fuel performance at high burnup and in ageing plant (FUWAC): an International Atomic Energy Agency coordinated research project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Killeen, J.C. [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria); Nordmann, F. [Advanced Nuclear Technology International Europe AB, Beauchamp (France); Schunk, J. [Paks NPP (Hungary); Vonkova, K. [Nuclear Research Inst., Rez (Czech Republic)

2010-07-01

The IAEA project 'Optimisation of Water Chemistry to ensure Reliable Water Reactor Fuel Performance at High Burnup and in Aging Plant' (FUWAC) was initiated with the objectives of monitoring, maintaining and optimising water chemistry regimes in primary circuits of water cooled power reactors, taking into account high burnup operation, mixed cores and plant aging, including following issues and remedies. This report provides some highlights of the work undertaken by the project participants. Clad oxidation studies have been undertaken and include operational data from the South Ukraine WWER where no corrosion problems have been seen on either Westinghouse ZIRLO™ or Russian alloy E110 fuel cladding. Work on the Russian alloy E110 showed that potassium in the coolant is preferable to lithium for mitigating fuel cladding oxidation. Studies on crud behaviour in PWR have shown a dependence on crud thickness and pHT. The nature and mechanisms for boron deposition in fuel cladding cruds have been investigated which is the root cause of crud induced power shifts (CIPS). Operational experience at French PWRs shows no difference in the CIPS behaviour between units with Alloy 600 or 690 steam generators, whilst Korean experience provides information on the Ni/Fe ratio on fuel cladding crud and the occurrence of CIPS. Coolant additions have been studied, for example in BWR units using zinc addition, crud is more tenacious. Zinc is also added to PWR units, mainly for dose rate control and in some cases for PWSCC mitigation of Alloy 600. At low levels there has been no clear evidence of any effect of zinc on CIPS, but there is a benefit on fuel oxidation. It is suggested that zinc addition should be considered where there is SG replacement or fuel core management modification. One possibility for the elimination of fuel crud is decontamination. Such an operation is time consuming, expensive, includes several risks of corrosion and induces a large quantity of

Analysis, Design and Implementation of a Proof-of-Concept Prototype to Support Large-Scale Military Experimentation

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

Result Analysis In this phase, users and analysts check all the results per objective- question. Then, they consolidate all these results to form...the CRUD technique. By using both the CRUD and the user goal techniques, we identified all the use cases the iFRE system must perform. Table 3...corresponding Focus Area or Critical Operation Issue to simplify the user tasks, and exempts the user from remembering the identifying codes/numbers of

Spanish experience of fuel performance under zinc injection conditions in high duty plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez, Alicia; Doncel, Nuria

2008-01-01

Zinc is being added to the reactor coolant system in three Spanish PWRs (Vandellos II, Asco I and Asco II), owned by Association Nuclear Asco Vandellos AIE (ANAV), to delay Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking (PWSCC) initiation. Although additional advantages from zinc addition are expected, in the short term some concern exists concerning fuel performance during the first cycles of zinc addition due to a possible elevation of corrosion products from system materials when zinc is initially added. Elevated corrosion product levels in a high duty plant may cause an enhancement on crud deposited on fuel, increasing Axial Offset Anomaly (AOA) risk and accelerated cladding corrosion. To demonstrate the acceptable performance of ZIRLOTM clad fuel under zinc chemistry at a high duty plant, EPRI's Fuel Reliability Program (FRP) has chosen Vandellos II as a zinc demonstration plant to perform oxide thickness measurements and crud scraping and analysis. This paper presents the results from Vandellos II and Asco II oxide measurements as well as the conclusions from the crud samples analyses performed at Vandellos II. Furthermore, the effect of zinc addition on corrosion product behavior and dose rates are be discussed

DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UMA FERRAMENTA ASSISTENTE PARA CRIAÇÃO DE APLICAÇÕES CRUD EM JAVA NA WEB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Renato de Souza Perri

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Due to the need for computerization of business processes, storage of relevant information in databases and making these information available on Internet, this project proposes to develop a tool for generating Web applications written in Java, that build functionalities to perform CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete, ie, storage, read, update and deletion. The software is a tool, from which, the programmer inserts the script to create a database and, after setting the parameters into the tool, source code of Java Web applications are generated. There is a need to create Web applications in Java with low production time, because building these applications using common methods for development takes much time. The implementation of this tool is also to change that concept and the way of developing Java Web applications, because this tool will be used as an assistant, becoming easier to create Java Web applications. The generated applications use the technologies Servlets and JSPs, the Hibernate framework and the jQuery JavaScript library.

Production Test IP-601-D: Evaluation of crud-forming characteristics of KER loop coolant containing NH{sub 4}OH for pH control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neidner, R.

1963-08-06

The objective of production test detailed in this report was to characterize the effects of NH{sub 4}OH as a pH control agent in a recirculating, high temperature and pressure water system having NPR characteristics. Of particular interest is the crud forming and decomposition characteristics of NH{sub 4}OH at potential NPR conditions.

Optical coherence tomography for nondestructive evaluation of fuel rod degradation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renshaw, Jeremy B.; Jenkins, Thomas P.; Buckner, Benjamin D.; Friend, Brian

2015-01-01

Nuclear power plants regularly inspect fuel rods to ensure safe and reliable operation. Excessive corrosion can cause fuel failures which can have significant repercussions for the plant, including impacts on plant operation, worker exposure to radiation, and the plant's INPO rating. While plants typically inspect for fuel rod corrosion using eddy current techniques, these techniques have known issues with reliability in the presence of tenacious, ferromagnetic crud layers that can deposit during operation, and the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) inspection results can often be in error by a factor of 2 or 3. For this reason, alternative measurement techniques, such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), have been evaluated that are not sensitive to the ferromagnetic nature of the crud. This paper demonstrates that OCT has significant potential to characterize the thickness of crud layers that can deposit on the surfaces of fuel rods during operation. Physical trials have been performed on simulated crud samples, and the resulting data show an apparent correlation between the crud layer thickness and the OCT signal

Optical coherence tomography for nondestructive evaluation of fuel rod degradation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Renshaw, Jeremy B., E-mail: jrenshaw@epri.com [Electric Power Research Institute, 1300 West WT Harris Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28262 (United States); Jenkins, Thomas P., E-mail: tjenkins@metrolaserinc.com; Buckner, Benjamin D., E-mail: tjenkins@metrolaserinc.com [MetroLaser, Inc., 22941 Mill Creek Drive, Laguna Hills, CA 92653 (United States); Friend, Brian [AREVA, Inc., 3315 Old Forest Road, Lynchburg, VA 24501 (United States)

2015-03-31

Nuclear power plants regularly inspect fuel rods to ensure safe and reliable operation. Excessive corrosion can cause fuel failures which can have significant repercussions for the plant, including impacts on plant operation, worker exposure to radiation, and the plant's INPO rating. While plants typically inspect for fuel rod corrosion using eddy current techniques, these techniques have known issues with reliability in the presence of tenacious, ferromagnetic crud layers that can deposit during operation, and the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) inspection results can often be in error by a factor of 2 or 3. For this reason, alternative measurement techniques, such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), have been evaluated that are not sensitive to the ferromagnetic nature of the crud. This paper demonstrates that OCT has significant potential to characterize the thickness of crud layers that can deposit on the surfaces of fuel rods during operation. Physical trials have been performed on simulated crud samples, and the resulting data show an apparent correlation between the crud layer thickness and the OCT signal.

Hide out return test and blowndown crud composition under ETA chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chocron, Mauricio; Rodriguez, Ivanna; Saucedo, Ramona; Rodriguez-Aliciardi, Matias; Montes, Juan

2012-09-01

Among the techniques recommended for the surveillance of the Steam Generators (SGs) are (i) the follow-up of the corrosion products in the Feed Water and Blown down water and the corresponding accumulation mass balance and (ii) The follow-up of ionic impurities normally present in the main condensate and feed water that can enter the cycle either by condenser leakages or even by the make-up water. This is so, no matter how well the the cycle is constructed or the make-up water plant behaves given the continuous phase change present in it and the subsequent concentration. A synergistic effect exists between both, corrosion products and impurities, (i) and (ii), because impurities concentrate in the deposits creating a potentially risky environment for the steam generator tubes. Hide out return determination consists in the measurement of the concentration of ions, anions and cations, present in the blown-down water which are eluted during the shutdown along with the reduction of power and temperature. The integrated value provides figures to perform several evaluations like: (i) how well the make-up water plant has performed during the cycle, (ii) presence of condenser in leakages, (iii) amount of deposits present in the steam generator and (iv) it allows to estimate the chemistry in operation inside the steam generator liquid phase inside the sludge pile. Embalse, a CANDU 6 pressurized heavy water reactor located in Cordoba Province, Argentina, is close to reach the end-of-design-life and a project of life extension is currently ongoing. There, also the chemistry in the BOP has been modified from Morpholine to Ethanolamine chemistry (Fernandez et. al, NPC'2010, October 3-7, Quebec City, Canada) to enhance protection of steam generator internals and new steam generators will be installed. It is of interest then to set up a hide-out return procedure and analysis of blown down crud collected during the shut down as a base line for the second period of operation

French experience to reduce radiation field build-up and improve nuclear fuel performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomazet, J.; Beslu, P.; Noe, M.; Stora, J.P.

1983-01-01

Over these last years, considerable information has been obtained on primary coolant chemistry, activity build-up and nuclear fuel behavior. As of December 1982, twenty three 900 MWe type reactors were in operation in France and about 1.3 millions of rods had been loaded in power reactors among which six regions of 17x17 fuel assemblies had completed successfully their third cycle of irradiation with a lead assembly burn-up of 37,000 MWd/MtU. Visual examination shows that crud deposited on fuel clads is mostly thin or inexistent. This result is due to the appropriate B/Li coolant concentration control which is currently applied in French reactors since several years. Correlatively, radiation field build-up is minimized and excessive external corrosion has never been observed. Nevertheless for higher coolant temperature plants, where occurrence of nucleate boiling could increase crud deposition, and for load follow and high burn-up operation, an extensive programme is performed jointly by Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Electricite de France, FRAMATOME and FRAGEMA to reduce even more the radiation field. This programme, described in the paper, includes: loop tests; on site chemical and radiochemical surveys; radiation field measurements; on site fuel examination crud-scrapping, crud analysis and oxide thickness measurements; hot cells examination. Some key results are presented and discussed in this paper. (author)

BWR fuel performance under advanced water chemistry conditions – a delicate journey towards zero fuel failures – a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hettiarachchi, S.

2015-01-01

Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) have undergone a variety of chemistry evolutions over the past few decades as a result of the need to control stress corrosion cracking of reactor internals, radiation fields and personnel exposure. Some of the advanced chemistry changes include hydrogen addition, zinc addition, iron reduction using better filtration technologies, and more recently noble metal chemical addition to many of the modern day operating BWRs. These water chemistry evolutions have resulted in changes in the crud distribution on fuel cladding material, Co-60 levels and the Rod oxide thickness (ROXI) measurements using the conventional eddy current techniques. A limited number of Post-Irradiation Examinations (PIE) of fuel rods that exhibited elevated oxide thickness using eddy current techniques showed that the actual oxide thickness by metallography is much lower. The difference in these observations is attributed to the changing magnetic properties of the crud affecting the rod oxide thickness measurement by the eddy current technique. This paper will review and summarize the BWR fuel cladding performance under these advanced and improved water chemistry conditions and how these changes have affected the goal to reach zero fuel failures. The paper will also provide a brief summary of some of the results of hot cell PIE, results of crud composition evaluation, crud spallation, oxide thickness measurements, hydrogen content in the cladding and some fuel failure observations. (author) Key Words: Boiling Water Reactor, Fuel Performance, Hydrogen Addition, Zinc Addition, Noble Metal Chemical Addition, Zero Leakers

Electrokinetic and electrochemical corrosion studies related to crud formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scenini, Fabio; Palumbo, Gaetano; Stevens, Nicholas; Cook, Tony; Banks, Andrew

2012-09-01

A potentially important mechanism for the flow-induced deposition of CRUD from pressurised high temperature primary water is the effect of 'streaming potentials' that develop across the electrochemical double layer of a metallic surface as a result of fluid flow across a pressure gradient or orifice. Thus, under such conditions, streaming currents develop normal to a surface and may result in preferential oxidation, for example of dissolved ferrous to ferric ions with their subsequent deposition as an oxide. The approach presented in this paper was to consider the electrokinetic problem is to firstly consider the magnitude of currents that can be developed under a given set of flow/mass transport conditions and, secondly, to consider the way in which these relatively small currents might give rise to oxide deposition. Electrochemical measurements on 304L samples were carried out over a range of temperatures in hydrogenated, alkaline water. The test conditions were chosen in order to simulate PWR primary water conditions. Furthermore, in order to facilitate the electrochemical studies, the ferrous ion concentration in the solution was also enhanced by the presence of a mild steel plate left in the autoclave to corrode. By employing the cyclic voltammetry technique interpreted using the Randles-Sevcik equation it was possible to calculate the concentration of ferrous ions and their diffusion coefficient. A miniature flow cell was designed for the purpose of creating regions of accelerated flow with consequent formation of anodic and cathodic regions so as to be able to measure the streaming currents. A study was carried out in order to better understand the potential which is associated with the streaming potential as function of the velocity and temperature at fixed pH. (authors)

Long-term bridge performance high priority bridge performance issues.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-10-01

Bridge performance is a multifaceted issue involving performance of materials and protective systems, : performance of individual components of the bridge, and performance of the structural system as a whole. The : Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP)...

Corrosion product balances for the Ringhals PWR plants based on extensive fuel crud and water chemistry measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lundgren, K.; Wikmark, G.; Bengtsson, B.

2010-01-01

The corrosion product balance in a PWR plant is of great importance for the fuel performance as well as for the radiation field buildup. This balance is of special concern in connection to steam generator replacement (SGR) and power uprate projects. The Ringhals PWRs are all of Westinghouse design. Two of the plants have performed Steam Generator Replacement (SGR) to I-690 SG tubes and such a replacement is being planned in the third and last unit in 2011. Two of the units are in different phases of power uprate projects. The plants are all on 10-14-months cycles operating with medium to high fuel duty. Water chemistry is controlled by a pH300 in the range ∼7.2 to 7.4 from beginning of cycle to end of cycle (BOC-EOC) in the units with new SGs while kept at a coordinated pH of 7.2 in the one still using I-600. The maximum Li content has recently been increased to about 4.5 to 5 ppm in all units. In order to be able to improve the assessment of corrosion product balances in the plants, comprehensive fuel crud measurements were performed in 2007. Improved integrated reactor water sampling techniques have also been introduced in order to make accurate mass balances possible. The corrosion products covered in the study are the main constituents, Ni, Fe and Cr in the primary circuit Inconel and stainless steel, together with Co. The activated corrosion products, Co-58, Co-60, Cr-51, Fe-59 and Mn-54, are all mainly produced through neutron irradiation of the covered corrosion products. The main results of the corrosion product balances are presented. Observed differences between the plants, indicating significant impact of pH control and SG tube materials, are presented and discussed. The importance of accurate sampling techniques is especially addressed in this paper. (author)

Recent development of BOA version 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deshon, J.; Hussey, D.; Westacott, J.; Young, M.; Secker, J.; Epperson, K.; McGurk, J.; Henshaw, J.

2010-01-01

BOA is the EPRI code developed to help understand material transport issues in PWR systems. In particular, BOA was developed to investigate the problem of crud induced power shifts (CIPS) or axial offset anomalies (AOA) that are related to crud accumulation on fuel clad and the subsequent uptake of boron within this crud. Over the last few years significant developments of BOA have taken place; these include new models for release and deposition of soluble and particulate material as well as new models for boron capture in the crud. The new version of BOA (version 3), as well as predicting the extent of AOA a plant might expect during a cycle, also predicts soluble and particulate Ni/Fe levels in the coolant, end of cycle Ni shut-down releases and the relative amounts of Ni/Fe within the fuel crud. The model is being validated against plant data and this paper briefly discusses the recent developments, the fundamental scientific basis for these changes and some of the validation studies. (author)

Some outstanding issues in severe accidents containment performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sehgal, B.R.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the current status of the outstanding issues in severe accident performance of Light Water Reactor containments that have been raised in the last several years. The results of the research that has been performed on the topics concerning these issues will be described. Some of these issues have been resolved, some are close to resolution, while others need further evaluation and research results. (author)

Problem solving performance and learning strategies of undergraduate students who solved microbiology problems using IMMEX educational software

Science.gov (United States)

Ebomoyi, Josephine Itota

The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) Determine the relationship between learning strategies and performance in problem solving, (2) Explore the role of a student's declared major on performance in problem solving, (3) Understand the decision making process of high and low achievers during problem solving. Participants (N = 65) solved problems using the Interactive multimedia exercise (IMMEX) software. All participants not only solved "Microquest," which focuses on cellular processes and mode of action of antibiotics, but also "Creeping Crud," which focuses on the cause, origin and transmission of diseases. Participants also responded to the "Motivated Strategy Learning Questionnaire" (MSLQ). Hierarchical multiple regression was used for analysis with GPA (Gracie point average) as a control. There were 49 (78.6%) that successfully solved "Microquest" while 52 (82.5%) successfully solved "Creeping Crud". Metacognitive self regulation strategy was significantly (p low achievers. Common strategies and attributes included metacognitive skills, writing to keep track, using prior knowledge. Others included elements of frustration/confusion and self-esteem problems. The implications for educational and relevance to real life situations are discussed.

Study on a corrosion products behavior with zinc injection in PWR primary circuit based on the crud investigation in actual plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hisamune Kenji; Nambu Tohru; Akutagawa Daisuke; Nagata Nobuaki; Shimizu, Yuichi; Nagamine, Kunitaka; Kogawa Noritaka

2012-09-01

Zinc injection into the reactor coolant of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) is one of the most effective techniques for removing radioactive cobalt from the chromite type spinel oxides in the inner layer of reactor coolant component surfaces. Many documents have reported that zinc injection applied plants have generally achieved positive dose rate reduction effects for the reactor coolant components and piping. Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant unit 2 (hereafter Tsuruga unit 2) which applied zinc injection in 2005 has also achieved good dose reduction effects in most primary coolant piping. However, some piping without dose-rate reduction effects exist, it has come to an issue to plan radiation exposure reduction measures for the works around relevant piping. To plan a reasonable dose-rate reduction measures for respective components and piping in primary systems, it is considered necessary to understand the dose-rate reduction effects of zinc injection mechanically. Therefore, the surface oxides/deposits on piping and fuel cladding tubes with operational histories under zinc injection were investigated. As a result of the investigation, the changes in specific aspects of oxide layers and CRUDs are found as follow: - Owing to long-term zinc injection, deposits and oxides on the primary coolant piping are extremely reduced, the boundary between the outer oxide layer and the inner oxide layer become unclear with the thinning of the outer oxide layers. - At a Pressurizer Spray Piping, the dose-rate increases than before zinc injection. The oxide layers have the same 3-layer construction as before zinc injection, and the surface concentration of the radioactive cobalt is high. - At the fuel cladding tube surfaces, what is observed is the amount of metal nickel decrease and the chromium composition increase in the spinel type oxide From these results, it is suggested that, the oxide layers composed principally of zinc chromite spinel grow up on the pipe surface with zinc

Space reactor fuels performance and development issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wewerka, E.M.

1984-01-01

Three compact reactor concepts are now under consideration by the US Space Nuclear Power Program (the SP-100 Program) as candidates for the first 100-kWe-class space reactor. Each of these reactor designs puts unique constraints and requirements on the fuels system, and raises issues of fuel systems feasibility and performance. This paper presents a brief overview of the fuel requirements for the proposed space reactor designs, a delineation of the technical feasibility issues that each raises, and a description of the fuel systems development and testing program that has been established to address key technical issues

L3:PHI.CMD.P13.02 Support for CILC L1 Milestone Using STAR-CCM+

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slattery, Stuart R.; Gurecky, William L.

2016-01-01

This report documents work performed to support Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of LWRs (CASL) modeling of Chalk River Unidentified Deposit (CRUD) Induced Power Shift (CIPS) and CRUD Induced Local Corrosion (CILC) using the Cicada package. The work documented here is intended to complement current and future CIPS and CILC modeling activities in CASL. We provide tools for crud and corrosion-related simulation and analysis by developing a better understanding of the interplay between the coupled physics that describe the phenomena at different time and length scales. We intend to use these models to better inform future simulation capability and development.

L3:PHI.CMD.P13.02 Support for CILC L1 Milestone Using STAR-CCM+

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Slattery, Stuart R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Gurecky, William L. [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

2016-10-07

This report documents work performed to support Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of LWRs (CASL) modeling of Chalk River Unidentified Deposit (CRUD) Induced Power Shift (CIPS) and CRUD Induced Local Corrosion (CILC) using the Cicada package. The work documented here is intended to complement current and future CIPS and CILC modeling activities in CASL. We provide tools for crud and corrosion-related simulation and analysis by developing a better understanding of the interplay between the coupled physics that describe the phenomena at different time and length scales. We intend to use these models to better inform future simulation capability and development.

Fuel decontamination at Ringhals 1 with the new decontamination process IcedecTM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fredriksson, E.; Ivars, R.; Rosengren, A.; Granath, G.

2003-01-01

The new fuel decontamination technique ICEDEC TM , which has been developed by Westinghouse, is based on abrasion of fuel crud with ice particles. A mixture of ice and water is led continuously through the fuel assembly, which is placed in a specially designed fuel decontamination container connected to a closed loop recirculation system. The ice particles scrape off the loose crud from the fuel surfaces and a mixture of crud and water from the melted ice is then led to a filter unit were the crud is separated from the water. In this paper results of fuel decontamination tests of two-year-old and spent fuel assemblies during spring 2001 at Ringhals 1 are presented. The fuel crud was only released when ice particles passed through the fuel assembly and stopped within ten seconds after the feeding of ice particles had ceased. The activity release from the fuel could thus be performed in a controlled way making the process easy to manage and survey. Activity measurements confirmed that about 50% of the loose crud was removed from the fuel surfaces of the two-year-old assembly. Fuel inspection after the decontamination process showed no influence on the fuel integrity. Furthermore, no enhanced personnel radiation dose was involved with the fuel decontamination compared to normal fuel services. (authors)

Habitability and Performance Issues for Long Duration Space Flights

Science.gov (United States)

Whitmore, Mihriban; McQuilkin, Meredith L.; Woolford, Barbara J.

1997-01-01

Advancing technology, coupled with the desire to explore space has resulted in increasingly longer manned space missions. Although the Long Duration Space Flights (LDSF) have provided a considerable amount of scientific research on human ability to function in extreme environments, findings indicate long duration missions take a toll on the individual, both physiologically and psychologically. These physiological and psychological issues manifest themselves in performance decrements; and could lead to serious errors endangering the mission, spacecraft and crew. The purpose of this paper is to document existing knowledge of the effects of LDSF on performance, habitability, and workload and to identify and assess potential tools designed to address these decrements as well as propose an implementation plan to address the habitability, performance and workload issues.

Mass trasnfer of corrosion products in high temperature, high pressure water circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, J.V.; Nicholson, F.D.

1976-07-01

The behaviour of iron oxide crud was studied at 25 0 C and over the range 240 to 270 0 C in a high pressure water loop. Crud deposition and removal was measured in two parallel, heated Zircaloy-2 tubes using iron-59 as a radioactive tracer. This proved to be a powerful technique capable of detecting crud deposits less than 3 nm thick. Rapid deposition of crud was observed following injection into the loop of an iron oxide suspension or a ferric nitrate solution. Crud deposited preferentially on heated surfaces when they were present but not to the exclusion of deposition elsewhere; hot spots on heated surfaces attracted additional deposits. Subcooled boiling appeared to be a more important factor than bulk boiling in the enhancement of crud deposition. The initial rapid deposition of the bulk crud throughout the loop was usually followed by a slower transfer of crud from other surfaces to any heated surface present. Unsteady operating conditions, e.g. a change in power, temperature or pH, frequently caused crud bursts, but once steady conditions were re-established the entrained crud was quickly redeposited. The bulk of deposited crud was not readily re-entrained, particularly from heated surfaces, so that crud bursts involved only a fraction of the total crud deposited. Ferric nitrate solutions injected into the loop formed haematite which deposited more slowly and formed more mobile deposits than magnetite which was injected directly into the loop as a slurry. Examination of deposits from both sources showed them to be even and tightly adherent, being removed only with difficulty. (author)

Some recent human performance issues at U.S. nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kauffman, John V.

1998-01-01

Some recent events at U.S. operating nuclear power plants revealed interesting human performance issues. Events discussed in this paper are: (1) a September 1996 event at Clinton, (2) a February 1997 event at Zion 1, and (3) March 1997 operator failures of 'in-house' examinations at LaSalle. The specific human performance weaknesses exhibited in these events, some underlying organizational or institutional issues and factors which influenced operators and their management, and implications regarding regulatory oversight are discussed. (author)

Water Chemistry and Clad Corrosion/Deposition Including Fuel Failures. Proceedings of a Technical Meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-03-01

Corrosion is a principal life limiting degradation mechanism in nuclear steam supply systems, particularly taking into account the trends in increasing fuel burnup, thermal ratings and cycle length. Further, many plants have been operating with varying water chemistry regimes for many years, and issues of crud (deposition of corrosion products on other surfaces in the primary coolant circuit) are of significant concern for operators. At the meeting of the Technical Working Group on Fuel Performance and Technology (TWGFPT) in 2007, it was recommended that a technical meeting be held on the subject of water chemistry and clad corrosion and deposition, including the potential consequences for fuel failures. This proposal was supported by both the Technical Working Group on Advanced Technologies for Light Water Reactors (TWG-LWR) and the Technical Working Group on Advanced Technologies for Heavy Water Reactors (TWG-HWR), with a recommendation to hold the meeting at the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company ENERGOATOM, Ukraine. This technical meeting was part of the IAEA activities on water chemistry, which have included a series of coordinated research projects, the most recent of which, Optimisation of Water Chemistry to Ensure Reliable Water Reactor Fuel Performance at High Burnup and in Ageing Plant (FUWAC) (IAEATECDOC-1666), concluded in 2010. Previous technical meetings were held in Cadarache, France (1985), Portland, Oregon, USA (1989), Rez, Czech Republic (1993), and Hluboka nad Vltavou, Czech Republic (1998). This meeting focused on issues associated with the corrosion of fuel cladding and the deposition of corrosion products from the primary circuit onto the fuel assembly, which can cause overheating and cladding failure or lead to unplanned power shifts due to boron deposition in the clad deposits. Crud deposition on other surfaces increases radiation fields and operator dose and the meeting considered ways to minimize the generation of crud to avoid

Identification of long-term containment/stabilization technology performance issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthern, G.E.; Nickelson, D.F.

1997-01-01

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) faces a somewhat unique challenge when addressing in situ remedial alternatives that leave long-lived radionuclides and hazardous contaminants onsite. These contaminants will remain a potential hazard for thousands of years. However, the risks, costs, and uncertainties associated with removal and offsite disposal are leading many sites to select in situ disposal alternatives. Improvements in containment, stabilization, and monitoring technologies will enhance the viability of such alternatives for implementation. DOE's Office of Science and Technology sponsored a two day workshop designed to investigate issues associated with the long-term in situ stabilization and containment of buried, long-lived hazardous and radioactive contaminants. The workshop facilitated communication among end users representing most sites within the DOE, regulators, and technologists to define long-term performance issues for in situ stabilization and containment alternatives. Participants were divided into groups to identify issues and a strategy to address priority issues. This paper presents the results of the working groups and summarizes the conclusions. A common issue identified by the work groups is communication. Effective communication between technologists, risk assessors, end users, regulators, and other stakeholders would contribute greatly to resolution of both technical and programmatic issues

Development of moving alternating magnetic filter using permanent magnet for removal of radioactive corrosion product from nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, M. C.; Kim, S. I.; Lee, K. J.

2002-01-01

Radioactive Corrosion Products (CRUD) which are generated by the neutron activation of general corrosion products at the nuclear power plant are the major source of occupational radiation exposure. Most of the CRUD has a characteristic of showing strong ferrimagnetisms. Along with the new development and production of permanent magnet (rare earth magnet) which generates much stronger magnetic field than the conventional magnet, new type of magnetic filter that can separate CRUD efficiently and eventually reduce radiation exposure of personnel at nuclear power plant is suggested. This separator consists of inner and outer magnet assemblies, coolant channel and container surrounding the outer magnet assembly. The rotational motion of the inner and outer permanent magnet assemblies surrounding the coolant channel by driving motor system produces moving alternating magnetic fields in the coolant channel. The CRUD can be separated from the coolant by the moving alternating magnetic field. This study describes the results of preliminary experiment performed with the different flow rates of coolant and rotation velocities of magnet assemblies. This new magnetic filter shows better performance results of filtering the magnetite at coolant (water). Flow rates, rotating velocities of magnet assemblies and particle sizes turn out to be very important design parameters

Performance testing of supercapacitors: Important issues and uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jingyuan; Gao, Yinghan; Burke, Andrew F.

2017-09-01

Supercapacitors are a promising technology for high power energy storage, which have been used in some industrial and vehicles applications. Hence, it is important that information concerning the performance of supercapacitors be detailed and reliable so system designers can make rational decisions regarding the selection of the energy storage components. This paper is concerned with important issues and uncertainties regarding the performance testing of supercapacitors. The effect of different test procedures on the measured characteristics of both commercial and prototype supercapacitors including hybrid supercapacitors have been studied. It was found that the test procedure has a relatively minor effect on the capacitance of carbon/carbon devices and a more significant effect on the capacitance of hybrid supercapacitors. The device characteristic with the greatest uncertainty is the resistance and subsequently the claimed power capability of the device. The energy density should be measured by performing constant power discharges between appropriate voltage limits. This is particularly important in the case of hybrid supercapacitors for which the energy density is rate dependent and the simple relationship E = ½CV2 does not yield accurate estimates of the energy stored. In general, most of the important issues for testing carbon/carbon devices become more serious for hybrid supercapacitors.

Issues with performance measures for dynamic multi-objective optimisation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Helbig, M

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Dynamic and Uncertain Environments (CIDUE), Mexico, 20-23 June 2013 Issues with Performance Measures for Dynamic Multi-objective Optimisation Mard´e Helbig CSIR: Meraka Institute Brummeria, South Africa...

Physical and chemical removal of radioactive oxide layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blesa, M.A.; Baumgartner, E.C.; Maroto, A.J.G.

1983-01-01

When a nuclear reactor is operating under steady state conditions, the balance between release of activated crud and pick-up and activation of circulating crud dictates the overall contribution to the growth of radiation fields by the release of crud from the fuel elements. Whole-circuit decontamination procedures which are carried out with the fuel elements in-core must take into account that during such procedure this balance is abruptly changed in the sense of releasing considerable amounts of radioactivity towards out-of-core components. In principle, this disruption of balance operates against the decontamination objectives, usually the lowering of radiation fields throughout the primary circuit. This is applicable to the two processes that involve fuel decontamination: cycling redox techniques and whole-circuit chemical decontaminations. However, data on actual cycling redox procedures performed in Atucha I Nuclear Power Station are presented which demonstrate that under appropriate process conditions such release does not prevent the achieval of reasonable decontamination factors in critical components. The relevance of optimum cleaning rates, redeposition rates, reagent injection strategies, and the ways to achieve these are discussed. In chemical decontamination procedures, it is of importance to assess the relative contribution of fuel elements and out-of-core components to dissolved radioactive crud. In order to do this, the mechanisms of dissolution of crud on steel surfaces and on Zircaloy surfaces are compared for the most usual reagents

Containment-emergency-sump performance. Technical findings related to Unresolved Safety Issue A-43

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-04-01

This report summarizes key technical findings related to the Unresolved Safety Issue A-43, Containment Emergency Sump Performance, and provides recommendations for resolution of attendant safety issues. The key safety questions relate to: (a) effects of insulation debris on sump performance; (b) sump hydraulic performance as determined by design features, submergence, and plant induced effects, and (c) recirculation pump performance wherein air and/or particulate ingestion can occur. The technical findings presented in this report provide information relevant to the design and performance evaluation of the containment emergency sump

The language issue and academic performance at a South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Academic performance at universities in South Africa is a cause of concern. It is widely acknowledged that there are a variety of factors that contribute to poor academic performance, but language is regarded as one of the most important issues in this discussion. In this article, the relationship between language and ...

Geotechnical Issues in Total System Performance Assessments of Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

HO, CLIFFORD K.; HOUSEWORTH, JIM; WILSON, MICHAEL L.

1999-01-01

A Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) of Yucca Mountain consists of integrated sub-models and analyses of natural and engineered systems. Examples of subsystem models include unsaturated-zone flow and transport, seepage into drifts, coupled thermal hydrologic processes, transport through the engineered barrier system, and saturated-zone flow and transport. The TSPA evaluates the interaction of important processes among these subsystems, and it determines the impact of these processes on the overall performance measures (e.g., dose rate to humans). This paper summarizes the evaluation, abstraction, and combination of these subsystem models in a TSPA calculation, and it provides background on the individual TSPA subsystem components that are most directly impacted by geotechnical issues. The potential impact that geologic features, events, and processes have on the overall performance is presented, and an evaluation of the sensitivity of TSPA calculations to these issues is also provided

Can the Stock Market anticipate Future Operating Performance? Evidence from Equity Rights Issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kabir, M.R.; Roosenboom, P.G.J.

2000-01-01

This paper examines whether the stock market valuation impact of rights issues is consistent with subsequent operating performance of issuing firms. Analysing a sample of rights issues in the Netherlands, we find that a significant stock price decline takes place with the announcement of rights

Transcultural group performance in extreme environment: Issues, concepts and emerging theory

Science.gov (United States)

Lapierre, Judith; Bouchard, Stéphane; Martin, Thibault; Perreault, Michel

2009-06-01

A simulation for flight of international crew on space station took place in Moscow from July 1999 to April 2000 (SFINCS) at the State Biomedical Institute of Russia (IBMP) isolation chambers. Objectives of this study were to identify concepts of psychosocial adaptation and of social interactions to develop an explanation of the transcultural group performance. Method: constructivist epistemology with grounded theory research and fourth generation evaluation were used. Data on processes and interactions were gathered during 110 days of confinement as a subject and extended to 240 days as an outside scientist. Results indicate that coping is influenced by usual coping strategies and coping behaviors inside. Several stresses and human factor issues were identified altering well being and performance inside the chambers. Enabling and limiting forces are discussed. A theory on transcultural group performance is proposed. Issues are raised that appear critical to selection, training and group performance.

BWR spent fuel storage cask performance test. Volume 1. Cask handling experience and decay heat, heat transfer, and shielding data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKinnon, M.A.; Doman, J.W.; Tanner, J.E.; Guenther, R.J.; Creer, J.M.; King, C.E.

1986-02-01

This report documents a heat transfer and shielding performance test conducted on a Ridihalgh, Eggers and Associates REA 2023 boiling water reactor (BWR) spent fuel storage cask. The testing effort consisted of three parts: pretest preparations, performance testing, and post-test activities. Pretest preparations included conducting cask handling dry runs and characterizing BWR spent fuel assemblies from Nebraska Public Power District's Cooper Nuclear Station. The performance test matrix included 14 runs consisting of two loadings, two cask orientations, and three backfill environments. Post-test activities included calorimetry and axial radiation scans of selected fuel assemblies, in-basin sipping of each assembly, crud collection, video and photographic scans, and decontamination of the cask interior and exterior

Workshop on rock mechanics issues in repository design and performance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-04-01

The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses organized and hosted a workshop on ''Rock Mechanics Issues in Repository Design and Performance Assessment'' on behalf its sponsor the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This workshop was held on September 19- 20, 1994 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Rockville, Maryland. The objectives of the workshop were to stimulate exchange of technical information among parties actively investigating rock mechanics issues relevant to the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain and identify/confirm rock mechanics issues important to repository design and performance assessment The workshop contained three technical sessions and two panel discussions. The participants included technical and research staffs representing the NRC and the Department of Energy and their contractors, as well as researchers from the academic, commercial, and international technical communities. These proceedings include most of the technical papers presented in the technical sessions and the transcripts for the two panel discussions

Management issues for high performance storage systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Louis, S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Burris, R. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

1995-03-01

Managing distributed high-performance storage systems is complex and, although sharing common ground with traditional network and systems management, presents unique storage-related issues. Integration technologies and frameworks exist to help manage distributed network and system environments. Industry-driven consortia provide open forums where vendors and users cooperate to leverage solutions. But these new approaches to open management fall short addressing the needs of scalable, distributed storage. We discuss the motivation and requirements for storage system management (SSM) capabilities and describe how SSM manages distributed servers and storage resource objects in the High Performance Storage System (HPSS), a new storage facility for data-intensive applications and large-scale computing. Modem storage systems, such as HPSS, require many SSM capabilities, including server and resource configuration control, performance monitoring, quality of service, flexible policies, file migration, file repacking, accounting, and quotas. We present results of initial HPSS SSM development including design decisions and implementation trade-offs. We conclude with plans for follow-on work and provide storage-related recommendations for vendors and standards groups seeking enterprise-wide management solutions.

Experimental Investigation on the Effects of Coolant Concentration on Sub-Cooled Boiling and Crud Deposition on Reactor Cladding at Prototypical PWR Operating Conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schultis, J., Kenneth; Fenton, Donald, L.

2006-10-20

Increasing demand for energy necessitates nuclear power units to increase power limits. This implies significant changes in the design of the core of the nuclear power units, therefore providing better performance and safety in operations. A major hindrance to the increase of nuclear reactor performance especially in Pressurized Deionized water Reactors (PWR) is Axial Offset Anomaly (AOA)--the unexpected change in the core axial power distribution during operation from the predicted distribution. This problem is thought to be occur because of precipitation and deposition of lithiated compounds like boric acid (H{sub 2}BO{sub 3}) and lithium metaborate (LiBO{sub 2}) on the fuel rod cladding. Deposited boron absorbs neutrons thereby affecting the total power distribution inside the reactor. AOA is thought to occur when there is sufficient build-up of crud deposits on the cladding during subcooled nucleate boiling. Predicting AOA is difficult as there is very little information regarding the heat and mass transfer during subcooled nucleate boiling. An experimental investigation was conducted to study the heat transfer characteristics during subcooled nucleate boiling at prototypical PWR conditions. Pool boiling tests were conducted with varying concentrations of lithium metaborate (LiBO{sub 2}) and boric acid (H{sub 2}BO{sub 3}) solutions in deionized water. The experimental data collected includes the effect of coolant concentration, subcooling, system pressure and heat flux on pool the boiling heat transfer coefficient. The analysis of particulate deposits formed on the fuel cladding surface during subcooled nucleate boiling was also performed. The results indicate that the pool boiling heat transfer coefficient degrades in the presence of boric acid and lithium metaborate compared to pure deionized water due to lesser nucleation. The pool boiling heat transfer coefficients decreased by about 24% for 5000 ppm concentrated boric acid solution and by 27% for 5000 ppm

Modeling performance measurement applications and implementation issues in DEA

CERN Document Server

Cook, Wade D

2005-01-01

Addresses advanced/new DEA methodology and techniques that are developed for modeling unique and new performance evaluation issuesPesents new DEA methodology and techniques via discussions on how to solve managerial problemsProvides an easy-to-use DEA software - DEAFrontier (www.deafrontier.com) which is an excellent tool for both DEA researchers and practitioners.

Influence of Farmer demographics and Supply Chain Issues on Organized Retailer Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prabhu Aruna

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Advances in information technology and increased social networking have increased health awareness among people in this era. The increased health awareness has prompted people to eat healthy and stay fit. In this regard, the food sector has seen tremendous demand in terms of good quality vegetables/fruits, cereals, with hygiene, nutrition, proteins etc. With the consumer willing to pay an extra premium for the quality expected, it has been observed that the producers are still offered low prices for a good quality produce whereas the intermediaries grab a huge share of the price paid by the consumer. This research tried to understand the supply chain with the farmers in focus and explored the influence of farmer demographics and the supply chain issues on the performance of the organized retail. Linear regression analysis was used to test the linear relationship of supply chain issues with organized retailer performance. The outcome of the study implies that independent variables like demographic characteristics and supply chain issues had no control over the retailer’s performance.

Workshop on rock mechanics issues in repository design and performance assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-04-01

The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses organized and hosted a workshop on ``Rock Mechanics Issues in Repository Design and Performance Assessment`` on behalf its sponsor the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This workshop was held on September 19- 20, 1994 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Rockville, Maryland. The objectives of the workshop were to stimulate exchange of technical information among parties actively investigating rock mechanics issues relevant to the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain and identify/confirm rock mechanics issues important to repository design and performance assessment The workshop contained three technical sessions and two panel discussions. The participants included technical and research staffs representing the NRC and the Department of Energy and their contractors, as well as researchers from the academic, commercial, and international technical communities. These proceedings include most of the technical papers presented in the technical sessions and the transcripts for the two panel discussions. Selected papers have been indexed separately for inclusion the Energy Science and Technology Database.

Zircaloy-4 corrosion in PWR's

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fyfitch, S.; Smalley, W.R.; Roberts, E.

1985-01-01

Zircaloy-4 waterside corrosion has been studied extensively in the nuclear industry for a number of years. Following the early crud-related corrosion failures in the Saxton test reactor, Westinghouse undertook numerous programs to minimize crud deposition on fuel rods in power reactors through primary coolant chemistry control. Modern plants today are operating with improved coolant chemistry guidelines, and crud deposition levels are very low in proportion to earlier experience. Zircaloy-4 corrosion under a variety of coolant chemistry, heat flux and exposure conditions has been studied extensively. Experience to date, even in relatively high coolant temperature plants, has indicated that -for both fuel cladding and structural components- Zircaloy-4 waterside corrosion performance has been excellent. Recognizing future industry trends, however, which will result in Zircaloy-4 being subjected to ever increasing corrosion duties, Westinghouse will continue accumulating Zircaloy-4 corrosion experience in large power plants. 13 refs.

Applicability study on a ceramic filter with hot-test conducted in a BWR plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, K.; Shirai, T.; Wada, M.; Nakamizo, H.

1991-01-01

Radioactive crud removal and filtration performance recovery by backwashing were examined with a BWR plant pool water using a ceramic filter element, 0.1 micron in nominal pore size and 0.2m 2 in filtration area. Totally 1114 hours filter operation were accumulated. Ten backwashings were accomplished during the test period. The following results were obtained. (1) Radioactive crud concentration in the filter effluent remained below 10 5 Bq/m 3 . (2) Both pressure loss through the filter and dose rate at the filter vessel surface were recovered to the initial level by each backwashing. The surface dose rate after backwashing was approximately 0.01mSv/h. According to these test results, it is confirmed that the ceramic filter is appropriate for the treatment of highly crud concentrated radioactive liquid, which is generated in nuclear facilities, such as spent fuel reprocessing plants. (author)

Multiphysics modeling of two-phase film boiling within porous corrosion deposits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jin, Miaomiao, E-mail: mmjin@mit.edu; Short, Michael, E-mail: hereiam@mit.edu

2016-07-01

Porous corrosion deposits on nuclear fuel cladding, known as CRUD, can cause multiple operational problems in light water reactors (LWRs). CRUD can cause accelerated corrosion of the fuel cladding, increase radiation fields and hence greater exposure risk to plant workers once activated, and induce a downward axial power shift causing an imbalance in core power distribution. In order to facilitate a better understanding of CRUD's effects, such as localized high cladding surface temperatures related to accelerated corrosion rates, we describe an improved, fully-coupled, multiphysics model to simulate heat transfer, chemical reactions and transport, and two-phase fluid flow within these deposits. Our new model features a reformed assumption of 2D, two-phase film boiling within the CRUD, correcting earlier models' assumptions of single-phase coolant flow with wick boiling under high heat fluxes. This model helps to better explain observed experimental values of the effective CRUD thermal conductivity. Finally, we propose a more complete set of boiling regimes, or a more detailed mechanism, to explain recent CRUD deposition experiments by suggesting the new concept of double dryout specifically in thick porous media with boiling chimneys. - Highlights: • A two-phase model of CRUD's effects on fuel cladding is developed and improved. • This model eliminates the formerly erroneous assumption of wick boiling. • Higher fuel cladding temperatures are predicted when accounting for two-phase flow. • Double-peaks in thermal conductivity vs. heat flux in experiments are explained. • A “double dryout” mechanism in CRUD is proposed based on the model and experiments.

Human factors considerations in control room modernization: Trends and personnel performance issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Hara, J.; Stubler, B.; Kramer, J.

1997-01-01

Advanced human-system interface (HSI) technology is being integrated into existing nuclear plants as part of plant modifications and upgrades. The result of this trend is that hybrid HSIs are created, i.e., HSIs containing a mixture of conventional (analog) and advanced (digital) technology. The purpose of the present research is to define the potential effects of hybrid HSIs on personnel performance and plant safety and to develop human factors guidance for safety reviews of them where necessary. In support of this objective, human factors topics associated with hybrid HSIs were identified. A human performance topic is an aspect of hybrid HSIs, such as a design or implementation feature, for which human performance concerns were identified. The topics were then evaluated for their potential significance to plant safety. Twelve topics were identified as potentially safety significant issues, i.e., their human performance concerns have the potential to compromise plant safety. The issues were then prioritized and a subset was selected for design review guidance development. 6 refs

Performance assessment and licensing issues for United States commercial near-surface low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birk, S. M.

1997-01-01

This paper covers the performance assessment and licensing issues, the performance the objectives, the performance assessment phases, the scenario selection, the mathematical modeling and computer programs, the final results of performance assessments submitted for license applications, the institutional control period, and the licensing issues. 38 refs

System performance modeling of extreme ultraviolet lithographic thermal issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spence, P. A.; Gianoulakis, S. E.; Moen, C. D.; Kanouff, M. P.; Fisher, A.; Ray-Chaudhuri, A. K.

1999-01-01

Numerical simulation is used in the development of an extreme ultraviolet lithography Engineering Test Stand. Extensive modeling was applied to predict the impact of thermal loads on key lithographic parameters such as image placement error, focal shift, and loss of CD control. We show that thermal issues can be effectively managed to ensure that their impact on lithographic performance is maintained within design error budgets. (c) 1999 American Vacuum Society

Issues in developing valid assessments of speech pathology students' performance in the workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister, Sue; Lincoln, Michelle; Ferguson, Alison; McAllister, Lindy

2010-01-01

Workplace-based learning is a critical component of professional preparation in speech pathology. A validated assessment of this learning is seen to be 'the gold standard', but it is difficult to develop because of design and validation issues. These issues include the role and nature of judgement in assessment, challenges in measuring quality, and the relationship between assessment and learning. Valid assessment of workplace-based performance needs to capture the development of competence over time and account for both occupation specific and generic competencies. This paper reviews important conceptual issues in the design of valid and reliable workplace-based assessments of competence including assessment content, process, impact on learning, measurement issues, and validation strategies. It then goes on to share what has been learned about quality assessment and validation of a workplace-based performance assessment using competency-based ratings. The outcomes of a four-year national development and validation of an assessment tool are described. A literature review of issues in conceptualizing, designing, and validating workplace-based assessments was conducted. Key factors to consider in the design of a new tool were identified and built into the cycle of design, trialling, and data analysis in the validation stages of the development process. This paper provides an accessible overview of factors to consider in the design and validation of workplace-based assessment tools. It presents strategies used in the development and national validation of a tool COMPASS, used in an every speech pathology programme in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. The paper also describes Rasch analysis, a model-based statistical approach which is useful for establishing validity and reliability of assessment tools. Through careful attention to conceptual and design issues in the development and trialling of workplace-based assessments, it has been possible to develop the

Performance awareness execution performance of HEP codes on RISC platforms,issues and solutions

CERN Document Server

Yaari, R; Yaari, Refael; Jarp, Sverre

1995-01-01

The work described in this paper was started during the migration of Aleph's production jobs from the IBM mainframe/CRAY supercomputer to several RISC/Unix workstation platforms. The aim was to understand why Aleph did not obtain the performance on the RISC platforms that was "promised" after a CERN Unit comparison between these RISC platforms and the IBM mainframe. Remedies were also sought. Since the work with the Aleph jobs in turn led to the related task of understanding compilers and their options, the conditions under which the CERN benchmarks (and other benchmarks) were run, kernel routines and frequently used CERNLIB routines, the whole undertaking expanded to try to look at all the factors that influence the performance of High Energy Physics (HEP) jobs in general. Finally, key performance issues were reviewed against the programs of one of the LHC collaborations (Atlas) with the hope that the conclusions would be of long- term interest during the establishment of their simulation, reconstruction and...

Classification of alarm processing techniques and human performance issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, I.S.; O'Hara, J.M.

1993-01-01

Human factors reviews indicate that conventional alarm systems based on the one sensor, one alarm approach, have many human engineering deficiencies, a paramount example being too many alarms during major disturbances. As an effort to resolve these deficiencies, various alarm processing systems have been developed using different techniques. To ensure their contribution to operational safety, the impacts of those systems on operating crew performance should be carefully evaluated. This paper briefly reviews some of the human factors research issues associated with alarm processing techniques and then discusses a framework with which to classify the techniques. The dimensions of this framework can be used to explore the effects of alarm processing systems on human performance

Classification of alarm processing techniques and human performance issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, I.S.; O' Hara, J.M.

1993-01-01

Human factors reviews indicate that conventional alarm systems based on the one sensor, one alarm approach, have many human engineering deficiencies, a paramount example being too many alarms during major disturbances. As an effort to resolve these deficiencies, various alarm processing systems have been developed using different techniques. To ensure their contribution to operational safety, the impacts of those systems on operating crew performance should be carefully evaluated. This paper briefly reviews some of the human factors research issues associated with alarm processing techniques and then discusses a framework with which to classify the techniques. The dimensions of this framework can be used to explore the effects of alarm processing systems on human performance.

Classification of alarm processing techniques and human performance issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, I.S.; O`Hara, J.M.

1993-05-01

Human factors reviews indicate that conventional alarm systems based on the one sensor, one alarm approach, have many human engineering deficiencies, a paramount example being too many alarms during major disturbances. As an effort to resolve these deficiencies, various alarm processing systems have been developed using different techniques. To ensure their contribution to operational safety, the impacts of those systems on operating crew performance should be carefully evaluated. This paper briefly reviews some of the human factors research issues associated with alarm processing techniques and then discusses a framework with which to classify the techniques. The dimensions of this framework can be used to explore the effects of alarm processing systems on human performance.

Review on technical issues influencing the performance of chemical barriers of TRU waste repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujita, Tomonari; Sugiyama, Daisuke; Tsukamoto, Masaki; Yokoyama, Hayaichi

1997-01-01

Studies of technical issues influencing the performance assessment of TRU waste disposal which is occurred from the nuclear fuel reprocessing were reviewed in related to the development of safety analysis method. Especially, the chemical containment was investigated as a key barrier to radionuclide migration. TRU waste including long-lived radionuclides need long-term performance assessment which could be assumed only by the chemical barrier. The description of technical issues concerned with the performance of TRU waste repository has been divided into the following categories: long-term degradation of cementitious materials as engineered barrier for radionuclide migration, effect of colloids, organic macromolecules and organic degradation products on chemical behavior of radionuclides, gas generation by corrosion of metallic wastes, and effects of microbial activity. Preliminary performance assessment indicated that important factors affecting performance of chemical barriers in near-field were the distribution coefficient and the solubility of radionuclides in near-field groundwater. Therefore, it was identified that key issues associated with performance of chemical barrier were evaluation of (a) the long-term change of distribution coefficient of cementitious material through the degradation under repository condition and (b) chemical speciation change of radionuclides such as increase of solubility by the presence of colloidal-size materials. (author)

Power system technical performance issues related to the application of long HVAC cables

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiechowski, on behalf of Cigre WG C4.502, W.; Sluis, L. V. der; Ohno, Teruo

2011-01-01

This paper reports the progress of work of Cigre Working Group C4.502 “Power system technical performance issues related to the application of long HVAC cables”. The primary goal of the WG C4.502 is to write a technical brochure that will serve as practical guide for performing studies necessary...... for assessing the technical performance of HV/EHV systems with large share of AC cable lines. This paper besides providing a background for formulation of WG C4.502 and its overall aim, describes the tasks that were accomplished before the interim report was submitted to Study Committee C4 System Technical...... Performance in August 2010. The work in the WG is ongoing and final report will be ready according to the time schedule in 2012. The focus of this paper is in particular to show all issues related to system technical performance with assigned weights in terms of their importance and/or uniqueness for cable...

Fuel performance update at Japanese BWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otsuka, Yasuyuki; Abe, Moriyasu

2008-01-01

Fuel Performance of Japanese BWRs has shown excellency with a very low fuel failure rate over the past couple of decades. In order to eliminate debris-fretting failures, which is considered as a dominant cause, efforts have been made to work out strict FME program and introduce lower tie plate with debris filters. Regarding a measure to detect failures without delay, an online off-gas monitor is installed, and there occurred no significant secondary failures leading to unnecessary plant shutdowns thanks to the monitor. Current standard fuel designs are 9x9 lattice configuration with the design maximum burnup set at 55 GWd/t and the bundle average discharge burnup at 45 GWd/t. Satisfactory performance of many fuels has gained so far to the burnup level. However recent data show an increase in hydrogen pickup of fuel claddings and spacers in the region of high burnup or high irradiation period, and this is one of the issues that should be addressed to maintain and improve fuel reliability for the reasons that hydrogen concentration may affect ductility of zirconium alloy. Furthermore, a recent study showed abnormally high hydrogen concentration in fuel cladding. Comprehensive root cause analyses were made, which include a poolside measurement for a number of high burnup fuels and development of new technique for tenacious crud removal, with the result that it is confirmed that a unique combination of cladding material, irradiation period and environment caused the phenomenon and it is not expected to occur again. New iron enhanced zirconium alloys, which have been investigated in for a long time, are expected to have greater resistance to hydrogen pickup, and introduction of the alloys is considered as the future materials. Regarding extensive inspections of fuel assemblies and channel boxes at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPS, no abnormality due to Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki earthquake was observed for all plants. This paper deals with the current fuel performance at Japanese

Electrophoretic studies on corrosion products from secondary side on nuclear steam generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, P.C.; Velmurugan, S.; Sinha, P.K.; Mathur, P.K.

1988-01-01

Electrophoretic mobilities of aqueous suspensions of the steam generator crud samples were determined at 25degC and the zeta potentials were calculated using Smoluchowski equation assuming k. a>>1. The determined (pH) pzc values for different crud samples were compared with the available literature data for magnetite (the major constituent of S.G. crud). The observed shift in the (δ) zeta potentials and crud suspensions towards more negative values in the presence of anions such as Cl - , NO 3 - and SO 4 2- , used for maintaining constant ionic strengths, suggested probable adsorption of these anions on the oxide solution interface. (author). 10 refs

Impact of reactor water chemistry on cladding performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cox, B. [University of Toronto, Centre for Nuclear Engineering, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

1997-07-01

Water chemistry may have a major impact on fuel cladding performance in PWRs. If the saturation temperature on the surface of fuel cladding is exceeded, either because of the thermal hydraulics of the system, or because of crud deposition, then LiOH concentration can occur within thick porous oxide films on the cladding. This can degrade the protective film and accelerate the corrosion rate of the cladding. If sufficient boric acid is also present in the coolant then these effects may be mitigated. This is normally the case through most of any reactor fuel cycle. Extensive surface boiling may disrupt this equilibrium because of the volatility of boric acid in steam. Under such conditions severe cladding corrosion can ensue. The potential for such effects on high burnup cladding in CANDU reactors, where bone acid is not present in the primary coolant, is discussed. (author)

Impact of reactor water chemistry on cladding performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, B.

1997-01-01

Water chemistry may have a major impact on fuel cladding performance in PWRs. If the saturation temperature on the surface of fuel cladding is exceeded, either because of the thermal hydraulics of the system, or because of crud deposition, then LiOH concentration can occur within thick porous oxide films on the cladding. This can degrade the protective film and accelerate the corrosion rate of the cladding. If sufficient boric acid is also present in the coolant then these effects may be mitigated. This is normally the case through most of any reactor fuel cycle. Extensive surface boiling may disrupt this equilibrium because of the volatility of boric acid in steam. Under such conditions severe cladding corrosion can ensue. The potential for such effects on high burnup cladding in CANDU reactors, where bone acid is not present in the primary coolant, is discussed. (author)

42 CFR 493.53 - Notification requirements for laboratories issued a certificate for provider-performed microscopy...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... certificate for provider-performed microscopy (PPM) procedures. 493.53 Section 493.53 Public Health CENTERS... CERTIFICATION LABORATORY REQUIREMENTS Registration Certificate, Certificate for Provider-performed Microscopy... certificate for provider-performed microscopy (PPM) procedures. Laboratories issued a certificate for PPM...

Phenomenology and modeling of particulate corrosion product behavior in Hanford N Reactor primary coolant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bechtold, D.B.

1983-01-01

The levels and composition of filterable corrosion products in the Hanford N Reactor Primary Loop are measurable by filtration. The suspended crud level has ranged from 0.0005 ppM to 6.482 ppM with a median 0.050 ppM. The composition approximates magnetite. The particle size distribution has been found in 31 cases to be uniformly a log normal distribution with a count median ranging from 1.10 to 2.31 microns with a median of 1.81 microns, and the geometric standard deviation ranging from 1.60 to 2.34 with a median of 1.84. An auto-correcting inline turbidimeter was found to respond to linearly to suspended crud levels over a range 0.05 to at least 6.5 ppM by direct comparison with filter sample weights. Cause of crud bursts in the primary loop were found to be power decreases. The crud transients associated with a reactor power drop, several reactor shutdowns, and several reactor startups could be modeled consistently with each other using a simple stirred-tank, first order exchange model of particulate between makeup, coolant, letdown, and loosely adherent crud on pipe walls. Over 3/10 of the average steady running particulate crud level could be accounted for by magnetically filterable particulate in the makeup feed. A simulation model of particulate transport has been coded in FORTRAN

Identification and Characterization of Key Human Performance Issues and Research in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Paul U.; Sheridan, Tom; Poage, james L.; Martin, Lynne Hazel; Jobe, Kimberly K.

2010-01-01

This report identifies key human-performance-related issues associated with Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) research in the NASA NextGen-Airspace Project. Four Research Focus Areas (RFAs) in the NextGen-Airspace Project - namely Separation Assurance (SA), Airspace Super Density Operations (ASDO), Traffic Flow Management (TFM), and Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) - were examined closely. In the course of the research, it was determined that the identified human performance issues needed to be analyzed in the context of NextGen operations rather than through basic human factors research. The main gaps in human factors research in NextGen were found in the need for accurate identification of key human-systems related issues within the context of specific NextGen concepts and better design of the operational requirements for those concepts. By focusing on human-system related issues for individual concepts, key human performance issues for the four RFAs were identified and described in this report. In addition, mixed equipage airspace with components of two RFAs were characterized to illustrate potential human performance issues that arise from the integration of multiple concepts.

Development of experimental method to simulate the corrosion products in the primary system of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sang Hyun; Kim, In Sup; Jang, Chang Heui

2005-01-01

Corrosion products are recognized as one of the major sources of occupational radiation exposure for nuclear power plant workers. Numerous studies have been conducted on the primary water chemistry to reduce the amount of crud in the primary circuit to avoid the radioactivity build-up in the plant. However, experiments with crud are restricted in laboratory because the crud is highly radioactive material. The objective of this study is to develop the simulating method of corrosion product in nuclear power plant

Assessment of spent WWER-440 fuel performance under long-term storage conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takats, F [TS Enercon Kft. (Hungary)

2012-07-01

Paks Nuclear Power Plant is the only NPP in Hungary. It has four WWER-440 type reactor units. The fresh fuel is imported from Russia so far. The spent fuel assemblies were shipped back to Russia until 1997 after about 6 years cooling at the plant. A dry storage facility (MVDS type) has been constructed and is operational since then. By 1 January 2008, there were 5107 assemblies in dry storage. The objectives are: 1) Wet AR storage of spent fuel from the NPP Paks: Measurements of conditions for spent fuel storage in the at-reactor (AR) storage pools of Paks NPP (physical and chemical characteristics of pool water, corrosion product data); Measurements and visual control of storage pool component characteristics; Evaluation of storage characteristics and conditions with respect to long-term stability (corrosion of fuel cladding, construction materials); 2) Dry AFR storage at Paks NPP: Calculation and measurement of spent fuel conditions during the transfer from the storage pool to the modular vault dry storage (MVDS) on the site; Calculation and measurement of spent fuel conditions during the preparation of fuel for dry storage (drying process), such as crud release, activity build-up; Measurement of spent fuel conditions during the long-term dry storage, activity data in the storage tubes and amount of crud.

Conceptual adsorption models and open issues pertaining to performance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serne, R.J.

1991-10-01

Recently several articles have been published that question the appropriateness of the distribution coefficient, Rd, concept to quantify radionuclide migration. Several distinct issues are raised by various critics. In this paper I provide some perspective on issues surrounding the modeling of nuclide retardation. The first section defines adsorption terminology and discusses various adsorption processes. The next section describes five commonly used adsorption conceptual models, specifically emphasizing what attributes that affect adsorption are explicitly accommodated in each model. I also review efforts to incorporate each adsorption model into performance assessment transport computer codes. The five adsorption conceptual models are (1) the constant Rd model, (2) the parametric Rd model, (3) isotherm adsorption models, (4) mass-action adsorption models, and (5) surface-complexation with electrostatics models. The final section discusses the adequacy of the distribution ratio concept, the adequacy of transport calculations that rely on constant retardation factors and the status of incorporating sophisticated adsorption models into transport codes

MOOSE Implementation of MAMBA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galloway, Jack [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Matthews, Topher [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-01-17

The development of MAMBA is targeted at capturing both core wide CRUD induced power shifts (CIPS) as well as pin-­level CRUD induced localized corrosion (CILC). Both CIPS and CILC require some sort of information from thermal-­hydraulic, neutronics, and fuel performance codes, although the degree of coupling is different for the two effects. Since CIPS necessarily requires a core-­wide power distribution solve, it requires tight coupling with a neutronics code. Conversely, CIPS tends to be an individual pin phenomenon, requiring tight coupling a fuel performance code. As efforts are now focused on coupling MAMBA within the VERA suite, a natural separation has surfaced in which a FORTRAN rewrite of MAMBA is optimal for VERA integration to capture CIPS behavior, while a CILC focused calculation would benefit from a tight coupling with BISON, motivating a MOOSE version of MAMBA.

Review of issues and challenges for public private partnership (PPP) project performance in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, H.; Che-Ani, A. I.; Ismail, K.

2017-10-01

Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Malaysia aims to stimulate economic growth and overcome the weakness of conventional system. Over the years, many critics have been reported along the massive growth of PPP project development. Within that context, this study provides a review of issues and challenges for PPP pertaining to project performance in Malaysia. The study also attempts to investigate four performance measurement models around the globe as a basis for improvement of PPP in Malaysia. A qualitative method was used to analyse literature review from previous published literatures while comparative analysis was carried out within the models to identify their advantages and disadvantages. The findings show that the issues and challenges occurred were related to human, technical and financial factor that could hinder the implementation of PPP project in Malaysia. From the analysis, KPIs, guideline / framework, risk allocation, efficiency & flexibility are perceived as dominant issues. Finally, the findings provide an informed basis on the opportunity areas to be considered for improvement in order to achieved project effectiveness.

Evaluation of ion exchange resin performance in Kuosheng nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, T.J.; Chen Huang, T.; Liu, W.C.; Liu, T.C.; Shen, S.C.

2004-01-01

Different types and brands of bead and powdered ion exchange resin have been widely used in condensate and reactor water clean-up system in Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs). The importance of primary coolant quality control has been well recognized. Recently, some measures both in promoting the conductivity of reactor water and minimizing iron crud of feed-water have been recommended by the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research. The variation of water quality between the condensate and reactor water is closely related with the performance of condensate polisher and precoat condition. In order to ensure optimization of water chemistry quality in reactor system, historical water chemistry data have been reviewed and evaluated. The most probable causes of exceeding the chemistry limits and guidelines should be identified and some reasonable corrective actions have been documented as a reference for promoting the water quality and run length extending in the plant normal operation. (author)

A Review on Human Body Communication: Signal Propagation Model, Communication Performance, and Experimental Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Feng Zhao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Human body communication (HBC, which uses the human body tissue as the transmission medium to transmit health informatics, serves as a promising physical layer solution for the body area network (BAN. The human centric nature of HBC offers an innovative method to transfer the healthcare data, whose transmission requires low interference and reliable data link. Therefore, the deployment of HBC system obtaining good communication performance is required. In this regard, a tutorial review on the important issues related to HBC data transmission such as signal propagation model, channel characteristics, communication performance, and experimental considerations is conducted. In this work, the development of HBC and its first attempts are firstly reviewed. Then a survey on the signal propagation models is introduced. Based on these models, the channel characteristics are summarized; the communication performance and selection of transmission parameters are also investigated. Moreover, the experimental issues, such as electrodes and grounding strategies, are also discussed. Finally, the recommended future studies are provided.

Can the Stock Market Anticipate Future Operating Performance? Evidence from Equity Rights Issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kabir, Mohammed Rezaul; Roosenboom, Peter

2002-01-01

This paper examines whether the stock market valuation impact is consistent with subsequent operating performance of firms. We use data for equity rights offerings - the widely adopted flotation method in the Netherlands. We first examine the stock market announcement effect of rights issues and

EFRT M-12 Issue Resolution: Comparison of Filter Performance at PEP and CUF Scale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daniel, Richard C.; Billing, Justin M.; Bontha, Jagannadha R.; Brown, Christopher F.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Hanson, Brady D.; Huckaby, James L.; Karri, Naveen K.; Kimura, Marcia L.; Kurath, Dean E.; Minette, Michael J.

2010-01-22

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed, constructed, and operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, “Undemonstrated Leaching Processes” of the External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.(a) The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing.

EFRT M-12 Issue Resolution: Comparison of Filter Performance at PEP and CUF Scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daniel, Richard C.; Billing, Justin M.; Bontha, Jagannadha R.; Brown, Christopher F.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Hanson, Brady D.; Huckaby, James L.; Karri, Naveen K.; Kimura, Marcia L.; Kurath, Dean E.; Minette, Michael J.

2010-01-01

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed, constructed, and operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, 'Undemonstrated Leaching Processes' of the External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.(a) The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing.

Fuel cladding tube and fuel rod for BWR type reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urata, Megumu; Mitani, Shinji.

1995-01-01

A fuel cladding tube has grooves fabricated, on the surface thereof, with a predetermined difference between crest and bottom (depth of the groove) in the circumferential direction. The cross sectional shape thereof is sinusoidal. The distribution of the grain size of iron crud particles in coolants is within a range about from 2μm to 12μm. If the surface roughness of the fuel cladding tube (depth of the groove) is determined greater than 1.6μm and less than 12.5, iron cruds in coolants can be positively deposited on the surface of the fuel cladding tube. In addition, once deposited iron cruds can be prevented from peeling from the surface of the fuel cladding tube. With such procedures, iron cruds deposited and radioactivated on the fuel cladding tube can be prevented from peeling, to prevent and reduce the increase of radiation dose on the surface of the pipelines without providing any additional device. (I.N.)

A lack of standardization: the basis for the ethical issues surrounding quality and performance reports.

Science.gov (United States)

Suchy, Kirsten

2010-01-01

Consumers in the United States are taking advantage of the proliferation of publicly available, internet-based performance reports and quality appraisals of health plans, healthcare organizations, hospitals, and physicians to aid in their healthcare decision making. However, these appraisal practices have given rise to controversy and debate over certain distinctive ethical issues. This article advocates a standardized ethical framework to guide current and future development and implementation of performance reports. This framework, which would resolve a number of the major issues, includes the following ethical principles to guide the practice of public reporting on the Internet and facilitate enhanced quality improvement in the healthcare industry: legitimacy, data integrity and quality, transparency, informed understanding, equity, privacy and confidentiality, collaboration, accountability, and evaluation and continuous improvement.

A study on the generation of radioactive corrosion product at PWR for extended fuel cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Min Chul Song; Kun Jai Lee

2001-01-01

Current nuclear power plant operating practice is to extend the time between refueling from a 12 month operating cycle to an 18-24 month period. This current to longer fuel cycles has complicated the dilemma of finding optimum pH range for the primary coolant chemistry. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in ICRP publication No. 60 recommends optimization of operator radiation exposure (ORE) in nuclear power plants. CRUD formed in the plants is the major source of ORE and its transport mechanism is not understood. To analyze the generation of CRUD at the extended fuel cycle, the COTRAN code, which was developed at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), was used. It predicts that the activity of CRUD decreases as the pH of the coolant increases. For the same period of different fuel cycles, as the operating fuel cycle duration is increased, the generation of the CRUD increases. In this paper, enriched boric acid (40% enriched 10 B concentration) for reactivity control is adopted as the required chemical shim rather than natural boric acid. The effect of the enriched boric acid (EBA) is that the neutron absorption capability of the chemical shim is maintained while decreasing the required boron and lithium concentration in the reactor coolant system. By employing enriched boric acid, the amounts of CRUD generated are reduced, because the high pH-operating period is extended. From the waste generation point of view, more filters or ion exchangers to remove CRUD are required and the amounts of waste are increased at the extended fuel cycle. (author)

Simulated effect of timing and Pt quantity injected on On-line NobleChem application on total fuel liftoff

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pop, M.G.; Riddle, J.M.; Lamanna, L.S.; Gregorich, C.; Hoornik, A.

2015-01-01

Total liftoff is a measure of fuel performance and a risk indicator for fuel reliability. Fuel operability and license limits are directly related to the expected total lifetime liftoff. AREVA's continued commitment to zero fuel failure is expressed, among other efforts, in the continued development and improvement of its fuel cladding corrosion and crud risk assessment tools. The AREVA models used to assess and predict crud deposition on BWR cores over their lifespan have been refined by the development and incorporation of the PEZOG tool in response to the move in the industry to the On-Line NobleChem TM (OLNC) technology. PEZOG models the platinum-enhanced zirconium oxide growth of fuel cladding when exposed to platinum during operation. Depending on the local chemistry and radiation condition, noble metals act as catalysts for many reactions, including but not limited to hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction. OLNC's intention is to catalyze the hydrogen and oxygen recombination reaction for core internals protection. However, research has indicated that noble metals catalyze the oxygen reduction under the chemistry and radiation conditions as experienced in the pores of crud deposits, and hence, can increase the corrosion rate of zirconium alloy cladding. The developed PEZOG module calculates the oxide thickness as a function of platinum injection strategy. The stratified nature of oxide and crud layers formed on fuel cladding surfaces is reflected in the calculations as are the different platinum interaction in each of the layers. This paper presents examples of the evaluation of various aspects of the platinum injection strategies and their influence on the oxide growth enhancement as applied to conditions of a U.S. plant. (authors)

Decruding of PWR Fuel with the ICEDEC{sup TM} technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ivars, Roland; Fredriksson, Eva; Rosengren, Anders; Hallgren, Peter [Westinghouse Atom AB, Uppsala (Sweden)

2002-04-15

The novel fuel decontamination system ICEDEC{sup TM} utilizes a mixture of ice particles and water circulating through the assembly for scraping off loose crud from the fuel surfaces. Initially, ICEDEC{sup TM} was developed for BWRs. By means of fuel decontamination the origin of the personnel radiation exposure, i. e. the loose fuel crud, can be decreased. The technique can be used for radiation level reduction, eliminating the AOA (Axial Offset anomaly) problem or general decruding purposes. Decontamination tests of burned out and two-year-old fuel in the BWR Ringhals 1 in Sweden verified that ICEDEC{sup TM} maintained the mechanical integrity of the fuel and fulfilled the very important criteria; only the loose crud was removed and the oxide layer was not affected. Activity measurements prior to and after the decontamination, showed that more than 50% of the loose crud was removed from the fuel surfaces. For PWR the condition of maintained boron level in the pool water is a prerequisite. This can be achieved by utilizing a closed loop system with a water reservoir. From the reservoir water is used for the production of the ice particles. After removal of the loose crud from the fuel the crud/ice/water slurry is separated in a specially designed filter unit. The melted ice and residual water is then transported back to the water reservoir. Other methods could be to add boron equivalent to the excess water from the melted ice or use reverse osmosis to separate the boron and water in the pool. Including an application study followed by preliminary and detailed designs and manufacture and testing a PWR ICEDEC{sup TM} system can be licensed after two years.

Safety performance indicators. Topical issues paper no. 5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlgren, K.; Lederman, L.; Szikszai, T.; Palomo, J.

2001-01-01

performance, they are just one of a larger set of tools including probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), regulatory inspection, quality assurance, external reviews and self-assessment needed to assess operational safety performance. The integration of information compiled from such evaluation tools yields the best results. Two areas of increasingly common interest are 'risk based' indicators, and 'safety culture' indicators. The key to managing the nuclear business today is to establish a high quality safety management system as well as developing a strong safety culture within the entire organization. 'The safety management system comprises those arrangements made by the organization for the management of safety in order to promote a strong safety culture and achieve good safety performance'. This definition, presented in INSAG-13, illustrates the close connection between 'safety management systems' and 'safety culture' and that they are in fact inseparable. To manage safety effectively you need a systematic approach and at the same time be aware of the effects of the approach on individual and collective human behaviour. This issue covers the following: development of safety performance indicators, indicator selection and use, recommended indicators, indicators collected from nuclear power plant initiatives, management of safety and safety culture, need and feasibility of an international system, plant management needs, regulatory use of safety performance indicators, public communication, and recommendations for priorities in future work

CASL L1 Milestone report : CASL.P4.01, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis for CIPS with VIPRE-W and BOA.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sung, Yixing (Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry Township, PA); Adams, Brian M.; Secker, Jeffrey R. (Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry Township, PA)

2011-12-01

The CASL Level 1 Milestone CASL.P4.01, successfully completed in December 2011, aimed to 'conduct, using methodologies integrated into VERA, a detailed sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification of a crud-relevant problem with baseline VERA capabilities (ANC/VIPRE-W/BOA).' The VUQ focus area led this effort, in partnership with AMA, and with support from VRI. DAKOTA was coupled to existing VIPRE-W thermal-hydraulics and BOA crud/boron deposit simulations representing a pressurized water reactor (PWR) that previously experienced crud-induced power shift (CIPS). This work supports understanding of CIPS by exploring the sensitivity and uncertainty in BOA outputs with respect to uncertain operating and model parameters. This report summarizes work coupling the software tools, characterizing uncertainties, and analyzing the results of iterative sensitivity and uncertainty studies. These studies focused on sensitivity and uncertainty of CIPS indicators calculated by the current version of the BOA code used in the industry. Challenges with this kind of analysis are identified to inform follow-on research goals and VERA development targeting crud-related challenge problems.

CASL L1 Milestone report: CASL.P4.01, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis for CIPS with VIPRE-W and BOA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sung, Yixing; Adams, Brian M.; Secker, Jeffrey R.

2011-01-01

The CASL Level 1 Milestone CASL.P4.01, successfully completed in December 2011, aimed to 'conduct, using methodologies integrated into VERA, a detailed sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification of a crud-relevant problem with baseline VERA capabilities (ANC/VIPRE-W/BOA).' The VUQ focus area led this effort, in partnership with AMA, and with support from VRI. DAKOTA was coupled to existing VIPRE-W thermal-hydraulics and BOA crud/boron deposit simulations representing a pressurized water reactor (PWR) that previously experienced crud-induced power shift (CIPS). This work supports understanding of CIPS by exploring the sensitivity and uncertainty in BOA outputs with respect to uncertain operating and model parameters. This report summarizes work coupling the software tools, characterizing uncertainties, and analyzing the results of iterative sensitivity and uncertainty studies. These studies focused on sensitivity and uncertainty of CIPS indicators calculated by the current version of the BOA code used in the industry. Challenges with this kind of analysis are identified to inform follow-on research goals and VERA development targeting crud-related challenge problems.

The effect of plant aging on equipment qualification and human performance issues related to license renewal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunther, W.E.; Higgins, J.C.; Aggarwal, S.K.

1991-01-01

The aging of nuclear power plants is one of the most important issues facing the nuclear industry worldwide. Aging encompasses as forms of degradation to nuclear power plant components, systems, and structures that result from exposure to environmental conditions or from operational stresses. Both the degradation from aging and actions taken to address the aging, such as increased maintenance and testing, can significantly impact human performance in the plant. Research into the causes and effects of aging as obtained through the assessment of operating experience and testing have raised questions regarding the adequacy of existing industry standards for addressing the concerns raised by this research. This paper discusses these issues, with particular emphasis in the area of equipment qualification and human performance

The effect of plant aging on equipment qualification and human performance issues related to license renewal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gunther, W.E.; Higgins, J.C. [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States); Aggarwal, S.K. [Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)

1991-12-31

The aging of nuclear power plants is one of the most important issues facing the nuclear industry worldwide. Aging encompasses as forms of degradation to nuclear power plant components, systems, and structures that result from exposure to environmental conditions or from operational stresses. Both the degradation from aging and actions taken to address the aging, such as increased maintenance and testing, can significantly impact human performance in the plant. Research into the causes and effects of aging as obtained through the assessment of operating experience and testing have raised questions regarding the adequacy of existing industry standards for addressing the concerns raised by this research. This paper discusses these issues, with particular emphasis in the area of equipment qualification and human performance.

The effect of plant aging on equipment qualification and human performance issues related to license renewal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gunther, W.E.; Higgins, J.C. (Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)); Aggarwal, S.K. (Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States))

1991-01-01

The aging of nuclear power plants is one of the most important issues facing the nuclear industry worldwide. Aging encompasses as forms of degradation to nuclear power plant components, systems, and structures that result from exposure to environmental conditions or from operational stresses. Both the degradation from aging and actions taken to address the aging, such as increased maintenance and testing, can significantly impact human performance in the plant. Research into the causes and effects of aging as obtained through the assessment of operating experience and testing have raised questions regarding the adequacy of existing industry standards for addressing the concerns raised by this research. This paper discusses these issues, with particular emphasis in the area of equipment qualification and human performance.

Enhanced performance and control issues in JT-60U long pulse discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakamoto, Y

2005-01-01

Recent experimental results are reported on control issues involved in long timescales and enhanced performance in JT-60U. The control issues in neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) suppression in the weak shear plasma regime include background optimization through decreasing β p (L q /L p ) at the rational surface and active stabilization of NTMs using ECCD. By optimizing β p (L q /L p ), a condition of β N ∼ 2.5 was sustained for 10 times the current profile relaxation time and one of β N ∼ 2.4 with q min ∼ 1.5 was sustained for 2.8 times the current profile relaxation time, with nearly full non-inductive current drive. In addition, a condition of β N ∼ 3 was sustained for 5.5 s through stabilization of NTMs using ECCD, and an EC driven current nearly equal to the bootstrap current was required for complete stabilization. In the reversed shear plasma regime, the issue is the existence of the steady state solution with a large f BS value. By controlling the pressure gradient at the internal transport barrier through toroidal rotation to avoid the disruption, a large f BS value of approximately 75% was sustained for 2.7 times the current profile relaxation time, with nearly full non-inductive current drive, and a steady-state solution with a large f BS value is confirmed. The control issues for the edge pedestal and edge localized modes (ELMs) are control of the pedestal pressure and the energy loss through ELMs. The pedestal pressure increases by >40% through the change in toroidal rotation. The type of ELM can be controlled by toroidal rotation from type-I to grassy

Sogin enriched uranium extraction (EUREX) plant spent fuel pool cleaning and decontamination utilizing the Smart Safe solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denton, M.S.; Gili, M.; Nasta, M.; Quintiliani, R.; Caccia, G.; Botzen, W.; Forrester, K.

2009-01-01

SOGIN's EUREX facility in Italy was developed as a pilot plant functional testing laboratory for spent fuel reprocessing. This facility was operated successfully for many years since 1970 and was eventually shutdown consistent with Italy's suspension of all nuclear operations. At the time of suspension, the EUREX facility still had spent nuclear fuel assemblies in storage from a nearby PWR. Other fuel assemblies from an Italian AGR had remained stored in the spent fuel pool for the 20 years or so waiting for removal and reprocessing abroad. Being Magnox fuel elements, their recovery for the transport produced a huge amount of sludge in the pool. During this time, sediment, dirt, corrosion products, fuel cladding, etc. has collected within the fuel pool as a crud layer dispersed throughout. Most of this crud has accumulated on the horizontal surfaces of the pool and fuel element assemblies, while some remains as a suspended colloidal material. Furthermore many other contaminated metal components, used during the operation years, where still inside the pool. Due to a pool leak discovered in 2006, SOGIN speeded up its pool decommissioning program, making also available the transfer of the spent fuel to a nearby interim repository, with the goal to completely drain the pool in the shortest period of time. In order for SOGIN to successfully transfer the fuel assemblies from their current storage basket locations to the spent fuel transfer cask, the bulk of the crud needed to be removed. This cleanup operation was deemed necessary to minimize the suspension of contamination in the water during underwater handling operations. This would reduce the decontamination efforts on the transfer cask upon removal, once loaded with the spent fuel, and enhance safety by reducing potential underwater visibility issues. The operations were completed in July 2008 with the release to the environment of the pool water, thoroughly purified and without any relevant radiological impact. The

Summary report on the FHWA LTBP Workshop to identify bridge substructure performance issues : March 4-6, 2010, in Orlando, FL.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

The Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) program was created to identify, collect, and analyze researchquality : data on the most critical aspects of bridge performance. To complete a thorough investigation of bridge : performance issues, the Federal ...

West Valley facility spent fuel handling, storage, and shipping experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, W.J.

1990-11-01

The result of a study on handling and shipping experience with spent fuel are described in this report. The study was performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and was jointly sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The purpose of the study was to document the experience with handling and shipping of relatively old light-water reactor (LWR) fuel that has been in pool storage at the West Valley facility, which is at the Western New York Nuclear Service Center at West Valley, New York and operated by DOE. A subject of particular interest in the study was the behavior of corrosion product deposits (i.e., crud) deposits on spent LWR fuel after long-term pool storage; some evidence of crud loosening has been observed with fuel that was stored for extended periods at the West Valley facility and at other sites. Conclusions associated with the experience to date with old spent fuel that has been stored at the West Valley facility are presented. The conclusions are drawn from these subject areas: a general overview of the West Valley experience, handling of spent fuel, storing of spent fuel, rod consolidation, shipping of spent fuel, crud loosening, and visual inspection. A list of recommendations is provided. 61 refs., 4 figs., 5 tabs

Theory underlying CRM training: Psychological issues in flight crew performance and crew coordination

Science.gov (United States)

Helmreich, Robert L.

1987-01-01

What psychological theory and research can reveal about training in Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) is summarized. A framework is provided for the critical analysis of current approaches to CRM training. Background factors and definitions critical to evaluating CRM are reviewed, followed by a discussion of issues directly related to CRM training effectiveness. Some of the things not known about the optimization of crew performance and the research needed to make these efforts as effective as possible are described.

Mitigation of cesium and cobalt contamination on the surfaces of RAM packages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krumhansl, J.; Bonhomme, F.; McConnell, P.; Kapoor, A.

2004-01-01

Techniques for mitigating the adsorption of 137 Cs and 60 Co on metal surfaces (e.g., RAM packages) exposed to contaminated water (e.g., spent-fuel pools) has been developed and experimentally verified. The techniques are also effective in removing some of the 60 Co and 137 Cs that may have been adsorbed on the surfaces after removal from the contaminated water. The principle for the 137 Cs mitigation technique is based upon ion-exchange processes. In contrast, 60 Co contamination primarily resides in minute particles of CRUD that become lodged on cask surfaces. CRUD is an insoluble Fe-Ni-Cr oxide that forms colloidal-sized particles as stainless steels corrode. Because of the similarity between Ni +2 and Co +2 , CRUD is able to scavenge and retain traces of cobalt as it forms. A number of organic compounds have a great specificity for combining with nickel and cobalt. Ongoing research is investigating the effectiveness of chemical complexing agent, EDTA, with regard to its ability to dissolve the host phase (CRUD) thereby liberating the entrained 60Co into a solution where it can be rinsed away

Development of internal CRD for next generation BWR-endurance and robustness tests of ball-bearing materials in high-pressure and high-temperature water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shoji Goto; Shuichi Ohmori; Michitsugu Mori; Shohei Kawano; Tadashi Narabayashi; Shinichi Ishizato

2005-01-01

An internal CRD using a heatproof ceramics insulated coil is under development to be a competitive and higher performance as Next- Generation BWR. In the case of the 1700MWe next generation BWR, adapting the internal CRDs, the reactor pressure vessel is almost equivalent to that of 1356 MWe ABWR. The endurance and robustness tests were examined in order to confirm the durability of the bearing for the internal CRD. The durability of the ball bearing for the internal CRD was performed in the high-pressure and high-temperature reactor water of current BWR conditions. The experimental results confirmed the durability of rotational numbers for the operation length of 60 years. We added the cruds into water to confirm the robustness of the ball bearing. The test results also showed good robustness even in high-density crud conditions, compared with the current BWR. This program is conducted as one of the selected offers for the advertised technical developments of the Institute of Applied Energy founded by METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) of Japan. (authors)

A multi-physics code system based on ANC9, VIPRE-W and BOA for CIPS evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, B.; Sung, Y.; Secker, J.; Beard, C.; Hilton, P.; Wang, G.; Oelrich, R.; Karoutas, Z.; Sung, Y. [Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Pittsburgh (United States)

2011-07-01

This paper summarizes the development of a multi-physics code system for evaluation of Crud Induced Power Shift (CIPS) phenomenon experienced in some Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR). CIPS is an unexpected change in reactor core axial power distribution, caused by boron compounds in crud deposited in the high power fuel assemblies undergoing subcooled boiling. As part of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), this paper describes the initial linkage and application of a multi-physics code system ANC9/VIPRE-W/BOA for evaluating changes in core power distributions due to boron deposited in crud. The initial linkage of the code system along with the application results will be the base for the future CASL development. (author)

A multi-physics code system based on ANC9, VIPRE-W and BOA for CIPS evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, B.; Sung, Y.; Secker, J.; Beard, C.; Hilton, P.; Wang, G.; Oelrich, R.; Karoutas, Z.; Sung, Y.

2011-01-01

This paper summarizes the development of a multi-physics code system for evaluation of Crud Induced Power Shift (CIPS) phenomenon experienced in some Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR). CIPS is an unexpected change in reactor core axial power distribution, caused by boron compounds in crud deposited in the high power fuel assemblies undergoing subcooled boiling. As part of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), this paper describes the initial linkage and application of a multi-physics code system ANC9/VIPRE-W/BOA for evaluating changes in core power distributions due to boron deposited in crud. The initial linkage of the code system along with the application results will be the base for the future CASL development. (author)

Conceptual adsorption models and open issues pertaining to performance assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serne, R.J.

1992-01-01

Recently several articles have been published that question the appropriateness of the distribution coefficient, Rd, concept to quantify radionuclide migration. Several distinct issues surrounding the modeling of nuclide retardation. The first section defines adsorption terminology and discusses various adsorption processes. The next section describes five commonly used adsorption conceptual models, specifically emphasizing what attributes that affect adsorption are explicitly accommodated in each model. I also review efforts to incorporate each adsorption model into performance assessment transport computer codes. The five adsorption conceptual models are (1) the constant Rd model, (2) the parametric Rd model, (3) isotherm adsorption models, (4) mass action adsorption models, and (5) surface-complexation with electrostatics models. The final section discusses the adequacy of the distribution ratio concept, the adequacy of transport calculations that rely on constant retardation factors and the status of incorporating sophisticated adsorption models into transport codes. 86 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

Shutdown radiation level and man-rem control for water cooled reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cripps, S.J.; Regan, J.D.

1978-01-01

The importance of controlling the formation and subsequent deposition of active corrosion products (crud) is highlighted as a method of reducing occupational exposure. A semi-empirical model is described and used to predict the effectiveness of various methods of crud control. The relative merits of reactor coolant clean-up techniques including ion-exchange and electromagnetic filtration are assessed in terms of man-rem savings and associated cost penalties. (author)

An Inclusive Design Method for Addressing Human Variability and Work Performance Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amjad Hussain

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Humans play vital roles in manufacturing systems, but work performance is strongly influenced by factors such as experience, age, level of skill, physical and cognitive abilities and attitude towards work. Current manufacturing system design processes need to consider these human variability issues and their impact on work performance. An ‘inclusive design’ approach is proposed to consider the increasing diversity of the global workforce in terms of age, gender, cultural background, skill and experience. The decline in physical capabilities of older workers creates a mismatch between job demands and working capabilities which can be seen in manufacturing assembly that typically requires high physical demands for repetitive and accurate motions. The inclusive design approach leads to a reduction of this mismatch that results in a more productive, safe and healthy working environment giving benefits to the organization and individuals in terms of workforce satisfaction, reduced turnover, higher productivity and improved product quality.

Environmental issues and economic performance of the coal industry in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santana, E.A.; Seabra, F.; Wendhausen, J.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the main sources of inefficiency of the Brazilian coal industry. In addition, the authors examine the current and the future competitiveness of the Brazilian coal industry taking into account the effects of globalization, the modernization of the mining techniques and, most important, the environmental costs regarded under the concept of sustainable development. This paper examines some of the causes behind the alleged inefficiency of coal production and coal-electric generation, with special emphasis to environmental issues. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 outlines a profile of the energetic potential of coal reserves in Brazil. In section 3, the authors discuss environmental restrictions and other features that can be related to the performance of the coal industry in Brazil

A mechanism for corrosion product deposition on the carbon steel piping in the residual heat removal system of BWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aizawa, Motohiro; Chiba, Yoshinori; Hosokawa, Hideyuki; Ohsumi, Katsumi; Uchida, Shunsuke; Ishizawa, Noboru

2002-01-01

The dose rate of the residual heat removal (RHR) piping has been considered to be caused by accumulation of insoluble (crud) radioactive corrosion products on carbon steel surfaces. Soft shutdown procedures (i.e., plant shutdown with moderate coolant temperature reduction rate) used to be applied to reduce crud radioactivity release from the fuel surface, but these are no longer used because of the need for shorter plant shutdown times. In order to apply other suitable countermeasures to reduce RHR dose rate, assessment of plant data, experiments on deposition of crud and ion species on carbon steel, and mass balance evaluation of radioactive corrosion products based on plant and laboratory data were carried out and the following findings were made. (1) Deposits of ion species on carbon steel surfaces of the RHR piping was much more numerous than for crud. (2) Ion species accumulation behavior on RHR piping, which is temperature dependent, can be evaluated with the calculation model used for the dehydration reaction of corrosion products generated during the wet lay-up period. (3) Deposition amounts could be reduced to 1/2.5 when the starting RHR system operation temperature was lowered from 155degC to 120degC. (author)

Comparison of the performance of full scale pulsed columns vs. mixer-settlers for uranium solvent extraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Movsowitz, R.L.; Kleinberger, R.; Buchalter, E.M.; Grinbaum, B.

2000-01-01

A rare opportunity arose to compare the performance of Bateman Pulsed Columns (BPC) vs. Mixer-Settlers at an industrial site, over a long period, when the Uranium Solvent Extraction Plant of WMC at Olympic Dam, South Australia was upgraded. The original plant was operated for years with two trains of 2-stage mixer-settler batteries for the extraction of uranium. When the company decided to increase the yield of the plant, the existing two trains of mixer-settlers for uranium extraction were arranged in series, giving one 4-stage battery. In parallel, two Bateman Pulsed Columns, of the disc-and-doughnut type, were installed to compare the performance of both types of equipment over an extended period.The plant has been operating in parallel for three years and the results show that the performance of the columns is excellent: the extraction yield is similar to the 4 mixer-settlers in series - about 98%, the entrainment of solvent is lower, there are less mechanical failures, less problems with crud, smaller solvent losses and the operation is simpler. The results convinced WMC to install an additional 10 BPC's for the expansion of their uranium plant. These columns were successfully commissioned early 1999. This paper includes quantitative comparison of both types of equipment. (author)

Composition and Distribution of Tramp Uranium Contamination on BWR and PWR Fuel Rods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schienbein, Marcel; Zeh, Peter; Hurtado, Antonio; Rosskamp, Matthias; Mailand, Irene; Bolz, Michael

2012-09-01

In a joint research project of VGB and AREVA NP GmbH the behaviour of alpha nuclides in nuclear power plants with light water reactors has been investigated. Understanding the source and the behaviour of alpha nuclides is of big importance for planning radiation protection measures for outages and upcoming dismantling projects. Previous publications have shown the correlation between plant specific alpha contamination of the core and the so called 'tramp fuel' or 'tramp uranium' level which is linked to the defect history of fuel assemblies and accordingly the amount of previously washed out fuel from defective fuel rods. The methodology of tramp fuel estimation is based on fission product concentrations in reactor coolant but also needs a good knowledge of tramp fuel composition and in-core distribution on the outer surface of fuel rods itself. Sampling campaigns of CRUD deposits of irradiated fuel assemblies in different NPPs were performed. CRUD analyses including nuclide specific alpha analysis have shown systematic differences between BWR and PWR plants. Those data combined with literature results of fuel pellet investigations led to model improvements showing that a main part of fission products is caused by fission of Pu-239 an activation product of U-238. CRUD investigations also gave a better picture of the in-core composition and distribution of the tramp uranium contamination. It was shown that the tramp uranium distribution in PWR plants is time dependent. Even new fuel assemblies will be notably contaminated after only one cycle of operation. For PWR applies the following logic: the higher the local power the higher the contamination. With increasing burnup the local rod power usually decreases leading to decreasing tramp uranium contamination on the fuel rod surface. This is not applicable for tramp uranium contamination in BWR. CRUD contamination (including the tramp fuel deposits) is much more fixed and is constantly increasing

Matrix Diffusion for Performance Assessment - Experimental Evidence, Modelling Assumptions and Open Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jakob, A

2004-07-01

In this report a comprehensive overview on the matrix diffusion of solutes in fractured crystalline rocks is presented. Some examples from observations in crystalline bedrock are used to illustrate that matrix diffusion indeed acts on various length scales. Fickian diffusion is discussed in detail followed by some considerations on rock porosity. Due to the fact that the dual-porosity medium model is a very common and versatile method for describing solute transport in fractured porous media, the transport equations and the fundamental assumptions, approximations and simplifications are discussed in detail. There is a variety of geometrical aspects, processes and events which could influence matrix diffusion. The most important of these, such as, e.g., the effect of the flow-wetted fracture surface, channelling and the limited extent of the porous rock for matrix diffusion etc., are addressed. In a further section open issues and unresolved problems related to matrix diffusion are mentioned. Since matrix diffusion is one of the key retarding processes in geosphere transport of dissolved radionuclide species, matrix diffusion was consequently taken into account in past performance assessments of radioactive waste repositories in crystalline host rocks. Some issues regarding matrix diffusion are site-specific while others are independent of the specific situation of a planned repository for radioactive wastes. Eight different performance assessments from Finland, Sweden and Switzerland were considered with the aim of finding out how matrix diffusion was addressed, and whether a consistent picture emerges regarding the varying methodology of the different radioactive waste organisations. In the final section of the report some conclusions are drawn and an outlook is given. An extensive bibliography provides the reader with the key papers and reports related to matrix diffusion. (author)

Plasma instability issues for ITER and their possible impact on plasma performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houlberg, W.A.; Campbell, D.

2009-01-01

Full text: There are many types of plasma instabilities that may affect ITER performance. Prediction of their impact, however, is complicated by scaling relative to present plasmas. Here we summarize some of the potential impacts of a variety of instabilities on ITER performance and the uncertainties in evaluating those impacts. ELMs are one of the most significant issues because of the high localized heat loads on the plasma facing components walls caused by the filamentary structures. ITER presently plans to employ two methods to attempt to amelioriate the localized damage from large ELMS: resonant magnetic perturbations and pellet pacing. In either case, the net effect on confinement must be minimized relative to the expected confinement under natural ELMy conditions. Pacing ELMs with high frequency pellet injection raises at least two fundamental physics questions: i) how effective are very localized perturbations from the pellet cloud at triggering ELMs?, and ii) can we assure that the local perturbation does not lock the ELMs into a pattern of localized deposition? It is expected that answering these questions would require 3-D models, while present models are based on peeling-ballooning stability with 1-D models for plasma profiles. A similar set of complicating factors can be identified for other instabilities. Alfven eigenmodes in ITER are expected to be driven primarily by the energetic alphas, but MeV neutral beam injection of up to 33 MW raises the issue of synergistic effects (e.g., loss of NB fast ions from AEs driven by fast alphas), and non-linear interaction among a 'sea' of many high-n potentially unstable modes expected from ITER's large size. Instabilities that are weakened by the strong toroidal rotation (e.g. turbulence or resistive wall modes) in present NB-heated machines may be more robust under the much weaker external torque provided by ITER's high energy beams. A better understanding of extrinsic rotation driven largely by conditions at

Performance assessment issues in utility-scale photovoltaics in warm and sunny climates★

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruther Ricardo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the declining costs of photovoltaics (PV, and the excellent solar energy resource availability in the country, the Brazilian government and the electricity sector have started to evaluate and consider PV as a serious potential contributor to the National electricity mix. Since the late 1990s, Brazilian electrical utilities are required by the National Electrical Energy Regulatory Agency ANEEL to invest 1% of their operational income on R&D. In 2011 ANEEL issued an R&D call dedicated to utility-scale PV. The solar energy research group at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (www.fotovoltaica.ufsc.br has been actively investigating and promoting PV in Brazil, operates since 1997 the first grid-connected, thin-film PV generator in the country. Under the ANEEL R&D call, a 4-year, US$ 20 million project was started in 2012. The project aims at assessing the performance of seven different PV technologies at eight different Evaluation Sites (ES in Brazil, and also to design, procure, install and monitor the performance of a utility-scale 3 MWp R&D PV power plant, which is located at one of these eight ES. The 3 MWp PV power plant and all the eight ES are fully monitored, with all electrical and environmental parameters measured at 1-s intervals. PV technologies include thin-film amorphous silicon (a-Si, microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si, cadmium telluride (CdTe, copper indium gallium diselenide, mono- and multi-crystalline silicon (c-Si and m-Si, all at fixed tilt, as well as double-axis tracking, concentrated PV using triple-junction InGap/GaAs/Ge at 820 suns concentration. All ES are identical, except for the fixed PV arrays tilt angle, which is equal to the latitude at each site. The 3 MWp R&D PV power plant is co-located at one of the ES sites. Thin-film PV technologies with a low temperature coefficient of power presented superior output performance, and cloud-edge and cloud-enhancement effects of solar irradiance resulted in

Measurement Issues for Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings: Productivity and Performance Uncertainties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, D.W.

2002-05-16

In previous reports, we have identified two potentially important issues, solutions to which would increase the attractiveness of DOE-developed technologies in commercial buildings energy systems. One issue concerns the fact that in addition to saving energy, many new technologies offer non-energy benefits that contribute to building productivity (firm profitability). The second issue is that new technologies are typically unproven in the eyes of decision makers and must bear risk premiums that offset cost advantages resulting from laboratory calculations. Even though a compelling case can be made for the importance of these issues, for building decision makers to incorporate them in business decisions and for DOE to use them in R&D program planning there must be robust empirical evidence of their existence and size. This paper investigates how such measurements could be made and offers recommendations as to preferred options. There is currently little systematic information on either of these concepts in the literature. Of the two there is somewhat more information on non-energy benefits, but little as regards office buildings. Office building productivity impacts can be observed casually, but must be estimated statistically, because buildings have many interacting attributes and observations based on direct behavior can easily confuse the process of attribution. For example, absenteeism can be easily observed. However, absenteeism may be down because a more healthy space conditioning system was put into place, because the weather was milder, or because firm policy regarding sick days had changed. There is also a general dearth of appropriate information for purposes of estimation. To overcome these difficulties, we propose developing a new data base and applying the technique of hedonic price analysis. This technique has been used extensively in the analysis of residential dwellings. There is also a literature on its application to commercial and industrial

General empirical model for 60Co generation in pressurized water reactors with continuous refueling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urrutia, G.A.; Blesa, M.A.; Fernandez-Prini, R.; Maroto, A.J.G.

1984-01-01

A simplified model is presented that permits one to calculate the average activity on the fuel elements of a reactor that operates under continuous refueling, based on the assumption of crud interchange between fuel element surface and coolant in the form of particulate material only and using the crud specific activity as an empirical parameter determined in plant. The net activity flux from core to out-of-core components is then calculated in the form of parametric curves depending on crud specific activity and rate of particulate release from fuel surface. In pressure vessel reactors, contribution to out-ofcore radionuclide inventory arising in the release of activated materials from core components must be taken into account. The contribution from in situ activation of core components is calculated from the rates of release and the specific activities corresponding to the exposed surface of the component (calculated in a straightforward way on the basis of core geometry and neutron fluxes). The rates of release can be taken from the literature, or in the case of cobalt-rich alloys, can be calculated from experimentally determined cobalt contents of structural components and crud. For pressure vessel reactors operating under continuous refueling, activation of deposited crud and release of activated materials are compared; the latter, in certain cases, may represent a sizable (and even the largest) fraction of the total cobalt activity. It is proposed that the ratio of activities of 59 Fe to 54 Mn may be used as a diagnostic tool for in situ activation of structural materials; available data indicate ratios close to unity for pressure tube heavy water reactors (no in situ activation) and ratios around 4 to 10 for pressure vessel, heavy water reactors

Optimization of Water Chemistry to Ensure Reliable Water Reactor Fuel Performance at High Burnup and in Ageing Plant (FUWAC)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-10-01

This report presents the results of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Optimization of Water Chemistry to Ensure Reliable Water Reactor Fuel Performance at High Burnup and in Ageing Plants (FUWAC, 2006-2009). It provides an overview of the results of the investigations into the current state of water chemistry practice and concerns in the primary circuit of water cooled power reactors including: corrosion of primary circuit materials; deposit composition and thickness on the fuel; crud induced power shift; fuel oxide growth and thickness; radioactivity buildup in the reactor coolant system (RCS). The FUWAC CRP is a follow-up to the DAWAC CRP (Data Processing Technologies and Diagnostics for Water Chemistry and Corrosion Control in Nuclear Power Plants 2001-2005). The DAWAC project improved the data processing technologies and diagnostics for water chemistry and corrosion control in nuclear power plants (NPPs). With the improved methods for controlling and monitoring water chemistry now available, it was felt that a review of the principles of water chemistry management should be undertaken in the light of new materials, more onerous operating conditions, emergent issues such as CIPS, also known as axial offset anomaly (AOA) and the ageing of operating power plant. In the framework of this CRP, water chemistry specialists from 16 nuclear utilities and research organizations, representing 15 countries, exchanged experimental and operational data, models and insights into water chemistry management. The CD-ROM attached to this IAEA-TECDOC includes the report itself, detailed progress reports of three Research Coordination Meetings (RCMs) (Annexes I-III) and the reports and presentations made during the project by the participants.

The ‘Μegaron’ Concerto For Guitar and String Orchestra by Nikita Koshkin: An Exploration of Performance Issues, a Performing Edition and a CD Recording

OpenAIRE

Papandreou, Elena

2014-01-01

This dissertation puts the spotlight on the music of Nikita Koshkin (b. 1956)—Russia’s most important composer for guitar and one of the world’s leading composers for the instrument—and, in particular, his ‘Megaron’ Concerto for guitar and string orchestra, composed in 2005 and premiered in 2006 by this author. Performance issues are discussed in detail, in an innately practical manner, so that the guitarist who wishes to perform this work will have enough information to assist him. Moreover,...

Full reactor coolant system chemical decontamination qualification programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, P.E. [Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

1995-03-01

Corrosion and wear products are found throughout the reactor coolant system (RCS), or primary loop, of a PWR power plant. These products circulate with the primary coolant through the reactor where they may become activated. An oxide layer including these activated products forms on the surfaces of the RCS (including the fuel elements). The amount of radioactivity deposited on the different surface varies and depends primarily on the corrosion rate of the materials concerned, the amount of cobalt in the coolant and the chemistry of the coolant. The oxide layer, commonly called crud, on the surfaces of nuclear plant systems leads to personnel radiation exposure. The level of the radiation fields from the crud increases with time from initial plant startup and typically levels off after 4 to 6 cycles of plant operation. Thereafter, significant personnel radiation exposure may be incurred whenever major maintenance is performed. Personnel exposure is highest during refueling outages when routine maintenance on major plant components, such as steam generators and reactor coolant pumps, is performed. Administrative controls are established at nuclear plants to minimize the exposure incurred by an individual and the plant workers as a whole.

A generic systematic to support bibliometric research illustrated for the performance evaluation of sustainable development issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabrício Kurman Merlin

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The question that arises in this work is how to select a theoretical structure scientifically justified to a research. Thus, this exploratory and descriptive study aims to present and illustrate a structured process (ProKnow-C for selecting papers on performance evaluation oriented to issues concerning sustainable development. From the proposed process, it was mentioned the following results: identification of seven key words for search, identification of four databases of abstracts and full texts aligned with the research theme, selection of 9123 articles dealing with the theme; structured filtering of the 9123 selected articles from the databases in 13 scientific articles, which resulted in the theoretical underpinning for research on performance appraisal oriented to sustainable development issues. Subsequently, it was identified the bibliometric profile of the bibliography portfolio selected, highlighting the keywords, authors, journal articles and the articles of the portfolio and the portfolio of bibliographic references for the last three. Considering the results, it was argued that the proposed process was robust, since it achieved the goal of identifying and selecting relevant publications for the study, to gather scientific content aligned to the subject that the research sought to address.

Issues in performance assessments for disposal of US Department of Energy low-level waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, D.E.; Wilhite, E.L.; Duggan, G.J.

1994-12-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors have long been pioneers in the field of radiological performance assessment (PA). Much effort has been expended in developing technology and acquiring data to facilitate the assessment process. This is reflected in DOE Order 5820.2A, Radioactive Waste Management Chapter III of the Order lists policy and requirements to manage the DOEs low-level waste; performance objectives for low-level waste management are stated to ensure the protection of public health and the environment. A radiological PA is also required to demonstrate compliance with the performance objectives. DOE Order 5820.2A further requires that an Oversight and Peer Review Panel be established to ensure consistency and technical quality around the DOE complex in the development and application of PA models that include site-specific geohydrology and waste composition. The DOE has also established a Performance Assessment Task Team (PATT) to integrate the activities of sites that are preparing PAs. The PATT's purpose is to recommend policy and guidance to DOE on issues that impact PAs so that the approaches taken are as consistent as possible across the DOE complex

Proceedings of the workshop on future control station designs and human performance issues in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

The nuclear community is currently at a stage where new reactors are being built, advanced reactors are being planned, and existing reactors are undergoing various forms of modernization of their control stations. Nuclear power plants are characterised by a high degree of complexity, where efficient and safe performance is dependent on both a sound technical design and effective teamwork and work practices. Team interactions have long traditions in current nuclear power plants. The way people operate and maintain the plants may need to accommodate technical advances associated with control station modernization and advanced plant control stations. The nuclear community likely to see the introduction of new designs, new tools to support the staff, changes to staffing types and levels, concepts of operation for new reactors that are different from current reactors, e.g., multi-unit control, possible remote operation, distributed decision making, and cooperation across distances. Based on recent experience, there is limited knowledge about human performance issues with regard to upgraded control rooms. However, even less knowledge exists regarding operation and maintenance of control stations for future and more advanced reactor designs. In order to explore these issues, the CSNI Special Experts' Group on Human and Organisational Factors (SEGHOF), now the Working Group on Human and Organizational Factors (WGHOF), and the Halden Reactor Project (HRP) hosted a joint workshop which provided an international forum for utilities, vendors, research bodies and regulators to discuss human performance issues related to control stations for future nuclear power plant designs and for modified control rooms for existing plants. The Norwegian petroleum industry also shared their experiences, especially with integrated and distributed operations among off-shore and on-shore control centres. There were 74 participants from 20 countries at the workshop. Twenty-two papers were

Chemical decontamination method for radioactive metal waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Akio; Onuma, Tsutomu; Yamazaki, Sei; Miura, Haruki.

1993-01-01

The present invention provides a chemical decontamination method for radioactive metal wastes, which are generated from radioactive material handling facilities and the surfaces of which are contaminated by radioactive materials. That is, it has a feature of applying acid dissolution simultaneously with mechanical grinding. The radioactive metal wastes are contained in a vessel such as a barrel together with abrasives in a sulfuric acid solution and rotated at several tens rotation per minute. By such procedures for the radioactive metal wastes, (1) cruds and passive membranes are mechanically removed, (2) exposed mother metal materials are uniformly brought into contact with sulfuric acid and further (3) the mother metal materials dissolve the cruds and the passive membranes also chemically by a reducing dissolution (so-called local cell effect). According to the method of the present invention, stainless steel metal wastes having cruds and passive membranes can rapidly and efficiently be decontaminated to a radiation level equal with that of ordinary wastes. (I.S.)

Degradation monitoring in IRIS steam generators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alpay, B.; Holloway, J. P.; Lee, J. C.

2007-01-01

We present a degradation monitoring technique based on unscented Kalman filtering (UKF), which uses a nonlinear system model without linearization to estimate the status of the component/state variables. To test the applicability of the methodology, the fouling of tubes is chosen among various degradation mechanisms for the IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) steam generators (SGs). The degradation monitoring algorithm diagnoses the tube fouling and estimates the thickness of the crud deposited on the secondary side of the SG along with the increase in the pressure drop triggered by fouling. A stand-alone SG model developed with the RELAP5 code was used to simulate the transient behavior of the SG and drive an UKF state estimate. By using the secondary side outlet temperature as the measurement and the nodal pressures along the secondary side as states, UKF generated accurate estimates of the crud layer thicknesses for different crud formations. (authors)

Filters for radioactive liquid wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koshiba, Yukihiko; Kawashima, Akio

1980-01-01

In the crud generated in the reactor cooling water for nuclear power plants, iron oxides (hematite and magnetite) are contained as the main components, and also Co, Mn, Fe, Cr exist as radioactive nuclides. A new filter to separate these cruds, nuclepore membrane filter (NPMF), was investigated for its adaptability, and has been adopted as a practical filter for radioactive liquid wastes. The NPMF has such features as the possibility of complete automation of operation, no generation of secondary wastes, and easy maintenance, because the NPMF has uniform circular holes in poly-carbonate thin films, and shows the properties of stable filtering of particulates, capability of back washing, and others. The elements mounted in a practical system have such construction that the membrane is cut in the form of doughnut, and sandwiched with 100 mesh polyester nets (spacer); the obtained unit filter (cassette) is mounted on the stackable plate of the same size; and 80 pieces of this cassette are formed in a filter of 4 m 2 filtering area. The performance varies with the properties of suspended matters and the turbidity of wastes. For example, the filtered liquid of 0.1 ppm or less can be obtained when the 1 μm filter material is used to treat the liquid waste containing 1 to 100 ppm suspended matters. Usually back washed water is produced by about 1/100 of treated liquid wastes. The lifetime of the membrane is expected to be 1 or 2 years if crud is the main component. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Development and operating performance of the refuelling machine of the Fugen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaneko, Jun; Kasai, Yoshimitsu; Takeshita, Norito; Ohta, Takeo

1985-01-01

In the advanced thermal reactor ''Fugen'' power station, with the refuelling machine the fuel replacement during operation is made through the reactor bottom. Its design was started in 1967 and up to 1975 various tests were conducted. Fugen's refuelling machine has thus been used from the initial fuel loading in 1978 and handled so far about 1300 fuel assemblies in seven times of the refuelling. In the stage of Fugen operation there occurred failure of the grab drive due to crud, etc. At present, with such troubles all eliminated, the refuelling machine is in steady operation with proper maintenance. The results with Fugen's refuelling machine are reflected in the development of the refuelling machine for the demonstration ATR. (Mori, K.)

Optimization of Water Chemistry to Ensure Reliable Water Reactor Fuel Performance at High Burnup and in Ageing Plant (FUWAC). Additional Information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-10-01

This report presents the results of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Optimization of Water Chemistry to Ensure Reliable Water Reactor Fuel Performance at High Burnup and in Ageing Plants (FUWAC, 2006-2009). It provides an overview of the results of the investigations into the current state of water chemistry practice and concerns in the primary circuit of water cooled power reactors including: corrosion of primary circuit materials; deposit composition and thickness on the fuel; crud induced power shift; fuel oxide growth and thickness; radioactivity buildup in the reactor coolant system (RCS). The FUWAC CRP is a follow-up to the DAWAC CRP (Data Processing Technologies and Diagnostics for Water Chemistry and Corrosion Control in Nuclear Power Plants 2001-2005). The DAWAC project improved the data processing technologies and diagnostics for water chemistry and corrosion control in nuclear power plants (NPPs). With the improved methods for controlling and monitoring water chemistry now available, it was felt that a review of the principles of water chemistry management should be undertaken in the light of new materials, more onerous operating conditions, emergent issues such as CIPS, also known as axial offset anomaly (AOA) and the ageing of operating power plant. In the framework of this CRP, water chemistry specialists from 16 nuclear utilities and research organizations, representing 15 countries, exchanged experimental and operational data, models and insights into water chemistry management. This CD-ROM attached to the printed IAEA-TECDOC includes the report itself, detailed progress reports of three Research Coordination Meetings (RCMs) (Annexes I-III) and the reports and presentations made during the project by the participants.

Scintillating fiber detector performance, detector geometries, trigger, and electronics issues for scintillating fiber tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baumbaugh, A.E.

1994-06-01

Scintillating Fiber tracking technology has made great advances and has demonstrated great potential for high speed charged particle tracking and triggering. The small detector sizes and fast scintillation fluors available make them very promising for use at high luminosity experiments at today's and tomorrow's colliding and fixed target experiments where high rate capability is essential. This talk will discuss the current state of Scintillating fiber performance and current Visual Light Photon Counter (VLPC) characteristics. The primary topic will be some of the system design and integration issues which should be considered by anyone attempting to design a scintillating fiber tracking system which includes a high speed tracking trigger. Design. constraints placed upon the detector system by the electronics and mechanical sub-systems will be discussed. Seemingly simple and unrelated decisions can have far reaching effects on overall system performance. SDC and DO example system designs will be discussed

Proceedings of A3 foresight program seminar on critical physics issues specific to steady state sustainment of high-performance plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morita, Shigeru; Hu Liqun; Oh, Yeong-Kook

2013-06-01

The A3 Foresight Program titled by 'Critical Physics Issues Specific to Steady State Sustainment of High-Performance Plasmas', based on the scientific collaboration among China, Japan and Korea in the field of plasma physics, has been newly started from August 2012 under the auspice of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, Japan), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF, Korea) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, China). A seminar on the A3 collaboration took place in Hotel Gozensui, Kushiro, Japan, 22-25 January 2013. This seminar was organized by National Institute for Fusion Science. One special talk and 36 oral talks were presented in the seminar including 13 Chinese, 14 Japanese and 9 Korean attendees. Steady state sustainment of high-performance plasmas is a crucial issue for realizing a nuclear fusion reactor. This seminar was motivated along the issues. Results on fusion experiments and theory obtained through A3 foresight program during recent two years were discussed and summarized. Possible direction of future collaboration and further encouragement of scientific activity of younger scientists were also discussed in this seminar with future experimental plans in three countries. This issue is the collection of 29 papers presented at the entitled meeting. All the 29 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

Performance assessment and licensing issues for United States commercial near-surface low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birk, S.M.

1997-10-01

The final objective of performance assessment for a near-surface LLW disposal facility is to demonstrate that potential radiological impacts for each of the human exposure pathways will not violate applicable standards. This involves determining potential pathways and specific receptor locations for human exposure to radionuclides; developing appropriate scenarios for each of the institutional phases of a disposal facility; and maintaining quality assurance and control of all data, computer codes, and documentation. The results of a performance assessment should be used to demonstrate that the expected impacts are expected to be less than the applicable standards. The results should not be used to try to predict the actual impact. This is an important distinction that results from the uncertainties inherent in performance assessment calculations. The paper discusses performance objectives; performance assessment phases; scenario selection; mathematical modeling and computer programs; final results of performance assessments submitted for license application; institutional control period; licensing issues; and related research and development activities

PENGARUH RIGHT ISSUE TERHADAP KINERJA KEUANGAN PERUSAHAAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibnu Khajar

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Penelitian ini menyelidiki pengaruh right issue terhadap kinerja keuangan perusahaan yang go public di Bursa Efek Indonesia. Sampel meliputi dua puluh satu perusahaan yang melakukan right issue dari tahun 2003-2006. Variabel penelitian adalah kinerja keuangan yang diukur dengan rasio likuiditas, leverage, profitabilitas, aktivitas, dan rasio pasar. Paired t-test dan uji Wilcoxon digunakan untuk menentukan perbedaan kinerja keuangan sebelum dan sesudah right issue. Dari rasio kinerja likuiditas, leverage, profitabilitas, aktivitas, dan rasio pasar (Rasio Lancar, Hutang Jumlah Untuk Jumlah Aktiva, Net Profit Margin, Asset Turn Over dan Rasio Price Earning pada dua tahun sebelum dan dua tahun setelah right issue, hanya dua rasio-Harga Earning ratio dan Current Ratio secara signifikan berbeda pada sebelum dan sesudah right issue. Kedua rasio ini meningkat secara signifikan. This study investigated the effect of right issue on the financial performance of companies that go public on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. The sample included twenty-one company that does the right issue from the years 2003-2006. Research variable is financial performance as measured by the liquidity ratio, leverage, profitability, activity, and the ratio of the market. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon test used to determine differences in financial performance before and after the rights issue. From the performance ratios of liquidity, leverage, profitability, activity, and the market ratio (Current Ratio, Total Debt To Total Assets, Net Profit Margin, Asset Turn Over and Price Earning Ratio at two years before and two years after the right issue, only two ratio--Price Earning Ratio and Current Ratio are significantly different at the before and after the rights issue. Both these ratios increased significantly.

Key Issues in Global Technological Innovation Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Sbragia

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This article aimed to identify those issues that were present in global technological innovation projects carried out by Brazilian multinational companies and which performance criterions these undertakings met. We investigated 36 global technological innovation projects from Brazilian multinational enterprises through a web-survey. Findings show that these companies went beyond the traditional iron triangle to evaluate their technological efforts and considered additional performance dimensions such as customer satisfaction, business results, and preparation for the future. Results also show high degree of presence for issues emerging from the industry, moderate degree of presence for issues emerging from both the project and R&D activities, and low degree of presence for issues emerging from the headquarters, the subsidiaries, and the external environment. Further research is needed to find out if and how these issues influenced the performance of the global technological innovation projects studied.DOI:10.5585/gep.v3i1.72

Data report for the nondestructive examination of Turkey Point spent fuel assemblies B02, B03, B17, B41, and B43

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, R.B.

1980-04-01

The fuel assembly sip test on all rods from assembly B17 were of sound intergrity. Visual examination showed three general regions of rod surface appearance: a dark adherent crud layer at the bottom of the rod, black spalling crud layers in the middle, and a spotty gray loose powdery coating with dark crud or oxide underneath towards the top. Rod lengths varied from 152.395 inches to 152.707 inches. Maximum rod bow measurements for rods G9, I9, and G7 were 0.038 to 040 inch and 0.022 inch for rods H6 and J8. Results from profilometry scans showed the maximum ovality for the five rods was 0.0066 inch with average diameters ranging from 0.4187 to 0.4198 inch. Extensive ridging from pellet-clad interaction over the entire length was evident on all rods. Gamma scan results showed no cesium peaking and no pellet gaps greater than 0.025 inch. No unusual areas, other than ridging and possible fuel-cladding bonding, were seen in the eddy current results

Replacement of fine particle purification filter of the PHT purification system - 15083

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, D.S.

2015-01-01

The increase of chalk river unidentified deposit (CRUD), a particulate corrosion product in PHT (primary heat transport) system with increased operating years of a nuclear power plant causes: -) the problems of increased heavy water decomposition and deuterium formation reaction due to catalytic reaction with CRUD, -) damage to PHT pump seal due to a corrosion product, -) damage to fuel channel closure seal, and increased radiation exposure of workers due to elevated dose rate in steam generator water chamber. Wolsung unit 3 and 4 have replaced fine filter media in PHT purification system in phases reducing the pore size of the filter media (5 μm → 2 μm → 1 μm → 0.45 μm) to solve this problem. The phased replacement of fine filter media by the one with a smaller pore size reduced CRUD in PHT system significantly and also radiation dose rate in steam generator water chamber. Accordingly, many problems related to the aging of a plant (including increased radiation exposure of workers during outage, damage to mechanical seal of PHT pump) have been solved. (author)

Strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college. Part II: Issues pertaining to management, attitudes and values.

Science.gov (United States)

Waterson, E; Harms, E; Qupe, L; Maritz, J; Manning, M; Makobe, K; Chabeli, M

2006-05-01

This article forms part two of a bigger study that was conducted in a nursing college to explore and describe the reasons for the poor performance of learners. Part one of the study dealt with the issues pertaining to education, while this article (part two) seeks to describe issues pertaining to management, attitudes and values that lead to the poor performance of learners in the nursing college under study. A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design that was contextual in nature was employed, and three focus groups interviews were conducted. Seven tutors formed one group while other two groups were formed by fourth-year learners following a comprehensive diploma course. All participants voluntarily participated in the study. Data was analyzed using the descriptive method of open coding in accordance with Tesch's protocol (in Creswell, 1994:154-156). Trustworthiness was ensured using the following principles: credibility, conformability, transferability and dependability (Lincoln & Guba 1985:290-326). Findings were categorized into issues pertaining to management, attitudes and values that had an influence on the poor performance of learners as follows: Inadequate resources and study facilities; policies that change frequently; tutors' dissatisfaction with regard to staff development, the lack of involvement by management and lack of management support, staff shortage and maldistribution of staff members; ineffective selection process of learners; inconsistent regulations, and too many of them; policies and procedures resulting in confusion and poor discipline. Attitudes and values: Tutors' lack of motivation and interest, lack of respect by learners and no team work among tutors. Through a conceptualization process and the recommendations by participants, strategies to improve the learners' performance were described. It is recommended that these strategies be submitted to the staff development committee for implementation and future follow-up research be

A novel technology for fouling mitigation and dose reduction in BWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Young-Jin; Varela, Juan

2014-01-01

In a boiling water reactor (BWR), a jet pump provides an internal circulation path for the core coolant flow and consists of four main sections: the nozzle section, inlet mixer section (throat barrel), flare and diffuser. A high velocity coolant flow moves through the nozzles and discharges into the inlet mixer, and over time, oxide particulates (cruds) build up on the inside 304 stainless steel (SS) surfaces of the nozzles and the inlet mixer forming a layer of crud fouling. Cruds are typically removed from the surfaces of BWR components during regularly scheduled shutdowns of the reactor that is highly costly. Thus, a cost-effective is being developed to mitigate the crud fouling and the accumulation of radioactive species by using a colloid-based process. A colloid-based process can be applied to components in service, and does not require extensive equipment and extreme processing parameters as compared to other deposition processes and is not limited by geometric constraints as is the CVD process. Several parameters, such as concentration of TiO 2 nanoparticle, deposition/post-annealing temperature, and hydrodynamic flow condition, etc., for developing the optimum TiO 2 coating process have been examined to identify the most critical condition that can be applicable at plants. Preliminary results showed that the post-annealing treatment of coating is essential for improving the adherence and coherence of colloidal TiO 2 nanoparticles to the substrate. In addition, the presence of oxide on the coating surface is detrimental to the coating durability and thus pre-existing oxide surfaces require to be cleaned before coating. (author)

Analysis of Gamma Dose Rate Caused by Corrosion Products inside the Containment Building of Yonngwang Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 During Shutdown Period

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ha, Wi Ho; Kim, Jae Cheon; Kim, Soon Young; Kim, Jong Kyung [Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2005-07-01

Occupational radiation exposure(ORE) of nuclear power plant(NPP) workers mainly occurs during the shutdown period. Major radioactive sources are the corrosion products released from the reactor coolant system(RCS). The corrosion products consist of circulating crud and deposited crud. Major radioactive corrosion products, {sup 58}Co and {sup 60}Co, are known to contribute approximately more than 70% of the total ORE. In this study, the corrosion products regarding cobalt were evaluated during the shutdown period, and gamma dose rates caused by them were calculated at the main working area inside the containment building of the Yonggwang NPP Unit 3.

Performance Issues in High Performance Fortran Implementations of Sensor-Based Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David R. O'hallaron

1997-01-01

Full Text Available Applications that get their inputs from sensors are an important and often overlooked application domain for High Performance Fortran (HPF. Such sensor-based applications typically perform regular operations on dense arrays, and often have latency and through put requirements that can only be achieved with parallel machines. This article describes a study of sensor-based applications, including the fast Fourier transform, synthetic aperture radar imaging, narrowband tracking radar processing, multibaseline stereo imaging, and medical magnetic resonance imaging. The applications are written in a dialect of HPF developed at Carnegie Mellon, and are compiled by the Fx compiler for the Intel Paragon. The main results of the study are that (1 it is possible to realize good performance for realistic sensor-based applications written in HPF and (2 the performance of the applications is determined by the performance of three core operations: independent loops (i.e., loops with no dependences between iterations, reductions, and index permutations. The article discusses the implications for HPF implementations and introduces some simple tests that implementers and users can use to measure the efficiency of the loops, reductions, and index permutations generated by an HPF compiler.

Middle School Students' Use of Epistemological Resources while Reasoning about Science Performance Tasks and Media Reports of Socioscientific Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Buckingham, Brandy L. E.

The goal of science education is to prepare students to make decisions about the complicated socioscientific issues that are an inescapable part of modern life, from personal medical decisions to evaluating a political candidate's environmental platform. We cannot expect adults to maintain a deep conceptual understanding of the current state of every branch of science that might prove relevant to their lives, so we must prepare them to rely on other knowledge to make these decisions. Epistemological beliefs about scientific knowledge--what it is, its purpose, how it is constructed--are one type of knowledge that could be brought to bear when evaluating scientific claims. Complicating this situation is the fact that most adults will get most of their information about these socioscientific issues from the news media. Journalists do not have the same goals or norms as scientists, and this media lens can distort scientific issues. This dissertation addresses the question of whether we can assess epistemological change in a way that gives us meaningful information about how people will apply their epistemological understanding of science when they make decisions in the real world. First, I designed a written assessment made up of performance tasks to assess middle school students' implicit epistemological beliefs, and looked at whether we can use such an assessment to see epistemological change over two years. I then gave the same students news articles about whether there is a link between vaccines and autism and looked at their reasoning about this issue and how the journalistic features of two different articles impacted their reasoning. Finally, I examined the external validity of the epistemology assessment by looking at whether it predicted anything about students' responses to the news articles. While I was able to find evidence of differences between eighth graders' and sixth graders' use of epistemological resources within the performance tasks, I found that

Critical transport issues for improving the performance of aqueous redox flow batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, X. L.; Zhao, T. S.; An, L.; Zeng, Y. K.; Wei, L.

2017-01-01

As the fraction of electricity generated from intermittent renewable sources (such as solar and wind) grows, developing reliable energy storage technologies to store electrical energy in large scale is of increasing importance. Redox flow batteries are now enjoying a renaissance and regarded as a leading technology in providing a well-balanced solution for current daunting challenges. In this article, state-of-the-art studies of the complex multicomponent transport phenomena in aqueous redox flow batteries, with a special emphasis on all-vanadium redox flow batteries, are reviewed and summarized. Rather than elaborating on the details of previous experimental and numerical investigations, this article highlights: i) the key transport issues in each battery's component that need to be tackled so that the rate capability and cycling stability of flow batteries can be significantly improved, ii) the basic mechanisms that control the active species/ion/electron transport behaviors in each battery's component, and iii) the key experimental and numerical findings regarding the correlations between the multicomponent transport processes and battery performance.

E-Government: Initiatives, Developments, and Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldrich, Duncan; Bertot, John Carlo; McClure, Charles R.

2002-01-01

Provides a background of government efforts to incorporate telecommunication and computer technologies to improve government performance and enhance citizen access to government information and services. Describes this symposium issue which discusses key issues that affect the success and implementation of electronic government initiatives. (LRW)

Interdisciplinary Research: Performance and Policy Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossini, Frederick A.; Porter, Alan L.

1981-01-01

Successful interdisciplinary research performance, it is suggested, depends on such structural and process factors as leadership, team characteristics, study bounding, iteration, communication patterns, and epistemological factors. Appropriate frameworks for socially organizing the development of knowledge such as common group learning, modeling,…

Robustness-related issues in speaker recognition

CERN Document Server

Zheng, Thomas Fang

2017-01-01

This book presents an overview of speaker recognition technologies with an emphasis on dealing with robustness issues. Firstly, the book gives an overview of speaker recognition, such as the basic system framework, categories under different criteria, performance evaluation and its development history. Secondly, with regard to robustness issues, the book presents three categories, including environment-related issues, speaker-related issues and application-oriented issues. For each category, the book describes the current hot topics, existing technologies, and potential research focuses in the future. The book is a useful reference book and self-learning guide for early researchers working in the field of robust speech recognition.

Strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college Part II: Issues pertaining to management, attitudes and values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Waterson

2006-09-01

Full Text Available This article forms part two of a bigger study that was conducted in a nursing college to explore and describe the reasons for the poor performance of learners. Part one of the study dealt with the issues pertaining to education, while this article (part two seeks to describe issues pertaining to management, attitudes and values that lead to the poor performance of learners in the nursing college under study. A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design that was contextual in nature was employed, and three focus groups interviews were conducted. Seven tutors formed one group while other two groups were formed by fourth-year learners following a comprehensive diploma course. All participants voluntarily participated in the study. Data was analyzed using the descriptive method of open coding in accordance with Tesch’s protocol (in Creswell, 1994:154-156. Trustworthiness was ensured using the following principles: credibility, conformability, transferability and dependability (Lincoln & Guba 1985:290-326. Findings were categorized into issues pertaining to management, attitudes and values that had an influence on the poor performance of learners as follows: Management: Inadequate resources and study facilities; policies that change frequently; tutors’ dissatisfaction with regard to staff development, the lack of involvement by management and lack of management support, staff shortage and maldistribution of staff members; ineffective selection process of learners; inconsistent regulations, and too many of them; policies and procedures resulting in confusion and poor discipline. Attitudes and values: Tutors’ lack of motivation and interest, lack of respect by learners and no team work among tutors.Through a conceptualization process and the recommendations by participants, strategies to improve the learners’ performance were described. It is recommended that these strategies be submitted to the staff development committee for

Experimental Investigation of the Root Cause Mechanism and Effectiveness of Mitigating Actions for Axial Offset Anomaly in Pressurized Water Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Said Abdel-Khalik

2005-01-01

Axial offset anomaly (AOA) in pressurized water reactors refers to the presence of a significantly larger measured negative axial offset deviation than predicted by core design calculations. The neutron flux depression in the upper half of high-power rods experiencing significant subcooled boiling is believed to be caused by the concentration of boron species within the crud layer formed on the cladding surface. Recent investigations of the root-cause mechanism for AOA [1,2] suggest that boron build-up on the fuel is caused by precipitation of lithium metaborate (LiBO2) within the crud in regions of subcooled boiling. Indirect evidence in support of this hypothesis was inferred from operating experience at Callaway, where lithium return and hide-out were, respectively, observed following power reductions and power increases when AOA was present. However, direct evidence of lithium metaborate precipitation within the crud has, heretofore, not been shown because of its retrograde solubility. To this end, this investigation has been undertaken in order to directly verify or refute the proposed root-cause mechanism of AOA, and examine the effectiveness of possible mitigating actions to limit its impact in high power PWR cores

Liquid metal heat transfer issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, H.W.; Yoder, G.L.

1984-01-01

An alkali liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor coupled with an alkali metal Rankine cycle provides a practicable option for space systems/missions requiring power in the 1 to 100 MW(e) range. Thermal issues relative to the use of alkali liquid metals for this purpose are identified as these result from the nature of the alkali metal fluid itself, from uncertainties in the available heat transfer correlations, and from design and performance requirements for system components operating in the earth orbital microgravity environment. It is noted that, while these issues require further attention to achieve optimum system performance, none are of such magnitude as to invalidate this particular space power concept

Ultrasonic decontamination of nuclear fuel. Feasibility study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berg, A.; Libal, A.; Norbaeck, J.; Wegemar, B.

1995-05-01

Ultrasonic decontamination of nuclear fuel is an expeditious way to reduce radiation exposures resulting in a minimal volume of waste. The fuel assemblies are set up in the fuel preparation machine one at a time and treated without prior disassemblage. By decontaminating 20% of the BWR fuel assemblies annually, there is a potential to reduce the collective dose by approximately 40-50%. Including also improved reactivity of the fuel, this amounts to an economic benefit of about 4 MSEK per reactor and year. The costs for performing the decontamination can be economically justified if the plants do not plan for short outages each year. The decontamination method could also be used for the purpose of removing tramp Uranium following a fuel failure or minor core accident. An additional benefit is removal of loosely adherent crud. The waste produced will be handled in a closed filtering circuit. The method is suggested to be verified in a test on discharged burnt-up fuel at site. The next step will be to develop the method further in order to be able to remove also tenacious crud. 12 refs, 4 tabs

Fuel deposits and water chemistry at TVO I power station during the first three fuel cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silvennoinen, S.; Hakala, J.

1983-01-01

TVO 1 is a 660 MWe direct-cycle, light-water cooled BWR of Asea-Atom design. The unit has just completed the 4th cycle. Sampling of deposits on fuel surfaces has been performed by Asea-Atom after each cycle. The deposits consist mainly of iron (78-86%) excepting two rods in a bundle belonging to the first reload. On these two rods the amounts of Cr and Cu were exceptionally high indicating differences in the deposition processes between the initial fuel and the first reload. In general the crud thickness is highest at a height of 1 to 1.5 meters from the bottom plate of the bundle. The average concentrations of the corrosion products vary from 3.6 to 10.3 g/m 2 /bundle. Inexplicable large variations of the crud amount between the bundles and between the individual rods in a bundle have been measured. Growth rate of deposits is decreased and water chemistry is improved with improved operation of the plant. During normal operation many impurities are below the detection limit thus making the interpretation of the results difficult. (author)

Biochemical studies on some anti nutritional factors in some feed stuffs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salah El-Din, M.F.S.

2001-01-01

the present work was carried out to study the effect of gamma radiation on some anti nutritional factors in sorghum and barley grains. also,to study the effect of the other treatments(poly ethlene glycol or K-enzyme ) on the physiological and biochemical responses of chicks (arbor acres). the results obtained revealed that , the treatment of sorghum or barley grains with different doses of gamma radiation (0,10,40,60,80 and 100 KGy) did not induce any significant differences in the dry matter and ash percentages. while, the crud fat, crud protein and crude fiber percentages were reduced, in contrast, the carbohydrate percentage was increased

Chemical decontamination method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inoue, Susumu; Ikehara, Fumiaki; Miyazaki, Atsuo

1994-04-12

Pipelines and equipments deposited with cruds undergo an oxidative dissolving treatment by a cleaning liquid using persulfuric acid and persulfate. Then a reducing agent is added to cleaning liquid wastes by an excess amount than required for decomposing and reducing the remaining persulfuric acid and persulfate. As the reducing agent, one or more of materials selected from ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid, oxalic acid, salts and derivatives thereof are used. Further, if required, sulfuric acid or sulfuric acid is also added. This can effectively dissolve even less soluble cruds to shorten the processing time, thereby reducing the operators' exposure dose and attaining devoluming of the wastes. (T.M.).

Chemical decontamination method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, Susumu; Ikehara, Fumiaki; Miyazaki, Atsuo.

1994-01-01

Pipelines and equipments deposited with cruds undergo an oxidative dissolving treatment by a cleaning liquid using persulfuric acid and persulfate. Then a reducing agent is added to cleaning liquid wastes by an excess amount than required for decomposing and reducing the remaining persulfuric acid and persulfate. As the reducing agent, one or more of materials selected from ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid, oxalic acid, salts and derivatives thereof are used. Further, if required, sulfuric acid or sulfuric acid is also added. This can effectively dissolve even less soluble cruds to shorten the processing time, thereby reducing the operators' exposure dose and attaining devoluming of the wastes. (T.M.)

Extraction of human factors issues caused by application of the advanced HSI technology and development of human factor issue management system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, Sang Moon; Lee, Jung Woon; Park, Jae Chang; Oh, In Seok [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea)

1999-01-01

A comprehensive literature survey was performed in this study to collect human performance issues related to the advanced HSI design features. The literature from not only nuclear industry but also other industries was collected and reviewed. The issues were categorized into the following advanced HSI design features: devices characteristics, levels of automation, information design and management, display management, computerized controls, alarm systems, computerized procedures, staffing and crew coordination, and operator support systems. The classified issues were described with the description framework. Then, the relationship of issues to HSI design process such as human factors analyses, human factors design, and human factors verification and validation was investigated. Finally, the issue management system of server-client environment was developed using Microsoft's Active Server Page technology and Access 97. (author). 18 refs., 6 figs.

Fusion Canada issue 10

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-02-01

A short bulletin from the National Fusion Program. Included in this issue is a report on Fusion Materials Research, ITER physics research, fusion performance record at JET, and design options for reactor building. 4 figs

Proceeding of A3 foresight program seminar on critical physics issues specific to steady state sustainment of high-performance plasmas 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morita, Shigeru; Hu Liqun; Oh, Yeong-Kook

2014-10-01

The A3 Foresight Program titled by 'Critical Physics Issues Specific to Steady State Sustainment of High-Performance Plasmas', based on the scientific collaboration among China, Japan and Korea in the field of plasma physics, has been started from August 2012 under the auspice of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, Japan), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF, Korea) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, China). The main purpose of this project is to enhance joint experiments on three Asian advanced fully superconducting fusion devices (EAST in China, LHD in Japan and KSTAR in Korea) and other magnetic confinement devices to several key physics issues on steady state sustainment of high-performance plasmas. The fourth seminar on the A3 collaboration, as the fifth meeting of A3 program, took place in Kagoshima, Japan, 23-26 June 2014, which was hosted by National Institute for Fusion Science, to discuss achievement during past two years and to summarize intermediate report. New collaborative research was also encouraged as well as participation of young scientists. The topics include steady state sustainment of magnetic configuration, edge and divertor plasma control and confinement of alpha particles. This issue is the collection of 41 papers presented at the entitled meeting. All the 41 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

Quantitative performance of E-Scribe warehouse in detecting quality issues with digital annotated ECG data from healthy subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarapa, Nenad; Mortara, Justin L; Brown, Barry D; Isola, Lamberto; Badilini, Fabio

2008-05-01

The US Food and Drug Administration recommends submission of digital electrocardiograms in the standard HL7 XML format into the electrocardiogram warehouse to support preapproval review of new drug applications. The Food and Drug Administration scrutinizes electrocardiogram quality by viewing the annotated waveforms and scoring electrocardiogram quality by the warehouse algorithms. Part of the Food and Drug Administration warehouse is commercially available to sponsors as the E-Scribe Warehouse. The authors tested the performance of E-Scribe Warehouse algorithms by quantifying electrocardiogram acquisition quality, adherence to QT annotation protocol, and T-wave signal strength in 2 data sets: "reference" (104 digital electrocardiograms from a phase I study with sotalol in 26 healthy subjects with QT annotations by computer-assisted manual adjustment) and "test" (the same electrocardiograms with an intentionally introduced predefined number of quality issues). The E-Scribe Warehouse correctly detected differences between the 2 sets expected from the number and pattern of errors in the "test" set (except for 1 subject with QT misannotated in different leads of serial electrocardiograms) and confirmed the absence of differences where none was expected. E-Scribe Warehouse scores below the threshold value identified individual electrocardiograms with questionable T-wave signal strength. The E-Scribe Warehouse showed satisfactory performance in detecting electrocardiogram quality issues that may impair reliability of QTc assessment in clinical trials in healthy subjects.

Nutrition for sports performance: issues and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Maughan, Ronald J; Shirreffs, Susan M

2012-02-01

Diet can significantly influence athletic performance, but recent research developments have substantially changed our understanding of sport and exercise nutrition. Athletes adopt various nutritional strategies in training and competition in the pursuit of success. The aim of training is to promote changes in the structure and function of muscle and other tissues by selective modulation of protein synthesis and breakdown in response to the training stimulus. This process is affected by the availability of essential amino acids in the post-exercise period. Athletes have been encouraged to eat diets high in carbohydrate, but low-carbohydrate diets up-regulate the capacity of muscle for fat oxidation, potentially sparing the limited carbohydrate stores. Such diets, however, do not enhance endurance performance. It is not yet known whether the increased capacity for fat oxidation that results from training in a carbohydrate-deficient state can promote loss of body fat. Preventing excessive fluid deficits will maintain exercise capacity, and ensuring adequate hydration status can also reduce subjective perception of effort. This latter effect may be important in encouraging exercise participation and promoting adherence to exercise programmes. Dietary supplement use is popular in sport, and a few supplements may improve performance in specific exercise tasks. Athletes must be cautious, however, not to contravene the doping regulations. There is an increasing recognition of the role of the brain in determining exercise performance: various nutritional strategies have been proposed, but with limited success. Nutrition strategies developed for use by athletes can also be used to achieve functional benefits in other populations.

Cultural Issues in Psychiatric Administration and Leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, Neil Krishan

2015-09-01

This paper addresses cultural issues in psychiatric administration and leadership through two issues: (1) the changing culture of psychiatric practice based on new clinician performance metrics and (2) the culture of psychiatric administration and leadership in light of organizational cultural competence. Regarding the first issue, some observers have discussed the challenges of creating novel practice environments that balance business values of efficient performance with fiduciary values of treatment competence. This paper expands upon this discussion, demonstrating that some metrics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the nation's largest funder of postgraduate medical training, may penalize clinicians for patient medication behaviors that are unrelated to clinician performance. A focus on pharmacotherapy over psychotherapy in these metrics has unclear consequences for the future of psychiatric training. Regarding the second issue, studies of psychiatric administration and leadership reveal a disproportionate influence of older men in positions of power despite efforts to recruit women, minorities, and immigrants who increasingly constitute the psychiatric workforce. Organizational cultural competence initiatives can diversify institutional cultures so that psychiatric leaders better reflect the populations they serve. In both cases, psychiatric administrators and leaders play critical roles in ensuring that their organizations respond to social challenges.

Neutronic performance issues of the breeding blanket options for the European DEMO fusion power plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fischer, U., E-mail: ulrich.fischer@kit.edu [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Bachmann, C. [EUROfusion—Programme Management Unit, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching (Germany); Jaboulay, J.-C. [CEA-Saclay, DEN, DM2S, SERMA, LPEC, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Moro, F. [ENEA, Dipartimento Fusione e tecnologie per la Sicurezza Nucleare, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Rome (Italy); Palermo, I. [Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid (Spain); Pereslavtsev, P. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Villari, R. [ENEA, Dipartimento Fusione e tecnologie per la Sicurezza Nucleare, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Rome (Italy)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • Breeder blanket concepts for DEMO—design features. • Neutronic characteristics of breeder blankets. • Evaluation of Tritium breeding potential. • Evaluation of shielding performance. - Abstract: This paper presents nuclear performance issues of the HCPB, HCLL, DCLL and WCLL breeder blankets, which are under development within the PPPT (Power Plant Physics and Technology) programme of EUROfusion, with the objective to assess the potential and suitability of the blankets for the application to DEMO. The assessment is based on the initial design versions of the blankets developed in 2014. The Tritium breeding potential is considered sufficient for all breeder blankets although the initial design versions of the HCPB, HCLL and DCLL blankets were shown to require further design improvements. Suitable measures have been proposed and proven to be sufficient to achieve the required Tritium Breeding Ratio (TBR) ≥ 1.10. The shielding performance was shown to be sufficient to protect the super-conducting toroidal field coil provided that efficient shielding material mixtures including WC or borated water are utilized. The WCLL blanket does not require the use of such shielding materials due to a very compact blanket support structure/manifold configuration which yet requires design verification. The vacuum vessel can be safely operated over the full anticipated DEMO lifetime of 6 full power years for all blanket concepts considered.

Issues with using radiological exposures as a company performance measure in a low dose environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilkins, Richard I.

2008-01-01

Full text: Collective and maximum individual doses are two measures commonly used as an indicator for measuring Company performance. There is often an expectation for year on year improvements by optimisation of exposures through improved working methods and modernisation of facilities. Eventually a level of exposure can be reached that is no longer easy to measure which makes meaningful trend analysis difficult. The paper discusses the issues that arose at AWE where the majority of exposures are close the limit of detection for the TLD system used. It details the investigation that was carried out when recorded doses where observed to unexpectedly increase significantly. The paper shows the significant effect of a small change in the background radiation levels that are subtracted for each individual dose measurement. Also discussed is the effect of using TLD dosimeter readers that have undergone recent maintenance and are therefore assessing slightly increased exposures. Compounding the apparent increase in gamma dose a slight change in the manufacturing process for the plastic neutron film in the neutron dosimeters also gave an increased neutron exposure measurement which is detailed. The paper concludes with describing the changes that have been made to better ensure reproducibility of the exposure measurements so that any improvements in Company performance can be shown. It also questions the use of Collective Dose as a performance measure which is commonly misused across the industry. (author)

Issues in target R and D

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Noboru

1999-01-01

Various important technical issues in the design study of an intense pulsed spallation neutron source are discussed. A design concept of the target-moderator-reflector system for the JAERI 5 MW pulsed spallation source is proposed, with some new ideas, based on these discussions. Various important design parameters which have great influence on the neutronic performance and major engineering issues are clarified. After extensive optimization studies the predicted neutronic performance of this source is compared with those in other similar projects to judge the proposed concept with its optimized design parameters. The performance was found to be very high. However, there still exist many rooms for further optimization studies. A great deal of engineering efforts are also indispensable to solve the technical problems. (author)

Issues in target R and D

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watanabe, Noboru [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1999-03-01

Various important technical issues in the design study of an intense pulsed spallation neutron source are discussed. A design concept of the target-moderator-reflector system for the JAERI 5 MW pulsed spallation source is proposed, with some new ideas, based on these discussions. Various important design parameters which have great influence on the neutronic performance and major engineering issues are clarified. After extensive optimization studies the predicted neutronic performance of this source is compared with those in other similar projects to judge the proposed concept with its optimized design parameters. The performance was found to be very high. However, there still exist many rooms for further optimization studies. A great deal of engineering efforts are also indispensable to solve the technical problems. (author)

The Y2K issue in Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlin, G.; Ek, P.; Isaksson, S.; Ericsson, A.M.; Jaernry, C.

1999-01-01

The paper overviews the work performed in Sweden on the Y2K issue. It describes in summary how the work is done at the utilities, some lessons learned and the work performed by the regulatory body, the Swedish Power Inspectorate. It discusses as well, how the reporting and accountancy has been changed to meet the Y2K problem at the Swedish State Authority as well as at the Swedish nuclear facilities. There is a section describing the Physical Protection issues

Institutional issues affecting transportation of nuclear materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reese, R.T.; Luna, R.E.

1980-01-01

The institutional issues affecting transportation of nuclear materials in the United States represent significant barriers to meeting future needs in the transport of radioactive waste materials to their ultimate repository. While technological problems which must be overcome to perform such movements seem to be within the state-of-the-art, the timely resolution of these institutional issues seems less assured. However, the definition of these issues, as attempted in this paper, together with systematic analysis of cause and possible solutions are the essential elements of the Transportation Technology Center's Institutional Issues Program

Psychosocial issues in long-term space flight: overview

Science.gov (United States)

Palinkas, L. A.

2001-01-01

Anecdotal evidence of the individual and interpersonal problems that occurred during the Shuttle-Mir Space Program (SMSP) and other long-duration Russian/Soviet missions, and studies of personnel in other isolated and confined extreme (ICE) environments suggest that psychosocial elements of behavior and performance are likely to have a significant impact on the outcome of long-duration missions in space. This impact may range from individual decrements in performance, health and well being, to catastrophic mission failure. This paper reviews our current understanding of the psychosocial issues related to long duration space missions according to three different domains of behavior: the individual domain, the interpersonal domain and the organizational domain. Individual issues include: personality characteristics that predict successful performance, stress due to isolation and confinement and its effect on emotions and cognitive performance, adaptive and maladaptive coping styles and strategies, and requirements for the psychological support of astronauts and their families during the mission. Interpersonal issues include: impact of crew diversity and leadership styles on small group dynamics, adaptive and maladaptive features of ground-crew interactions, and processes of crew cohesion, tension and conflict. Organizational issues include: the influence of organizational culture and mission duration on individual and group performance, and managerial requirements for long duration missions. Improved screening and selection of astronaut candidates, leadership, coping and interpersonal skills training of personnel, and organizational change are key elements in the prevention of performance decrements on long-duration missions.

Enhancing LAN performance

CERN Document Server

Held, Gilbert

2004-01-01

Enhancing LAN Performance, Fourth Edition explains how to connect geographically separated LANs with appropriate bandwidth, the issues to consider when weighing the use of multiport or dualport devices, how to estimate traffic for new networks, the effects of configuration changes on the performance of Ethernet and Token Ring networks, the design of switch-based networks that prevent traffic bottlenecks, and other critical topics. It provides the tools to address these issues in relation to specific network requirements. This volume develops mathematical models of various LAN performance issue

Profile Septa cut out condensate crud

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poschmann, T.

1991-01-01

Secondary side corrosion is a major factor leading to steam generator tube plugging. Large quantities of steam generator sludge can harden, prolonging system maintenance during an outage. However, eliminating the ingress of solids to the PWR steam generators can reduce the need for sludge lancing and increase the life of the steam generator tubes. The Pall Corporation has developed an improved filter demineralizer septum for retrofitting traditional yarn-wound elements without having to modify hardware. In November 1990, operators at Turkey Point installed 496 2in x 70in Pall's Profile Septa in one of the four filter demineralizer vessels on unit 3. After installation of the Profile Septa, samples of filter influent and effluent were taken and analyzed over a one-month period - these showed a particulate removal rate of 96-99%. Contaminant analysis by Pall Corporation identified the vast majority of particulates to be iron oxides. This is as was expected, since Turkey Point has titanium condenser tubes which reduce the source of copper oxides. The success of Profile Septa at Turkey Point has encouraged the other utilities to look at using the septa at their own plants. The cost for these retrofits would be recouped through savings in maintenance costs, due to faster steam generator lancing (fewer solids), reduced radiation exposure and, ultimately, longer steam generator life. (author)

Cultural Issues in Psychiatric Administration and Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, Neil Krishan

2016-01-01

This paper addresses cultural issues in psychiatric administration and leadership through two issues: (1) the changing culture of psychiatric practice based on new clinician performance metrics and (2) the culture of psychiatric administration and leadership in light of organizational cultural competence. Regarding the first issue, some observers have discussed the challenges of creating novel practice environments that balance business values of efficient performance with fiduciary values of treatment competence. This paper expands upon this discussion, demonstrating that some metrics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the nation’s largest funder of postgraduate medical training, may penalize clinicians for patient medication behaviors that are unrelated to clinician performance. A focus on pharmacotherapy over psychotherapy in these metrics has unclear consequences for the future of psychiatric training. Regarding the second issue, studies of psychiatric administration and leadership reveal a disproportionate influence of older men in positions of power despite efforts to recruit women, minorities, and immigrants who increasingly constitute the psychiatric workforce. Organizational cultural competence initiatives can diversify institutional cultures so that psychiatric leaders better reflect the populations they serve. In both cases, psychiatric administrators and leaders play critical roles in ensuring that their organizations respond to social challenges. PMID:26071640

Bulk power system performance issues affecting utility peaking capacity additions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garrity, T.F. [GE Power Sytems, Schenectady, NY (United States)

1994-12-31

This paper presents a discussion of transmission system constraints and problems that affect the siting and rating of peaking capacity additions. Techniques for addressing and modifying these concerns are presented. Particular attention is paid to techniques that have been successfully used by utilities to improve power transfer and system loadability, while avoiding the construction of additional transmission lines. Proven techniques for dealing with thermal, short-circuit level and stability issues are presented.

EFRT M-12 Issue Resolution: Comparison of Filter Performance at PEP and CUF Scale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daniel, Richard C.; Billing, Justin M.; Bontha, Jagannadha R.; Brown, Christopher F.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Hanson, Brady D.; Huckaby, James L.; Karri, Naveen K.; Kimura, Marcia L.; Kurath, Dean E.; Minette, Michael J.

2009-08-13

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed and constructed and is to be operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, Undemonstrated Leaching Processes. The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing. Two operating scenarios are currently being evaluated for the ultrafiltration process (UFP) and leaching operations. The first scenario has caustic leaching performed in the UFP-2 ultrafiltration feed vessels (i.e., vessel UFP-VSL-T02A in the PEP and vessels UFP-VSL-00002A and B in the WTP PTF). The second scenario has caustic leaching conducted in the UFP-1 ultrafiltration feed-preparation vessels (i.e., vessels UFP-VSL-T01A and B in the PEP; vessels UFP-VSL-00001A and B in the WTP PTF). In both scenarios, 19-M sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH, caustic) is added to the waste slurry in the vessels to leach solid aluminum compounds (e.g., gibbsite, boehmite). Caustic addition is followed by a heating step that uses direct injection of steam to accelerate the leach process. Following the caustic leach, the vessel contents are cooled using vessel cooling jackets and/or external heat exchangers. The main difference between the two scenarios is that for leaching in UFP1, the 19-M NaOH is added to un-concentrated waste slurry (3 to 8 wt% solids), while for leaching in UFP2, the slurry is concentrated to nominally 20 wt

EFRT M-12 Issue Resolution: Comparison of Filter Performance at PEP and CUF Scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daniel, Richard C.; Billing, Justin M.; Bontha, Jagannadha R.; Brown, Christopher F.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Hanson, Brady D.; Huckaby, James L.; Karri, Naveen K.; Kimura, Marcia L.; Kurath, Dean E.; Minette, Michael J.

2009-01-01

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed and constructed and is to be operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, Undemonstrated Leaching Processes. The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing. Two operating scenarios are currently being evaluated for the ultrafiltration process (UFP) and leaching operations. The first scenario has caustic leaching performed in the UFP-2 ultrafiltration feed vessels (i.e., vessel UFP-VSL-T02A in the PEP and vessels UFP-VSL-00002A and B in the WTP PTF). The second scenario has caustic leaching conducted in the UFP-1 ultrafiltration feed-preparation vessels (i.e., vessels UFP-VSL-T01A and B in the PEP; vessels UFP-VSL-00001A and B in the WTP PTF). In both scenarios, 19-M sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH, caustic) is added to the waste slurry in the vessels to leach solid aluminum compounds (e.g., gibbsite, boehmite). Caustic addition is followed by a heating step that uses direct injection of steam to accelerate the leach process. Following the caustic leach, the vessel contents are cooled using vessel cooling jackets and/or external heat exchangers. The main difference between the two scenarios is that for leaching in UFP1, the 19-M NaOH is added to un-concentrated waste slurry (3 to 8 wt% solids), while for leaching in UFP2, the slurry is concentrated to nominally 20 wt

Performance Issues Along the Six Elements of Holcim Solusi Rumah's Marketing Mix and Solution Recommedations

OpenAIRE

Susana, Apriliani Dewi; Titus, Amol

2013-01-01

This study aims at identifying key issues in SR franchise business along the six elements of marketing mix: people, partner, place, product, promotion, and price, and then propose solution recommendations for the identified issues. Data is collected through a method of in-depth interviews with key SR stakeholders, internally and externally, namely end customers, SR personnels, and SR franchisees. Issues identified are mapped into a Problem Tree Analysis diagram to determine causal relations...

Exploring work-related issues on corporate sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Brunoro, C M; Bolis, I; Sznelwar, L I

2015-01-01

In a research project about work-related issues and corporate sustainability conducted in Brazil, the goal was to better understand how work-related issues were addressed in the corporate context. Particularly, there are some specific initiatives that serve as guides to organizational decisions, which make their performance indicators for the context of corporate sustainability. 1) To explore the presence of work-related issues and their origins in corporate sustainability approach, analyzing a) corporate disclosures; b) sustainability guidelines that are identified as relevant in corporate disclosures; c) documents that are related to sustainable development and also identified as key-documents for these guidelines and initiatives. 2) To present the activity-centered ergonomics and psychodynamics of work contributions to work-related issues in a corporate sustainability approach. An exploratory study based on multiple sources of evidence that were performed from 2012 to 2013, including interviews with companies that engaged in corporate sustainability and document analysis using the content analysis approach. Work-related issues have been presented since the earliest sustainable development documents. It is feasible to construct an empirical framework for work-related issues and corporate sustainability approaches. 1) Although some authors argue that corporate sustainability has its roots based only on the environmental dimension, there is strong empirical evidence showing that social dimension aspects such as work-related issues have been present since the beginning. 2) Some indicators should be redesigned to more precisely translate the reality of some workplaces, particularly those indicators related to organizational design and mental health.

Diffusion bonded matrix of HGMF applied for BWR condensate water purification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soda, Fumitaka; Yukawa, Takao; Ito, Kazuyuki.

1984-01-01

High Gradient Magnetic Filter (HGMF) applied to the purification of power plant primary water has recently attracted much attention. In the application of HGMF to the water treatment of power plants, especially nuclear power plants, reliabillties of matrix (filtering medium) as well as removal performance for cruds (insoluble corrosion products) are considered to be important factors. To satisfy these factors, a new filtering medium named Diffision Bonded Matrix (DBM) has been developed and the test results are reported. Filtering efficiency and mechanical stiffness of DBM were examined using HGMF pilot test units consisting of 160 mm diameters x 240 mm length filter. The filtering velocity and the magnetic flux density used in this test were 800 m/h 5 kG, respectively. The filtering efficiencies and of 85-100% were obtained for artificial cruds for DBM. The DBM indicated slightly better filtering efficiency than for conventional wool matrix under the same filtering and matrix conditions. The DBM kept its original mechanical properties and very few pieces of fibers were broken off while the conventional wool matrix lost its volume elasticities and the considerable amount of fibers was broken off during the test operation. The results described here demonstrated the applicability of DBM for treatment of BWR primary water by High Gradient Magnetic Filter. (author)

Advanced alarm systems: Display and processing issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

O`Hara, J.M. [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States); Wachtel, J.; Perensky, J. [US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research

1995-05-01

This paper describes a research program sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to address the human factors engineering (HFE) deficiencies associated with nuclear power plant alarm systems. The overall objective of the study is to develop HFE review guidance for alarm systems. In support of this objective, human performance issues needing additional research were identified. Among the important issues were alarm processing strategies and alarm display techniques. This paper will discuss these issues and briefly describe our current research plan to address them.

HDR-Clinical Data Service (CDS)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Veterans Affairs — CDS is a SOAP/REST web service interface that supports Create, Retrieve, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations against HDR data stores over secure Hypertext Transfer...

Practical Issues in Evidence-Based Use of Performance Supplements: Supplement Interactions, Repeated Use and Individual Responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Louise M

2017-03-01

Current sports nutrition guidelines recommend that athletes only take supplements following an evidence-based analysis of their value in supporting training outcomes or competition performance in their specific event. While there is sound evidence to support the use of a few performance supplements under specific scenarios (creatine, beta-alanine, bicarbonate, caffeine, nitrate/beetroot juice and, perhaps, phosphate), there is a lack of information around several issues needed to guide the practical use of these products in competitive sport. First, there is limited knowledge around the strategy of combining the intake of several products in events in which performance benefits are seen with each product in isolation. The range in findings from studies involving combined use of different combinations of two supplements makes it difficult to derive a general conclusion, with both the limitations of individual studies and the type of sporting event to which the supplements are applied influencing the potential for additive, neutral or counteractive outcomes. The repeated use of the same supplement in sports involving two or more events within a 24-h period is of additional interest, but has received even less attention. Finally, the potential for individual athletes to respond differently, in direction and magnitude, to the use of a supplement seems real, but is hard to distinguish from normal day to day variability in performance. Strategies that can be used in research or practice to identify whether individual differences are robust include repeat trials, and the collection of data on physiological or genetic mechanisms underpinning outcomes.

Position statement--altitude training for improving team-sport players' performance: current knowledge and unresolved issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Girard, Olivier; Amann, Markus; Aughey, Robert; Billaut, François; Bishop, David J; Bourdon, Pitre; Buchheit, Martin; Chapman, Robert; D'Hooghe, Michel; Garvican-Lewis, Laura A; Gore, Christopher J; Millet, Grégoire P; Roach, Gregory D; Sargent, Charli; Saunders, Philo U; Schmidt, Walter; Schumacher, Yorck O

2013-12-01

Despite the limited research on the effects of altitude (or hypoxic) training interventions on team-sport performance, players from all around the world engaged in these sports are now using altitude training more than ever before. In March 2013, an Altitude Training and Team Sports conference was held in Doha, Qatar, to establish a forum of research and practical insights into this rapidly growing field. A round-table meeting in which the panellists engaged in focused discussions concluded this conference. This has resulted in the present position statement, designed to highlight some key issues raised during the debates and to integrate the ideas into a shared conceptual framework. The present signposting document has been developed for use by support teams (coaches, performance scientists, physicians, strength and conditioning staff) and other professionals who have an interest in the practical application of altitude training for team sports. After more than four decades of research, there is still no consensus on the optimal strategies to elicit the best results from altitude training in a team-sport population. However, there are some recommended strategies discussed in this position statement to adopt for improving the acclimatisation process when training/competing at altitude and for potentially enhancing sea-level performance. It is our hope that this information will be intriguing, balanced and, more importantly, stimulating to the point that it promotes constructive discussion and serves as a guide for future research aimed at advancing the bourgeoning body of knowledge in the area of altitude training for team sports.

Position statement—altitude training for improving team-sport players’ performance: current knowledge and unresolved issues

Science.gov (United States)

Girard, Olivier; Amann, Markus; Aughey, Robert; Billaut, François; Bishop, David J; Bourdon, Pitre; Buchheit, Martin; Chapman, Robert; D'Hooghe, Michel; Garvican-Lewis, Laura A; Gore, Christopher J; Millet, Grégoire P; Roach, Gregory D; Sargent, Charli; Saunders, Philo U; Schmidt, Walter; Schumacher, Yorck O

2013-01-01

Despite the limited research on the effects of altitude (or hypoxic) training interventions on team-sport performance, players from all around the world engaged in these sports are now using altitude training more than ever before. In March 2013, an Altitude Training and Team Sports conference was held in Doha, Qatar, to establish a forum of research and practical insights into this rapidly growing field. A round-table meeting in which the panellists engaged in focused discussions concluded this conference. This has resulted in the present position statement, designed to highlight some key issues raised during the debates and to integrate the ideas into a shared conceptual framework. The present signposting document has been developed for use by support teams (coaches, performance scientists, physicians, strength and conditioning staff) and other professionals who have an interest in the practical application of altitude training for team sports. After more than four decades of research, there is still no consensus on the optimal strategies to elicit the best results from altitude training in a team-sport population. However, there are some recommended strategies discussed in this position statement to adopt for improving the acclimatisation process when training/competing at altitude and for potentially enhancing sea-level performance. It is our hope that this information will be intriguing, balanced and, more importantly, stimulating to the point that it promotes constructive discussion and serves as a guide for future research aimed at advancing the bourgeoning body of knowledge in the area of altitude training for team sports. PMID:24282213

Molecular modeling and multiscaling issues for electronic material applications

CERN Document Server

Iwamoto, Nancy; Yuen, Matthew; Fan, Haibo

Volume 1 : Molecular Modeling and Multiscaling Issues for Electronic Material Applications provides a snapshot on the progression of molecular modeling in the electronics industry and how molecular modeling is currently being used to understand material performance to solve relevant issues in this field. This book is intended to introduce the reader to the evolving role of molecular modeling, especially seen through the eyes of the IEEE community involved in material modeling for electronic applications.  Part I presents  the role that quantum mechanics can play in performance prediction, such as properties dependent upon electronic structure, but also shows examples how molecular models may be used in performance diagnostics, especially when chemistry is part of the performance issue.  Part II gives examples of large-scale atomistic methods in material failure and shows several examples of transitioning between grain boundary simulations (on the atomistic level)and large-scale models including an example ...

Performance issues for a changing electric power industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1995-01-01

Extremely cold weather created record demands for electricity in the eastern two-thirds of the United States during the week of January 16, 1994. Fuel-related problems, mostly the result of transportation constraints resulting from ice accumulation on roads and water-ways, and unexpected generating capacity outages at utilities and nonutilities resulted in demand not being met. Some utilities asked nonessential customers along with State governments and a portion of the Federal Government to shut down. Two electric control areas, the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM) and Virginia Electric & Power Company (VEPCO), instituted rolling blackouts. This disturbance was reported widely in the press and, along with other disturbances, peaked renewed interest in the reliability of the electric power system. The renewed interest in reliability has coincided with substantial changes that are beginning to occur in the structure and competitiveness of the electric power industry. Juxtaposing the question of reliability and the issue of changing industry structure leads to the central concern of this report: What effect, if any, will the changing structure of the industry have on the reliability of the system?

Assessment of spent WWER-440 fuel performance under long-term storage conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kupca, L [VUJE Inc. (Slovakia)

2012-07-01

In the Slovak Republic are under operation 6 units (4 in the Jaslovske Bohunice site, and 2 in the Mochovce), 2 units are under construction in Mochovce site. All units are WWER-440 type. The fresh fuel is imported from the Russian Federation. The spent fuel assemblies are stored in wet conditions in Bohunice Interim Storage Spent Fuel Facility (SFIS). By 15 July 2008, there were 8413 assemblies in SFIS. The objectives are: 1) Wet AR storage of spent fuel from the NPP Bohunice and Mochovce: Surveillance of conditions for spent fuel storage in the at-reactor (AR) storage pools of both NPP's (characteristics of pool water, corrosion product data); Visual control of storage pool components; Evaluation of storage conditions with respect to long-term stability (corrosion of fuel cladding, structural materials); 2) Wet SFIS storage at Bohunice: Measurement of spent fuel conditions during the long-term wet storage, activity data in the storage casks and amount of crud; Surveillance program for SFIS structural materials.

Emerging issues in environmental cracking in hot water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andresen, P.L.; Morra, M.M.

2007-01-01

Extensive research and engineering application efforts have been made to understand and manage environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) in high temperature water. EAC is a complex phenomena involving dozens of important parameters, and important issues continue to emerge as careful studies have been performed. This paper summarizes a number of emerging issues, and highlights the need for improvements in experimental sophistication and for deeper probing into the nature and importance of these emerging issues. (author)

Culture as moderator variable in psychological test performance: Issues and trends in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Bedell

1999-06-01

Full Text Available This article deals with the recognition of cultural variation and related variables as moderators of psychological test performance in South Africa. Attention is paid to historical approaches, present issues and trends emerging in this field. The studies discussed include those on cognitive and personality tests and factors surrounding their use and interpretation. The comparability of test scores and how this relates to bias and fairness are discussed. Related perspectives from industry and questions as to future options regarding assessment are also raised. Opsomming Hierdie artikel handel oor die erkenning van die moderator- of bemiddelingsrol wat kulturele variasie en verwante veranderlikes speel by sielkundige toetsprestasie in Suid Afrika. Aandag word geskenk aan histonese benaderings, huidige kwessies en neigings wat in die veld ontstaan. Studies van kognitiewe en persoonlikheidstoetse en faktore wat hierdie toetse se gebruik en interpretasie omvou, word bespreek. Die verband tussen die vergelykbaarheid van toetscellings en sydigheid en billikheid word aangedui. Verwante sienings vanuit die nywerheidswêreld, en vrae oor toekomstige moontlikhede met betrekking tot evaluering word ook gelug.

Design performances and chemistry program supporting the FA3/UK-EPR (TM) Activity Management: Experience and Modelling Balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tigeras, A.; Bachet, M.; Bremmes, O.; Berger, M.; Clinard, M.H.; Jolivet, P.; Chahma, F.

2012-01-01

Several methodologies have been applied to evaluate the source term in the primary circuit and to define the appropriate chemistry conditioning for the EPR reactor. These methodologies are based on nuclear power plant (NPP) feedback experience, laboratory data and modelling considerations. It is concluded that the activity risks are understood and can be managed with EPR design options. A strategy for the chemical conditioning of the primary coolant has been defined through the specifications for 3 parameters: pH, Zn and H 2 whose target and limit values are based on NPP feedback, international experimental data from laboratory tests, theoretical studies and numerical simulations. The material inventory selected for the primary components will allow low dose rates and low crud formation despite the high power level of the EPR reactor

POWER-GEN '90 conference papers: Volume 7 (Fossil plant performance availability and improvement) and Volume 8 (Nuclear power issues)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1990-01-01

This is book 4 of papers presented at the Third International Exhibition and Conference for the Power Generation Industries, December 4-6, 1990. This book contains Volume 7, Fossil Plant Performance Availability and Improvement, and Volume 8, Nuclear Power Issues. The topics of the papers include computer applications in plant operations and maintenance, managing aging plants, plant improvements, plant operations and maintenance, the future of nuclear power, achieving cost effective plant operation, managing nuclear plant aging and license renewal, and the factors affecting a decision to build a new nuclear plant

Technical issues for WIPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, T.O.

1979-01-01

Emplacement of wastes in the WIPP will include experiments on various waste types which will provide essential data on waste-rock interaction and repository response. These experiments will include evolution of the synergistic effects of both heat production, radiation, and actual waste forms. While these studies will provide essential data on the validity of waste isolation in bedded salt, they will be preceded by a broad-based experimental program which will resolve many of the current technical issues providing not only an assessment of the safety of performing such experiments but also the technical basis for assurance that the appropriate experiments are performed. Data and predictive modeling techniques, which are currently available, can bound the consequences associated with these technical issues. Predictions of the impact on public safety based on these analyses indicate that safe waste disposal in WIPP salt beds is achievable; however, a major use of WIPP will be to conduct realistic experiments with HLW forms to address some of the unresolved details of these waste/salt interactions

The Underreaction Hypothesis and the New Issue Puzzle: Evidence from Japan

OpenAIRE

Jun-Koo Kang; Yong-Cheol Kim; Rene M. Stulz

1996-01-01

This paper investigates the long-term performance of Japanese firms issuing convertible debt or equity. We find that these firms perform poorly even though the stock-price reaction to convertible debt and equity issue announcements is not significantly negative for Japanese firms and Japanese firms do not issue equity or convertible debt following strong positive abnormal returns. Whereas in the U.S. underperformance appears to be concentrated in the smaller firms and in the firms with a high...

A human factors experiment on the event-paced control tasks issue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Hyun Chul; Park, Jae Chang; Oh, In Seok; Lee, Jung Woon; Lee, Ki Young; Park, Jong Kyun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejeon (Korea)

2000-03-01

KEPRI(Korea Electric Power Research Institute) requires human factors validation tests according to the progress of the KNGR MMI design. This report describes the experimental results of an human factors validation issue, Event-Paced Control Tasks issue. The Event-Paced Control Task issue is to test that the designed MMI shall support operators in performing control tasks in pace with the plant dynamics. Task completion time and successful execution are defined as performance measures on the issue. Through an experiment on the issue with 3 scenarios and 5 subjects, we report that the variation of task completion time between subjects has a narrow band for each scenarios, however two among the total 15 experimental runs result in the failure that subject does not reach to the predefined operational goal. Incorrect operational strategy, insufficient training, and MMI design discrepancies are inferred as the causes of the failures. However these experimental results don't indicate the close of the Event-Paced Control Tasks issue. The validation test results under the experimental environment composed of the partial MMI representations, an unstable simulator, and insufficient subject training, are significant in the limited conditions. Thus, for the purpose of the complete issue close, the validation test on the Event-Paced Control Tasks issue should be repeatedly carried out in pace with the performance improvement of the experimental environment. 13 figs., 4 tabs. (Author)

Critical Issues for Particle-Bed Reactor Fuels

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Robert S.; Husser, Dewayne L.; Jensen, Russell R.; Kerr, John M.

1994-07-01

Particle-Bed Reactors (PBRs) potentially offer performance advantages for nuclear thermal propulsion, including very high power densities, thrust-to-weight ratios, and specific impulses. A key factor in achieving all of these is the development of a very-high-temperature fuel. The critical issues for all such PBR fuels are uranium loading, thermomechanical and thermochemical stability, compatibility with contacting materials, fission product retention, manufacturability, and operational tolerance for particle failures. Each issue is discussed with respect to its importance to PBR operation, its status among current fuels, and additional development needs. Mixed-carbide-based fuels are recommended for further development to support high-performance PBRs.

New thoughts about old issues and old thoughts about new issues

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The large and growing literature on 'public engagement' has centred on now-familiar themes of science and democracy, critiques of the deficit theory, relations between the sciences and their publics, and the need to 'open up' scientific governance to wider social issues and concerns. In this paper......, we hope to suggest some new theoretical departures and perspectives on what has become an 'old' (but nevertheless significant) set of issues. How has the notion of 'engagement' migrated over time and what new meanings has 'engagement' acquired? What socio-technical arrangements are necessary...... for the performance of 'homo participatus' and how does this concept relate to more established notions of 'homo economicus'? When and how can it be said that the publics have 'engaged' - and what does this form of taking into account imply? Finally, what of the moral dimensions within STS accounts of engagement...

Issues in Canadian LLRW management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Charlesworth, D.H.

1988-01-01

Some of the issues which are of concern in Canada are similar to those being discussed in the US because Canadian low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) production is similar in quantity and characteristics to that which will be handled by some state compacts. This paper gives a Canadian viewpoint of: the choice between interim storage and permanent disposal; the importance of considering inadvertent intrusion; the role of waste categorization and stability; and the concerns in assessing disposal performance. The discussion is related to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's LLRW disposal program, and its approach to resolving these issues

Aflatoxin B(1) in affecting broiler's performance, immunity, and gastrointestinal tract: a review of history and contemporary issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Yunus, Agha W; Razzazi-Fazeli, E; Bohm, Josef

2011-06-01

Aflatoxin B(1) is a common contaminant of poultry feeds in tropical and subtropical climates. Research during the last five decades has well established the negative effects of the mycotoxin on health of poultry. However, the last ten years of relevant data have accentuated the potential of low levels of aflatoxin B(1) to deteriorate broiler performance. In this regard, any attempt to establish a dose-effect relationship between aflatoxin B(1) level and broiler performance is also complicated due to differences in types of broilers and length of exposure to the mycotoxin in different studies. Contrary to the prevalent notion regarding literature saturation with respect to aflatoxicosis of chicken, many areas of aflatoxicosis still need to be explored. Literature regarding effects of the mycotoxin on the gastrointestinal tract in this regard is particular scanty and non-conclusive. In addition to these issues, the metabolism of aflatoxin B(1) and recently proposed hypotheses regarding biphasic effects of the mycotoxin in broilers are briefly discussed.

Development of nuclear safety issues program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, J. C.; Yoo, S. O.; Yoon, Y. K.; Kim, H. J.; Jeong, M. J.; Noh, K. W.; Kang, D. K

2006-12-15

The nuclear safety issues are defined as the cases which affect the design and operation safety of nuclear power plants and also require the resolution action. The nuclear safety issues program (NSIP) which deals with the overall procedural requirements for the nuclear safety issues management process is developed, in accordance with the request of the scientific resolution researches and the establishment/application of the nuclear safety issues management system for the nuclear power plants under design, construction or operation. The NSIP consists of the following 4 steps; - Step 1 : Collection of candidates for nuclear safety issues - Step 2 : Identification of nuclear safety issues - Step 3 : Categorization and resolution of nuclear safety issues - Step 4 : Implementation, verification and closure The NSIP will be applied to the management directives of KINS related to the nuclear safety issues. Through the identification of the nuclear safety issues which may be related to the potential for accident/incidents at operating nuclear power plants either directly or indirectly, followed by performance of regulatory researches to resolve the safety issues, it will be possible to prevent occurrence of accidents/incidents as well as to cope with unexpected accidents/incidents by analyzing the root causes timely and scientifically and by establishing the proper flow-up or remedied regulatory actions. Moreover, the identification and resolution of the safety issues related to the new nuclear power plants completed at the design stage are also expected to make the new reactor licensing reviews effective and efficient as well as to make the possibility of accidents/incidents occurrence minimize. Therefore, the NSIP developed in this study is expected to contribute for the enhancement of the safety of nuclear power plants.

Development of nuclear safety issues program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, J. C.; Yoo, S. O.; Yoon, Y. K.; Kim, H. J.; Jeong, M. J.; Noh, K. W.; Kang, D. K.

2006-12-01

The nuclear safety issues are defined as the cases which affect the design and operation safety of nuclear power plants and also require the resolution action. The nuclear safety issues program (NSIP) which deals with the overall procedural requirements for the nuclear safety issues management process is developed, in accordance with the request of the scientific resolution researches and the establishment/application of the nuclear safety issues management system for the nuclear power plants under design, construction or operation. The NSIP consists of the following 4 steps; - Step 1 : Collection of candidates for nuclear safety issues - Step 2 : Identification of nuclear safety issues - Step 3 : Categorization and resolution of nuclear safety issues - Step 4 : Implementation, verification and closure The NSIP will be applied to the management directives of KINS related to the nuclear safety issues. Through the identification of the nuclear safety issues which may be related to the potential for accident/incidents at operating nuclear power plants either directly or indirectly, followed by performance of regulatory researches to resolve the safety issues, it will be possible to prevent occurrence of accidents/incidents as well as to cope with unexpected accidents/incidents by analyzing the root causes timely and scientifically and by establishing the proper flow-up or remedied regulatory actions. Moreover, the identification and resolution of the safety issues related to the new nuclear power plants completed at the design stage are also expected to make the new reactor licensing reviews effective and efficient as well as to make the possibility of accidents/incidents occurrence minimize. Therefore, the NSIP developed in this study is expected to contribute for the enhancement of the safety of nuclear power plants

Water Chemistry Control Technology to Improve the Performance of Nuclear Power Plants for Extended Fuel Cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maeng, W. Y.; Na, J. W.; Lee, E. H.

2010-07-01

Ο To Develop the technology to manage the problems of AOA and radiation, corrosion as long term PWR operation. Ο To Establish the advanced water chemical operating systems. - Development of the proper water chemistry guidelines for long term PWR operation. AOA(Axial Offest Anomaly) has been reported in many PWR plants in the world, including Korea, especially in the plants of higher burn-up and longer cycle operation or power up-rate. A test loop has been designed and made by KAERI, in order to investigate and mitigate AOA problems in Korea. This project included the study of hydrodynamic simulation and the modeling about AOA. The analysis of radioactive crud was performed to investigate of NPPs primary water chemical effect on AOA and to reduce the radioactive dose rate. The high temperature measurement system was developed to on-line monitor of water chemistry in nuclear power plants. The effects of various environmental factors such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate on YSZ-based pH electrode were evaluated for ensuring the accuracy of high-temperature pH measurement. The inhibition technology for fouling and SCC of SG tube was evaluated to establish the water chemistry technology of corrosion control of nuclear system. The high temperature and high pressure crevice chemistry analysis test loop was manufactured to develop the water chemistry technology of crevice chemistry control

Human factors issues in fuel handling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beattie, J.D.; Iwasa-Madge, K.M.; Tucker, D.A.

1994-01-01

The staff of the Atomic Energy Control Board wish to further their understanding of human factors issues of potential concern associated with fuel handling in CANDU nuclear power stations. This study contributes to that objective by analysing the role of human performance in the overall fuel handling process at Ontario Hydro's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, and reporting findings in several areas. A number of issues are identified in the areas of design, operating and maintenance practices, and the organizational and management environment

Neutronic performance issues for the Spallation Neutron Source moderators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iverson, E.B.; Murphy, B.D.

2001-01-01

We continue to develop the neutronic models of the Spallation Neutron Source target station and moderators in order to better predict the neutronic performance of the system as a whole and in order to better optimize that performance. While we are not able to say that every model change leads to more intense neutron beams being predicted, we do feel that such changes are advantageous in either performance or in the accuracy of the prediction of performance. We have computationally and experimentally studied the neutronics of hydrogen-water composite moderators such as are proposed for the SNS Project. In performing these studies, we find that the composite moderator, at least in the configuration we have examined, does not provide performance characteristics desirable for the instruments proposed and being designed for this neutron scattering facility. The pulse width as a function of energy is significantly broader than for other moderators, limiting attainable resolution-bandwidth combinations. Furthermore, there is reason to expect that higher-energy (0.1-1 eV) applications will be significantly impacted by bimodal pulse shapes requiring enormous effort to parameterize. As a result of these studies, we have changed the SNS design, and will not use a composite moderator at this time. We have analyzed the depletion of a gadolinium poison plate in a hydrogen moderator at the Spallation Neutron Source, and found that conventional poison thicknesses will be completely unable to last the desired component lifetime of three operational years. A poison plate 300-600 μm thick will survive for the required length of time, but will somewhat degrade the intensity (by as much as 15% depending on neutron energy) and the consistency of the neutron source performance. Our results should scale fairly easily to other moderators on this or any other spallation source. While depletion will be important for all highly-absorbing materials in high-flux regions, we feel it likely that

Human factors: A major issue in plant aging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Widrig, R.D.

1985-01-01

Humans play a significant role in the effects of aging on safe and reliable operation of nuclear power plants. These human issues may be more important than the issues of materials and component degradation with age. Human actions can accelerate or decelerate physical aging of a plant. And an aging plant can have a significant negative impact on staff quality and performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights into the nature of these human factors issues and their relationship to plant aging. An early awareness of these issues facilitates timely action to at least mitigate these problems before they become insurmountable

Status of ECCS Acceptance Criteria Revision in U. S. NRC and Perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Joosuk; Woo, Swengwoong

2013-01-01

Subsequently the NRC had conducted a fuel cladding research program to investigate the behavior of high burnup fuel cladding under LOCA conditions. This research program conducted at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), as well as conducted as jointly-funded programs at the Kurchatov Institute and the Halden Reactor. From these programs, several important technical findings, listed in following section, for rule revision were obtained. On March 14, 2000, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) submitted a petition for rulemaking (PRM) requesting that the NRC amend its regulations in 50.44 and 50.46 (PRM 50-71). The NEI petition stated that these regulations apply to only two specific zirconium-alloy fuel cladding materials (zircaloy and ZIRLO TM ). The NRC resolved PRM-50-71 by deciding that it should be considered in the following rulemaking process. Meanwhile, on March 15, 2007, Mark Leyse submitted a PRM to the NRC (PRM 50-84). The petitioner requests that the NRC conduct rulemaking in the following areas: Establish regulations that require licensees to operate light-water power reactors under conditions that are effective in limiting the thickness of crud and/or oxide layers. Amend Appendix K to Part 50 to explicitly require that steady-state temperature distribution and stored energy in the reactor fuel at the onset of a postulated LOCA be calculated by factoring in the role of the thermal resistance of crud and oxide layers. Amend 50.46 to specify a maximum allowable percentage of hydrogen content in the cladding. The NRC resolved PRM-50-84 by deciding that the petitioner's issues should be considered in the rulemaking process. On August 13, 2009, the NRC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to obtain stakeholder views on issues associated with amending 50.46. On March 1, 2012, and subsequently modified by the staff's June 1, 2012, SECY-12-0034 was submitted to the Commission to obtain approval to publish for public comment, and it was approved

Status of ECCS Acceptance Criteria Revision in U. S. NRC and Perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Joosuk; Woo, Swengwoong [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

Subsequently the NRC had conducted a fuel cladding research program to investigate the behavior of high burnup fuel cladding under LOCA conditions. This research program conducted at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), as well as conducted as jointly-funded programs at the Kurchatov Institute and the Halden Reactor. From these programs, several important technical findings, listed in following section, for rule revision were obtained. On March 14, 2000, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) submitted a petition for rulemaking (PRM) requesting that the NRC amend its regulations in 50.44 and 50.46 (PRM 50-71). The NEI petition stated that these regulations apply to only two specific zirconium-alloy fuel cladding materials (zircaloy and ZIRLO{sup TM}). The NRC resolved PRM-50-71 by deciding that it should be considered in the following rulemaking process. Meanwhile, on March 15, 2007, Mark Leyse submitted a PRM to the NRC (PRM 50-84). The petitioner requests that the NRC conduct rulemaking in the following areas: Establish regulations that require licensees to operate light-water power reactors under conditions that are effective in limiting the thickness of crud and/or oxide layers. Amend Appendix K to Part 50 to explicitly require that steady-state temperature distribution and stored energy in the reactor fuel at the onset of a postulated LOCA be calculated by factoring in the role of the thermal resistance of crud and oxide layers. Amend 50.46 to specify a maximum allowable percentage of hydrogen content in the cladding. The NRC resolved PRM-50-84 by deciding that the petitioner's issues should be considered in the rulemaking process. On August 13, 2009, the NRC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to obtain stakeholder views on issues associated with amending 50.46. On March 1, 2012, and subsequently modified by the staff's June 1, 2012, SECY-12-0034 was submitted to the Commission to obtain approval to publish for public comment, and it

Dental CBCT equipment and performance issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horner, K.; Jacobs, R.; Schulze, R.

2013-01-01

Dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), also known as digital volumetric tomography was developed in the late 1990s and is now increasingly available in clinical practice. It can provide high resolution cross-sectional images of teeth and the maxillofacial region with applications in all branches of dentistry. As a new imaging modality, there were no established suspension levels at a European level. A literature review, encompassing scientific, professional publications and existing national guidelines was performed in an attempt to develop a set of suspension levels for dental CBCT, using additional expert opinion from the members of the European Academy of dento-maxillo-facial radiology. A limited set of suspension levels has been devised for aspects of the X-ray tube and generator, dosimetry, field-of-view, alignment and image quality. These should be kept under review in the light of growing experience of testing equipment in practice. (authors)

CASL L2 milestone report : VUQ.Y1.03, %22Enable statistical sensitivity and UQ demonstrations for VERA.%22

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sung, Yixing (Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry Township, PA); Adams, Brian M.; Witkowski, Walter R.

2011-04-01

The CASL Level 2 Milestone VUQ.Y1.03, 'Enable statistical sensitivity and UQ demonstrations for VERA,' was successfully completed in March 2011. The VUQ focus area led this effort, in close partnership with AMA, and with support from VRI. DAKOTA was coupled to VIPRE-W thermal-hydraulics simulations representing reactors of interest to address crud-related challenge problems in order to understand the sensitivity and uncertainty in simulation outputs with respect to uncertain operating and model form parameters. This report summarizes work coupling the software tools, characterizing uncertainties, selecting sensitivity and uncertainty quantification algorithms, and analyzing the results of iterative studies. These demonstration studies focused on sensitivity and uncertainty of mass evaporation rate calculated by VIPRE-W, a key predictor for crud-induced power shift (CIPS).

A review of cobalt adsorption on transition metal oxides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, S.M.

1987-04-01

This report reviews studies of cobalt adsorption on transition metal oxides, in the context of corrosion product and radioactivity transport in PWR primary circuits. In general, uptake of cobalt increases with pH, with temperature and with decreasing ionic strength. Very little data are available under PWR primary circuit conditions, but the limited data available suggest that cobalt uptake by the zirconium oxide corrosion product layer on fuel pins may be significant compared to that deposited on fuel crud. If fuel crud levels can be reduced in future by coolant chemistry control then uptake by the zirconia will assume a greater relative role. It is planned to use an autoclave to study uptake of cobalt on oxidised Zircaloy surfaces at temperatures up to 593K under PWR primary circuit chemistry conditions. (author)

U.S. NRC's generic issues program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kauffman, J.V.; Foster, J.W.

2008-01-01

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has a Generic Issues Program (GIP) to address Generic Issues (GI). A GI is defined as 'a regulatory matter involving the design, construction, operation, or decommissioning of several, or a class of, NRC licensees or certificate holders that is not sufficiently addressed by existing rules, guidance, or programs'. This rather legalistic definition has several practical corollaries: First, a GI must involve safety. Second, the issue must involve at least two plants, or it would be a plant-specific issue rather than a GI. Third, the potential safety question must not be covered by existing regulations and guidance (compliance). Thus, the effect of a GI is to potentially change the body of regulations and associated guidance (e.g., regulatory guides). The GIP was started in 1976, thus it is a relatively mature program. Approximately 850 issues have been processed by the program to date. More importantly, even after 30 years, new GIs continue to be proposed. The entire set of Generic Issues (GIs) is updated annually in NUREG-0933, 'A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues'. GIs normally involve complex questions of safety and regulation. Efficient and effective means of addressing these issues are very important for regulatory effectiveness. If an issue proves to pose a genuine, significant safety question, then swift, effective, enforceable, and cost-effective action needs to be taken. Conversely, if an issue is of little safety significance, the issue should be dismissed in an expeditious manner, avoiding unnecessary expenditure of resources and regulatory burden or uncertainty. This paper provides a summary of the 5-stage program, from identification through the regulatory assessment stage. The paper also includes a discussion of the program's seven criteria, sources of proposed GIs, recent improvements, publicly available information, historical performance, and status of current GIs. (authors)

Scientific issues in fuel behaviour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The current limits on discharge burnup in today's nuclear power stations have proven the fuel to be very reliable in its performance, with a negligibly small rate of failure. However, for reasons of economy, there are moves to increase the fuel enrichment in order to extend both the cycle time and the discharge burnup. But, longer periods of irradiation cause increased microstructural changes in the fuel and cladding, implying a larger degradation of physical and mechanical properties. This degradation may well limit the plant life, hence the NSC concluded that it is of importance to develop a predictive capability of fuel behaviour at extended burnup. This can only be achieved through an improved understanding of the basic underlying phenomena of fuel behaviour. The Task Force on Scientific Issues Related to Fuel Behaviour of the NEA Nuclear Science Committee has identified the most important scientific issues on the subject and has assigned priorities. Modelling aspects are listed in Appendix A and discussed in Part II. In addition, quality assurance process for performing and evaluating new integral experiments is considered of special importance. Main activities on fuel behaviour modelling, as carried out in OECD Member countries and international organisations, are listed in Part III. The aim is to identify common interests, to establish current coverage of selected issues, and to avoid any duplication of efforts between international agencies. (author). refs., figs., tabs

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 29

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1991-01-01

This is the twenty-ninth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It is a double issue covering two issues of the Soviet Space Biology and Aerospace Medicine Journal. Issue 29 contains abstracts of 60 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of three Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A review of a book on environmental hygiene and a list of papers presented at a Soviet conference on space biology and medicine are also included. The materials in this issue were identified as relevant to 28 areas of space biology and medicine. The areas are: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, digestive system, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, space biology and medicine, and the economics of space flight.

Ethical issues with cognitive enhancement

African Journals Online (AJOL)

drugs, so this is discriminatory on the basis of economic inequality. There are other ethical issues. Methylphenidate is licensed to be prescribed for ADHD and narcolepsy. Prescribing it to improve academic performance in a normal subject is prescribing the drug “off-label” and not in the recommendations of the producers.

ISS Hygiene Activities - Issues and Resolutions

Science.gov (United States)

Prokhorov, Kimberlee S.; Feldman, Brienne; Walker, Stephanie; Bruce, Rebekah

2009-01-01

Hygiene is something that is usually taken for granted by those of us on the Earth. The ability to perform hygiene satisfactorily during long duration space flight is crucial for the crew's ability to function. Besides preserving the basic health of the crew, crew members have expressed that the ability to clean up on-orbit is vital for mental health. Providing this functionality involves more than supplying hygiene items such as soap and toothpaste. On the International Space Station (ISS), the details on where and how to perform hygiene were left to the crew discretion for the first seventeen increments. Without clear guidance, the methods implemented on-orbit have resulted in some unintended consequences to the ISS environment. This paper will outline the issues encountered regarding hygiene activities on-board the ISS, and the lessons that have been learned in addressing those issues. Additionally, the paper will address the resolutions that have been put into place to protect the ISS environment while providing the crew sufficient means to perform hygiene.

Human factors issues in fuel handling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beattie, J D; Iwasa-Madge, K M; Tucker, D A [Humansystems Inc., Milton, ON (Canada)

1994-12-31

The staff of the Atomic Energy Control Board wish to further their understanding of human factors issues of potential concern associated with fuel handling in CANDU nuclear power stations. This study contributes to that objective by analysing the role of human performance in the overall fuel handling process at Ontario Hydro`s Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, and reporting findings in several areas. A number of issues are identified in the areas of design, operating and maintenance practices, and the organizational and management environment. 1 fig., 4 tabs., 19 refs.

Prevention of nuclear fuel cladding materials corrosion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, K.R.; Yang, J.C.; Lee, I.C.; Kang, H.D.; Cho, S.W.; Whang, C.K.

1983-01-01

The only way which could be performed by the operator of nuclear power plant to minimizing the degradation of nuclear fuel cladding material is to control the water quality of primary coolant as specified standard conditions which dose not attack the cladding material. If the water quality of reactor coolant does not meet far from the specification, the failure will occure not only cladding material itself but construction material of primary system which contact with the coolant. The corrosion product of system material are circulate through the whole primary system with the coolant and activated by the neutron near the reactor core. The activated corrosion products and fission products which released from fuel rod to the coolant, so called crud, will repeate deposition and redeposition continuously on the fuel rod and construction material surface. As a result we should consider heat transfer problem. In this study following activities were performed; 1. The crud sample was taken from the spent fuel rod surface of Kori unit one and analized for radioactive element and non radioactive chemical species. 2. The failure mode of nuclear fuel cladding material was estimated by the investigation of releasing type of fission products from the fuel rod to the reactor coolant using the iodine isotopes concentration of reactor coolants. 3. A study was carried out on the sipping test results of spent fuel and a discussion was made on the water quality control records through the past three cycle operation period of Kori unit one plant. (Author)

STACE: Source Term Analyses for Containment Evaluations of transport casks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seager, K.D.; Gianoulakis, S.E.; Barrett, P.R.; Rashid, Y.R.; Reardon, P.C.

1992-01-01

Following the guidance of ANSI N14.5, the STACE methodology provides a technically defensible means for estimating maximum permissible leakage rates. These containment criteria attempt to reflect the true radiological hazard by performing a detailed examination of the spent fuel, CRUD, and residual contamination contributions to the releasable source term. The evaluation of the spent fuel contribution to the source term has been modeled fairly accurately using the STACE methodology. The structural model predicts the cask drop load history, the mechanical response of the fuel assembly, and the probability of cladding breach. These data are then used to predict the amount of fission gas, volatile species, and fuel fines that are releasable from the cask. There are some areas where data are sparse or lacking (e.g., the quantity and size distribution of fuel rod breaches) in which experimental validation is planned. The CRUD spallation fraction is the major area where no quantitative data has been found; therefore, this also requires experimental validation. In the interim, STACE conservatively assumes a 100% spallation fraction for computing the releasable activity. The source term methodology also conservatively assumes that there is 1 Ci of residual contamination available for release in the transport cask. However, residual contamination is still by far the smallest contributor to the source term activity

Cultural and Gender Issues in Long-Duration Flights

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

Session TA5 includes short reports concerning: (1) Psychological Issues During Long-Duration International Space Missions; (2) Psychosocial Issues in Crew Selection: Finding the Right Mix of the Right Stuff; (3) Culture, Gender and Mission Accomplishment: Operational Experience; (4) Interpersonal Tension in Multicultural Crews; (5) Personality and Coping in Extreme Environments; and (6) Application of Expedition and Polar Work Group Findings for Enhancing Performance in Space.

Study on the influence of water chemistry on fuel cladding behaviour of LWR in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishima, Y.

1983-01-01

This article presents the results of the study on the influence of water chemistry on fuel cladding behaviour, which has been performed for more than ten years on BWRs and PWRs in Japan. The post irradiation examination (P.I.E.) program of commercial reactor fuel assembly which was explained at Tokyo meeting in 1981 includes an investigation of the characteristics and build-up conditions of crud deposited on mainly BWR fuel cladding. This article also provides a summary of the results of the investigation and shows how the results are utilized for establishing effective water chemistry measures

Auditor professional commitment and performance: An ethical issue role

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ratih Kusumastuti

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study explores to what extent the auditor’s idealism and relativism ethical orientation influences the professional commitment and the auditor’s performance. This study uses questionnaire’s survey from the auditors who work for Public Accountant Office in Indonesia. The data is analyzed by using the Structural Equation Model. The study reveals that the idealism and relativism ethical orientation have a significant influence to the professional commitment and the auditors’ performance

Laboratory studies of the behavior of undissolved solids in both pulsed and packed column extraction systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siemer, D.D.

1989-01-01

A substantial fraction of the finely divided undissolved solid material found in nuclear fuel reprocessing dissolver-product solutions is hydrophobic and tends to ''seek'' any organic-aqueous interface existing within countercurrent liquid-liquid extraction systems. While passing through pulsed-type columns this material is swept out of the aqueous phase by the combined surface area of the tiny bubbles of dispersed phase. Because these bubbles have a net velocity towards the end of the column where the nominal interface is located, the solids are swept in that direction too. These solids tend to gather in a three-phase ''crud'' layer at the nominal interface point. At equilibrium, about the same amount breaks off from the crud layer and escapes into the liquid exiting from that end of the column as enters it from the other side. If large enough, the crud layer can even interfere with interface detection and control equipment. In packed-column extraction systems, an additional problem is that feed solids can accumulate within the packing material to the point that the column '' floods'' or even totally plugs. The keys to preventing solids-related problems is the correct choice of interface level, and with packed columns, the addition of a ''pulsing leg'' at the bottom of the column. Pulsing packed column systems not only prevents solids from settling onto packing material but it also increses the number of theoretical stages available for extraction. 3 figs., 2 tabs

Water chemistry and corrosion control of cladding and primary circuit components. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-12-01

Corrosion is the principal life limiting degradation mechanism in nuclear steam supply systems, especially taking into account the trends to increase fuel burnup, thermal rate and cycle length. Primary circuit components of water cooled power reactors have an impact on Zr-based alloys behaviour due to crud (primary circuit corrosion products) formation, transport and deposition on heat transfer surfaces. Crud deposits influence water chemistry, radiation and thermal hydraulic conditions near cladding surface, and by this way-Zr-based alloy corrosion. During the last decade, significant improvements were achieved in the reduction of the corrosion and dose rates by changing the cladding material for one more resistant to corrosion or by the improvement of water chemistry conditions. However, taking into account the above mentioned tendency for heavier fuel duties, corrosion and water chemistry, control will remain a serious task to work with for nuclear power plant operators and scientists, as well as development of generally accepted corrosion model of Zr-based alloys in a water environment in a new millennium. Upon the recommendation of the International Working Group on Water Reactor Fuel Performance and Technology, water chemistry and corrosion of cladding and primary circuit components are in the focus of the IAEA activities in the area of fuel technology and performance. At present the IAEA performs two co-ordinated research projects (CRPs): on On-line High Temperature Monitoring of Water Chemistry and Corrosion (WACOL) and on Activity Transport in Primary Circuits. Two CRPs deal with hydrogen and hydride degradation of the Zr-based alloys. A state-of-the-art review entitled: 'Waterside Corrosion of Zirconium Alloys in Nuclear Power Plants' was published in 1998. Technical Committee meetings on the subject were held in 1985 (Cadarache, France), 1989 (Portland, USA), 1993 (Rez, Czech Republic). During the last few years extensive exchange of experience in

Distributed Issues for Ada Real-Time Systems

Science.gov (United States)

1990-07-23

NUMBERS Distributed Issues for Ada Real - Time Systems MDA 903-87- C- 0056 S. AUTHOR(S) Thomas E. Griest 7. PERFORMING ORGANiZATION NAME(S) AND ADORESS(ES) 8...considerations. I Adding to the problem of distributed real - time systems is the issue of maintaining a common sense of time among all of the processors...because -omeone is waiting for the final output of a very large set of computations. However in real - time systems , consistent meeting of short-term

Twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting: Proceedings. Volume 2: Human reliability analysis and human performance evaluation; Technical issues related to rulemakings; Risk-informed, performance-based initiatives; High burn-up fuel research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteleone, S.

1998-03-01

This three-volume report contains papers presented at the conference. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Japan, Norway, and Russia. The titles of the papers and the names of the authors have been updated and may differ from those that appeared in the final program of the meeting. This volume contains the following: (1) human reliability analysis and human performance evaluation; (2) technical issues related to rulemakings; (3) risk-informed, performance-based initiatives; and (4) high burn-up fuel research

Summary of panel session 3 -- Environmental issues affecting CCT deployment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hausker, K. [Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC (United States)

1997-12-31

The panelists discussed a variety of environmental issues that affect CCT deployment, and more broadly speaking, power development in general. The issues were both international and domestic in nature. The author summarizes the issues discussed. A summary is also presented which highlights ideas from the panelists that could be characterized as solutions to the demand for improved environmental performance and the surrounding uncertainties. The author offers some personal comments and observations.

Solubilities of iron and nickel oxides under high temperature and high pressure conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Ke-Chon; Jung, Yong-Ju; Yeon, Jei-Won; Jee, Kwang-Yong

2007-01-01

The purposes of primary coolant chemistry are to assure fuel and material integrity and to minimize out of core radiation fields. During the PWR operation, crud deposits are expected on the cladding, leading to cladding failure and raising the radioactivity. Such deposits come from the corrosion products of system surface. To achieve optimal conditions for primary coolant, basic researches on mass transfer, deposition and solubility of corrosion products are needed. The initial stage of crud formation could be the studies on the solubility of a structural material. It has been known that the solubility of metal oxides in boric acid under high temperature and high pressure condition depends on the pH and dissolved hydrogen. Thus, the effect of various pH on the solubility of metal oxide in boric acid solution was investigated in this work

Empowering people to change occupational behaviours to address critical global issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Ikiugu, Moses N; Westerfield, Madeline A; Lien, Jamie M; Theisen, Emily R; Cerny, Shana L; Nissen, Ranelle M

2015-06-01

The greatest threat to human well-being in this century is climate change and related global issues. We examined the effectiveness of the Modified Instrumentalism in Occupational Therapy model as a framework for facilitating occupational behaviour change to address climate change and related issues. Eleven individuals participated in this mixed-methods single-subject-design study. Data were gathered using the Modified Assessment and Intervention Instrument for Instrumentalism in Occupational Therapy and Daily Occupational Inventories. Quantitative data were analyzed using two- and three-standard deviation band methods. Qualitative data were analyzed using heuristic phenomenological procedures. Occupational performance changed for five participants. Participants' feelings shifted from frustration and helplessness to empowerment and a desire for action. They felt empowered to find occupation-based solutions to the global issues. Occupation-based interventions that increase personal awareness of the connection between occupational performance and global issues could empower people to be agents for action to ameliorate the issues.

Engineering Issues for an Adaptive Defense Network

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Piszcz, Alan; Orlans, Nicholas; Eyler-Walker, Zachary; Moore, David

2001-01-01

.... The primary issue was the capability to detect and defend against DDoS. Experimentation was performed with a packet filtering firewall, a network Quality of Service manager, multiple DDoS tools, and traffic generation tools...

Status of safety issues at licensed power plants: TMI Action Plan requirements, unresolved safety issues, generic safety issues, other multiplant action issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-12-01

This report is to provide a comprehensive description of the implementation and verification status of Three Mile Island (TMI) Action Plan requirements, safety issues designated as Unresolved Safety Issues (USIs), Generic Safety Issues(GSIs), and other Multiplant Actions (MPAs) that have been resolved and involve implementation of an action or actions by licensees. This report makes the information available to other interested parties, including the public. An additional purpose of this NUREG report is to serve as a follow-on to NUREG-0933, ''A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues,'' which tracks safety issues up until requirements are approved for imposition at licensed plants or until the NRC issues a request for action by licensees

Uruguay; 2011 Selected Issues

OpenAIRE

International Monetary Fund

2011-01-01

This 2011 Article IV Consultation—Selected Issues paper focuses on estimating potential output and the output gap and spillovers from agriculture in the case of Uruguay. It introduces additional economic information and theory to estimate potential output, shedding some light on the discussion of current monetary and fiscal policies. The objective is to take advantage of economic data to disentangle the most recent economic performance by introducing multivariate techniques. The paper also pr...

New Zealand; Selected Issues

OpenAIRE

International Monetary Fund

2009-01-01

This Selected Issues paper conducts a comparative analysis of the main determinants of GDP per capita growth in New Zealand and in other OECD countries to assess the relative importance of macroeconomic factors, institutional settings, and geographical location in New Zealand’s growth performance during the last 30 years. The estimation results find strong support for the view that geographical isolation has significantly hampered growth in New Zealand. The paper also reviews the internationa...

Multi-Dimensional Simulation of LWR Fuel Behavior in the BISON Fuel Performance Code

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, R. L.; Capps, N. A.; Liu, W.; Rashid, Y. R.; Wirth, B. D.

2016-11-01

Nuclear fuel operates in an extreme environment that induces complex multiphysics phenomena occurring over distances ranging from inter-atomic spacing to meters, and times scales ranging from microseconds to years. To simulate this behavior requires a wide variety of material models that are often complex and nonlinear. The recently developed BISON code represents a powerful fuel performance simulation tool based on its material and physical behavior capabilities, finite-element versatility of spatial representation, and use of parallel computing. The code can operate in full three dimensional (3D) mode, as well as in reduced two dimensional (2D) modes, e.g., axisymmetric radial-axial ( R- Z) or plane radial-circumferential ( R- θ), to suit the application and to allow treatment of global and local effects. A BISON case study was used to illustrate analysis of Pellet Clad Mechanical Interaction failures from manufacturing defects using combined 2D and 3D analyses. The analysis involved commercial fuel rods and demonstrated successful computation of metrics of interest to fuel failures, including cladding peak hoop stress and strain energy density. In comparison with a failure threshold derived from power ramp tests, results corroborate industry analyses of the root cause of the pellet-clad interaction failures and illustrate the importance of modeling 3D local effects around fuel pellet defects, which can produce complex effects including cold spots in the cladding, stress concentrations, and hot spots in the fuel that can lead to enhanced cladding degradation such as hydriding, oxidation, CRUD formation, and stress corrosion cracking.

Some Practical Issues in the Design and Implementation of Group Communication Services

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Mishra, Shivakant

2000-01-01

The main objective of the proposed research was to investigate four important practical issues in the understanding, design, and implementation of group communication services. These issues were (1) Performance...

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor: Physics issues, capabilities and physics program plans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wesley, J.C.

1997-01-01

Present status and understanding of the principal plasma-performance determining physics issues that affect the physics design and operational capabilities of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) [ITER EDA Agreement and Protocol 2 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1994)] are presented. Emphasis is placed on the five major physics-basis issues emdash energy confinement, beta limit, density limit, impurity dilution and radiation loss, and the feasibility of obtaining partial-detached divertor operation emdash that directly affect projections of ITER fusion power and burn duration performance. A summary of these projections is presented and the effect of uncertainties in the physics-basis issues is examined. ITER capabilities for experimental flexibility and plasma-performance optimization are also described, and how these capabilities may enter into the ITER physics program plan is discussed. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

The Role of Leadership and Peer Behaviors in the Performance and Well-Being of Women in Combat: Historical Perspectives, Unit Integration, and Family Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Segal, Mady Wechsler; Smith, David G; Segal, David R; Canuso, Amy A

2016-01-01

This article analyzes how the behaviors of leaders and peers affect the performance and well-being of military women. Locating our analysis within the conceptual model in this issue, we summarize the empirical literature and make practice and policy recommendations. We synthesize results about unit integration, such as research on the conditions for successful integration of previously excluded groups and on the relationship between cohesion and performance. We apply lessons learned from the history of diversity integration in military and civilian organizations, analyzing the treatment of military personnel by race, gender, and sexual orientation. The opening of ground combat specialties and units to women is the latest step in personnel policy changes broadening the recruitment base. We analyze research on gender integration in contemporary armed forces, focusing on positive and negative effects on women of leader and peer behaviors. We discuss conditions for successfully integrating women and those that tend to lead to failure. We analyze military women's family issues, including the effects of deployments and how leaders and peers can help ameliorate problems-or exacerbate them with inappropriate or unsupportive behavior. Reprint & Copyright © 2016 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Uses of human reliability analysis probabilistic risk assessment results to resolve personnel performance issues that could affect safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Brien, J.N.; Spettell, C.M.

1985-10-01

This report is the first in a series which documents research aimed at improving the usefulness of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) results in addressing human risk issues. This first report describes the results of an assessment of how well currently available PRA data addresses human risk issues of current concern to NRC. Findings indicate that PRA data could be far more useful in addressing human risk issues with modification of the development process and documentation structure of PRAs. In addition, information from non-PRA sources could be integrated with PRA data to address many other issues. 12 tabs

Containment Emergency Sump Performance. Technical findings related to Unresolved Safety Issue A-43. Revision 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-10-01

This report summarizes key technical findings related to Unresolved Safety Issue (USI) A-43, Containment Emergency Sump Performance. Both BWRs and PWRs are considered in this report. Emergency core cooling systems require a clean, reliable water source to maintain long-term recirculation following a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). PWRs rely on the containment emergency sump to provide such a water supply to residual heat removal pumps and containment spray pumps. BWRs rely on pump suction intakes in the suppression pool or wet well to provide water to residual heat removal and core spray systems. Thus, the technical findings in this report provide information on post-LOCA recirculation. These findings have been derived from extensive experimental studies, generic plant studies, and assessments of sumps used for long-term cooling. Results of hydraulic tests have shown that the potential for air ingestion is less severe than previously hypothesized. The effects of debris blockage on NPSH margin must be dealt with on a plant-specific basis. These findings have been used to develop revisions to Regulatory Guide 1.82 and Standard Review Plan Section 6.2.2 (NUREG-0800)

Broadband network selection issues

Science.gov (United States)

Leimer, Michael E.

1996-01-01

Selecting the best network for a given cable or telephone company provider is not as obvious as it appears. The cost and performance trades between Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC), Fiber to the Curb (FTTC) and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line networks lead to very different choices based on the existing plant and the expected interactive subscriber usage model. This paper presents some of the issues and trades that drive network selection. The majority of the Interactive Television trials currently underway or planned are based on HFC networks. As a throw away market trial or a short term strategic incursion into a cable market, HFC may make sense. In the long run, if interactive services see high demand, HFC costs per node and an ever shrinking neighborhood node size to service large numbers of subscribers make FTTC appear attractive. For example, thirty-three 64-QAM modulators are required to fill the 550 MHz to 750 MHz spectrum with compressed video streams in 6 MHz channels. This large amount of hardware at each node drives not only initial build-out costs, but operations and maintenance costs as well. FTTC, with its potential for digitally switching large amounts of bandwidth to an given home, offers the potential to grow with the interactive subscriber base with less downstream cost. Integrated telephony on these networks is an issue that appears to be an afterthought for most of the networks being selected at the present time. The major players seem to be videocentric and include telephony as a simple add-on later. This may be a reasonable view point for the telephone companies that plan to leave their existing phone networks untouched. However, a phone company planning a network upgrade or a cable company jumping into the telephony business needs to carefully weigh the cost and performance issues of the various network choices. Each network type provides varying capability in both upstream and downstream bandwidth for voice channels. The noise characteristics

Quality assurance in performance assessments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maul, P.R.; Watkins, B.M.; Salter, P.; Mcleod, R [QuantiSci Ltd, Henley-on-Thames (United Kingdom)

1999-01-01

Following publication of the Site-94 report, SKI wishes to review how Quality Assurance (QA) issues could be treated in future work both in undertaking their own Performance Assessment (PA) calculations and in scrutinising documents supplied by SKB (on planning a repository for spent fuels in Sweden). The aim of this report is to identify the key QA issues and to outline the nature and content of a QA plan which would be suitable for SKI, bearing in mind the requirements and recommendations of relevant standards. Emphasis is on issues which are specific to Performance Assessments for deep repositories for radioactive wastes, but consideration is also given to issues which need to be addressed in all large projects. Given the long time over which the performance of a deep repository system must be evaluated, the demonstration that a repository is likely to perform satisfactorily relies on the use of computer-generated model predictions of system performance. This raises particular QA issues which are generally not encountered in other technical areas (for instance, power station operations). The traceability of the arguments used is a key QA issue, as are conceptual model uncertainty, and code verification and validation; these were all included in the consideration of overall uncertainties in the Site-94 project. Additionally, issues which are particularly relevant to SKI include: How QA in a PA fits in with the general QA procedures of the organisation undertaking the work. The relationship between QA as applied by the regulator and the implementor of a repository development programme. Section 2 introduces the discussion of these issues by reviewing the standards and guidance which are available from national and international organisations. This is followed in Section 3 by a review of specific issues which arise from the Site-94 exercise. An outline procedure for managing QA issues in SKI is put forward as a basis for discussion in Section 4. It is hoped that

Quality assurance in performance assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maul, P.R.; Watkins, B.M.; Salter, P.; Mcleod, R

1999-01-01

Following publication of the Site-94 report, SKI wishes to review how Quality Assurance (QA) issues could be treated in future work both in undertaking their own Performance Assessment (PA) calculations and in scrutinising documents supplied by SKB (on planning a repository for spent fuels in Sweden). The aim of this report is to identify the key QA issues and to outline the nature and content of a QA plan which would be suitable for SKI, bearing in mind the requirements and recommendations of relevant standards. Emphasis is on issues which are specific to Performance Assessments for deep repositories for radioactive wastes, but consideration is also given to issues which need to be addressed in all large projects. Given the long time over which the performance of a deep repository system must be evaluated, the demonstration that a repository is likely to perform satisfactorily relies on the use of computer-generated model predictions of system performance. This raises particular QA issues which are generally not encountered in other technical areas (for instance, power station operations). The traceability of the arguments used is a key QA issue, as are conceptual model uncertainty, and code verification and validation; these were all included in the consideration of overall uncertainties in the Site-94 project. Additionally, issues which are particularly relevant to SKI include: How QA in a PA fits in with the general QA procedures of the organisation undertaking the work. The relationship between QA as applied by the regulator and the implementor of a repository development programme. Section 2 introduces the discussion of these issues by reviewing the standards and guidance which are available from national and international organisations. This is followed in Section 3 by a review of specific issues which arise from the Site-94 exercise. An outline procedure for managing QA issues in SKI is put forward as a basis for discussion in Section 4. It is hoped that

Poolside fuel assembly inspection campaigns performed at Kernkraftwerk Leibstadt during summer 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zwicky, H.U.; Wiktor, C.G.; Schrire, D.

1998-01-01

In order to minimise fuel cycle costs, fuel assembly discharge burnup and average U-235 enrichment were increasing over past years in the Kernkraftwerk Leibstadt (KKL) plant. In parallel, high burnup verification programs were defined in collaboration with fuel suppliers. The aim of these programs is to demonstrate safe and reliable fuel performance up to the designed burnup limit and to identify any problems in due time. This is not only achieved by detailed poolside inspections of lead test assemblies, but also by hot cell post-irradiation examination of selected rods. In the frame of a hot cell examination campaign, enhanced localised corrosion in the vicinity of spacers on SVEA-96 fuel rods was identified in May 1997 as a potential problem. The average rod burnup of the investigated rods was around 50 MWd/kgU after 5 one year cycles of operation. As fuel operation up to six cycles is foreseen in KKLs fuel management plants, the risk of fuel failures caused by enhanced localised corrosion could not be excluded. An action plan was therefore developed in order to identify the root cause. Part of the action plan were two poolside inspection campaigns: 1. Visual inspection of 38 assemblies unloaded during refuelling outage 1996 after 5 cycles in operation. This campaign was performed in June 1997. It gave a broader data base to develop a concept for fuel management for the upcoming refuelling outage scheduled in August 1997. 2. Visual inspection, oxide layer thickness measurements, crud sampling and rod diameter measurements on 29 assemblies with different operation histories. This campaign was performed during the outage. A large portion of the inspected bundles was re-inserted for continued operation. The collected data confirmed that assumptions made for reload licensing and safety analyses were conservative. The inspection campaigns performed at KKL during summer 1997 by ABB Atom demonstrated that it is possible to address unexpected problems in a short time

Naval Medical Research And Development News. Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2016

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

1 Volume VIII, Issue 4 April 2016 In this issue... Use your smartphone to access our website! NMR&D News is an authorized publication of the Naval...prevention and rehabilitation, fatigue and sleep performance, and environmental physiology. “Our team at NHRC is comprised of experts in biomedical...limits of healthy warfighters ~ Evaluate new technologies for enhancing performance and reducing injuries ~ Support sleep optimization and fatigue

RFID Technologies : emerging issues and challenges

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lieshout, M.J. van; Kool, L.

2007-01-01

In this paper we will present the results of a technology and policy assessment we have performed on emerging issues and policy challenges of RFID technologies. RFID is a basic component of the future internet of things. A balanced view on opportunities and threats, on drivers and barriers is needed

Photovoltaic commercialization: an analysis of legal issues affecting a government-accelerated solar industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamm, D.

1980-06-01

The Photovoltaics Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1978 is discussed. Legal issues, including solar access, the need for performance standards, the effects of building codes on photovoltaic system use and commercialization, and manufacturer and installer performance guarantees, are examined. Electric utility policies are examined, including interconnection, and rates and legal issues affecting them. (LEW)

HEDGE FUND MANAGERIAL INCENTIVES AND PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nor Hadaliza ABD RAHMAN

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The growth of the hedge fund industry over the decades has brought an interesting form of performance contract between the portfolio managers and their investors. The contractual relation has given an impact to the performance of the hedge fund industry, which benefited both fund managers and investors. Furthermore, it has created more investors and fund managers to participate in this high risk and high return investment. Currently, many issues on fee structures and performancebased incentives have been discussed. Do these issues affect the performance of the hedge fund in the market? This paper will investigate the issues in Australian market. It will empirically analyze the hedge fund performance in relation to the market performance and whether managerial incentives and discretions associated with better fund performance.

Methodological issues of postoperative cognitive dysfunction research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Funder, Kamilia S; Steinmetz, Jacob; Rasmussen, Lars S

2010-01-01

to reveal postoperative cognitive decline, and questionnaires are not useful for this purpose. There is a profound lack of consensus regarding the research methodology for detection of cognitive deterioration, especially the diagnostic criteria. Issues, such as baseline performance, learning effects...

Critical issues for high-brightness heavy-ion beams -- prioritized

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molvik, A.W.; Cohen, R.; Davidson, R.; Faltens, A.; Friedman, A.; Grisham, L.; Grote, D.P.; Haber, I.; Kaganovich, I.; Kireeff Covo, M.; Kwan, J.W.; Lee, E.; Logan, B.G.; Lund, S.M.; Qin, H.; Seidl, P.A.; Sharp, W.M.; Vay, J-L.; Yu, S.S.

2007-01-01

This study group was initiated to consider whether there were any 'show-stopper' issues with accelerators for heavy-ion warm-dense matter (WDM) and heavy-ion inertial fusion energy (HIF), and to prioritize them. Showstopper issues appear to be categorized as limits to beam current; that is, the beam is expected to be well-behaved below the current limit, and significantly degraded in current or emittance if the current limit is exceeded at some region of an accelerator. We identified 14 issues: 1-6 could be addressed in the near term, 7-10 may provide attractive solutions to performance and cost issues, 11-12 address multibeam effects that cannot be more than partially studied in near-term facilities, and 13-14 address new issues that are present in some novel driver concepts. Comparing the issues with the new experimental, simulation, and theoretical tools that we have developed, it is apparent that our new capabilities provide an opportunity to reexamine and significantly increase our understanding of the number one issue--halo growth and mitigation

Digest of Russian Space Life Sciences, issue 33

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1993-01-01

This is the thirty-third issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 55 papers published in Russian journals. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to the following areas of space biology and medicine: biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, genetics, hematology, human performance, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, and reproductive system.

EFRT M-12 Issue Resolution: Solids Washing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldwin, David L.; Schonewill, Philip P.; Toth, James J.; Huckaby, James L.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Hanson, Brady D.; Kurath, Dean E.; Minette, Michael J.

2010-01-01

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed, constructed, and operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, “Undemonstrated Leaching Processes” of the External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.( ) The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing.

Office of Geologic Respositories issues hierarchy for a Mined Geologic Disposal System (OGR/B-10)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-09-01

The Office of Geologic Repositories (OGR) has adopted an issues hierarchy for use by all Project Offices. The issues hierarchy provides a framework for representing issues related to regulatory requirements for siting and licensing a mined geologic disposal system (MGDS) and for describing the work that needs to be completed during site characterization to resolve those issues. The issues in the issues hierarchy are defined as the questions relating to the performance of the MGDS that must be resolved to demonstrate compliance with the applicable federal regulations (including 10 CFR Part 60, 10 CFR Part 960, 40 CFR Part 191, and 10 CFR Part 20). The issues hierarchy is structured around four broad areas of regulatory concern related to the requirements for siting and licensing an MGDS (postclosure performance, preclosure radiological safety, non-radiological environmental impacts, and feasibility and cost of MGDS development), and provides the framework for definition of the information needed to satisfy the applicable regulatory requirements in each of these areas. The purpose of this document is to present the issues hierarchy, describe the rationale used to develop the hierarchy, and describe how the issues hierarchy is used in program planning. Section 2 presents the overall rationale for the issues hierarchy, and explains the structure and organization of the hierarchy. Section 3 presents the issues hierarchy itself and Section 4 describes the basis for the development of individual issues. Section 5 provides a correlation between the issues and the applicable federal regulations being addressed. Section 6 describes how the issues drive development of plans in support of siting and licensing requirements through use of an issue resolution strategy that includes performance allocation

Accelerator Availability and Reliability Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steve Suhring

2003-05-01

Maintaining reliable machine operations for existing machines as well as planning for future machines' operability present significant challenges to those responsible for system performance and improvement. Changes to machine requirements and beam specifications often reduce overall machine availability in an effort to meet user needs. Accelerator reliability issues from around the world will be presented, followed by a discussion of the major factors influencing machine availability.

Strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college Part I: Issues pertaining to nursing education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Waterson

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Three focus group interviews were conducted. One group was formed by seven tutors, and the other two groups were formed by fourth-year learners following a fouryear comprehensive diploma course. All participants voluntarily took part in the study. Data was analyzed using the descriptive method of open coding by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:154-156. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with Lincoln and Guba’s (1985:290-326 principles of credibility, conformability, transferability and dependability. The findings were categorized into issues pertaining to nursing education as follows: curriculum overload; lack of theory and practice integration; teaching and assessment methods that do not promote critical thinking; tutors’ lack of skills and experience; inadequate preparation of tutors for lectures; insufficient knowledge of tutors regarding outcomes-based education approach to teaching and learning; inadequate process of remedial teaching; discrepancies between tutors’ marking; lack of clinical role-models and high expectations from the affiliated university as regards standards of nursing education in a nursing college. Strategies to improve the learners’ performance were described. It is recommended that these strategies be incorporated in the staff development programme by the staff development committee of the nursing college under study for implementation. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of the described strategies to improve the learners’ performance. It is also recommended that similar studies be conducted or replicated in other nursing colleges to address the problem of poor performance of learners engaged in a four-year comprehensive diploma course.

Strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college. Part I: Issues pertaining to nursing education.

Science.gov (United States)

Waterson, E; Harms, E; Qupe, L; Maritz, J; Manning, M; Makobe, K; Chabeli, M

2006-05-01

The aim of this contextual, exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study was to describe strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college. The article seeks to deal with factors relating to nursing education that contribute to the poor performance of learners and to outline related strategies to improve the situation. Three focus group interviews were conducted. One group was formed by seven tutors, and the other two groups were formed by fourth-year learners following a four-year comprehensive diploma course. All participants voluntarily took part in the study. Data was analyzed using the descriptive method of open coding by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:154-156). Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with Lincoln and Guba's (1985:290-326) principles of credibility, conformability, transferability and dependability. The findings were categorized into issues pertaining to nursing education as follows: curriculum overload; lack of theory and practice integration; teaching and assessment methods that do not promote critical thinking; tutors' lack of skills and experience; inadequate preparation of tutors for lectures; insufficient knowledge of tutors regarding outcomes-based education approach to teaching and learning; inadequate process of remedial teaching; discrepancies between tutors' marking; lack of clinical role-models and high expectations from the affiliated university as regards standards of nursing development programme by the staff development committee of the nursing college under study for implementation. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of the described strategies to improve the learners' performance. It is also recommended that similar studies be conducted or replicated in other nursing colleges to address the problem of poor performance of learners engaged in a four-year comprehensive diploma course.

The Crossmatch/Issue Ratio:  Use of a Novel Quality Indicator and Results of an International Survey on RBC Crossmatching and Issuing Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yazer, Mark H; Alcantara, Ramir; Beizai, Pouneh

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To understand the worldwide scope of RBC crossmatching and issuing practices and measure efficiency using a novel quality indicator, the crossmatch/issue (C/I) ratio. METHODS: An electronic survey was disseminated to hospital transfusion services collecting details about RBC...... crossmatching and issuing practices. Respondents were asked to enumerate the number of RBCs crossmatched and issued at their institutions during the 2014 calendar year to calculate the C/I ratio. RESULTS: Fifty-two survey responses were received, mostly from North American transfusion services (28/52, 54......%). The electronic crossmatch was the most common technique (n = 29), and most respondents performed the crossmatch at the time that an order for RBCs was received in the transfusion service (even if an order to issue the RBCs was not received). Data to calculate the C/I ratio were supplied by 22 respondents...

Identification and Evaluation of Human Factors Issues Associated with Emerging Nuclear Plant Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Hara, J.M.; Higgins, J.; Brown, William S.

2009-01-01

This study has identified human performance research issues associated with the implementation of new technology in nuclear power plants (NPPs). To identify the research issues, current industry developments and trends were evaluated in the areas of reactor technology, instrumentation and control technology, human-system integration technology, and human factors engineering (HFE) methods and tools. The issues were prioritized into four categories based on evaluations provided by 14 independent subject matter experts representing vendors, utilities, research organizations and regulators. Twenty issues were categorized into the top priority category. The study also identifies the priority of each issue and the rationale for those in the top priority category. The top priority issues were then organized into research program areas of: New Concepts of Operation using Multi-agent Teams, Human-system Interface Design, Complexity Issues in Advanced Systems, Operating Experience of New and Modernized Plants, and HFE Methods and Tools. The results can serve as input to the development of a long-term strategy and plan for addressing human performance in these areas to support the safe operation of new NPPs.

Analysis of high burnup fuel safety issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Chan Bock; Kim, D. H.; Bang, J. G.; Kim, Y. M.; Yang, Y. S.; Jung, Y. H.; Jeong, Y. H.; Nam, C.; Baik, J. H.; Song, K. W.; Kim, K. S

2000-12-01

Safety issues in steady state and transient behavior of high burnup LWR fuel above 50 - 60 MWD/kgU were analyzed. Effects of burnup extension upon fuel performance parameters was reviewed, and validity of both the fuel safety criteria and the performance analysis models which were based upon the lower burnup fuel test results was analyzed. It was found that further tests would be necessary in such areas as fuel failure and dispersion for RIA, and high temperature cladding corrosion and mechanical deformation for LOCA. Since domestic fuels have been irradiated in PWR up to burnup higher than 55 MWD/kgU-rod. avg., it can be said that Korea is in the same situation as the other countries in the high burnup fuel safety issues. Therefore, necessary research areas to be performed in Korea were derived. Considering that post-irradiation examination(PIE) for the domestic fuel of burnup higher than 30 MWD/kgU has not been done so far at all, it is primarily necessary to perform PIE for high burnup fuel, and then simulation tests for RIA and LOCA could be performed by using high burnup fuel specimens. For the areas which can not be performed in Korea, international cooperation will be helpful to obtain the test results. With those data base, safety of high burnup domestic fuels will be confirmed, current fuel safety criteria will be re-evaluated, and finally transient high burnup fuel behavior analysis technology will be developed through the fuel performance analysis code development.

Analysis of high burnup fuel safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Chan Bock; Kim, D. H.; Bang, J. G.; Kim, Y. M.; Yang, Y. S.; Jung, Y. H.; Jeong, Y. H.; Nam, C.; Baik, J. H.; Song, K. W.; Kim, K. S

2000-12-01

Safety issues in steady state and transient behavior of high burnup LWR fuel above 50 - 60 MWD/kgU were analyzed. Effects of burnup extension upon fuel performance parameters was reviewed, and validity of both the fuel safety criteria and the performance analysis models which were based upon the lower burnup fuel test results was analyzed. It was found that further tests would be necessary in such areas as fuel failure and dispersion for RIA, and high temperature cladding corrosion and mechanical deformation for LOCA. Since domestic fuels have been irradiated in PWR up to burnup higher than 55 MWD/kgU-rod. avg., it can be said that Korea is in the same situation as the other countries in the high burnup fuel safety issues. Therefore, necessary research areas to be performed in Korea were derived. Considering that post-irradiation examination(PIE) for the domestic fuel of burnup higher than 30 MWD/kgU has not been done so far at all, it is primarily necessary to perform PIE for high burnup fuel, and then simulation tests for RIA and LOCA could be performed by using high burnup fuel specimens. For the areas which can not be performed in Korea, international cooperation will be helpful to obtain the test results. With those data base, safety of high burnup domestic fuels will be confirmed, current fuel safety criteria will be re-evaluated, and finally transient high burnup fuel behavior analysis technology will be developed through the fuel performance analysis code development

Evaluation of official tropical cyclone landfall forecast issued by India ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Here an attempt is made to evaluate the TC landfall forecast issued by IMD during. 2003–2013 (11 years) by ... cast performance and the relative performance of individual .... Environmental Prediction (NCEP) GFS and some ensemble means ...

The nuclear controversy-what are the issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyatt, A.

1976-01-01

The various issues raised by anti-nuclear groups are outlined and rebutted. Issues are grouped under four headingss - Economic; Technical; Social/Ethical/Moral; Political. Issues debated under economic aspects include conservation, unemployment resulting from energy use, use of alternative enrgy sources, high capital cost of nuclear power, high energy consumption in construction of plants, performance unreliability, depletion of uranium and excessive cost of decommissioning. Technically related issues, reactor safety, possibility of nuclear power plant explosion, waste managment, toxicity of plutonium, emission of radioactive material, thermal pollution and environmental effect of heavy water production are also discussed. Social/ethical/moral issues rebutted include radiation effects on health and genetic effects, deaths among uranium miners, morality of long-term waste storage, lack of faith in technical solutions and technical people, opposition to current life style, secrecy of information, nuclear proliferation and unsuitability of nuclear technology to the needs of developing countries. Political issues discussed are sabotage/terrorism possibilites, police state tactics in protection of nuclear facilities, misuse of technolgy by society, high energy society is capitalist and low energy society is Marxist, centralization of power, need for a great nuclear debate and the question of who pays for safety. Scientists and technical people are called upon to debate in their areas of specialty and are cautioned to be aware of tactics involved in meeting challengers head-on. (J.T.A.)

Twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting: Proceedings. Volume 2: Human reliability analysis and human performance evaluation; Technical issues related to rulemakings; Risk-informed, performance-based initiatives; High burn-up fuel research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Monteleone, S. [comp.] [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

1998-03-01

This three-volume report contains papers presented at the conference. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Japan, Norway, and Russia. The titles of the papers and the names of the authors have been updated and may differ from those that appeared in the final program of the meeting. This volume contains the following: (1) human reliability analysis and human performance evaluation; (2) technical issues related to rulemakings; (3) risk-informed, performance-based initiatives; and (4) high burn-up fuel research. Selected papers have been indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

The Chief Performance Officer in Education. Solutions. Issue No. 3

Science.gov (United States)

Nafziger, Dean

2013-01-01

A performance management system can help the state education agency (SEA) become more intentional about what it does and does not do, how work is done, and when to change course. Performance management does not define goals or identify specific strategies, but it puts in place systems that enable learning and adaptation to drive improvement and…

Global Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seitz, J.L.

2001-10-15

Global Issues is an introduction to the nature and background of some of the central issues - economic, social, political, environmental - of modern times. This new edition of this text has been fully updated throughout and features expanded sections on issues such as global warming, biotechnology, and energy. Fully updated throughout and features expanded sections on issues such as global warming, biotechnology, and energy. An introduction to the nature and background of some of the central issues - economic, social, political, environmental - of modern times. Covers a range of perspectives on a variety of societies, developed and developing. Extensively illustrated with diagrams and photographs, contains guides to further reading, media, and internet resources, and includes suggestions for discussion and studying the material. (author)

Divertor armour issues: lifetime, safety and influence on ITER performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pestchanyi, S.

2009-01-01

Comprehensive simulations of the ITER divertor armour vaporization and brittle destruction under ELMs of different sizes have revealed that the erosion rate of CFC armour is intolerable for an industrial reactor, but it can be considerably reduced by the armour fibre structure optimization. The ITER core contamination with carbon is tolerable for medium size ELMs, but large type I ELM can run the confinement into the disruption. Erosion of tungsten, an alternative armour material, under ELMs influence is satisfactory, but the danger of the core plasma contamination with tungsten is still not enough understood and potentially it could be very dangerous. Vaporization of tungsten, its cracking and dust production during ELMs are rather urgent issues to be investigated for proper choice of the divertor armour material for ITER. However, the erosion rate under action of the disruptive heat loads is tolerable for both armour materials assuming few hundred disruptions falls out during ITER lifetime

The Preliminary Review for the Cross-Cutting Issues in the US Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Yong Suk; Jung, Dae Wook; Cho, Nam Chul

2008-01-01

The research for the development of risk-informed and performance-based regulatory inspection is ongoing in KINS. In the USNRC, the cross-cutting issue is one of the main components the risk-informed and performance-based regulatory inspection process as shown in figure 1, which is named as ROP (Reactor Oversight Process). The following three cross-cutting areas implicitly affect all of the safety cornerstones in ROP. In this study, the preliminary review for the inspection practices of cross-cutting issues in the US and Korean safety regulatory system were performed. The elements of the cross-cutting issues were recently modified to emphasize the importance of safety culture, and the graded approach was applied for the inspection of cross-cutting issues in USNRC. The graded approach for the inspection of cross-cutting issues will be also needed to Korean safety regulatory system in the future

The Preliminary Review for the Cross-Cutting Issues in the US Nuclear Regulatory Inspection Framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Yong Suk; Jung, Dae Wook [Future and Challenges Inc., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Nam Chul [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2008-10-15

The research for the development of risk-informed and performance-based regulatory inspection is ongoing in KINS. In the USNRC, the cross-cutting issue is one of the main components the risk-informed and performance-based regulatory inspection process as shown in figure 1, which is named as ROP (Reactor Oversight Process). The following three cross-cutting areas implicitly affect all of the safety cornerstones in ROP. In this study, the preliminary review for the inspection practices of cross-cutting issues in the US and Korean safety regulatory system were performed. The elements of the cross-cutting issues were recently modified to emphasize the importance of safety culture, and the graded approach was applied for the inspection of cross-cutting issues in USNRC. The graded approach for the inspection of cross-cutting issues will be also needed to Korean safety regulatory system in the future.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 28

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

This is the twenty-eighth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 60 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 3 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 20 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, aviation medicine, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, and space medicine.

The transportation issue management system: A tool for issue resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Branch, K.M.; Boryczka, M.K.

1987-01-01

During the last decade, issue management programs have been developed and used by a number of large corporations in the United States. These systems have generally been designed to help senior program managers identify issues, develop strategic plans, and resolve issues. These systems involve scanning and abstracting literature to create a database that is then used for 1) issue identification, 2) issue analysis, 3) priority assessment, 4) development of corporate position/strategic options, and 5) action planning and implementation. Most of the existing systems rely on staff to identify trends in the computerized output, analyze the importance of the issue to the company, and assist in developing corporate responses. The Department of Energy has recently developed an issue management system for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's (OCRWM) transportation program. This system is designed to help DOE identify institutional issues related to radioactive waste transportation, analyze the issues, and resolve them in a manner that is responsive to interested parties. The system will contain pertinent information from DOE technical reports, other federal documents, correspondence, professional journals, popular literature, newsclips, legislation and testimony. The program is designed around a number of institutional issues including: prenotification, physical protection procedures; highway, rail, and barge routing; inspections and enforcement of shipments; emergency response; liability, cask design and testing; overweight trucks; rail service; modal mix; infrastructure improvements; training standards, and operational procedures

Status of safety issues at licensed power plants: TMI Action Plan requirements; unresolved safety issues; generic safety issues; other multiplant action issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-12-01

As part of ongoing US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) efforts to ensure the quality and accountability of safety issue information, the NRC established a program for publishing an annual report on the status of licensee implementation and NRC verification of safety issues in major NRC requirements areas. This information was initially compiled and reported in three NUREG-series volumes. Volume 1, published in March 1991, addressed the status of Three Mile Island (TMI) Action Plan Requirements. Volume 2, published in May 1991, addressed the status of unresolved safety issues (USIs). Volume 3, published in June 1991, addressed the implementation and verification status of generic safety issues (GSIs). The first annual supplement, which combined these volumes into a single report and presented updated information as of September 30, 1991, was published in December 1991. The second annual supplement, which provided updated information as of September 30, 1992, was published in December 1992. Supplement 2 also provided the status of licensee implementation and NRC verification of other multiplant action (MPA) issues not related to TMI Action Plan requirements, USIs, or GSIs. This third annual NUREG report, Supplement 3, presents updated information as of September 30, 1993. This report gives a comprehensive description of the implementation and verification status of TMI Action Plan requirements, safety issues designated as USIs, GSIs, and other MPAs that have been resolved and involve implementation of an action or actions by licensees. This report makes the information available to other interested parties, including the public. Additionally, this report serves as a follow-on to NUREG-0933, ''A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues,'' which tracks safety issues until requirements are approved for imposition at licensed plants or until the NRC issues a request for action by licensees

Human intrusion: issues concerning its assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimwood, P.D.; Smith, G.M.

1989-01-01

The potential significance of human intrusion in the performance assessment of radioactive waste repositories has been increasingly recognized in recent years. It is however an area of assessment in which subjective judgments dominate. This paper identifies some of the issues involved. These include regulatory criteria, scenario development, probability assignment, consequence assessment and measures to mitigate human intrusion

Human factors issues in aircraft maintenance and inspection : "information exchange and communications".

Science.gov (United States)

1990-11-01

The Federal Aviation Administration sponsored a 2-day meeting in December 1989 as part of a continuing program to address issues of human factors and personnel performance in aviation maintenance and inspection. This meeting focused on issues of "inf...

Fuel Rod Performance Evaluation of CE 16 x 16 LTA Operated at Steady State Using Transuranus and Pad Codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krasnorutskyy, V.; Slyeptsov, O. [Nuclear Fuel Cycle Science and Technology Establishment (NFCSTE), National Science Center, Kharkhov Institute of Physics and Technology (NSC KIPT), Kharkhov (Ukraine)

2013-03-15

The report performed under IAEA research contract No. 15370 describes the results of fuel performance evaluation of PWR fuel rods operated at steady state up to discharge burnup of {approx}60 GWD/MTU using the codes of TRANSURANUS designed by ITU and PAD designed by Westinghouse. The experimental results from US-PWR 16x16 LTA Extended Burnup Demonstration Program presented in the IFPE database of the OECD/NEA have been utilized for assessing the codes themselves during simulation of such properties as rod burnup, cladding corrosion, fuel densification and swelling, cladding irradiation growth and strain, FGR and RIP. The results obtained by PAD showed that the code properly simulates rod burnup, cladding irradiation growth and cladding oxidation with Standard Zr-4 material. The calculated burnup values along the fuel stack vary within {+-} 5% of the rod average burnup. The predicted values of the rod axial growth are (0.88-0.94) % and within the measured ones obtained in the burnup range of (50 - 60) GWD/MTU. With allowance made for probability of crud deposition and hot channel hydraulic diameter variation, the axial distribution of oxide layer is predicted well. For the nominal rod dimensions and operation conditions, the calculated peak oxide thickness is slightly overestimated based on the BE corrosion model parameters. The WEC fuel swelling and densification model together with the US NRC one, which is incorporated in the code, were used to assess the change in fuel pellet density ({Delta}{rho}) and fuel volume ({Delta}V{sub F}/V) vs. burnup as well as the rod void volume change, {Delta}V{sub V}/V, and the cladding outer diameter (OD) variation along the fuel stack. (author)

International conference on topical issues in nuclear safety. Contributed papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The objective of the Conference was to foster the exchange of information on topical issues in nuclear safety, with the aim of consolidating an international consensus on the present status of these issues, priorities for future work, and needs for strengthening international cooperation, including the IAEA recommendations for future activities. This book contains concise contributed papers submitted on issues falling within the thematic scope of the Conference: risk informed decision making, influence of external factors on safety, safety of fuel cycle facilities, safety of research reactors, and safety performance indicators

International conference on topical issues in nuclear safety. Contributed papers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-07-01

The objective of the Conference was to foster the exchange of information on topical issues in nuclear safety, with the aim of consolidating an international consensus on the present status of these issues, priorities for future work, and needs for strengthening international cooperation, including the IAEA recommendations for future activities. This book contains concise contributed papers submitted on issues falling within the thematic scope of the Conference: risk informed decision making, influence of external factors on safety, safety of fuel cycle facilities, safety of research reactors, and safety performance indicators.

Evaluation of the performance of diagnosis-related groups and similar casemix systems: methodological issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, G; Reid, B

2001-05-01

With the increasing recognition and application of casemix for managing and financing healthcare resources, the evaluation of alternative versions of systems such as diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) has been afforded high priority by governments and researchers in many countries. Outside the United States, an important issue has been the perceived need to produce local versions, and to establish whether or not these perform more effectively than the US-based classifications. A discussion of casemix evaluation criteria highlights the large number of measures that may be used, the rationale and assumptions underlying each measure, and the problems in interpreting the results. A review of recent evaluation studies from a number of countries indicates that considerable emphasis has been placed on the predictive validity criterion, as measured by the R2 statistic. However, the interpretation of the findings has been affected greatly by the methods used, especially the treatment and definition of outlier cases. Furthermore, the extent to which other evaluation criteria have been addressed has varied widely. In the absence of minimum evaluation standards, it is not possible to draw clear-cut conclusions about the superiority of one version of a casemix system over another, the need for a local adaptation, or the further development of an existing version. Without the evidence provided by properly designed studies, policy-makers and managers may place undue reliance on subjective judgments and the views of the most influential, but not necessarily best informed, healthcare interest groups.

High burnup issues and modelling strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dutta, B.K.

2005-01-01

The performance of high burnup fuel is affected by a number of phenomena, such as, conductivity degradation, modified radial flux profile, fission gas release from high burnup structures, PCMI, burnup dependent thermo-mechanical properties, etc. The modelling strategies of some of these phenomena are available in literature. These can be readily incorporated in a fuel modelling performance code. The computer code FAIR has been developed in BARC over the years to evaluate the fuel performance at extended burnup and modelling of the fuel rods for advanced fuel cycles. The present paper deals with the high burnup issues in the fuel pins, their modelling strategies and results of the case studies specifically involving high burnup fuel. (author)

Toward a procedure for integrating moral issues in health technology assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, Bjørn

2005-01-01

Although ethics has been on the agenda in health technology assessment (HTA) since its inception, the integration of moral issues is still not standard and is performed in a vast variety of ways. Therefore, there is a need for a procedure for integrating moral issues in HTA. Literature review of existing approaches together with application of various theories in moral philosophy and axiology. The article develops a set of questions that addresses a wide range of moral issues related to the assessment and implementation of health technology. The issues include general moral issues and moral issues related to stakeholders, methodology, characteristics of technology, and to the HTA process itself. The questions form a kind of checklist for use in HTAs. The presented approach for integrating moral issues in HTA has a broad theoretical foundation and has shown to be useful in practice. Integrating ethical issues in HTAs can be of great importance with respect to the dissemination of HTA results and in efficient health policy making.

Issues to Be Solved for Energy Simulation of An Existing Office Building

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ki Uhn Ahn

2016-04-01

Full Text Available With the increasing focus on low energy buildings and the need to develop sustainable built environments, Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS tools have been widely used. However, many issues remain when applying BEPS tools to existing buildings. This paper presents the issues that need to be solved for the application of BEPS tools to an existing office building. The selected building is an office building with 33 stories above ground, six underground levels, and a total floor area of 91,898 m2. The issues to be discussed in this paper are as follows: (1 grey data not ready for simulation; (2 subjective assumptions and judgments on energy modeling; (3 stochastic characteristics of building performance and occupants behavior; (4 verification of model fidelity-comparison of aggregated energy; (5 verification of model fidelity-calibration by trial and error; and (6 use of simulation model for real-time energy management. This study investigates the aforementioned issues and explains the factors that should be considered to address these issues when developing a dynamic simulation model for existing buildings.

Nordic Regional Report; Selected Issues

OpenAIRE

International Monetary Fund

2013-01-01

This Selected Issues paper elaborates findings and discussions of 2013 Cluster Consultation Nordic Regional report. The countries have close economic and financial ties and face some common challenges and shared risks, such as large banking sectors and high household debt. The economic performance of the four continental Nordic economies (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—Nordic-4) ranks among the advanced economic development circle. It is analyzed that the large Nordic banking systems su...

System issues for multichip packaging

Science.gov (United States)

Sage, Maurice G.; Hartley, Neil

1991-04-01

It is now generally recognised that the performance of an electronic system is governed by the choice of packaging technology. Never before have the technical and financial implications of a packaging technology choice been more critical and never before has technology interdependence or industry globalisation made the choice more difficult. This paper is aimed at examining the choices available and the system issues resulting from the move from single chip to multichip packaging.

Gynaecological issues affecting the obese adolescent.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Paul L; Bauman, Dvora

2015-05-01

The implications of obesity in childhood and adolescence resonate into adulthood and have implications at different levels that include psychosocial and health issues that impact beyond reproductive performance. This chapter explores the various facets and consequences on gynaecological issues of increased Body Mass Index in childhood, including the link with puberty, pubertal menorrhagia (also affecting children with complex needs) and the all too common problems surrounding hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and the polycystic ovarian syndrome in particular which need to be seen in the specific context of the adolescent years. The wider ramifications of obesity on the psychosocial welfare of adolescents merits special attention. Finally management strategies are considered in the context of the needs of adolescents. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emerging Issues in the Utilization of Weblogs in Higher Education Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Ayao-ao, Shirley

2014-01-01

This paper examines the emerging issues in the utilization of weblogs in Philippine higher education and how these issues affect the performance of students. This study used a modified Delphi method. The Delphi panel consisted of 12 experts in the integration of technology, particularly blogs, in their teaching. The study yielded the following…

Émissions azotées au champ et performances des machines lors de l'épandage de boues issues du traitement des eaux usées

OpenAIRE

Pradel, M.; Pacaud, T.; Cariolle, M.

2011-01-01

/ Ce document est un rapport de synthèse des travaux réalisés dans le cadre du projet Ecodefi sur l'estimation des émissions azotées lors de l'épandage de boues issues du traitement des eaux usées en lien avec les performances technologiques des machines utilisées à cet effet.

Investigation of antihemolytic, xanthine oxidase inhibition ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abbreviations: SVEs: Salvia Verbenaca L. aerial part Extracts; CrE: Crud Extract; ChE: Chloroform Extract ; EAE: Ethyl Acetate Extract; AqE : Aqueous Extract ; ROS: Reactive Oxygen Spices; AAPH : 2,2, -Azobis (2-AmidinoPropane) Dihydrochloride ; DPPH: DiPhenyl- Picryl-Hydrazyl; XO: Xanthine Oxidase; Gen: Gentamicin ...

Production of milk-clotting enzyme by Bacillus subtilis B1 from wheat ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Jane

2011-08-22

Aug 22, 2011 ... average percentages of starch, proteins, moisture, crud fibers, ash and others in ... To confirm optimum reaction temperature, the milk samples were previously equilibrated at ... casein digestion method (Shieh et al., 2009). One unit of ..... medium for α-amylase production from a hyper-producing Bacillus.

Research and Development Issues for Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ricci, Katrina

2002-01-01

.... While there is a wide range of research issues associated with technical manuals, the focus of the Intelligent Performance Support and Training effort is the development and evaluation of various...

Ethical Issues in Transnational Eye Banking.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Dominique E; Kelly, Richard; Jones, Gary L A; Machin, Heather; Pollock, Graeme A

2017-02-01

To review ethical issues that may arise in the setting of transnational eye banking activities, such as when exporting or importing corneal tissue for transplantation. A principle-based normative analysis of potential common dilemmas in transnational eye banking activities was performed. Transnational activities in eye banking, like those in other fields involving procurement and use of medical products of human origin, may present a number of ethical issues for policy makers and professionals. Key ethical concerns include the potential impact of export or import activities on self-sufficiency of corneal tissue supply within exporting and importing countries; potential disclosure requirements when obtaining consent or authorization for ocular tissue donation when donations may be exported; and difficulties inherent in assuring equity in the allocation of tissues available for export and in establishing and respecting standards of safety and quality across different jurisdictions. Further analysis of specific ethical issues in eye banking is necessary to inform development of guidelines and other governance tools that will assist policy makers and professionals to support ethical practice.

Nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inami, Ichiro; Kobayashi, Minoru.

1995-01-01

In a condensate cleanup system and a reactor water cleanup system of a BWR-type reactor, in which primary coolants flow, there is disposed a filtering and desalting device using hollow thread membrane filter and ion exchange resin for a condensate cleanup system, and using a high temperature filter made of a metal, a metal oxide or ceramics as a filtering material and a precoat filter made of a powdery ion exchange resin as a filtering material for a reactor water cleanup system. This can completely remove cruds generated in the condensate system. Since the reactor water cleanup system comprises the powdery resin precoat-type filtering and desalting device and the high temperature filter using ceramics, ionic impurities such as radioactive materials can be removed. Accordingly, cruds are not carried into the inside of the reactor, and since the radioactive concentration in the reactor water is reduced, radiation exposure upon periodical inspection can be minimized almost to zero, to attain a clean plant. (T.M.)

Recent improvements in the filtration of corrosion products in high temperature water and application to reactor circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Darras, R.; Dolle, L.; Chenouard, J.; Laylavoix, F.

1977-01-01

The nature and physico-chemical behavior of corrosion products released by structural materials into high temperature water flowing in power reactor circuits have been investigated in test loops and different power plants. The results improve more particularly the knowledge of probable rate constants governing their disappearance through deposition of crud on the fuel cladding. It appears that a considerable limitation of radioactivity transportation in the primary circuit components of pressurized water reactors is in a general way only possible through extraction of the corrosion products by filtration at a rate adequate to minimize the amount of crud deposited in the core. This extraction rate has been estimated; its magnitude implicates a filtration operating on the high temperature water in the primary circuit which allows the necessary high flows. The application of magnetic and electromagnetic so as deep granular graphite bed filters has been studied. The results concerning efficiencies and limiting yields at high temperatures are given. Estimates concerning technological feasibility and corresponding investments are discussed

Method of removing suspended impurity from mixed floor type filtering desalter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oya, Takashi; Morikawa, Yoshitake; Hagiwara, Masahiro; Kozu, Hideo; Izumi, Takeshi.

1989-01-01

In BWR type nuclear power plants, since the inside of a nuclear reactor has to be always kept clean, condensates flowing from a condensator to the inside of the reactor are cleaned-up by a condensate desalting tower into a highly cleaned-up state and then utilized as coolants for the inside of the reactor. Upon processing primary coolants, a mixed floor is formed with a resin in which the crosslinking rate of granular or powdery cationic exchange resins is reduced as from 7.5 to 3% of divinyl benzene (DVB) content. Crud separating effect is larger as the DVB content (%) is lower. However, if the DVB content is too small fracture strength and heat exchange capacity of the resins are decreased making it difficult for handling and, accordingly, practical lower limit is set to 3%. This enables sufficient removal of cruds upon eliminating suspended impurities in a mixed floor type filtering desalter. (T.M.)

Effect of gamma irradiation on the microbial load, chemical and sensory properties of the goat meat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Bachir, M.; Zeinou, R.

2010-07-01

The present study was undertaken to assess the quality characteristics and to evaluate the effects of gamma irradiation (0, 2, 4, and 6 kGy) of Jabaly Syrian goat meat on microbiological, chemical, and sensory characteristics during storage at 4 degree centigrade (1, 3, 4, and 5 weeks). Irradiation was effective in reducing the microbial load and increasing the shelf-life of goat meat. The radiation doses required to reduce the microorganisms by 90 percent (D10) in goat meat were 294 and 400 Gy for the Salmonella and E. coli, respectively. The main fatty acids identified from the goat meat were oleic, stearic, and palmitic acids. No significant differences were observed in moisture, crud protein, crud fat, ash, pH value, fatty acids, total acidity, volatile basic nitrogen, and sensory properties (texture, flavor, color, and taste) of the radiation processing and non-irradiated goat meat. Lipid peroxidation measured in term of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) on irradiation and chilled storage increased. (Author)

Performance issues in management of the Space Station Information System

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Marjory J.

1988-01-01

The onboard segment of the Space Station Information System (SSIS), called the Data Management System (DMS), will consist of a Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) token-ring network. The performance of the DMS in scenarios involving two kinds of network management is analyzed. In the first scenario, how the transmission of routine management messages impacts performance of the DMS is examined. In the second scenario, techniques for ensuring low latency of real-time control messages in an emergency are examined.

Control issues for a hydraulically powered dissimilar teleoperated system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jansen, J.F.; Kress, R.L.

1995-01-01

This paper will address two issues associated with the implementation of a hydraulically powered dissimilar master-slave teleoperated system. These issues are the overall system control architecture and the design of robust hydraulic servo controllers for the position control problem. Finally, a discussion of overall system performance on an actual teleoperated system will be presented. (Schilling's Titan II hydraulic manipulators are the slave manipulators and the master manipulators are from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory-developed Advanced Servo Manipulator.)

Epidemiological issues related to dose reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shore, R.E.

1996-01-01

When a dose reconstruction is performed around some nuclear site, a decision has to be made as to whether an epidemiologic study should be performed there and, if so, what form the study should take. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of epidemiologic and biostatistical issues that help determine whether an epidemiologic study around a nuclear facility is worthwhile doing from a scientific standpoint. We are all aware that public health and sociopolitical concerns often assume considerable importance in these decisions, but they will not be considered here. 27 refs., 2 tabs

Environmental reporting as a strategic issue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Lars Bjørn

1997-01-01

Organisations are facing ever increasing demands or pressures from various stakeholder to raise their environmental standards. Raising the environmental standards includes improving and documenting the environmental performance in relation to production processes, products and logistics.This pape...... adresses environmental reporting as an important issue in strategic management, since many of environmental management are related to the availability of environmental information both inside and outside the company.......Organisations are facing ever increasing demands or pressures from various stakeholder to raise their environmental standards. Raising the environmental standards includes improving and documenting the environmental performance in relation to production processes, products and logistics.This paper...

Higher Education Systems 3.0: Harnessing Systemness, Delivering Performance. Critical Issues in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Lane, Jason E., Ed.; Johnstone, D. Bruce, Ed.

2013-01-01

This thought-provoking volume brings together scholars and system leaders to analyze some of the most pressing and complex issues now facing higher education systems and society. Higher Education Systems 3.0 focuses on the remaking of higher education coordination in an era of increased accountability, greater calls for productivity, and…

Teacher, Lecturer or Labourer? Performance Management Issues in Education

Science.gov (United States)

Mather, Kim; Seifert, Roger

2011-01-01

Education management has increasingly been dominated by the norms and requirements of general management ideologies that focus on performance controls and target achievements. Under this regime, solving the labour problem--relatively low productivity--has taken precedence over all other forms of management. In pursuit of this objective senior…

An overview of the BWR ECCS strainer blockage issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serkiz, A.W.; Marshall, M.L. Jr.; Elliott, R.

1996-01-01

This Paper provides a brief overview of actions taken in the mid 1980s to resolve Unresolved Safety Issue (USI) A-43, open-quotes Containment Emergency Sump Performance,close quotes and their relationship to the BWR strainer blockage issue; the importance of insights gained from the Barseback-2 (a Swedish BWR) incident in 1992 and from ECCS strainer testing and inspections at the Perry nuclear power plant in 1992 and 1993; an analysis of an US BWR/4 with a Mark I containment; an international community sharing of knowledge relevant to ECCS strainer blockage, additional experimental programs; and identification of actions needed to resolve the strainer blockage issue and the status of such efforts

Status of safety issues at licensed power plants: TMI Action Plan requirements, unresolved safety issues, generic safety issues, other multiplant action issues. Supplement 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-12-01

As part of ongoing US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) efforts to ensure the quality and accountability of safety issue information, the NRC established a program for publishing an annual report on the status of licensee implementation and NRC verification of safety issues in major NRC requirements areas. This information was initially compiled and reported in three NUREG-series volumes. Volume 1, published in March 1991, addressed the status of Three Mile Island (TMI) Action Plan Requirements. Volume 2, published in May 1991, addressed the status of unresolved safety issues (USIs). Volume 3, published in June 1991, addressed the implementation and verification status of generic safety issues (GSIs). The first annual supplement, which combined these volumes into a single report and presented updated information as of September 30, 1991, was published in December 1991. The second annual supplement, which provided updated information as of September 30, 1992, was published in December 1992. Supplement 2 also provided the status of licensee implementation and NRC verification of other multiplant action (MPA) issues not related to TMI Action Plan requirements, USIs, or GSIs. Supplement 3 gives status as of September 30, 1993. This annual report, Supplement 4, presents updated information as of September 30, 1994. This report gives a comprehensive description of the implementation and verification status of TMI Action Plan requirements, safety issues designated as USIs, GSIs, and other MPAs that have been resolved and involve implementation of an action or actions by licensees. This report makes the information available to other interested parties, including the public. Additionally, this report serves as a follow-on to NUREG-0933, ''A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues,'' which tracks safety issues until requirements are approved for imposition at licensed plants or until the NRC issues a request for action by licensees

School Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Lamas, Héctor A.

2015-01-01

The school performance study of students is, due to its relevance and complexity, one of the issues of major controversy in the educational research, and it has been given special attention in the last decades. This study is intended to show a conceptual approach to the school performance construct, contextualizing the reality in the regular basic…

Drug Abuse on College Campuses: Emerging Issues. Issues in Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention, 2012

2012-01-01

This "Issues in Prevention" focuses on emerging issues concerning drug abuse on college campuses. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Drug Abuse Trends; (2) Q&A With Jim Lange; (3) Bath Salts; (4) Refuse to Abuse; (5) Related Federal Resource; and (6) Higher Education Center Resources.

Barrier analogs: Long-term performance issues, preliminary studies, and recommendations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waugh, W.J. [Rust Geotech, Inc., Grand Junction, CO (United States). Environmental Sciences Lab.; Chatters, J.C.; Last, G.V.; Bjornstad, B.N.; Link, S.O. [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Hunter, C.R. [Cascade Earth Sciences, La Grande, OR (United States)

1994-02-01

The US Department of Energy`s Hanford Protective Barrier Development Program is funding studies of natural analogs of the long-term performance of waste site covers. Natural-analog studies examine past environments as evidence for projecting the future performance of engineered structures. The information generated by analog studies is needed to (1) evaluate the designs and results of short term experiments and demonstrations, (2) formulate performance-modeling problems that bound expected changes in waste site environments, and (3) understand emergent system attributes that cannot be evaluated with short-term experiments or computer models. Waste site covers will be part of dynamic environmental systems with attributes that transcend the traits of engineered components. This report discusses results of the previously unreported preliminary studies conducted in 1983 and 1984. These results indicate that analogs could play an important role in predicting the long-term behavior of engineered waste covers. Layered exposures of glacial-flood-deposited gravels mantled with silt or sand that resemble contemporary barrier designs were examined. Bergmounds, another anomaly left by cataclysmic glacial floods, were also examined as analogs of surface gravel.

Mutual fund performance: A synthesis of taxonomic and methodological issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.G. Badrinath

2010-12-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a comprehensive taxonomy of mutual funds and discusses the relative importance of these fund types. While most academic research focuses on US equity funds, we provide results for many more asset classes with this taxonomy—fixed income, balanced, global, International, sector, market-neutral and long-short funds. For each, we start by reporting statistics on the number of funds and their total net asset values at different intervals over the last four decades. We then identify short and long-term patterns in annual returns to mutual funds. We study the cross-sectional and time-series properties of the distribution of investor flows into different types of mutual funds, describe the relationship between flows and performance and discuss its implications for the strategic behaviour of managers and investors. We estimate and interpret fund performance alphas using both the single-factor and four-factor Fama-French models for each taxonomy type. Finally we describe the state of academic research on portfolio performance evaluation tilted towards an applied audience.

The CEO performance effect : Statistical issues and a complex fit perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blettner, D.P.; Chaddad, F.R.; Bettis, R.

2012-01-01

How CEOs affect strategy and performance is important to strategic management research. We show that sophisticated statistical analysis alone is problematic for establishing the magnitude and causes of CEO impact on performance. We discuss three problem areas that substantially distort the

Sustainability performance for Brazilian electricity power industry: An assessment integrating social, economic and environmental issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sartori, S.; Witjes, S.; Campos, L.M.S.

2017-01-01

The increased pressure on companies to address sustainability issues has resulted in the development of several voluntary corporate sustainability integration approaches. The array of existing approaches is large and overwhelming, resulting in companies not understanding what corporate

Research on Coolant Radiochemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ha, Yeong Keong; Kim, W. H.; Yeon, J. W.; Jung, Y. J.; Choi, K. C.; Choi, K. S.; Park, Y. J.; Cho, Y. H.

2007-06-01

The final objective of this study is to develop a method for reducing radioactive materials formed in the reactor coolant circuit. This second stage research was categorized into the following three subgroups: the development of the estimation technique of microscopic chemical variation at high temperatures and pressures, the fundamental study on the thermodynamics at high temperatures and pressures, and the study on the deposition of metal oxides and the determination of the main factors responsible for the growth of CRUD. First, in the development of the estimation technique of microscopic chemical change at high temperatures and pressures, the technique for measuring coolant chemistry such as pH, conductivity and Eh was developed to be appropriate for the high temperature and pressure condition. The coolant chemistry measuring system including the self-devised high temperature pH sensor can be applied to the field of nuclear reactor and contribute on a large scale in the automation of the coolant chemistry control and the establishment of the real-time on-line measuring technique. Secondly, the dissociation constant of water and the solubility of metal oxides were measured in the fundamental study on the thermodynamics at high temperatures and pressures. Finally, in the study on the deposition of metal oxides and the determination of the main factors responsible for the growth of CRUD, the careful investigation of the deposition phenomena of micro particles on the cladding surface showed that subcooled boiling and the dissolved hydrogen are the main factors responsible for the growth of CRUD. In addition, the basis was provided for the construction of a new particle behavior model in the reactor coolant circuit

Application of PHADEC method for the decontamination of radioactive steam piping components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lo Frano, R.; Pilo, F.; Aquaro, D.

2013-01-01

The dismantling of nuclear plants is a complex activity that originates often a large quantity of radioactive contaminated residue. In this paper the attention was focused on the PHADEC (Phosphoric Acid Decontamination) plant adopted for the clearance of Caorso NPP (in Italy) metallic systems and components contaminated by Co 60 (produced by the neutron capture in the iron materials), like the main steam lines, moisture separator of the turbine buildings, etc.. The PHADEC plant consists in a chemical off line treatment: the crud, deposited along the steam piping during life plant as an example, is removed by means of acid attacks in ponds coupled to a high pressure water washing. Due to the fact that the removed contaminated layers, essentially, iron oxides of various chemical composition, depend on components geometry, type of contamination and time of treatment in the PHADEC plant, it becomes of meaningful importance to suggest a procedure capable to improve the control of the PHADEC process parameters. This study aimed thus at the prediction and optimization of the mentioned treatment time in order to improve the efficiency of the plant itself and to achieve, in turn, the minimization of produced wastes. To the purpose an experimental campaign was carried out by analysing several samples, i.e. taken along the main steam piping line. Smear tests as well as metallographic analyses were carried out in order to determine respectively the radioactivity distribution and the crud composition on the inner surface of the components. Moreover the radioactivity in the crud thickness was measured. These values allowed finally to correlate the residence time in the acid attack ponds to the level of the achieved decontamination. (authors)

Web Services Security - Implementation and Evaluation Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Pimenidis, Elias; Georgiadis, Christos K.; Bako, Peter; Zorkadis, Vassilis

Web services development is a key theme in the utilization the commercial exploitation of the semantic web. Paramount to the development and offering of such services is the issue of security features and they way these are applied in instituting trust amongst participants and recipients of the service. Implementing such security features is a major challenge to developers as they need to balance these with performance and interoperability requirements. Being able to evaluate the level of security offered is a desirable feature for any prospective participant. The authors attempt to address the issues of security requirements and evaluation criteria, while they discuss the challenges of security implementation through a simple web service application case.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 25

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

This is the twenty-fifth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 42 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 3 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 26 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, and space biology and medicine.

Criticality safety issues arising from the treatment of liquid effluent streams from the reprocessing of thermal oxide fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorne, P.R.; Farrington, L.M.

1991-01-01

The BNFL THORP plant will reprocess irradiated oxide fuel from thermal reactors to recover plutonium dioxide and uranium trioxide in a pure form. A consequence of the reprocessing is that several liquid effluent streams are produced which can contain residual fissile material. Generally, the treatment of these effluent streams is carried out in large vessels which are not geometrically favourable with regard to nuclear safety. This is possible because the concentration of fissile material in solution is far less than the safely subcritical infinite sea concentrations. The situation is complicated by the presence of precipitated solids in some vessels and crud layers in others. Experimental measurements have been used to characterise these solids in order to extend the usual safe limits, and to provide an acceptable operating regime. Based on the experimental characterisation of the solids, the neutronics computer codes WIMS and MONK have been used to determine the optimum possible conditions existing, and to determine the safe fissile mass limits for these systems. The limits which are derived have been used to provide alarm and trip levels for instrumentation which has been employed in a novel way. It has been shown that the plant can be operated successfully and remains acceptably safe taking into account the presence of solids in the liquid effluent streams. (author)

Seven Issues, Revisited

OpenAIRE

Whitehead, Jim; De Bra, Paul; Grønbæk, Kaj; Larsen, Deena; Legget, John; schraefel, monica m.c.

2002-01-01

It has been 15 years since the original presentation by Frank Halasz at Hypertext'87 on seven issues for the next generation of hypertext systems. These issues are: Search and Query Composites Virtual Structures Computation in/over hypertext network Versioning Collaborative Work Extensibility and Tailorability Since that time, these issues have formed the nucleus of multiple research agendas within the Hypertext community. Befitting this direction-setting role, the issues have been revisited ...

Clinical track faculty: merits and issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Won-Hee; Kim, Cho Ja; Roh, Young Sook; Shin, Hyunsook; Kim, Mi Ja

2007-01-01

Clinical track faculty (CTF) has been in operation for more than two decades in the United States, and 12 of the top 20 schools of nursing with the highest National Institutes of Health funding in the United States have CTF in place. Yet, only limited articles have been published regarding the merits and issues related to its operation. This article examines the advantages/merits of establishing CTF in schools of nursing, discusses the qualification criteria and types of appointment for CTF, and analyzes issues related to operating CTF in Korea. A questionnaire survey and two workshops were conducted involving faculty from a college of nursing and clinical nurse managers from university-affiliated medical centers and community agencies. Most of the respondents indicated that establishing CTF was advantageous. Merits included the following: increasing reality-based clinical education and training; decreasing the reality shock of students; increasing student satisfaction; and linking education, practice, and research more effectively. Major issues were as follows: getting the approval of medical centers/universities; developing an agreement on CTF operation between the college of nursing and clinical agencies; clarifying types and criteria of appointment and promotion; and developing a statement on role and compensation policies. Most issues are similar to what U.S. schools of nursing have faced, except for the first one. In conclusion, establishing CTF in Korea appears to be highly desirable. Merits outweigh issues/concerns, and Korean nursing schools may look for an opportune time for obtaining the approval of medical centers/universities. Nursing schools in other countries that face a similar challenge of providing clinical teaching with high research performance may consider instituting CTF.

Design issues for numerical libraries on scalable multicore architectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heroux, M A

2008-01-01

Future generations of scalable computers will rely on multicore nodes for a significant portion of overall system performance. At present, most applications and libraries cannot exploit multiple cores beyond running addition MPI processes per node. In this paper we discuss important multicore architecture issues, programming models, algorithms requirements and software design related to effective use of scalable multicore computers. In particular, we focus on important issues for library research and development, making recommendations for how to effectively develop libraries for future scalable computer systems

Integration of Work-life Issues with Respect to Female Employees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jitendra Kumar Sharma

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Work-life integration issue has become an agenda of board room meetings across the globe especially in India. A working person has multiple roles to play at a time at personal as well as organizational fronts; each demanding different skills and anticipations. When such role demands overlap and get clashed, serious problems are faced by the employees. Moreover, in sales, the performance pressure is high leading to work stress reflected in personal life. This research paper is an attempt to delve into the issue of work-life integration issues with reference to young women working as school teachers in private schools of Mumbai.

Using an Equity/Performance Matrix to Address Salary Compression/Inversion and Performance Pay Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Peter; Thomas, Steven

2013-01-01

Pay compression and inversion are significant problems for many organizations and are often severe in schools of business in particular. At the same time, there is more insistence on showing accountability and paying employees based on performance. The authors explain and show a detailed example of how to use a Compensation Equity/ Performance…

Preventive maintenance for computer systems - concepts & issues ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Performing preventive maintenance activities for the computer is not optional. The computer is a sensitive and delicate device that needs adequate time and attention to make it work properly. In this paper, the concept and issues on how to prolong the life span of the system, that is, the way to make the system last long and ...

Status of safety issues at licensed power plants: TMI action plan requirements, unresolved safety issues, generic safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-12-01

As part of ongoing US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) efforts to ensure the quality and accountability of safety issue information, a program was established whereby an annual NUREG report would be published on the status of licensee implementation and NRC verification of safety issues in major NRC requirements areas. This information was compiled and reported in three NUREG volumes. Volume 1, published in March 1991, addressed the status of of Three Mile Island (TMI) Action Plan Requirements. Volume 2, published in May 1991, addressed the status of unresolved safety issues (USIs). Volume 3, published in June 1991, addressed the implementation and verification status of generic safety issues (GSIs). This annual NUREG report combines these volumes into a single report and provides updated information as of September 30, 1991. The data contained in these NUREG reports are a product of the NRC's Safety Issues Management System (SIMS) database, which is maintained by the Project Management Staff in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and by NRC regional personnel. This report is to provide a comprehensive description of the implementation and verification status of TMI Action Plan Requirements, safety issues designated as USIs, and GSIs that have been resolved and involve implementation of an action or actions by licensees. This report makes the information available to other interested parties, including the public. An additional purpose of this NUREG report is to serve as a follow-on to NUREG-0933, ''A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues,'' which tracks safety issues up until requirements are approved for imposition at licensed plants or until the NRC issues a request for action by licensees

2007 Joint Chem Bio Decon and Protection Conference and Exhibition

Science.gov (United States)

2007-10-25

Choung USMC Ms. Lindy Burkhart USN Mr. Carl Goalie Technical Manager (Navy) Mr. Kiko Lama Transition Manager (Joint) LTC Green Oversight Group DUSD (AS&C...may not be possible to pull units for decon for days at a time UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 13 Mud, Crud, & Blood • Should be assumed as a

Heavy-Section Steel Technology program fracture issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pennell, W.E.

1989-10-01

Large scale fracture mechanics tests have resulted in the identification of a number of fracture technology issues. Identification of additional issues has come from the reactor vessel materials irradiation test program and from reactor operating experience. This paper provides a review of fracture issues with an emphasis on their potential impact on a reactor vessel pressurized thermal shock (PTS) analysis. Mixed mode crack propagation emerges as a major issue, due in large measure to the poor performance of existing models for the prediction of ductile tearing. Rectification of ductile tearing technology deficiencies may require extending the technology to include a more complete treatment of stress state and loading history effects. The effect of cladding on vessel fracture remains uncertain to the point that it is not possible to determine at this time if the net effect will be positive or negative. Enhanced fracture toughness for shallow flaws has been demonstrated for low strength structural steels. Demonstration of a similar effect in reactor pressure vessel steels could have a significant beneficial effect on the probabilistic analysis of reactor vessel fracture. Further development of existing fracture mechanics models and concepts is required to meet the special requirements for fracture evaluation of circumferential flaws in the welds of ring forged vessels. Fracture technology advances required to address the issues discussed in this paper are the major objective for the ongoing Heavy Section Steel Technology (HSST) program at ORNL. 24 refs., 18 figs

Heavy-section steel technology program: Fracture issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pennell, W.E.

1992-01-01

Large-scale fracture mechanics tests have resulted in the identification of a number of fracture technology issues. Identification of additional issues has come from the reactor vessel materials irradiation test program and from reactor operating experience. This paper provides a review of fracture issues with an emphasis on their potential impact on a reactor vessel pressurized thermal shock (PTS) analysis. Mixed mode crack propagation emerges as a major issue, due in large measure to the poor performance of existing models for the prediction of ductile tearing. Rectification of ductile tearing technology deficiencies may require extending the technology to include a more complete treatment of stress state and loading history effects. The effect of cladding on vessel fracture remains uncertain to the point that it is not possible to determine at this time if the net effect will be positive or negative. Enhanced fracture toughness for shallow flaws has been demonstrated for low-strength structural steels. Demonstration of a similar effect in reactor pressure vessel steels could have a significant beneficial effect on the probabilistic analysis of reactor vessel fracture. Further development of existing fracture mechanics models and concepts is required to meet the special requirements for fracture evaluation of circumferential flaws in the welds of ring-forged vessels. Fracture technology advances required to address the issues discussed in this paper are the major objective for the ongoing Heavy Section Steel Technology (HSST) program at ORNL

Safety issue resolution strategy plan for inactive miscellaneous underground storage tanks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, O.S.; Powers, T.B.

1994-09-01

The purpose of this strategy plan is to identify, confirm, and resolve safely issues associated with inactive miscellaneous underground storage tanks (MUSTs) using a risk-based priority approach. Assumptions and processes to assess potential risks and operational concerns are documented in this report. Safety issue priorities are ranked based on a number of considerations including risk ranking and cost effectiveness. This plan specifies work scope and recommends schedules for activities related to resolving safety issues, such as collecting historical data, searching for authorization documents, performing Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) screening and evaluation, identifying safety issues, imposing operational controls and monitoring, characterizing waste contents, mitigating and resolving safety issues, and fulfilling other remediation requirements consistent with the overall Tank Waste Remediation System strategy. Recommendations for characterization and remediation are also recommended according to the order of importance and practical programmatic consideration

Performance-Based Funding Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2011

2011-01-01

A number of states have made progress in implementing performance-based funding (PFB) and accountability. This policy brief summarizes main features of performance-based funding systems in three states: Tennessee, Ohio, and Indiana. The brief also identifies key issues that states considering performance-based funding must address, as well as…

Developing a Social Enterprise Performance Scale and Examining the Relationship Between Entrepreneurs’ Personality Traits and Their Perceived Enterprise Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao-Tung Liang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available On the basis of the lack of measurement tools and the research gap regarding social entrepreneurship, three studies were conducted to develop a new measure of social enterprise (SE performance that is empirically valid and easy to administer. The purpose of this measure was to examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ personality traits and their perceived SE performance. The results indicated that SE performance can be assessed using four dimensions: personal issues, social aspects, business elements, and service programmes. Extraversion positively influenced service programmes, and openness negatively affected service programmes. Neuroticism and conscientiousness positively predicted personal issues and service programmes, and agreeableness positively predicted all dimensions of perceived SE performance. The results also demonstrated the curvilinear relationship of the U-shaped curve between neuroticism and personal issues and the social aspects of SE performance. Furthermore, the results showed the curvilinear relationship of the inverted U-shaped curve between agreeableness and the four dimensions of SE performance.

Family Issues

Science.gov (United States)

... es Autismo? Family Issues Home / Living with Autism / Family Issues Stress Siblings A child’s autism diagnosis affects every member of the family in different ways. Parents/caregivers must now place their ... may put stress on their marriage, other children, work, finances, and ...

A Review: Passive System Reliability Analysis – Accomplishments and Unresolved Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nayak, Arun Kumar, E-mail: arunths@barc.gov.in [Reactor Engineering Division, Reactor Design and Development Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India); Chandrakar, Amit [Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai (India); Vinod, Gopika [Reactor Safety Division, Reactor Design and Development Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

2014-10-10

Reliability assessment of passive safety systems is one of the important issues, since safety of advanced nuclear reactors rely on several passive features. In this context, a few methodologies such as reliability evaluation of passive safety system (REPAS), reliability methods for passive safety functions (RMPS), and analysis of passive systems reliability (APSRA) have been developed in the past. These methodologies have been used to assess reliability of various passive safety systems. While these methodologies have certain features in common, but they differ in considering certain issues; for example, treatment of model uncertainties, deviation of geometric, and process parameters from their nominal values. This paper presents the state of the art on passive system reliability assessment methodologies, the accomplishments, and remaining issues. In this review, three critical issues pertaining to passive systems performance and reliability have been identified. The first issue is applicability of best estimate codes and model uncertainty. The best estimate codes based phenomenological simulations of natural convection passive systems could have significant amount of uncertainties, these uncertainties must be incorporated in appropriate manner in the performance and reliability analysis of such systems. The second issue is the treatment of dynamic failure characteristics of components of passive systems. REPAS, RMPS, and APSRA methodologies do not consider dynamic failures of components or process, which may have strong influence on the failure of passive systems. The influence of dynamic failure characteristics of components on system failure probability is presented with the help of a dynamic reliability methodology based on Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis of a benchmark problem of Hold-up tank shows the error in failure probability estimation by not considering the dynamism of components. It is thus suggested that dynamic reliability methodologies must be

The Virtual Orchestra: Technical and Creative Issues

Science.gov (United States)

BIANCHI, F. W.; CAMPBELL, R. H.

2000-04-01

The interactive multi-channel computer music system known as the Virtual Orchestra has been used several times in professional opera and theater as an alternative to a live pit orchestra. The technical issues associated with this emerging technology, and the logistical problems of implementing it are discussed. In addition, this paper describes the equally important issues regarding the creative impact this will have on the industry. In particular, this paper explores the role of the musician/technologist and suggests that many of the fundamental premises of opera production will change as the industry begins to retool. This would include the way opera is rehearsed and performed, how it is created and disseminated, and how it will adjust to changing demographics.

20 CFR 725.463 - Issues to be resolved at hearing; new issues.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Issues to be resolved at hearing; new issues... OF THE FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT, AS AMENDED Hearings § 725.463 Issues to be resolved at hearing; new issues. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the hearing shall be confined to...

Materials issues in the design of the ITER first wall, blanket, and divertor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattas, R.F.; Smith, D.L.; Wu, C.H.; Shatalov, G.

1992-01-01

During the ITER conceptual design study, a property data base was assembled, the key issues were identified, and a comprehensive R ampersand D plan was formulated to resolve these issues. The desired properties of candidate ITER divertor, first wall, and blanket materials are briefly reviewed, and the major materials issues are presented. Estimates of the influence of materials properties on the performance limits of the first wall, blanket, and divertor are presented

Human factors: a major issue in plant aging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Widrig, R.D.

1985-07-01

Human factors issues will be of great significance in the safe and reliable operation of aging nuclear power plants, and they may be more important than materials/component-type issues. Human actions can accelerate or decelerate te physical aging process. And an aging plant can have significant negative implications on staff performance and actions. Some examples include difficulties in attracting and retaining good managers, financial decisions based on a short and uncertain remaining plant life, difficulties in replacing retiring staff, increased maintenance complexity, and increased burden on training. These problems can be dealt with more effectively by early recognition and a well conceived mitigation effort

Power distribution changes caused by subcooled nucleate boiling at Callaway Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konya, M.J.; Bryant, K.R.; Hopkins, D.L.

1993-01-01

This paper reports the results of an evaluation undertaken by Union Electric (UE) and Westinghouse to explain anomalous behavior of the core axial power distribution at the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant. The behavior was characterized by a gradual unexpected power shift toward the bottom of the core and was first detected during cycle 4 at a core average burnup of approximately 7,000 MWD/MTU. Once started, the power shift continued until burnup effects became dominant and caused power to shift back to the top of the core at the end of the cycle. In addition to the anomalous power distribution, UE observed that estimated critical control rod position (ECP) deviations increased to over 500 pcm (0.5%Δk/k) during Cycles 4 and 5. ECPs for plant restarts that occurred early in each cycle agreed well with measured critical conditions. However, this agreement disappeared for restarts that occurred later in core life. After analyzing relevant data, performing scoping calculations and reviewing industry experience, the authors concluded that the power distribution anomaly was most likely caused by subcooled nucleate boiling. Crud deposition on the fuel was believed to enhance the subcooled boiling. The ECP deviations were a secondary effect of the power shift, since void fraction, axial burnup and xenon distributions departed design predictions during a substantial portion of the fuel cycles. Significant evidence supporting these conclusions include incore detector indications of flux depressions between intermediate flow mixing (IFM) and structural grids. In addition, visual exam results show the presence of crud deposits on fuel pins

Ammonia role in WWER primary circuit water chemistry optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kritskij, V.G.; Stjagkin, P.S.; Chvedova, M.N.; Slobodov, A.A.

1999-01-01

Ammonia influence on iron crud's solubility at 300 deg. C and different relations of boric acid and alkaline cation sum are considered. Reduction of dose rate on WWER-440 steam generators at average ammonia concentration increasing is empirically explained. Practical recommendations on optimization of WWER primary circuit water chemistry are given. (author)

Between the Normative and the Performative: Sex, Parody, and Other (Intractable Issues in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popescu Dan Nicolae

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The article explores how Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales discusses human sexuality as a major thematic concern in both its normative and its performative dimension, and sex, an (intractable issue throughout the Middle Ages, as a core motif that helps the author to explore the extant tension between the human and the ideal. On the other hand, parody and audience/reader response are important instruments in the medieval poet’s strategy of approaching delicate matters in his pilgrims’ tales, which become readily apparent in the ‘order of play’ in which the tales come. The Miller disrupts the story-telling order because this disruption serves Chaucer’s purpose of questioning the validity of the courtly love concept through a parody of courtly romance, much like the poet’s purported distancing from the heretical views upon human sexuality expressed by the Miller can be decoded as an attempt to restore the balance of power between doctrinal inflexibility and humans’ timeless desire for the natural.

Performance Evaluation of Cloud Service Considering Fault Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Bo; Tan, Feng; Dai, Yuan-Shun; Guo, Suchang

In cloud computing, cloud service performance is an important issue. To improve cloud service reliability, fault recovery may be used. However, the use of fault recovery could have impact on the performance of cloud service. In this paper, we conduct a preliminary study on this issue. Cloud service performance is quantified by service response time, whose probability density function as well as the mean is derived.

Human Performance Evaluation System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardwick, R.J. Jr.

1985-01-01

Operating nuclear power plants requires high standards of performance, extensive training and responsive management. Despite our best efforts inappropriate human actions do occur, but they can be managed. An extensive review of License Event Reports (LERs) was conducted which indicated continual inadequacy in human performance and in evaluation of root causes. Of some 31,000 LERs, about 5,000 or 16% were directly attributable to inappropriate actions. A recent analysis of 87 Significant Event Reports (issued by INPO in 1983) identified inappropriate actions as being the most frequent root cause (44% of the total). A more recent analysis of SERs issued in 1983 and 1984 indicate that 52% of the root causes were attributed to human performance. The Human Performance Evaluation System (HPES) is a comprehensive, coordinated utility/industry system for evaluating and reporting human performance situtations. HPES is a result of the realization that current reporting system provide limited treatment of human performance and rarely provide adequate information about root causes of inappropriate actions by individuals. The HPES was implemented to identify and eliminate root causes of inappropriate actions

Future issues in radiation protection: a Canadian perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haynes, M.J.

1993-01-01

Radiation protection has always been a key effectiveness area in Ontario Hydro's nuclear power program. The overall collective and individual dose performance continues to be amongst the best in the world. However, several important issues are emerging and will continue to impact the way in which the radiation protection program is managed. These include proposed reductions in regulatory dose limits based on ICRP 60, worker and public perception of an increased level of radiation risk, an increased presence of organised labour in the formulation of radiation protection policy, our philosophy of self protection coming under challenge and the impact of heavily audited radiation protection practices and programs. Each of these issues will be discussed further in this paper. The Ontario Hydro ALARA program is briefly covered although it is considered not to be a future issue but rather a principle which has been incorporated into the design and operation of our stations for many years. (author). 10 figs

Technology Issues of Burning Plasma Diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaye, A. S.

2008-01-01

The ITER Tokamak will require many diagnostics both for safe and reliable operation of the machine and for understanding of the physics underlying the performance. The design of these diagnostics raises many challenging technical issues not faced on smaller machines. These arise partly from the increase demands on established diagnostics arising from the increased size, higher magnetic field, large heating power, and in particular the dramatically longer pulse duration of ITER, which make issue such as power loading on first wall components more challenging. The demands on reliability and availability of the machine in order to achieve the objectives within the agreed time schedule also place severe additional demands on the design, quality assurance and maintainability of diagnostics. ITER will produce many orders of magnitude more neutrons than previous Tokamaks and will be a licensed nuclear facility. This has important implications for the traceability, quality assurance and availability of safety critical diagnostics, and for the control of the design and procurement of all diagnostics. The high neutron flux/fluence also constrains the design of diagnostics, which must offer shielding consistent with the allowable dose rates on critical components of the Tokamak, and themselves be tolerant of the radiation level at the diagnostic. This paper presents an overview of the more critical issues for ITER diagnostics

Plastic packaged microcircuits: Quality, reliability, and cost issues

Science.gov (United States)

Pecht, Michael G.; Agarwal, Rakesh; Quearry, Dan

1993-12-01

Plastic encapsulated microcircuits (PEMs) find their main application in commercial and telecommunication electronics. The advantages of PEMs in cost, size, weight, performance, and market lead-time, have attracted 97% of the market share of worldwide microcircuit sales. However, PEMs have always been resisted in US Government and military applications due to the perception that PEM reliability is low. This paper surveys plastic packaging with respect to the issues of reliability, market lead-time, performance, cost, and weight as a means to guide part-selection and system-design.

Progress in the Development of Compressible, Multiphase Flow Modeling Capability for Nuclear Reactor Flow Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

R. A. Berry; R. Saurel; F. Petitpas; E. Daniel; O. Le Metayer; S. Gavrilyuk; N. Dovetta

2008-10-01

In nuclear reactor safety and optimization there are key issues that rely on in-depth understanding of basic two-phase flow phenomena with heat and mass transfer. Within the context of multiphase flows, two bubble-dynamic phenomena – boiling (heterogeneous) and flashing or cavitation (homogeneous boiling), with bubble collapse, are technologically very important to nuclear reactor systems. The main difference between boiling and flashing is that bubble growth (and collapse) in boiling is inhibited by limitations on the heat transfer at the interface, whereas bubble growth (and collapse) in flashing is limited primarily by inertial effects in the surrounding liquid. The flashing process tends to be far more explosive (and implosive), and is more violent and damaging (at least in the near term) than the bubble dynamics of boiling. However, other problematic phenomena, such as crud deposition, appear to be intimately connecting with the boiling process. In reality, these two processes share many details.

Indian experience with radionuclide transport, deposition and decontamination in water-cooled nuclear power reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narasimhan, S.V.; Das, P.C.; Lawrence, D.A.; Mathur, P.K.; Venkateswarlu, K.S.

1983-01-01

The present generation of water-cooled nuclear reactors uses construction materials chosen with utmost care so that minimum corrosion occurs during the life of the reactor. As interaction between the primary coolant and the construction materials is unavoidable, the coolant is chemically treated to achieve maximum compatibility. First measurements of the chemical and radiochemical composition of the crud present on the in-core and out-of-core primary heat transport system surfaces of a pressurized heavy-water-moderated and cooled reactor (PHWR) are given; then experience in India in the development of a low temperature, one-stage decontaminating formulation for chemical decontamination of the radioactive deposits formed on stainless steel surfaces under BWR conditions is discussed. The effect of the magnitude of the transients in parameters such as reactor power, system temperature, dissolved oxygen content in the coolant, etc. on the nature and migration behaviour of primary heat transport system crud in a PHWR is described. Contributions to radioactive sources and insoluble crud from different primary heat transport system materials are identified and correlated with reactor operations in a PHWR. Man-rem problems faced by nuclear reactors, especially during off-line maintenance, stress the need for reducing the deposited radioactive sources from system surfaces which would otherwise be accessible. Laboratory and on-site experimentation was carried out to effect chemical decontamination on the radioactive deposits formed on the stainless steel surfaces under BWR conditions. Both the reducing and oxidizing formulations were subsequently used in a small-scale, in-plant trial in the clean-up system of a BWR. More than 85% of the deposited 60 Co activity was found to have been removed by the oxidizing formulation. Efforts to develop a decontaminating mixture containing a reducing agent with the help of a circulating loop are in progress in the laboratory. (author)

Ergonomics issues in national identity card for homeland security.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeow, Paul H P; Yuen, Y Y; Loo, W H

2013-09-01

Ever since the 9/11 terrorist attack, many countries are considering the use of smart national identity card (SNIC) which has the ability to identify terrorists due to its biometric verification function. However, there are many ergonomics issues in the use of SNIC, e.g. card credibility. This research presents a case study survey of Malaysian users. Although most citizens (>96%) own MyKad (Malaysia SNIC), many do not carry it around and use its applications. This defeats one of its main purposes, i.e. combating terrorism. Thus, the research investigates ergonomics issues affecting the citizens' Intention to Use (ITU) MyKad for homeland security by using an extended technology acceptance model. Five hundred questionnaires were collected and analysed using structural equation modelling. Results show that perceived credibility and performance expectancy are the key issues. The findings provide many countries with insights into methods of addressing ergonomics issues and increasing adoption of SNIC for homeland security. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 21

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran; Donaldson, P. Lynn; Garshnek, Victoria; Rowe, Joseph

1989-01-01

This is the twenty-first issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 37 papers published in Russian language periodicals or books or presented at conferences and of a Soviet monograph on animal ontogeny in weightlessness. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A book review of a work on adaptation to stress is also included. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 25 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, operational medicine, perception, psychology, and reproductive system.

Water chemistry regimes for VVER-440 units: water chemistry influence on fuel cladding behaviour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zmitko, M.

1999-01-01

In this lecture next problems of water chemistry influence on fuel cladding behaviour for VVER-440 units are presented: primary coolant technologies; water chemistry specification and control; fuel integrity considerations; zirconium alloys cladding corrosion (corrosion versus burn-up; water chemistry effect; crud deposition; hydrogen absorption; axial offset anomaly); alternatives for the primary coolant regimes

TERMINOLOGICAL ISSUES ON FOREIGN LANGUAGES LEARNING AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS TO PERFORMANCE OF THE SECRETARY PROFESSIONALS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Aparecida Oliveira Silva

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate specific linguistic issues of the technical language in French and English languages starting from the selection and analysis of newspapers articles about the financial area. The objective was to present examples of authentic texts in the referred languages for those who work at the secretarial area as well as for professionals who need to deal with technical foreign language. This research, which is qualitative-based, started from the exploitation and analysis of articles taken from newspapers written in French and English. The articles were analyzed taking into account theoretical basis from Terminology studies. The investigation was done in three phases: (a investigation of theoretical aspects concerning the terminology and its applications, (b a brief characterization of newspaper texts organization. (c selection and analysis of terms and expressions of the selected texts. The results showed lexical and semantic equivalences of terms as well as writing features of both languages, besides specific terminological issues, which permitted a better understanding of the language used in the financial area.

Calculation model for predicting concentrations of radioactive corrostion products in the primary coolant of boiling water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uchida, S.; Kikuchi, M.; Asakura, Y.; Yusa, H.; Ohsumi, K.

1978-01-01

A calculation model was developed to predict the shutdown dose rate around the recirculation pipes and their components in boiling water reactors (BWRs) by simulating the corrosion product transport in primary cooling water. The model is characterized by separating cobalt species in the water into soluble and insoluble materials and then calculating each concentration using the following considerations: (1) Insoluble cobalt (designated as crud cobalt is deposited directly on the fuel surface, while soluble cobalt (designated as ionic cobalt) is adsorbed on iron oxide deposits on the fuel surface. (2) Cobalt-60 activated on the fuel surface is dissolved in the water in an ionic form, and some is released with iron oxide as crud. The model can follow the reduction of 60 Co in the primary cooling water caused by the control of the iron feed rate into the reactor, which decreases the iron oxide deposits on the fuel surface and then reduces the cobalt adsorption rate. The calculated results agree satisfactorily with the measurements in several BWR plants

Filtration system for nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otani, Takashi; Nakamizo, Hiroshi.

1991-01-01

The filtration system of the present invention comprises a filtering device incorporating ceramic filament element bundles, a pool return line for returning filtrates to a side banker pool or fuel storage pool, a waste sludge discharge line for discharging waste sludges captured in the filter elements by way of washing operation and a settling separation vessel. Ceramics of excellent radiation resistance and having an extremely thin multi-layered structure at the surface are used for the filter elements. Highly radioactive cruds captured at the surface of the elements by liquid passage are removed by supplying water or gas in a pulsative manner in the direction opposite to the liquid passage thereby cleaning the surface of the elements at a high speed. The thus removed high radioactive cruds are concentrically confined within the settling separation layer by gravitational settling separation. Thus, there is no more necessary for disposing the filtration element bundles after use, so that the amount of wastes can be reduced, the radiation dosage can be lowered and the facility can be simplified. (N.H.)

Loop capabilities in Rez for water chemistry and corrosion control of cladding and in-core components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kysela, J.; Zmitko, M.; Srank, J.; Vsolak, R.

1999-01-01

Main characteristics of LVR-15 research reactor and its irradiation facilities are presented. For testing of cladding, internals and RPV materials specialised loop are used. There are now five high pressure loops modelling PWR, WWER or BWR water environment and chemistry. Loops can be connected with instrumented in-pile channels enable slow strain rate testing, 1CT or 2CT specimens loading and electrically heated rods exposition. Reactor dosimetry including neutronic parameters measurements and calculations and mock-up experiments are used. Water chemistry control involves gas (O 2 , H 2 ) dosing system, Orbisphere H 2 /O 2 measurement, electrochemical potential (ECP) measurements and specialised analytical chemistry laboratory. For cladding corrosion studies in-pile channels with four electrically heated rods with heat flux up to 100 W/cm 2 , void fraction 5 % at the outlet, inlet temperature 320 deg. C and flow velocity 3 m/s were development and tested. For corrosion layer investigation there is eddy current measurements and PIE techniques which use crud thickness measurement, chemical analyses of the crud, optical metallography, hydrogen analysis, SEM and TEM. (author)

An Elective Course in Women's Health Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalie A. DiPietro

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To develop, implement, and evaluate an elective course for the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD curriculum that provides students with a comprehensive overview of women's health across the lifespan and exposes them to social and economic issues that impact women's health. Case Study: At the time of this writing, the class has been delivered 3 times to a total of 56 students. Students read and discussed (both in-class and online timely articles in women's health issues on topics including sex-based biology; women in clinical trials; maternal and child health; women's health coverage and access to care in the United States; gender and health communication; abuse and the role of healthcare professionals; and international issues in women's health and women's rights. Students completed a pre- and post-test; developed seminar presentations regarding women's health issues; wrote reflective essays about the course; and designed and implemented health promotion projects for National Women's Health Week (NWHW. At the end of the course, the number of correct answers on the post-test significantly improved from the pre-test (p<0.001. Through anonymous course evaluations, students indicated that the assignments fulfilled the learning objectives (mean 4.68 on a 5-point Likert scale and the exercises were useful in helping their understanding of the material (mean 4.66 on a 5-point Likert scale. Over 500 women from the campus and community participated in the NWHW projects. Implications: An elective course was designed to educate pharmacy students regarding women's health issues and to provide students with an opportunity to perform community outreach.   Type: Case Study

Sleep, circadian rhythms, and athletic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Thun, Eirunn; Bjorvatn, Bjørn; Flo, Elisabeth; Harris, Anette; Pallesen, Ståle

2015-10-01

Sleep deprivation and time of day are both known to influence performance. A growing body of research has focused on how sleep and circadian rhythms impact athletic performance. This review provides a systematic overview of this research. We searched three different databases for articles on these issues and inspected relevant reference lists. In all, 113 articles met our inclusion criteria. The most robust result is that athletic performance seems to be best in the evening around the time when the core body temperature typically is at its peak. Sleep deprivation was negatively associated with performance whereas sleep extension seems to improve performance. The effects of desynchronization of circadian rhythms depend on the local time at which performance occurs. The review includes a discussion of differences regarding types of skills involved as well as methodological issues. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implications of Key Performance Indicator Issues in Ontario Universities Explored

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Vivian

2015-01-01

Since 1998, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in Ontario, Canada, has required that data on specific key performance indicators (KPIs) be made public by its publicly funded universities. The information is intended to be used by universities to demonstrate their achievements, to improve their programmes and services, and to…

An Investigation of Information Technology-Enabled Remote Management and Remote Work Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Sandy Staples

1997-05-01

Full Text Available A two phase research study was done to investigate remote work and remote management issues. In Phase 1, focus groups were carried out with remote managers and remote employees to identify key issues. The most common key issues dealt with communications, information technology, leadership and coaching, teamwork, building trust, and performance management. In the second phase, a questionnaire was used to test hypotheses developed from phase 1. The findings supported that higher trust leads to higher job satisfaction and lower job stress, and that more communication between the manager and the remote employee develops higher levels of employee organizational commitment.

Discussion of solutions to ethical issues in real-world study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sicheng; Liu, Baoyan; Xiong, Ningning; Xie, Qi; Zhang, Runshun; Zhou, Xuezhong; Qiao, Jie

2014-09-01

In recent years, the paradigm of real-world study (RWS) has been at the forefront of clinical research worldwide, particularly in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. In this paper, basic features and nature of real-world clinical studies are discussed, and ethical issues in different stages of RWS are raised and reviewed. Moreover, some preliminary solutions to these issues, such as protecting subjects during the process of RWS and performing ethical review, are presented based on recent practices and basic ethical rules to improve the scientific validity and ethical level of RWS.

Special Issue on Automatic Application Tuning for HPC Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siegfried Benkner

2014-01-01

Full Text Available High Performance Computing architectures have become incredibly complex and exploiting their full potential is becoming more and more challenging. As a consequence, automatic performance tuning (autotuning of HPC applications is of growing interest and many research groups around the world are currently involved. Autotuning is still a rapidly evolving research field with many different approaches being taken. This special issue features selected papers presented at the Dagstuhl seminar on “Automatic Application Tuning for HPC Architectures” in October 2013, which brought together researchers from the areas of autotuning and performance analysis in order to exchange ideas and steer future collaborations.

Metrics for building performance assurance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koles, G.; Hitchcock, R.; Sherman, M.

1996-07-01

This report documents part of the work performed in phase I of a Laboratory Directors Research and Development (LDRD) funded project entitled Building Performance Assurances (BPA). The focus of the BPA effort is to transform the way buildings are built and operated in order to improve building performance by facilitating or providing tools, infrastructure, and information. The efforts described herein focus on the development of metrics with which to evaluate building performance and for which information and optimization tools need to be developed. The classes of building performance metrics reviewed are (1) Building Services (2) First Costs, (3) Operating Costs, (4) Maintenance Costs, and (5) Energy and Environmental Factors. The first category defines the direct benefits associated with buildings; the next three are different kinds of costs associated with providing those benefits; the last category includes concerns that are broader than direct costs and benefits to the building owner and building occupants. The level of detail of the various issues reflect the current state of knowledge in those scientific areas and the ability of the to determine that state of knowledge, rather than directly reflecting the importance of these issues; it intentionally does not specifically focus on energy issues. The report describes work in progress and is intended as a resource and can be used to indicate the areas needing more investigation. Other reports on BPA activities are also available.

76 FR 39015 - Contractor Performance Information

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-05

...] Contractor Performance Information AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ACTION: Direct final rule... contractor performance information. EPA is issuing a final rule because the changes are procedural in nature... Institutes of Health's Contractor Performance System (CPS) to the Department of Defense's Contractor...

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 6

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Radtke, M. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Rowe, J. E. (Editor)

1986-01-01

This is the sixth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 54 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of 10 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Additional features include a table of Soviet EVAs and information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers. The topics covered in this issue have been identified as relevant to 26 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are adaptation, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, genetics, habitability and environment effects, health and medical treatment, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism., microbiology, morphology and cytology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, and space medicine.

Issues for effective implementation of burnup credit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parks, C.V.; Wagner, J.C.

2001-01-01

In the United States, burnup credit has been used in the criticality safety evaluation for storage pools at pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and considerable work has been performed to lay the foundation for use of burnup credit in dry storage and transport cask applications and permanent disposal applications. Many of the technical issues related to the basic physics phenomena and parameters of importance are similar in each of these applications. However, the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States has never been fully integrated and the implementation of burnup credit to each of these applications is dependent somewhat on the specific safety bases developed over the history of each operational area. This paper will briefly review the implementation status of burnup credit for each application area and explore some of the remaining issues associated with effective implementation of burnup credit. (author)

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 16

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Siegel, Bette (Editor); Donaldson, P. Lynn (Editor); Leveton, Lauren B. (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the sixteenth issue of NASA's USSR Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 57 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of 2 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. An additional feature is the review of a book concerned with metabolic response to the stress of space flight. The abstracts included in this issue are relevant to 33 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, bionics, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, and space biology.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, Issue 18

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Donaldson, P. Lynn (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the 18th issue of NASA's USSR Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 50 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of 8 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A review of a recent Aviation Medicine Handbook is also included. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 37 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, gravitational biology, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, space biology and medicine, and space industrialization.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 14

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran; Teeter, Ronald; Radtke, Mike; Rowe, Joseph

1988-01-01

This is the fourteenth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 32 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of three new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Also included is a review of a recent Soviet conference on Space Biology and Aerospace Medicine. Current Soviet life sciences titles available in English are cited. The materials included in this issue have been identified as relevant to the following areas of aerospace medicine and space biology: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal systems, habitability and environment effects, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

Clarifying the Management Role in Dealing with Employees Personal Issues in the Lebanese Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdallah Kamal Eldine

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The majority of workers have many occasional difficulties that sometimes become a problem affecting the worker’s performance. When this will repeatedly fail to meet expectations, a serious problem may become the main reason which contributes to the job decline. Therefore, a pattern of reduced performance indicates the need for a supervisory action from managers. Poor performance could be reflected under three main categories, such as employee availability, employee productivity, and employee conduct. The reasons and causes of this poor performance could be a personal issue related to the employee. Many types of personal problems are affecting the job performance in organizations, such as marital strife, financial difficulties and child care complication. More serious difficulties and the abuse of these problems-if not resolved-may cause unending issues at work. This problem is highly important especially that it can affect the job performance and the company income. Moreover, it can simply result in the failure of the employee to meet the performance standards, which kills productivity. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory phenomenological study is to clarify the management role in dealing with employees personal issues in the Lebanese organizations as perceived by the lived experience of managers. The research instrument which will be used is a face-to-face structured interview with six managers of the major functions in different Lebanese organizations. The sample type will be by convenience.

Association of bond, market, operational, and financial factors with multi-hospital system bond issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, C E; McCue, M J; Hossack, J B

2001-01-01

Despite the growth of multi-hospital systems in the 1990s, their performance in the tax-exempt bond market has not been adequately evaluated. The purpose of this study is to compare bonds issued by multi-hospital systems to those issued by individual hospitals in terms of bond, market, operational, and financial characteristics. The study sample includes 2,078 newly issued, tax-exempt, revenue bonds between 1991 and 1997. The findings indicate that multi-hospital systems issued larger amounts of debt at a lower cost, were more likely to be insured, had higher debt service coverage and higher operating margins.

Issues in vibration energy harvesting

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hui; Corr, Lawrence R.; Ma, Tianwei

2018-05-01

In this study, fundamental issues related to bandwidth and nonlinear resonance in vibrational energy harvesting devices are investigated. The results show that using bandwidth as a criterion to measure device performance can be misleading. For a linear device, an enlarged bandwidth is achieved at the cost of sacrificing device performance near resonance, and thus widening the bandwidth may offer benefits only when the natural frequency of the linear device cannot match the dominant excitation frequency. For a nonlinear device, since the principle of superposition does not apply, the ''broadband" performance improvements achieved for single-frequency excitations may not be achievable for multi-frequency excitations. It is also shown that a large-amplitude response based on the traditional ''nonlinear resonance" does not always result in the optimal performance for a nonlinear device because of the negative work done by the excitation, which indicates energy is returned back to the excitation. Such undesired negative work is eliminated at global resonance, a generalized resonant condition for both linear and nonlinear systems. While the linear resonance is a special case of global resonance for a single-frequency excitation, the maximum potential of nonlinear energy harvesting can be reached for multi-frequency excitations by using global resonance to simultaneously harvest energy distributed over multiple frequencies.

Managing teams performing complex innovation projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oeij, P.R.A.; Vroome, E.M.M. de; Dhondt, S.; Gaspersz, J.B.R.

2012-01-01

Complexity of projects is hotly debated and a factor which affects innovativeness of team performance. Much attention in the past is paid to technical complexity and many issues are related to natural and physical sciences. A growing awareness of the importance of socio-organisational issues is

Integration of generic issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thatcher, D.

1989-01-01

The NRC has recognized the need to integrate generic issues (GIs). The GI process includes a number of phases, all of which should recognize the potential for overlap and conflict among related issues. In addition to the issues themselves, other related NRC and industry programs and activities need to be factored into the GI process. Integration has taken place, or is taking place, for a number of GIs. Each case of integration involves a specific set of circumstances and, as a result, the way in which integration proceeds can vary. This paper discusses the integration of issues in the generic issue process and provides a number of examples

Medical Issues: Orthopedics

Science.gov (United States)

... Information Packets Equipment Pool Living With SMA Medical Issues Palliative Breathing Orthopedics Nutrition Equipment Daily Life At ... curesma.org > support & care > living with sma > medical issues > orthopedics Orthopedics In SMA, muscle weakness can cause ...

Medical Issues: Equipment

Science.gov (United States)

... Information Packets Equipment Pool Living With SMA Medical Issues Palliative Breathing Orthopedics Nutrition Equipment Daily Life At ... curesma.org > support & care > living with sma > medical issues > equipment Equipment Individuals with SMA often require a ...

Medical Issues: Breathing

Science.gov (United States)

... Information Packets Equipment Pool Living With SMA Medical Issues Palliative Breathing Orthopedics Nutrition Equipment Daily Life At ... curesma.org > support & care > living with sma > medical issues > breathing Breathing Breathing problems are the most common ...

Science Communication for the Public Understanding of Nuclear Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Seongkyung [Myungji Univ., Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

2006-04-15

Uncertainty, stigma, risk perception, and value judgment represent characteristics of nuclear issues in the public arena. Nuclear issue, in the public arena, is a kind of risk rather than technology that we are willing to use for good purpose. There are uncertainty, stigma, risk perception, and value judgment as characteristics of nuclear. The notion of the public, here is of active, sensitive, and sensible citizens, with power and influence. The public understands nuclear issues less through direct experience or education than through the filter of mass media. Trust has been a key issue on public understanding of nuclear issues. Trust belongs to human. The public understanding process includes perception, interpretation, and evaluation. Therefore, science communication is needed for public understanding. Unfortunately, science communication is rarely performed well, nowadays, There are three important actors-the public, experts, and media. Effective science communication means finding comprehensible ways of presenting opaque and complex nuclear issues. It makes new and strong demands on experts. In order to meet that requirement, experts should fulfill their duty about developing nuclear technology for good purpose, understand the public before expecting the public to understand nuclear issues, accept the unique culture of the media process, take the responsibility for any consequence which nuclear technologies give rise to, communicate with an access route based on sensibility and rationality, have a flexible angle in the science communication process, get creative leadership for the communication process with deliberation and disagreement, make efficient use of various science technologies for science communication. We should try to proceed with patience, because science communication makes for a more credible society.

Science Communication for the Public Understanding of Nuclear Issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Seongkyung

2006-01-01

Uncertainty, stigma, risk perception, and value judgment represent characteristics of nuclear issues in the public arena. Nuclear issue, in the public arena, is a kind of risk rather than technology that we are willing to use for good purpose. There are uncertainty, stigma, risk perception, and value judgment as characteristics of nuclear. The notion of the public, here is of active, sensitive, and sensible citizens, with power and influence. The public understands nuclear issues less through direct experience or education than through the filter of mass media. Trust has been a key issue on public understanding of nuclear issues. Trust belongs to human. The public understanding process includes perception, interpretation, and evaluation. Therefore, science communication is needed for public understanding. Unfortunately, science communication is rarely performed well, nowadays, There are three important actors-the public, experts, and media. Effective science communication means finding comprehensible ways of presenting opaque and complex nuclear issues. It makes new and strong demands on experts. In order to meet that requirement, experts should fulfill their duty about developing nuclear technology for good purpose, understand the public before expecting the public to understand nuclear issues, accept the unique culture of the media process, take the responsibility for any consequence which nuclear technologies give rise to, communicate with an access route based on sensibility and rationality, have a flexible angle in the science communication process, get creative leadership for the communication process with deliberation and disagreement, make efficient use of various science technologies for science communication. We should try to proceed with patience, because science communication makes for a more credible society

Space Station Engineering Design Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Mcruer, Duane T.; Boehm, Barry W.; Debra, Daniel B.; Green, C. Cordell; Henry, Richard C.; Maycock, Paul D.; Mcelroy, John H.; Pierce, Chester M.; Stafford, Thomas P.; Young, Laurence R.

1989-01-01

Space Station Freedom topics addressed include: general design issues; issues related to utilization and operations; issues related to systems requirements and design; and management issues relevant to design.

Measuring Principal Performance: How Rigorous Are Commonly Used Principal Performance Assessment Instruments? A Quality School Leadership Issue Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Condon, Christopher; Clifford, Matthew

2010-01-01

This brief reviews the publicly available principal assessments and points superintendents and policy makers toward strong instruments to measure principal performance. Specifically, the measures included in this review are expressly intended to evaluate principal performance and have varying degrees of publicly available evidence of psychometric…

Boundary Crossing Issues Between Academia, Business and Government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kay Fielden

2005-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper issues arising from crossing boundaries between the three worlds of academia, business and government in performing informatics research are explored. In particular the issues arising for informatics researchers in conducting case studies in business are explored following the qualitative research phases set out by Denzin and Lincoln (2000. Habermas (1996 provides a philosophical and structural framework on which to base this exploration. Informatics case study research is selected to deconstruct because it is the most common qualitative method chosen by informatics researchers. The framework developed in this paper is one attempt to address Hirschheim and Klein's (2003 claim that the field of information systems is a 'fragmented adhocracy' in which disconnects exist between researchers and practitioners in business, researchers and government, researchers and the rest of academia and also within the ever growing context in which informatics research takes place. Such a framework provides a navigation aid for dealing with the complex issues associated with dilemmas, disconnect and distortions that may arise in undertaking case study research.

Performance monitoring of GRID superscalar with OCM-G/G-PM: Integration issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Badia, R.M.; Sirvent, R.; Bubak, M.; Funika, W.; Machner, P.; Gorlatch, S.; Bubak, M.; Priol, T.

2008-01-01

In this paper the use of a Grid-enabled system for performance monitoring of GRID superscalar-compliant applications is addressed. Performance monitoring is built on top of the OCM-G monitoring system developed in the EU IST CrossGrid project. A graphical user tool G-PM is used to interpret

Prioritization of generic safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emrit, R.; Minners, W.; VanderMolen, H.

1983-12-01

This report presents the priority rankings for generic safety issues related to nuclear power plants. The purpose of these rankings is to assist in the timely and efficient allocation of NRC resources for the resolution of those safety issues that have a significant potential for reducing risk. The report focuses on the prioritization of generic safety issues. Issues primarily concerned with the licensing process or environmental protection and not directly related to safety have been excluded from prioritization. The prioritized issues include: TMI Action Plan items under development; previously proposed issues covered by Task Action Plans, except issues designated at Unresolved Safety Issues (USIs) which had already been assigned high priority; and newly-proposed issues. Future supplements to this report will include the prioritization of additional issues. The safety priority rankings are HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, and DROP and have been assigned on the basis of risk significance estimates, the ratio of risk to costs and other impacts estimated to result if resolutions of the safety issues were implemented, and the consideration of uncertainties and other quantitative or qualitative factors. To the extent practical, estimates are quantitative

Business strategy and the environment Tesco Plc's declining financial performance and underlying issues

OpenAIRE

Haddock-Millar, Julie; Rigby, Chris

2015-01-01

The case presents a teaching tool which requires students to: 1) analyze the financial performance of Tesco Plc over the last four years; 2) compare Tesco’s market position with key competitors; 3) identify and evaluate Tesco’s business strategy; 4) evaluate the causes of Tesco’s decline in performance; 5) develop recommendations to address declining performance; 6) identify and evaluate the Human Resource strategic role in addressing and supporting performance. The case is suitable for a bus...

31 CFR 587.408 - Credit extended and cards issued by U.S. financial institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Credit extended and cards issued by U... Credit extended and cards issued by U.S. financial institutions. Section 587.201 on dealing in property... institutions from performing under any existing credit agreements, including, but not limited to, charge cards...

School Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Héctor A. Lamas

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The school performance study of students is, due to its relevance and complexity, one of the issues of major controversy in the educational research, and it has been given special attention in the last decades. This study is intended to show a conceptual approach to the school performance construct, contextualizing the reality in the regular basic education classrooms. The construct of learning approaches is presented as one of the factors that influences the school performance of students. Besides, an outlook of the empirical research works related to variables that are presented as relevant when explaining the reason for a specific performance in students is shown. Finally, some models and techniques allowing an appropriate study of school performance are presented.

Radiation protection issues raised in Korea since Fukushima accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Byeongsoo

2014-01-01

For the past 3 years since Fukushima accident, various issues related to nuclear safety and radiation safety were raised in Korea. This presentation focuses radiation protection (RP) issues among the various issues and has the purpose to share experiences and lessons-learned related to the RP issues. Special safety inspections on NPPs in Korea were performed immediately after Fukushima accident and 50 follow-up measures were established in May, 2011 to improve the nuclear safety. Some of them were related to radiation protection and emergency responses. Recently, in March, 2014, additional follow-up measures were decided to be taken in additionally strengthening safety-related equipment and emergency response organization. The 50 Fukushima-accident-follow-up measures include radiation protection for members of the public in emergency responses. Based on the follow-up measures, expansion of emergency planning zone (EPZ) is to be made according to the approval of legislation by National Assembly on May 2, 2014. For the past 3 years, the degree of the public concerns on radiation risk has been the highest. Spontaneous activities for radiation monitoring happened in the public. Some members of the public found some contaminated paved roads in November, 2011 and a contaminated kitchen ware in January, 2012. These findings suggest the importance of the management of recycled metal scraps imported from other countries. Fukushima accident gave much impact on Korean society all. The public gets very sensitive to issues about nuclear safety and radiation safety. Most parts of RP issues raised are related to the public. The lessons-learned are that as an issue is raised, it has a chance to be solved. However, RP issues related to radiation workers in accident conditions in NPPs are difficult to be raised enough to confirm and improve the robustness of radiation protection programs in accident conditions. It is necessary to share RP issues raised in each country as well as

Flow mixing inside a control-rod guide tube – Experimental tests and CFD simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angele, Kristian; Odemark, Ylva; Cehlin, Mathias; Hemström, Bengt; Högström, Carl-Maikel; Henriksson, Mats; Tinoco, Hernan; Lindqvist, Hans

2011-01-01

This paper covers a combined experimental and computational effort carried out at Vattenfall Research and Development AB in order to study the thermal mixing in the annular region between a top tube and a control-rod stem. The low frequency thermal fluctuations in this region can result in problems with thermal fatigue and have caused cracks in the control-rod stems of several nuclear reactors (). The flow in the vertical annular region formed by the top tube and the control-rod stem is characterized by the mixing of hot bypass flow with cold crud-removal flow. The crud-removal flow is flowing upwards along the control-rod stem, and the warmer bypass flow is entering through eight horizontal holes positioned in the lower part of the guide tube and four holes in the upper part of the top tube, forming jets. Two full-scale models of a control rod, including the control-rod stem and the guide tube, were constructed. The first model, designed to work at atmospheric conditions, was made of Plexiglass, in order to be able to visualize the mixing process, whereas the second one was made of steel to allow for a higher temperature difference between the two flows, and the heating of the top tube. CFD simulations of the case at atmospheric conditions were also carried out. Both the experiments and the simulations showed that the mixing region between the cold crud-removal flow and the warm bypass flow is dominated by large flow structures coming from above. The process is characterized by low frequency, high amplitude temperature fluctuations. The process is basically hydrodynamic, caused by the downward transport of flow structures originated at the upper bypass inlets. The damping thermal effects through buoyancy is of secondary importance, as also the scaling analysis shows, however a slight damping of the temperature fluctuations can be seen due to natural convection due to a pre-heating of the cold crud-removal flow. The comparison between numerical and experimental

Post-irradiation examination of Oconee 1 fuel: end-of-cycle 2 nondestructive test phase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-11-01

Standard B and W Mark B (15 x 15) pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies were nondestructively examined at the end of the second cycle of Oconee 1 reactor operation. Burnups of the 16 fuel assemblies examined ranged from 13,100 to 20,000 MWd/mtU. The examinations were conducted in the Oconee 1 and 2 spent fuel storage pool using the installed underwater test equipment. Data obtained included fuel rod and fuel assembly dimensions, water channel spacings, holddown spring forces, fuel rod crud characteristics, and fuel column axial gap and stack lengths. Visual examinations revealed no evidence of significant rod bowing, cladding deformation, cocked grids, or rod defects. The results, summarized in this report, indicate that the assemblies performed well through two cycles of reactor operation

Effect of reactor chemistry and operating variables on fuel cladding corrosion in PWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Moon Ghu; Lee, Sang Hee

1997-01-01

As the nuclear industry extends the fuel cycle length, waterside corrosion of zircaloy cladding has become a limiting factor in PWR fuel design. Many plant chemistry factors such as, higher lithium/boron concentration in the primary coolant can influence the corrosion behavior of zircaloy cladding. The chemistry effect can be amplified in higher duty fuel, particularlywhen surface boiling occurs. Local boiling can result in increased crud deposition on fuel cladding which may induce axial power offset anomalies (AOA), recently reported in several PWR units. In this study, the effect of reactor chemistry and operating variables on Zircaloy cladding corrosion is investigated and simulation studies are performed to evaluate the optimal primary chemistry condition for extended cycle operation. (author). 8 refs., 3 tabs., 16 figs

Tribal-FERST Environmental Issue Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

This page provides links to the 45 issue profiles for Tribal-FERST users, organized with tabs to show issues related to pollutants, environmental media, health effects, other community issues, and all issues.

C-FERST Environmental Issue Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

This page provides links to the 45 issue profiles for C-FERST users, organized with tabs to show issues related to pollutants, environmental media, health effects, other community issues, and all issues.

Tritium Issues in Next Step Devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

C.H. Skinner; G. Federici

2001-09-05

Tritium issues will play a central role in the performance and operation of next-step deuterium-tritium (DT) burning plasma tokamaks and the safety aspects associated with tritium will attract intense public scrutiny. The orders-of-magnitude increase in duty cycle and stored energy will be a much larger change than the increase in plasma performance necessary to achieve high fusion gain and ignition. Erosion of plasma-facing components will scale up with the pulse length from being barely measurable on existing machines to centimeter scale. Magnetic Fusion Energy (MFE) devices with carbon plasma-facing components will accumulate tritium by co-deposition with the eroded carbon and this will strongly constrain plasma operations. We report on a novel laser-based method to remove co-deposited tritium from carbon plasma-facing components in tokamaks. A major fraction of the tritium trapped in a co-deposited layer during the deuterium-tritium (DT) campaign on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) was released by heating with a scanning laser beam. This technique offers the potential for tritium removal in a next-step DT device without the use of oxidation and the associated deconditioning of the plasma-facing surfaces and expense of processing large quantities of tritium oxide. The operational lifetime of alternative materials such as tungsten has significant uncertainties due to melt layer loss during disruptions. Production of dust and flakes will need careful monitoring and minimization, and control and accountancy of the tritium inventory will be critical issues. Many of the tritium issues in Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) are similar to MFE, but some, for example those associated with the target factory, are unique to IFE. The plasma-edge region in a tokamak has greater complexity than the core due to lack of poloidal symmetry and nonlinear feedback between the plasma and wall. Sparse diagnostic coverage and low dedicated experimental run time has hampered the

Tritium Issues in Next Step Devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

C.H. Skinner; G. Federici

2001-01-01

Tritium issues will play a central role in the performance and operation of next-step deuterium-tritium (DT) burning plasma tokamaks and the safety aspects associated with tritium will attract intense public scrutiny. The orders-of-magnitude increase in duty cycle and stored energy will be a much larger change than the increase in plasma performance necessary to achieve high fusion gain and ignition. Erosion of plasma-facing components will scale up with the pulse length from being barely measurable on existing machines to centimeter scale. Magnetic Fusion Energy (MFE) devices with carbon plasma-facing components will accumulate tritium by co-deposition with the eroded carbon and this will strongly constrain plasma operations. We report on a novel laser-based method to remove co-deposited tritium from carbon plasma-facing components in tokamaks. A major fraction of the tritium trapped in a co-deposited layer during the deuterium-tritium (DT) campaign on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) was released by heating with a scanning laser beam. This technique offers the potential for tritium removal in a next-step DT device without the use of oxidation and the associated deconditioning of the plasma-facing surfaces and expense of processing large quantities of tritium oxide. The operational lifetime of alternative materials such as tungsten has significant uncertainties due to melt layer loss during disruptions. Production of dust and flakes will need careful monitoring and minimization, and control and accountancy of the tritium inventory will be critical issues. Many of the tritium issues in Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) are similar to MFE, but some, for example those associated with the target factory, are unique to IFE. The plasma-edge region in a tokamak has greater complexity than the core due to lack of poloidal symmetry and nonlinear feedback between the plasma and wall. Sparse diagnostic coverage and low dedicated experimental run time has hampered the

Internal transport barriers: critical physics issues?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Litaudon, X [Association Euratom-CEA, DSM, Departement de Recherches sur La Fusion Controlee, Centre d' Etudes de Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance (France)

2006-05-15

Plasmas regimes with improved core energy confinement properties, i.e. with internal transport barriers (ITB), provide a possible route towards simultaneous high fusion performance and continuous tokamak reactor operation in a non-inductive current drive state. High core confinement regimes should be made compatible with a dominant fraction of the plasma current self-generated (pressure-driven) by the bootstrap effect while operating at high normalized pressure and moderate current. Furthermore, ITB regimes with 'non-stiff' plasma core pressure break the link observed in standard inductive operation between fusion performances and plasma pressure at the edge, thus offering a new degree of freedom in the tokamak operational space. Prospects and critical issues for using plasmas with enhanced thermal core insulation as a basis for steady tokamak reactor operation are reviewed in the light of the encouraging experimental and modelling results obtained recently (typically in the last two years). An extensive set of data from experiments carried out worldwide has been gathered on ITB regimes covering a wide range of parameters (q-profile, T{sub i}/T{sub e}, gradient length, shaping, normalized toroidal Larmor radius, collisionality, Mach number, etc). In the light of the progress made recently, the following critical physics issues relevant to the extrapolation of ITB regimes to next-step experiments, such as ITER, are addressed: 1. conditions for ITB formation and existence of a power threshold,; 2. ITB sustainment at T{sub i} {approx} T{sub e}, with low toroidal torque injection, low central particle fuelling but at high density and low impurity concentration,; 3. control of confinement for sustaining wide ITBs that encompass a large volume at high {beta}{sub N},; 4. real time profile control (q and pressure) with high bootstrap current and large fraction of alpha-heating and; 5. compatibility of core with edge transport barriers or with external core

Materials issues in accelerator driven-systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al Mazouzi, A.

2008-01-01

Full text of publication follows. Nuclear energy has to cope with critical topics to resolve the economical question of increasing energy demand and, in particular, the public acceptability demands: - increasing the absolute safety of the installations; - managing more efficiently the nuclear waste; In that respect, the development of a new type of nuclear installation coping with above constraints of technological as well as socio-economical nature may be of high importance for the future of sustainable energy provision. An accelerator-driven system (ADS) - a subcritical core, operated as a waste burner for minor actinides (MAs) and long-lived fission products (LLFPs) or as nuclear amplifier for energy production, fed with primary neutrons by a spallation source - has the potential to cope with above constraints and to pave the way to a more environmentally safe and acceptable nuclear energy production. Within the framework of EUROTRANS, the European community has launched a broad R and D programme in collaboration with partners from Europe and abroad (USA, Japan), to address the technical, technological and fundamental issues related to the realisation of an experimental machine that is intended to allow: - continuation, and extension of the present knowledge towards ADS, in the field of reactor materials, fuel and reactor physics research; - enhancement and triggering of new R and D activities such as nuclear waste transmutation, ADS technology, liquid metal embrittlement, The present lecture will cover the main aspects of the design of an experimental XT-ADS taking as example the work that has been performed at SCK.CEN within MYRRHA project. The safety aspect of such machine will be addressed on terms of structural material performance, with emphasis on issues related to the interaction between structural materials (austenitic and ferritic martensitic steels) and the liquid metal coolant (lead-alloys). Finally, a discussion will be given on the open issues and

Issues in Data Labelling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cowie, Roddy; Cox, Cate; Martin, Jeam-Claude; Batliner, Anton; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Karpouzis, Kostas; Cowie, Roddy; Pelachaud, Catherine; Petta, Paolo

2011-01-01

Labelling emotion databases is not a purely technical matter. It is bound up with theoretical issues. Different issues affect labelling of emotional content, labelling of the signs that convey emotion, and labelling of the relevant context. Linked to these are representational issues, involving time

Understanding Pregnancy and Birth Issues

Science.gov (United States)

... Navigation Bar Home Current Issue Past Issues Understanding Pregnancy and Birth Issues Past Issues / Winter 2008 Table ... turn Javascript on. What is a High-Risk Pregnancy? All pregnancies involve a certain degree of risk ...

Performance assessment task team progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, D.E.; Curl, R.U.; Armstrong, D.R.; Cook, J.R.; Dolenc, M.R.; Kocher, D.C.; Owens, K.W.; Regnier, E.P.; Roles, G.W.; Seitz, R.R.

1994-05-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Headquarters EM-35, established a Performance Assessment Task Team (referred to as the Team) to integrate the activities of the sites that are preparing performance assessments (PAs) for disposal of new low-level waste, as required by Chapter III of DOE Order 5820.2A, open-quotes Low-Level Waste Managementclose quotes. The intent of the Team is to achieve a degree of consistency among these PAs as the analyses proceed at the disposal sites. The Team's purpose is to recommend policy and guidance to the DOE on issues that impact the PAs, including release scenarios and parameters, so that the approaches are as consistent as possible across the DOE complex. The Team has identified issues requiring attention and developed discussion papers for those issues. Some issues have been completed, and the recommendations are provided in this document. Other issues are still being discussed, and the status summaries are provided in this document. A major initiative was to establish a subteam to develop a set of test scenarios and parameters for benchmarking codes in use at the various sites. The activities of the Team are reported here through December 1993

Traditional health practitioners and the authority to issue medical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Council, as a professional body established by Parliament, gives traditional health practitioners registered with it the authority to issue medical certificates in line with the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. However, the Council does not seem to be in a position to perform this function yet. Moreover ...

Pollutant dispersion models for issues of air pollution control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

14 papers entered separately into the data base were presented at the meeting for application-oriented dispersion models for issues of air pollution control. These papers focus on fields of application, availability of required input data relevant to emissions and meteorology, performance and accuracy of these methods and their practicability. (orig./PW) [de

Application of diffusion research to solar energy policy issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roessner, J. D.; Posner, D.; Shoemaker, F.; Shama, A.

1979-03-01

This paper examines two types of information requirements that appear to be basic to DOE solar-energy-policy decisions: (1) how can the future market success of solar energy technologies be estimated, and (2) what factors influence the adoption of solar energy technologies, and what specific programs could promote solar energy adoption most effectively. This paper assesses the ability of a body of research, referred to here as diffusion research, to supply information that could partially satisfy these requirements. This assessment proceeds, first, by defining in greater detail a series of policy issues that face DOE. These are divided into cost reduction and performance improvement issues which include issues confronting the technology development component of the solar energy program, and barriers and incentives issues which are most relevant to problems of solar energy application. Second, these issues are translated into a series of questions that the diffusion approach can help resolve. Third, various elements within diffusion research are assessed in terms of their abilities to answer policy questions. Finally, the strengths and limitations of current knowledge about the diffusion of innovations are summarized, the applicability of both existing knowledge and the diffusion approach to the identified solar-energy-policy issues are discussed, and ways are suggested in which diffusion approaches can be modified and existing knowledge employed to meet short- and long-term goals of DOE. The inquiry covers the field of classical diffusion research, market research and consumer behavior, communication research, and solar-energy market-penetration modeling.

Variations analysis of the Society's preference structure regarding environmental issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angel S, Enrique; Zambrano B, Ana Maria

2005-01-01

Society's preference structure regarding environmental issues is understood as the relative importance the society gives to various topics that collectively conform the environmental issues. Based on the hypothesis that this structure behavior and its definition vary with time, proposals are presented related to the concepts and a working plan allowing performing the structure's dynamic analysis. A method is described to gather information based on the systematic reading of a nation wide newspaper during a period time. A comparison is done between the resulting structure and several aspects as the environmental legislation, government plans and summits and environmental milestones

Natural gas 1994: Issues and trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-07-01

This report provides an overview of the natural gas industry in 1993 and early 1994 (Chapter 1), focusing on the overall ability to deliver gas under the new regulatory mandates of Order 636. In addition, the report highlights a range of issues affecting the industry, including: restructuring under Order 636 (Chapter 2); adjustments in natural gas contracting (Chapter 3); increased use of underground storage (Chapter 4); effects of the new market on the financial performance of the industry (Chapter 5); continued impacts of major regulatory and legislative changes on the natural gas market (Appendix A)

Natural gas 1994: Issues and trends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-07-01

This report provides an overview of the natural gas industry in 1993 and early 1994 (Chapter 1), focusing on the overall ability to deliver gas under the new regulatory mandates of Order 636. In addition, the report highlights a range of issues affecting the industry, including: restructuring under Order 636 (Chapter 2); adjustments in natural gas contracting (Chapter 3); increased use of underground storage (Chapter 4); effects of the new market on the financial performance of the industry (Chapter 5); continued impacts of major regulatory and legislative changes on the natural gas market (Appendix A).

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 19

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Donaldson, P. Lynn (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the 19th issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 47 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of 5 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Reports on two conferences, one on adaptation to high altitudes, and one on space and ecology are presented. A book review of a recent work on high altitude physiology is also included. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 33 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, biology, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

BORIS DUBOSARSCHI. THE STRING QUARTET NO. 4: PERFORMANCE ISSUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

URECHE ALEXANDRU

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article represents an analysis of String Quartet no. 4 by Boris Dubosarschi. Written in 1985, the work represents a homage to the memory of composer Vitali Verhola who died at the age of 38. Th e work consists of 2 movements – Andante and Allegro risoluto and refl ects the tragic events that caused its appearance. Th e present analysis discusses such aspects of the piece as the main idea, the content and form (determines the thematic origins, the leitmotifs and their role in the structure of the piece, as well as aspects of performance (technical advice and solutions. In addition, it refers to the recording of the piece made by the Radio String Quartet in collaboration with the author.

19 (Special Issue)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

mwakagugu

19 (Special Issue). Tanzania Dental Journal 2017. 1. PRESIDENTS SPEECH AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE TANZANIA DENTAL. ASSOCIATION 31ST SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE AND .... awareness on oral health issues, high tooth decay, gum diseases and predominant tooth extraction as consistently reported ...

environmental impacts of crud local government area ol impacts

African Journals Online (AJOL)

pc

2017-06-01

Jun 1, 2017 ... where oil is released into the ocean or coastal wate. Oil spills include ... L IMPACTS OF CRUDE OIL SPILLAGES ON WATER IN IBENO. OVERNMENT ..... therefore highly dangerous to drink from the water at. Upenekang ...

Ranking of safety issues for WWER-440 model 230 nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-02-01

In response to requests from Member States operating Soviet designed WWER-440/230 nuclear power plants (NPPs) for assistance through the IAEA's nuclear safety services, a major international project was established to evaluate these first generation reactors as a complement to relevant ongoing national, bilateral and multilateral activities. The objective is to assist countries operating WWER-440/230 NPPs in performing comprehensive safety reviews aimed at identifying design and operational weaknesses. The scope of the project includes a review of the conceptual design of WWER-440/230 NPPs, safety review missions to each one of the operating reactors to review design and operational aspects and studies to resolve issues of generic safety concern. This report was prepared by a group of international experts and the IAEA staff and discussed by the Project Steering Committee, December 9-13, 1991 in Vienna. An overview of the safety issues identified is presented indicating their effect on the performance of the basic safety functions. Conceptual recommendations related to design issues are given as a technical basis for the safety modifications required

Biometric Identifiers and Border Security: 9/11 Commission Recommendations and Related Issues

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Morgan, Daniel; Krouse, William

2005-01-01

.... This report provides an overview of biometric technologies and the major U.S. biometric border screening systems, including US-VISIT, and discusses issues such as cost, performance, and user acceptance...

Issues and scenarios for nuclear waste management systems analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendel, J.E.

1980-11-01

The Planning and Analysis Branch of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Waste Management Programs is developing a new systems integration program. The Pacific Northwest Laboratory was requested to perform a brief scoping analysis of what scenarios, questions, and issues should be addressed by the systems integration program. This document reports on that scoping analysis

Uranium and nuclear issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-01-01

This seminar focussed on the major issues affecting the future of the entire nuclear fuel cycle. In particular it covered issues bearing on the formation of public policy in relation to the use of uranium as an energy source: economic risk, industrial risks, health effects, site selection, environmental issues, and public acceptance

Methodological issues of postoperative cognitive dysfunction research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Funder, Kamilia S; Steinmetz, Jacob; Rasmussen, Lars S

2010-01-01

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a subtle impairment of memory, concentration, and speed of information processing. It is a frequent complication following surgery and can have a debilitating effect on patients' recovery and future prognosis. Neuropsychological testing is needed...... to reveal postoperative cognitive decline, and questionnaires are not useful for this purpose. There is a profound lack of consensus regarding the research methodology for detection of cognitive deterioration, especially the diagnostic criteria. Issues, such as baseline performance, learning effects...

Environmental Durability Issues for Solar Power Systems in Low Earth Orbit

Science.gov (United States)

Degroh, Kim K.; Banks, Bruce A.; Smith, Daniela C.

1994-01-01

Space solar power systems for use in the low Earth orbit (LEO) environment experience a variety of harsh environmental conditions. Materials used for solar power generation in LEO need to be durable to environmental threats such as atomic oxygen, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, thermal cycling, and micrometeoroid and debris impact. Another threat to LEO solar power performance is due to contamination from other spacecraft components. This paper gives an overview of these LEO environmental issues as they relate to space solar power system materials. Issues addressed include atomic oxygen erosion of organic materials, atomic oxygen undercutting of protective coatings, UV darkening of ceramics, UV embrittlement of Teflon, effects of thermal cycling on organic composites, and contamination due to silicone and organic materials. Specific examples of samples from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and materials returned from the first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are presented. Issues concerning ground laboratory facilities which simulate the LEO environment are discussed along with ground-to-space correlation issues.

A Comparison of Materials Issues for Cermet and Graphite-Based NTP Fuels

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Mark E.; Schnitzler, Bruce G.

2013-01-01

This paper compares material issues for cermet and graphite fuel elements. In particular, two issues in NTP fuel element performance are considered here: ductile to brittle transition in relation to crack propagation, and orificing individual coolant channels in fuel elements. Their relevance to fuel element performance is supported by considering material properties, experimental data, and results from multidisciplinary fluid/thermal/structural simulations. Ductile to brittle transition results in a fuel element region prone to brittle fracture under stress, while outside this region, stresses lead to deformation and resilience under stress. Poor coolant distribution between fuel element channels can increase stresses in certain channels. NERVA fuel element experimental results are consistent with this interpretation. An understanding of these mechanisms will help interpret fuel element testing results.

Private sector data for performance management.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-01

This report examines and analyzes technical and institutional issues associated with the use of private sector travel time and speed data for public sector performance management. The primary data needs for congestion performance measures are outline...

Development and application of the BOA code in Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tortuero Lopez, C.; Doncel Gutierrez, N.; Culebras, F.

2012-01-01

The BOA code allows to quantitatively establish the level of risk of Axial Offset Anomaly and increased deposition of crud on the basis of specific conditions in each case. For this reason, the code is parameterized according to the individual characteristics of each plant. This paper summarizes the results obtained in the implementation of the code, as well as its future perspective.

Technical design issues for a field-portable supercritical fluid extractor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wright, B.W.; Zemanian, T.S.; Robins, W.H.; Wright, C.W.

1995-01-01

Supercritical fluid extraction is gaining acceptance as an alternative sample preparation method for trace organic analysis. The development of SFE instrumentation optimized for field use requires taking several technical design issues including size and weight requirements, user-friendly operation, and technical performance capabilities into consideration. Parameters associated with a prototype SFE instrument under development for potential use in conducting on-site inspections of the Chemical Weapons Convention and its preliminary technical and operational performance are described.

Critical research issues in development of biomathematical models of fatigue and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Dinges, David F

2004-03-01

This article reviews the scientific research needed to ensure the continued development, validation, and operational transition of biomathematical models of fatigue and performance. These models originated from the need to ascertain the formal underlying relationships among sleep and circadian dynamics in the control of alertness and neurobehavioral performance capability. Priority should be given to research that further establishes their basic validity, including the accuracy of the core mathematical formulae and parameters that instantiate the interactions of sleep/wake and circadian processes. Since individuals can differ markedly and reliably in their responses to sleep loss and to countermeasures for it, models must incorporate estimates of these inter-individual differences, and research should identify predictors of them. To ensure models accurately predict recovery of function with sleep of varying durations, dose-response curves for recovery of performance as a function of prior sleep homeostatic load and the number of days of recovery are needed. It is also necessary to establish whether the accuracy of models is affected by using work/rest schedules as surrogates for sleep/wake inputs to models. Given the importance of light as both a circadian entraining agent and an alerting agent, research should determine the extent to which light input could incrementally improve model predictions of performance, especially in persons exposed to night work, jet lag, and prolonged work. Models seek to estimate behavioral capability and/or the relative risk of adverse events in a fatigued state. Research is needed on how best to scale and interpret metrics of behavioral capability, and incorporate factors that amplify or diminish the relationship between model predictions of performance and risk outcomes.

Issue-Relevant Values and Opinions About Gay Rights: Beyond Equality and Morality.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodebeck, Laurie

2018-01-01

Although many studies have examined the role of values in shaping public opinion, the number of values that inform this research is limited. This article employs the concept of issue-relevant values as a means to explore the broader range of values associated with policy issues. After discussing the concept in general terms, the article explores issue-relevant values pertinent to public opinion about gay rights. Using the policy examples of employment nondiscrimination and same-sex couple adoption, the present study identifies, measures, and assesses several values that add to the very short list previously used to explain public opinion about gay rights issues. Content from interest-group Web sites and news media coverage of the two issues aided in identifying the values. Data from an original Internet survey yield valid measures of the values. Multivariate analyses indicate that the values behave in predictable ways: they are strongly influenced by partisanship, and they strongly affect opinions about the two issues. The performance of the values is consistent with findings from previous research on the partisan basis of values and the value-based nature of opinions. The article concludes with suggestions for further empirical and theoretical work that could apply and extend the concept of issue-relevant values.

Design performances and chemistry program supporting the FA3 /UKEPRTM activity management: experience and modeling balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tigeras, Arancha; Clinard, Marie-Helene; Chahma, Farah; Jolivet, Patrick; Bremnes, Oystein; Bachet, Martin

2012-09-01

EPR TM reactor accounts with an evolutionary design that provides the appropriate features to ensure the safety implementation of different chemistry and radiochemistry options. ALARP considerations have been taken into account by EDF-AREVA for making decisions relating to the activity management in the primary circuit of Flamanville 3-EPR TM and UK-EPR TM reactors. The water chemistry and radiochemistry concept implemented in FA3-EPR TM and UK-EPR TM reactors is the result of an exhaustive selection process based on the balance between the theoretical developments, the laboratory tests and the NPP experience concerning the diverse areas associated with: - The source term identification and characterization: The understanding of the origin and behavior of fission products/actinides, corrosion products and activation products constitutes the essential support for the selection of suitable parameters and criteria to monitor the system integrity, the tramp-uranium and radiation build-up and the discharges to the environment. - The source term quantification: The balance between the baseline data from PWR forerunner reactors and the assessments performed by modeling constitutes the major demonstration of the source term accuracy. This approach ensures that activity risks are understood and can be managed with the EPR TM design options. - The EPR TM design options evaluation: The sensitivity analysis results show the influence of the fuel management, the material choice and the chemistry conditioning on several domains such as the activity coolant and the fuel/ex-core crud management. EDF-AREVA demonstrates by means of this process that the design, sizing and chemistry conditioning of EPR TM reactor primary circuit are adapted to guarantee the correct activity management. The methodology developed, based on qualitative and quantitative assessments, intends to propose to the Nuclear Industry several alternatives for evaluating and/or improving the compliance with

Performance indicators and combining assessments to evaluate the safety performance of licensees

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aubrey, Richard; Van Binnebeek, J.J.; Warren, T.F.H.

1998-01-01

The CNRA believes that safety inspections are a major element in the regulatory authority's efforts to ensure the safe operation of nuclear facilities. Considering the importance of these issues, the Committee has established a special Working Group on Inspection Practices (WGIP). The purpose of WGIP, is to facilitate the exchange of information and experience related to regulatory safety inspections between CNRA Member countries. As a follow-up to the 1995 document on Compilation of Responses to a Questionnaire on the Evaluation of the Safety Performance of Licensees, WGIP members identified several issues where additional information would be useful in future meetings and discussions. The consensus of the Group was that performance indicators (PIs) and how assessments are combined were the two issues that should be addressed first. It was noted also that in addition to information in obtained through the questionnaire, results from the workshop in May 1996 may provide valuable input to the endeavour. This report summarises a review conducted of the PI-related information provided by the questionnaire, the workshop, and responses from WGIP members to a request for specific information not addressed previously

Effects of undetected data quality issues on climatological analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Hunziker

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Systematic data quality issues may occur at various stages of the data generation process. They may affect large fractions of observational datasets and remain largely undetected with standard data quality control. This study investigates the effects of such undetected data quality issues on the results of climatological analyses. For this purpose, we quality controlled daily observations of manned weather stations from the Central Andean area with a standard and an enhanced approach. The climate variables analysed are minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation. About 40 % of the observations are inappropriate for the calculation of monthly temperature means and precipitation sums due to data quality issues. These quality problems undetected with the standard quality control approach strongly affect climatological analyses, since they reduce the correlation coefficients of station pairs, deteriorate the performance of data homogenization methods, increase the spread of individual station trends, and significantly bias regional temperature trends. Our findings indicate that undetected data quality issues are included in important and frequently used observational datasets and hence may affect a high number of climatological studies. It is of utmost importance to apply comprehensive and adequate data quality control approaches on manned weather station records in order to avoid biased results and large uncertainties.

Breakout Session A: Safety Issues. Report from breakout session and discussion on safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petit, Marc

2013-01-01

The first issue discussed during the breakout session on safety aspects of accident-tolerant fuels was the objective that must be assigned to the development of such concepts. The first goal should be to avoid, or at least limit, the release of radioactive materials into the environment in case of an accident. This implies that severe accidents (core melt) situations must be avoided. To reach this goal, the core geometry must remain coolable, even for accident scenarios worse than what current fuel designs are able to sustain. There was a consensus that the station blackout (SBO) is a good reference transient to evaluate the potential benefits from new, more robust, fuel designs. With respect to the present situation, the merits of new designs can be analysed with respect to three figures: - the 'grace period', i.e. the additional amount of time before the onset of core melt, during which more recovery actions can be made; - the amount of combustible gases produced; - the amount of radioactive materials released. It is important to note that those three values are not independent from one another. They may be understood as three different ways to measure the improvements arising from accident tolerant fuels. The notion of 'grace period' was discussed and it was suggested that it should be compared to the amount of time needed to switch from normal operation to accident management type of procedures. The participants agreed that the 'grace period' should be counted in hours (or even days but the realism of this last goal was questioned). In other words, there was a consensus that a 'grace period' of some minutes is pointless and definitely not worth the effort of developing and characterising the behaviour of new concepts. Although the purpose of accident-tolerant fuel development is to improve the core robustness in design basis accidents (DBA) and situations somewhat beyond like SBO, it was recognised that new concepts must

Navigating "Thorny" Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Hutchinson, Kashema; Gilbert, Aderinsola; Malyukova, Anna

2016-01-01

In their article "Mindfulness and discussing 'thorny' issues in the classroom" Konstantinos Alexakos et al. ("Cult Stud Sci Educ," 2016. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9718-0) describe "thorny" issues as "difficult topics to discuss because they are more personal to some perhaps even cause pain and violence." As…

Socio-technical issues and challenges in implementing safe patient handovers: insights from ethnographic case studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Balka, Ellen; Tolar, Marianne; Coates, Shannon; Whitehouse, Sandra

2013-12-01

Ineffective handovers in patient care, including those where information loss occurs between care providers, have been identified as a risk to patient safety. Computerization of health information is often offered as a solution to improve the quality of care handovers and decrease adverse events related to patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to broaden our understanding of clinical handover as a patient safety issue, and to identify socio-technical issues which may come to bear on the success of computer based handover tools. Three in depth ethnographic case studies were undertaken. Field notes were transcribed and analyzed with the aid of qualitative data analysis software. Within case analysis was performed on each case, and subsequently, cross case analyses were performed. We identified five types of socio-technical issues which must be addressed if electronic handover tools are to succeed. The inter-dependencies of these issues are addressed in relation to arenas in which health care work takes place. We suggest that the contextual nature of information, ethical and medico-legal issues arising in relation to information handover, and issues related to data standards and system interoperability must be addressed if computerized health information systems are to achieve improvements in patient safety related to handovers in care. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 7

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor)

1986-01-01

This is the seventh issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 29 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of 8 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Additional features include two interviews with the Soviet Union's cosmonaut physicians and others knowledgable of the Soviet space program. The topics discussed at a Soviet conference on problems in space psychology are summarized. Information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers is provided. The topics covered in this issue have been identified as relevant to 29 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are adaptation, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, morphology and cytology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 8

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor)

1985-01-01

This is the eighth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 48 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of 10 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables. Additional features include reviews of two Russian books on radiobiology and a description of the latest meeting of an international working group on remote sensing of the Earth. Information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers is provided. The topics covered in this issue have been identified as relevant to 33 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cosmonaut training, cytology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, group dynamics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, personnel selection, psychology, reproductive biology, and space biology and medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 13

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor)

1987-01-01

This is the thirteenth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 39 papers recently published in Russian-language periodicals and bound collections, two papers delivered at an international life sciences symposium, and three new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Also included is a review of a recent Soviet-French symposium on Space Cytology. Current Soviet Life Sciences titles available in English are cited. The materials included in this issue have been identified as relevant to 31 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cosmonaut training, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal systems, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, space biology, and space medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 11

Science.gov (United States)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor)

1987-01-01

This is the eleventh issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 54 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of four new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated. Additional features include the translation of a paper presented in Russian to the United Nations, a review of a book on space ecology, and report of a conference on evaluating human functional capacities and predicting health. Current Soviet Life Sciences titles available in English are cited. The materials included in this issue have been identified as relevant to 30 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, aviation physiology, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cosmonaut training, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal systems, group dynamics, genetics, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, and radiobiology.

Volume 8 Issue 2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Nelson

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This issue is our third Students, Transitions, Achievement, Retention and Success (STARS Conference special issue held in July this year in Adelaide, Australia.   As is customary, this issue of the journal publishes the top research papers selected via a peer review process and the top Emerging Initiatives selected by the Conference Committee.    We are delighted to feature in this special  issue —Reflections on Student Persistence—prepared by Advisory Board member Professor Vincent Tinto, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University, USA.  Vincent is a long-time friend and supporter of STARS and its predecessor FYHE Conferences and Journal.   In his article, Vincent explores the case for motivation to be considered as a significant aspect of the tertiary student psyche by drawing on theoretical frameworks, research and practical experiences related to the issue.

Environmental issues and wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitamura, Hisayoshi; Banba, Tsunetaka; Maeda, Toshikatsu; Ishiyama, Takashi

1999-08-01

All countries in the world are concerned about environmental issues because of their global effects. Developed industrial nations are also confronted with waste issues accompanied by mass production, mass consumption, and mass dump. We have reviewed books and reports to obtain a preliminary knowledge and to understand the trend of technology development before we start R and D for 'environmental monitoring, and environmental remediation and protection'. We lay great emphasis on municipal and industrial wastes in environmental issues and summarize the history of the earth, innovative environmental approaches in advanced nations, waste issues in Japan, and examples of technology development for environmental remediation and protection. (author)

Can the EVIDEM Framework Tackle Issues Raised by Evaluating Treatments for Rare Diseases: Analysis of Issues and Policies, and Context-Specific Adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Monika; Khoury, Hanane; Willet, Jacob; Rindress, Donna; Goetghebeur, Mireille

2016-03-01

The multiplicity of issues, including uncertainty and ethical dilemmas, and policies involved in appraising interventions for rare diseases suggests that multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) based on a holistic definition of value is uniquely suited for this purpose. The objective of this study was to analyze and further develop a comprehensive MCDA framework (EVIDEM) to address rare disease issues and policies, while maintaining its applicability across disease areas. Specific issues and policies for rare diseases were identified through literature review. Ethical and methodological foundations of the EVIDEM framework v3.0 were systematically analyzed from the perspective of these issues, and policies and modifications of the framework were performed accordingly to ensure their integration. Analysis showed that the framework integrates ethical dilemmas and issues inherent to appraising interventions for rare diseases but required further integration of specific aspects. Modification thus included the addition of subcriteria to further differentiate disease severity, disease-specific treatment outcomes, and economic consequences of interventions for rare diseases. Scoring scales were further developed to include negative scales for all comparative criteria. A methodology was established to incorporate context-specific population priorities and policies, such as those for rare diseases, into the quantitative part of the framework. This design allows making more explicit trade-offs between competing ethical positions of fairness (prioritization of those who are worst off), the goal of benefiting as many people as possible, the imperative to help, and wise use of knowledge and resources. It also allows addressing variability in institutional policies regarding prioritization of specific disease areas, in addition to existing uncertainty analysis available from EVIDEM. The adapted framework measures value in its widest sense, while being responsive to rare disease

Addressing chronic operational issues at the W. M. Keck Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Nordin, Tom; Matsuda, Richard

2016-07-01

The W. M. Keck Observatory (WMKO) has a good track record at addressing large critical faults which impact observing. Our performance tracking and correcting chronic minor faults has been mixed, yet this class of problems has a significant negative impact on scientific productivity and staff effectiveness. We have taken steps to address this shortcoming. This paper outlines the creation of a program to identify, categorize and rank these chronic operational issues, track them over time, and develop management options for their resolution. The success of the program at identifying these chronic operational issues and the advantages of dedicating observatory resources to this endeavor are presented.

Thermal issues associated with the HVAC and lighting systems influences on the performance of the national ignition facility beam transport tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernardin, J.D.; Parietti, L.; Martin, R.A.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes an investigation of the thermal issues related to the National Ignition Facility. In particular, the influences of the HVAC system and lighting fixtures on the operational performance of the laser guide beam tubes are reviewed and discussed. An analytical model of the oscillating HVAC air temperatures in the NIF switchyard and target bay will cause significant amounts of beam distortion. However, these negative effects can be drastically reduced by adding thermal insulation to the outside of the beam tubes. A computational fluid dynamics model and an analytical investigation found that the light-fixture to beam-tube separation distance must be on the order of 5.7 m (18.7 ft) to maintain acceptable beam operating performance in the current NIF design. By reducing the fluorescent light fixture power by 33% this separation distance can be reduced to 3.5 m (11.5 ft). If in addition, thermal insulation with a reflective aluminum foil covering is added to the outside of the beam tubes, the separation distance can be reduced further to 1.6m (5.2 ft). A 1.27 cm (0.5 in.) rigid foam insulation sheet with aluminum foil covering will provide adequate insulation for the beam tubes in the NIF switchyards and target bay. The material cost for this amount of insulation would be roughly $30,000

Current issues and actions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Black, D.G.

1995-06-01

This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the progress that has been made toward achieving full regulatory compliance at the Hanford Site. Ongoing compliance self-assessments, implementation of the Tri-Party Agreement, and public meetings continue to identify environmental compliance issues. These issues are discussed openly with the regulatory agencies and with the public to ensure that all environmental compliance issues are addressed.

Current issues and actions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Black, D.G.

1995-01-01

This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the progress that has been made toward achieving full regulatory compliance at the Hanford Site. Ongoing compliance self-assessments, implementation of the Tri-Party Agreement, and public meetings continue to identify environmental compliance issues. These issues are discussed openly with the regulatory agencies and with the public to ensure that all environmental compliance issues are addressed

No-fault compensation and performance review.

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, B

1993-01-01

Two major issues in relation to medical malpractice are discussed. The first is "no-fault compensation", an alternative to the present tort system long established in most countries, including Singapore, where negligence must be proved before a claim can succeed. The second is "performance review", a new concept for monitoring and correcting under-performing medical practitioners against whom a complaint has been laid. Both these issues are currently under active discussion and are arousing political notice and professional controversy. Though the article describes the British situation, there is much of contemporary relevance for Singapore, which has such a similar system of medical practice.

Performing in Glass: Reproduction, Technology, \\ud Performance and the Bio-Spectacular

OpenAIRE

Furse, Anna F. D.

2006-01-01

Feminist Futures? sets out to ask if and in what ways feminism remains relevant to theatre and performance practice of the twenty-first century. Responding to this question is an excellent, cross-generational mix of theatre scholars and practitioners whose essays engage in lively, cutting edge critical debates on issues such as citizenship, autobiography, cultural heritage, political agency, and body/technology, as circulating in contemporary feminism and performance today. A timely contribut...

Towards a Time-predictable Dual-Issue Microprocessor: The Patmos Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schoeberl, Martin; Schleuniger, Pascal; Puffitsch, Wolfgang

2011-01-01

for low WCET bounds rather than high average case performance. Patmos is a dualissue, statically scheduled RISC processor. The instruction cache is organized as a method cache and the data cache is organized as a split cache in order to simplify the cache WCET analysis. To fill the dual-issue pipeline...

Editorial, Volume 5, Issue 1

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristy L. Archuleta

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Welcome to Volume 5, Issue 1 of the Journal of Financial Therapy! In this issue, four scholarly papers are presented along with two profiles and a book review. These four papers address very important issues, such as mental health therapists’ competency in working with financial issues, financial stress of college students, parental messages about money, and financial advice media.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Marketing and Operations Management Interfaces and Coordination

OpenAIRE

Teck H. Ho; Christopher S. Tang

2004-01-01

This special issue, by addressing problems surrounding marketing and operations management, depicts state-of-the-art approaches, methodologies, and insights to improve a firm's or supply chain's overall performance. Top scholars in the field address many of the ways in which companies can synchronize their marketing and operations departments or their supply chain partners to improve competitiveness and profit. The information in this issue should be of interest both to academics and managers...

Peer Review of the Waste Package Material Performance Interim Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

J. A. Beavers; T. M. Devine, Jr.; G. S. Frankel; R. H. Jones; R. G. Kelly; R. M. Latanision; J. H. Payer

2001-01-01

At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy, Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, formed the Waste Package Materials Performance Peer Review Panel (the Panel) to review the technical basis for evaluating the long-term performance of waste package materials in a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This is the interim report of the Panel; a final report will be issued in February 2002. In its work to date, the Panel has identified important issues regarding waste package materials performance. In the remainder of its work, the Panel will address approaches and plans to resolve these issues. In its review to date, the Panel has not found a technical basis to conclude that the waste package materials are unsuitable for long-term containment at the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository. Nevertheless, significant technical issues remain unsettled and, primarily because of the extremely long life required for the waste packages, there will always be some uncertainty in the assessment. A significant base of scientific and engineering knowledge for assessing materials performance does exist and, therefore, the likelihood is great that uncertainty about the long-term performance can be substantially reduced through further experiments and analysis

Operational experience on reduction of feedwater iron and liquid radwaste input for Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, T.J.; Huang, Theresa Chen; Liu, Wen Tsung; Liu, T.C.; Shyur, Tzu Sheng; Shen, S.C.

1998-01-01

Other than cobalt alloys, or low cobalt materials, feedwater iron content plays an important role in crud activation and transport causing the growth of out-of-core radiation fields and associated with radwaste generation. Before installing prefilter in the upstream of condensate deep-bed demineralizer, increasing demand for suspended solid removal required new backwash and regeneration technique in Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant. At steady state full power operation, the average iron concentration in condensate demineralizer influent was 8-15 ppb. Considering both the necessity of backwash and reduction of liquid radwaste input, several actions had been taken to promote the crud removal capabilities without using ultrasonic resin cleaner and controlled feedwater iron content between 0.5 and 2.0 ppb. This modified resin backwash technique would also generate minimum liquid radwaste. Meanwhile, significant efforts have been made to promote the quality of waste water by carefully control input streams as well as backwash modification to reduce liquid radwaste generation. The daily quantity of liquid radwaste has decreased dramatically in the past two years and is effectively controlled under the expected average daily input of design basis. (author)

Ion filter for high temperature cleaning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)