In Japan's Nuclear Disaster and the
Politics of Safety Governance , Florentine
Koppenborg argues that the regulatory reforms taken up in the wake
of the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, directly ...and
indirectly raised the costs of nuclear power in Japan. The
Nuclear Regulation Authority resisted capture by the nuclear
industry and fundamentally altered the environment for nuclear
policy implementation. Independent safety regulation changed
state-business relations in the nuclear power domain from
regulatory capture to top-down safety regulation, which raised
technical safety costs for electric utilities. Furthermore, the
safety agency's extended emergency preparedness regulations
expanded the allegorical backyard of NIMBY demonstrations.
Antinuclear protests, mainly lawsuits challenging restarts,
incurred additional social acceptance costs. Increasing costs
undermined pronuclear actors' ability to implement nuclear power
policy and caused a rift inside the "nuclear village." Small
nuclear safety administration reforms were, in fact, game changers
for nuclear power politics in Japan.
Koppenborg's findings contribute to the vibrant conversations
about the rise of independent regulatory agencies, crisis as a
mechanism for change, and the role of nuclear power amid global
interest in decarbonizing our energy supply.
The transverse-momentum Formula omitted spectra of K Formula omittedand Formula omittedmeasured with the ALICE detector up to Formula omitted = 16 GeV/c in the rapidity range Formula omitted in p-Pb ...collisions at the center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision Formula omitted TeV are presented as a function of charged particle multiplicity and rapidity. The measured Formula omitted distributions show a dependence on both multiplicity and rapidity at low Formula omitted whereas no significant dependence is observed at high Formula omitted. A rapidity dependence is observed in the Formula omitted-integrated yield (dN/dy), whereas the mean transverse momentum Formula omitted shows a flat behavior as a function of rapidity. The rapidity asymmetry ( Formula omitted) at low Formula omitted (< 5 GeV/c) is more significant for higher multiplicity classes. At high Formula omitted, no significant rapidity asymmetry is observed in any of the multiplicity classes. Both K Formula omittedand Formula omittedshow similar Formula omitted. The nuclear modification factor Formula omitted as a function of Formula omitted shows a Cronin-like enhancement at intermediate Formula omitted, which is more prominent at higher rapidities (Pb-going direction) and in higher multiplicity classes. At high Formula omitted (> 5 GeV/ Formula omitted), the Formula omitted values are greater than unity and no significant rapidity dependence is observed.
This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics driving, and constraining, nuclear power development in Asia, Europe and North America, providing detailed comparative analysis.
The book ...formulates a theory of nuclear socio-political economy which highlights six factors necessary for embarking on nuclear power programs: (1) national security and secrecy, (2) technocratic ideology, (3) economic interventionism, (4) a centrally coordinated energy stakeholder network, (5) subordination of opposition to political authority, and (6) social peripheralization. The book validates this theory by confirming the presence of these six drivers during the initial nuclear power developmental periods in eight countries: the United States, France, Japan, Russia (the former Soviet Union), South Korea, Canada, China, and India.
The authors then apply this framework as a predictive tool to evaluate contemporary nuclear power trends. They discuss what this theory means for developed and developing countries which exhibit the potential for nuclear development on a major scale, and examine how the new "renaissance" of nuclear power may affect the promotion of renewable energy, global energy security, and development policy as a whole. The volume also assesses the influence of climate change and the recent nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, on the nuclear power industry's trajectory.
This book will be of interest to students of energy policy and security, nuclear proliferation, international security, global governance and IR in general.
The TOTEM collaboration at the CERN LHC has measured the differential cross-section of elastic proton-proton scattering at Formula omitted in the squared four-momentum transfer range Formula omitted. ...This interval includes the structure with a diffractive minimum ("dip") and a secondary maximum ("bump") that has also been observed at all other LHC energies, where measurements were made. A detailed characterisation of this structure for Formula omitted yields the positions, Formula omitted and Formula omitted, as well as the cross-section values, Formula omitted and Formula omitted, for the dip and the bump, respectively.
The Chernobyl disaster has been variously ascribed to human error, reactor design flaws, and industry mismanagement. Six former Chernobyl employees were convicted of criminal negligence; they ...defended themselves by pointing to reactor design issues. Other observers blamed the Soviet style of ideologically driven economic and industrial management. InProducing Power,Sonja Schmid draws on interviews with veterans of the Soviet nuclear industry and extensive research in Russian archives as she examines these alternate accounts. Rather than pursue one "definitive" explanation, she investigates how each of these narratives makes sense in its own way and demonstrates that each implies adherence to a particular set of ideas -- about high-risk technologies, human-machine interactions, organizational methods for ensuring safety and productivity, and even about the legitimacy of the Soviet state. She also shows how these attitudes shaped, and were shaped by, the Soviet nuclear industry from its very beginnings.Schmid explains that Soviet experts established nuclear power as a driving force of social, not just technical, progress. She examines the Soviet nuclear industry's dual origins in weapons and electrification programs, and she traces the emergence of nuclear power experts as a professional community. Schmid also fundamentally reassesses the design choices for nuclear power reactors in the shadow of the Cold War's arms race. Schmid's account helps us understand how and why a complex sociotechnical system broke down. Chernobyl, while unique and specific to the Soviet experience, can also provide valuable lessons for contemporary nuclear projects.
Cu-based catalysts for efficient Csub.2+ production from COsub.2 electrocatalytic reduction reaction (COsub.2ERR) exhibit significant promise, but still suffer from ambiguous mechanisms due to the ...intrinsic structure instability during electroreduction. Herein, we report an oxide-derived copper nanowire bundle (OD-Cu NWB) for efficient COsub.2ERR to Csub.2+ products. OD-Cu NWBs with a well-preserved nanowire bundle morphology lead to promoted multi-carbon production compared to commercial copper powders. The formation of OD-Cu NWBs shows a great dependence on the precipitation/calcination temperatures and per-reduction potentials, which further influence the ultimate COsub.2ERR performance correspondingly. The optimized preparation parameters for the formation of a well-ordered nanowire bundle morphology are found, leading to a preferred Csub.2+ production ability. Besides the nanowire bundle morphology, the oxide-derived Cu essence of OD-Cu NWBs with stabilized Cusup.+ species from per-reduction also promotes the COsub.2ERR activity and facilitates the C-C coupling of key intermediates for Csub.2+ production. This work provides a facile strategy and inspiration for COsub.2ERR catalyst developments targeting high-valued multi-carbon products.
A rapid method was developed to analyze .sup.237Np and Pu isotopes in steel and concrete samples using HCl-HNO.sub.3-NH.sub.4HF.sub.2 digestion, CaF.sub.2/LaF.sub.3 co-precipitation, AG MP-1 M resin ...column separation and SF-ICP-MS measurement. Compared to acid digestion using HCl-HNO.sub.3-HF, the whole procedure not only avoids the use of toxic HF, but can be completed within 1 day. The decontamination factor of U was estimated to be 1.1 x 10.sup.6. The limits of detection of .sup.237Np, .sup.239Pu, and .sup.240Pu were 0.25, 0.16, and 0.14 fg g.sup.-1, respectively, allowing method users to sufficiently detect low level Pu and Np in steel and concrete samples.
In this study, .sup.210Pb and .sup.210Po activity concentrations in tobacco samples produced in 12 different regions of Turkey have been investigated and the estimation of the annual committed ...effective doses to a smoker have been performed, based on a proposed scenario. .sup.210Po activity concentrations were determined between 10.5 ± 1.0 Bq kg.sup.-1 and 31.1 ± 1.7 Bq kg.sup.-1, whilst .sup.210Pb activity concentrations were determined between 12.6 ± 1.1 and 31.3 ± 2.2 Bq kg.sup.-1. In the proposed scenario, the mean annual committed effective doses originating from .sup.210Pb and .sup.210Po were 25 ± 1 muSv a.sup.-1 and 69 ± 2 muSv a.sup.-1, respectively.
The efficient segregation of radioactive nuclides from low-level radioactive liquid waste (LLRW) is paramount for nuclear emergency protocols and waste minimization. Here, we synthesized ...Nasub.3FePOsub.4COsub.3 (NFPC) via a one-pot hydrothermal method and applied it for the first time to the selective separation of Srsup.2+ from simulated LLRW. Static adsorption experimental results indicated that the distribution coefficient Kd remained above 5000 mL·gsup.−1, even when the concentration of interfering ions was more than 40 times that of Srsup.2+. Furthermore, the removal efficiency of Srsup.2+ showed no significant change within the pH range of 4 to 9. The adsorption of Srsup.2+ fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, with an equilibrium time of 36 min and a maximum adsorption capacity of 99.6 mg·gsup.−1. Notably, the adsorption capacity was observed to increment marginally with an elevation in temperature. Characterization analyses and density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidated the adsorption mechanism, demonstrating that Srsup.2+ initially engaged in an ion exchange reaction with Nasup.+. Subsequently, Srsup.2+ coordinated with four oxygen atoms on the NFPC (100) facet, establishing a robust Sr-O bond via orbital hybridization.
