Nuclear Power Plants Safety

Quantification of nuclear liability insurance is difficult without arbitrary liability caps; however, post-mortem calculations can be used to calculate insurance costs. This study analyzes the Fukushima (Daiichi) nuclear power plant disaster to quantify the cost per unit electricity ($/kWh) of nuclear energy from the lifetime of the plant after accounting for the true cost of the liability needed to cover the damages from the nuclear disaster determined from news reports. These costs are then compared to the cost of electricity currently paid by Japanese consumers, and then are aggregated to determine the indirect subsidy for nuclear power providers in both Japan and the USA. The results show that the reported costs of the Fukushima nuclear disaster are $20–525 billion, which results in a real insurance cost from the lifetime of electricity produced at the plants between $0.22–5.78/kWh. These values are far higher than the current insurance costs by Japanese law of $0.01/kWh and even the total costs consumers pay for electricity. Although the spread in the input costs is large and the reported metrics are incomplete, the nuclear insurance subsidy is clearly substantial in Japan and in the USA. Ideally, energy sources should be economically sustainable without the need for a government insurance subsidy. For the electricity market to function effectively and efficiently in all other countries using nuclear power, the insurance costs should be reported accurately and included in nuclear electricity costs without arbitrary government liability caps.

What happened, in the years leading up to Valentine's Day 2014, that made a canister of nuclear waste burst open and spew out fire underground at a US facility for the long-term disposal of radioactive military waste? According to one widely publicized scenario, a simple run-of-the-mill typo led to organic kitty litter mistakenly being used to soak up liquid in the drum instead of another kind of absorbent material. This ultimately led to a reaction that made heat and pressure build up in the drum, causing it to erupt. But was that "simple" clerical error symptomatic of a much deeper, system-wide problem-- involving a US Energy Department plan to rush the pace of nuclear waste disposal? What were the political, social, and financial elements involved in making Los Alamos' waste drum #68660 erupt that February night? What can be done to prevent similar accidents – which can have price tags of hundreds of millions of dollars or more – from happening again in the future? A cultural anthropologist spent 10 weeks onsite after the event, logging 43 interviews and trying to answer these questions. Here is what he found.

Comme les nombreuses catastrophes industrielles qui ont marqué l’histoire du Japon moderne et contemporain, la catastrophe nucléaire de mars 2011 a donné lieu à de nombreux procès. Les procès de Fukushima réunissent plusieurs milliers de plaignants à travers tout le Japon. Outre un procès pénal contre trois anciens dirigeants de Tepco, on relève une trentaine de plaintes collectives au civil contre Tepco et l’État. Ces procès posent des questions fondamentales sur l’origine de cette catastrophe et, compte tenu du problème des radiations, son devenir. Et bien que les montants d’indemnisation retenus par les juges jusqu’à présent restent faibles, ces décisions de justice revêtent pour les plaignants une importance morale et symbolique (voire des effets cathartiques), ainsi que pour le Japon contemporain, et à l’avenir pour d’autres pays qui pourraient être touchés par une catastrophe nucléaire.

2011年3月の原発事故は、近現代の日本における多くの産業災害と同様に、数多くの訴訟を引き起こした。今日、フクシマ訴訟のために、日本全国で数千人の原告が結集している。東京電力の旧経営陣3人に対する刑事訴訟に加えて、東京電力及び国に対する民事集団訴訟は約30件に上る。これらの裁判は、この災害の原因、そして放射能という問題を考慮して、その将来的な影響についても本質的な問いを投げかけている。現在まで裁判官によって言い渡された賠償金額が僅かであったとしても、これらの判決は、原告及び現代日本、そして将来的に原子力災害で被害を受ける可能性のある諸外国にとっても、倫理的そして象徴的に重要である。

Like many industrial calamities that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has given rise to many lawsuits; currently, these involve several thousand plaintiffs from all over Japan. On top of a criminal case against three Tepco executives, there are more than 30 class actions pending against Tepco and the state. These lawsuits raise fundamental questions about the origin of the disaster as well as its future fallouts due to radiation exposure. While the compensation awarded by the judges so far remains low, the court decisions carry a moral and symbolic—even cathartic—importance for the plaintiffs, as well as for contemporary Japan as a whole and for other countries vulnerable to a nuclear disaster. I further argue that these mobilisations are drawn from a legacy of collective lawsuits that have marked Japan over the past 50 years.

A radiation detector constructed of common household materials was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) by Cresson H. Kearny and has been referred to as the Kearny Fallout Meter (KFM). Developed during the height of the Cold War, the KFM was intended to place a radiation meter capable of measuring fallout from nuclear weapons in the hands of every U.S. citizen. Instructions for the construction of the meter, as well as information about radiation health effects, were developed in the form of multi-page newspaper insert. Subsequently, the sensitivity of the meter was refined by a high school teacher, Dr. Paul S. Lombardi, for use in demonstrations about radiation. The meter is currently being marketed for survivalists in light of potential radiation terrorist concerns. The KFM and Lombardi's variation of it are constructed and evaluated for this work. Calibrated tests of the response and variations in response are reported. A critique of the multi-page manual is made. In addition, the suitability of using such a detector, in terms of actual ease of construction and practical sensitivity, is discussed for its use in demonstrations and introductory classes on nuclear topics. Health Phys. 87(Supplement 2):S52-S57; 2004

W hile it is unmistakable that climate change mitigation must occur, it is less clear which particular strategies, infrastructures and practices offer the greatest potential in the energy sector. Pacala and Socolow argued more than a decade ago that a series of 'stabilization wedges' would enable humanity to maintain quality of life while avoiding catastrophic climate change 1. They discussed more than a dozen such potential wedges ranging from energy efficiency and fuel switching from coal to natural gas to the advanced deployment of renewable electricity, nuclear power, and carbon capture and storage 1. Other studies similarly note the importance of renewable energy and nuclear power in climate miti-gation pathways and/or for achieving energy systems with net-zero emissions 2-5. As we near three decades of dedicated climate protection interventions in many countries' energy strategies, we closely examine in this paper the extent to which scales of national attachments to either nuclear power or renewables associate with each other, and with effective aggregate reductions in national carbon emissions. Despite many contingencies and complexities, this offers a first-order test of conventional background assumptions that each strategy is comparably effective, and without notable opportunity costs or antagonistic effects on other strategies. Accordingly, this paper uses regression analyses to interrogate relevant and consistent global datasets extending over 25 years and 123 countries, and to test interconnected hypotheses related to carbon emissions reduction with nuclear power and renewable energy, as well as one about crowding out and technological lock-in. One core finding is that countries with nuclear power attachments do not tend to have significantly lower levels of national carbon emissions. A second core finding is that lower levels of carbon emissions do associate more strongly with the relative scales of national attachments to renewable energy than with nuclear attachments. In other words, it is renewable (more than nuclear) attachments that tend to be associated in practice with significantly lower levels of carbon emissions. This is in line with recent work such as that of Jin and Kim, who find, using data from a sample of 30 countries, that "nuclear energy does not contribute to carbon reduction unlike renewable energy" 6. A third core finding is that the scales of nuclear and renewable attachments tend to vary negatively with each other. This is broadly consistent with a finding that nuclear and renewables commitments crowd each other out. We then rigorously test and seek to validate these findings through further multiple regression analyses as well as an investigation of possible moderating effects. Note that the carbon-emission trends observed may not occur because of the choice between renewable or nuclear energy; the choice might be one result of a broader policy programme that leads to less carbon emissions (or does not). The nuclear climate mitigation hypothesis Emphasizing the widely discussed carbon emissions abatement potential of nuclear power, the nuclear climate mitigation hypothesis holds that the relative scale of national attachments to nuclear electricity production will vary negatively with carbon emissions. In simpler terms, emissions are expected to decline the more a country adopts nuclear electricity supply. Elements of this proposition are prominent in both energy policy and the academic literature 7-12. For instance, the International Energy Agency includes nuclear power as one of its select 'low-carbon technologies' and argues that if the world is to see a 50% drop in energy-related CO 2 emissions, then nuclear energy must expand rapidly to where it reaches 1,200 gigawatt electrical (GWe) of installed capacity in 2050, when it also becomes the single largest source of electricity that year 13. Achieving this level of nuclear capacity would require about US$4 trillion of additional investment, larger than any other source of electricity 13. Two of the most widely emphasized contenders for carbon emissions reduction in the electricity sector are nuclear power and renewable energy. While scenarios regularly question the potential impacts of adoption of various technology mixes in the future, it is less clear which technology has been associated with greater historical emission reductions. Here, we use multiple regression analyses on global datasets of national carbon emissions and renewable and nuclear electricity production across 123 countries over 25 years to examine systematically patterns in how countries variously using nuclear power and renew-ables contrastingly show higher or lower carbon emissions. We find that larger-scale national nuclear attachments do not tend to associate with significantly lower carbon emissions while renewables do. We also find a negative association between the scales of national nuclear and renewables attachments. This suggests nuclear and renewables attachments tend to crowd each other out. NATure eNerGy | www.nature.com/natureenergy

This essay considers the TV miniseries Chernobyl (HBO, 2019) to engage in a wider debate on the social and institutional production of techno-science. It explores whether the series resonates with the existing narratives and interpretations of Soviet technoscience in scholarly historiography. The author argues that although the series downplays important aspects of Soviet history, such as international knowledge transfer, it successfully demonstrates the hybrid character of nuclear power and the complexity of the relationship between scientific expertise and policy decision-making.

The processes of nuclear construction, operation and decommission require a complete safety analysis which involves the quantification of environmental and human health effects due to theoretical accident and normal operation releases of radionuclides into the biosphere. Accurate simulation of the atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials is important for assessing the ecological risk of a new nuclear power plant (NPP) project. The Hybrid Single-Particle Langrangian Integrated Trajectory (Hysplit) model developed by the United States Air Resource Laboratory is a state-of-the-art model for computing complex air dispersion scenarios. In this study, the Hysplit model was used to generate the representative of the scaling factors of air concentrations (in Bq m-3) and surface depositions (in Bq m-2) of radionuclides released from the stack of hypothetical  (NPP) in Nigeria. The computed radionuclides’ air concentration and surface deposition data were used to assess the environmental and human health impacts of the Nigeria's pioneer NPP. No statistically significant environmental and health impacts were predicted under normal operation conditions of the NPP. The impacts of various accident scenarios under different meteorological and release conditions were investigated. The results of this study could serve as support for decision making concerning the new nuclear energy program.

This paper provides a review and analysis of the challenges that nuclear power must overcome in order to be considered sustainable. The results make it clear that not only do innovative technical solutions need to be generated for the fundamental inherent environmental burdens of nuclear energy technology, but the nuclear industry must also address difficult issues of equity both in the present and for future generations. The results show that if the concept of just sustainability is applied to the nuclear energy sector a global large-scale sustainable nuclear energy system to replace fossil fuel combustion requires the following: (i) a radical improvement in greenhouse gas emissions intensity by improved technology and efficiency through the entire life cycle to prevent energy cannibalism during rapid growth; (ii) the elimination of nuclear insecurity to reduce the risks associated with nuclear power so that the free market can indemnify it without substantial public nuclear energy insurance subsidies; (iii) the elimination of radioactive waste at the end of life and minimization of environmental impact during mining and operations; and (iv) the nuclear industry must regain public trust or face obsolescence as a swarm of renewable energy technologies quickly improve both technical and economic performance.

Les rationalités de l'électronucléaire [Kairos, juin/juillet 2019, pp. 15-17]

Le développement de l'utilisation de l'énergie nucléaire constitue le tournant de l'histoire de l'humanité. La majorité des citoyens pressent qu'on a « mal tourné », mais peu parviennent à mettre de l'ordre dans les arguments contradictoires qui sont manipulés, au propre comme, trop souvent, au figuré, par les factions en présence. S'il fallait opérer à l'aide d'un raccourci saisissant, on pourrait faire remarquer que le risque électronucléaire est totalement injustifié, simplement parce qu'il est impossible de démontrer que le kWh nucléaire est meilleur marché-ou même bon marché. Toute activité humaine comporte des risques ; le risque électronucléaire est supposément maîtrisé et acceptable, mais, si un accident majeur devait se produire dans un pays densément peuplé comme la Belgique, les dégâts se chiffreraient en milliers de milliards d'euros. Or, puisque ce risque n'est pas nul, il serait logique de le prendre en compte dans le calcul du coût du kWh-qui deviendrait dès lors astronomique. De plus, le coût de la totalité du cycle du combustible n'est pas évaluable : d'une part, le démantèlement des centrales demeure largement expérimental ; d'autre part, le coût des techniques de retraitement, de stabilisation et de stockage des déchets hautement radioactifs ne peut être estimé, puisqu'elles doivent produire leurs effets sur 100 000 ans et plus. En conclusion, si le coût réel du kWh nucléaire ne peut être déterminé, on ne peut en aucune façon prétendre que le risque en vaut la chandelle. Dans « L'imposture électronucléaire 2 », on trouve trois discussions complémentaires 3 ; elles sont replacées ici dans leur contexte à l'aide de trois fois trois clefs : 1 Philosophe. Dernier ouvrage paru : Contre le totalitarisme transhumaniste : les enseignements philosophiques du sens commun, Limoges, FYP éditions, 2018. 2 M. Weber, « L'imposture électronucléaire », Les Zindigné(e)s !-La vie est à nous, n° 28, octobre 2015, pp. 14-18. 3 Premièrement, l'utilisation militaire du nucléaire (les réacteurs plutinogènes et les bombes) a été, et reste, décisive pour le développement de l'industrie civile, qui est triple : la production d'électricité (les réacteurs électrogènes), les traitements médicaux par isotopes et les techniques d'imagerie, et la radiostérilisation de matériel médical et d'aliments.

Radiasi adalah suatu hal yang tidak dapat dilihat, didengar, maupun dirasakan namun
memiliki efek yang signifikan apabila dibiarkan. Hal yang disebut radiasi sebenarnya adalah
sebuah radiasi elektromagnetik. Radiasi elektromagnetik merupakan radiasi berupa
gelombang elektromagnetik yang memiliki nilai frekuensi tertentu. Radiasi elektromagnetik
dibagi menjadi dua yaitu radiasi non-pengion dan radiasi pengion. Radiasi non-pengion
contohnya adalah radiasi gelombang radio, micromave, dan infrared. Radiasi pengion
contohnya adalah radiasi ultraviolet, sinar-X, dan radiasi gamma. Karena kemampuannya
yang dapat mengionkan material, radiasi pengion memiliki cara penanganan yang khusus
untuk mengendalikannya. Namun, sebelum dapat mengendalikannya, manusia harus mampu
mendeteksinya. Sifat ionisasi radiasi pengion bila dapat dideteksi dan dikendalikan akan
memiliki banyak manfaat untuk manusia. Di antaranya dapat untuk mendeteksi kanker,
kebocoran pipa, perunut material, dan pembangkit listrik. Teknologi deteksi radiasi dewasa ini
makin berkembang dan terdapat berbagai jenis detektor radiasi. Detektor inilah yang nantinya
akan mendeteksi keberadaan radiasi dan mengukur dosisnya. Dosis ini kemudian akan
disesuaikan dengan fungsi apa yang digunakan. Salah satu jenis detektor yang banyak
digunakan adalah Thermoluminescent Radiation Detector yang terdapat dalam
Thermoluminescent Dosimetry. Thermoluminescent dosimetry merupakan alat yang umum
digunakan pada instalasi nuklir seperti radiologi, inspeksi, pembangkit, dan lain-lain. Detektor
jenis ini banyak digunakan karena bentuknya yang ringkat dan memiliki efisiensi yang tinggi.

Ce qu’on lit dans la grande presse
est vrai - la recherche et le
développement de l’utilisation de
l’énergie nucléaire constituent
le tournant de l’histoire de
l’humanité - mais, comme souvent
hélas, cela est vrai pour des raisons
complètement différentes de celles
qui sont mises en avant. En effet, le
nucléaire est, constitutivement, une
industrie funeste. Trois arguments
doivent être repris à cet égard.

Paul C. Rizzo1; Melissa Dubinsky2; Erdem Onur Tastan3; Sandra C. Miano4 1, 2, 3 RIZZO Associates Inc.
500 Penn Center Blvd. Suite 100 - Pittsburgh, PA – USA – 15235
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
4 Eletrobras Termonuclear S.A. - ELETRONUCLEAR
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering
137 Reber Building - State College, PA – USA - 16802
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
The current methodology for selecting the most advantageous site(s) for nuclear power plant (NPP) development is based on the latest evolution of protocols originally established in the 1990’s by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and others for programs in the USA, and more recently by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), among others. The methodology includes protocols that account for lessons learned from both the Gen III projects and the catastrophic event at Fukushima, Japan. In general, the approach requires consideration of Exclusionary or “fatal flaw” Criteria first, based on safety as well as significant impact to the environment or human health. Sites must meet all of these Exclusionary Criteria to be considered for NPP development. Next, the remaining sites are evaluated for Avoidance Criteria that affect primarily ease of construction and operations, which allow a ranking of sites best suited for NPP development. Finally, Suitability Criteria are applied to the potential sites to better differentiate between closely ranked sites. Generally, final selection of a Preferred and an Alternate Site will require balancing of factors, expert judgment, and client input, as sites being compared will differ in their scores associated with different Avoidance Criteria and Suitability Criteria.

The paper presents the nonlinear analysis of the reinforced concrete buildings of nuclear power plant under the aircraft attack. The response from the nonlinear analysis was considered taken the deterministic calculation procedures. The dynamic load is defined in time on base of the airplane impact simulations considering the real stiffness, masses, direction and velocity of the flight. The dynamic response is calculated in the system ANSYS using the transient nonlinear analysis solution method. The damage of the concrete wall is evaluated in accordance with the standard NDRC considering the spalling, scabbing and perforation effects. The simple and detailed calculations of the wall damage are compared.

This study compares the American and Canadian television coverage of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan with that of the Chernobyl (Chornobyl) accident in Ukraine. These two disasters were the biggest accidents involving nuclear plants in the world. The first research question is whether political factors, such as Japan, in contrast to Ukraine, being an ally of the United States and Canada, affected the coverage of these accidents by American and Canadian television networks. The second question is whether the U.S.-Canada differences in the coverage of the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters reflected differences in the American and Canadian political cultures. Previous studies generally have focused on the media coverage of a single nuclear accident, and they typically were limited to the media reporting in one country. This paper uses content analysis of television news reports concerning the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters for more than one year since the beginning of the nuclear accident in Japan in March 2011. It analyzes more than 250 references, comparing the two disasters in news programs of the most popular TV networks in the U.S. (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) and Canada (CBC and CTV). Specific news reports are identified with the help of keyword searches of transcripts of the television programs in the LexisNexis database. The content analysis involves both a general comparison of the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear accidents and a comparison of specific aspects, such as causes of the accidents, radiation release, liquidation of disasters, and health consequences. The study shows the importance of political factors in the media coverage of the nuclear disasters. It offers support for the indexing model and finds significant differences in the coverage by ideological orientation in the U.S. and public versus private networks in Canada. Convergence in the coverage outweighs political culture differences between the U.S. and Canada.

This essay revisits the literature on "high-reliability organizations," originated by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley, in light of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. Rather than focusing on the operational level of analysis as did the original literature, the essay expands the high-reliability concept to a more macro level by envisioning a "high-reliability communication system" incorporating a range of actors beyond nuclear operators, vendors, and regulators. Such a system can more effectively address the problem of requisite variety in perspectives, knowledge, and imagination, enhancing both nuclear safety and democratic risk governance. Drawing on a preliminary analysis of responses to the events at Fukushima by the U.S. nuclear community, the essay identifies thirteen rhetorical boundaries that currently structure communication within that system. ______________________________________________________________________________

In April 2018 four drums of depleted uranium sludge burst open at a US Department of Energy facility at Idaho National Laboratory. This echoed a previous incident in 2014, when a drum erupted with fire and spewed radionuclides at a nuclear waste repository in New Mexico. Such "drum breach" accidents have been characterized in official reports as "isolated events," and as "self-initiated" and "spontaneous." Yet these descriptions misrepresent a temporal tension at the heart of their causation: during the Cold War, nuclear weapons production created latent socioecological hazards that, decades later, too often manifest during waste cleanup. This tends to result from 21st-century scheduling pressures, fraught labor relationships, and neoliberal subcontracting arrangements. Thus, if we examine the temporal form taken by US nuclear technopolitics, we can recast drum breach accidents not as stand-alone events, but as outcomes of systemic incentives to speed up waste-cleanup projects beyond their organizational capacity without commensurately expanding their safety or oversight mechanisms. [nuclear waste, technopolitics, accidents, neoliberalism, temporality, security, Idaho, United States]

Energy is the prime need for the development of a country and its substantial economic growth. Over all forms of energies, nuclear energy is the most prominent, powerful and challenging energy source. Despite the effectiveness of this energy, its hazardous radiation effects can enormously be dangerous and destructive. Our study mainly focuses on the comparative overviews of nuclear energy aspects of Bangladesh, discussions on radiation effects on environment and living objects health. This paper also suggests some challenges to meet the probable future shortcomings of Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh.

The ‘father’ of Brazil’s nuclear energy programme since the 1970s, Vice-
Admiral Othon, was released from prison in October of 2017 to await
appeal of a 43-year sentence issued in 2016. Admiral Othon had
been found guilty of organising fraudulent financial activities,
engaging in political bribes and rigging and inflating construction
contracts related to the construction of Brazil’s third nuclear reactor,
Angra 3. Othon’s corruption sentencing coincided with impeachment
proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party
(PT), also accused of financial manipulation and of having knowledge
of political corruption in the Petrobras case known as Car Wash.
Some on the political left have read Dilma’s impeachment as a
successful strategy employed by the right wing to diminish centreleft
political power. While political corruption in the fields of energy
production is similarly the centrepiece of both cases, they are
perceived differently. Comparing the two, the concept of nuclearity
as developed by Gabrielle Hecht helps explain why Othon received
considerable support from across the political spectrum. His
supporters framed his case as one being managed by external
foreign interests supposedly keen on preventing Brazil from
harnessing its nuclear energy potential and, implicitly, of disregarding
its national security risks and needs. Political corruption cases can
either animate or neutralise public and moral sentiment. Perceptions
of the Othon case challenge the notion that the anti-corruption
campaign is merely a right-wing attempt to undermine the left. The
case reveals how corruption thrives under the cover of nuclearity and
in large-scale construction projects relevant to national security.

A cross sectional cohort study was carried out of the population living downwind of and less than 3.5km from Trawsfynydd nuclear power station sited in Wales, UK. This station is cooled by, and discharges radionuclides to a lake, Llyn Trawsfyny-dd, which is significantly contaminated with radioactivity. Cancer numbers and populations were obtained through questionnaire and interview for the10-year period to 2005. Results showed that in the 3-years before the study was carried out, 2003-2005 and where completeness of data was most secure, there were significantly raised levels of cancer relative to England and Wales. Based on 490 males and 488 females the Standardised incidence ratios (SIR) for all ages were: All malignancy males 2.13 (obs: 22 exp: 10.5; 95%CI 1.34, 3.29; p<.002) All malignancy females 1.74 (obs 16, exp 9.2; CI 1.03, 2.92; p <0.05). Female breast 2.6 (obs 6, exp 2.3; CI 1.16, 5.79; p<0.03), Prostate 2.5 (obs5 exp 2.0; CI 1.01, 5.93; p <0.05), all leukemia 7.8 (obs 3, exp 0.38, p<0.007) all leukemia and lymphoma 6.5 (obs 4 exp 0.62, p<0.003), mesothelioma 18.0 (obs 2, exp 0.11, p<.005), pancreas 4.8 (obs 2 exp 0.42 p<.06). Cancer SIR were highest in the age group below 60 years in women where for breast cancer SIR was 4.9 (obs 5, exp 1.02; CI 2.02, 11.99; p< 0.004) There was an association with eating lake fish (RR = 2.1; p<0.04). Whilst owing to the structural problems associated with such studies caution should be exercised in quantitative interpretation, results show that they can be informative and that studies of adult cancer near nuclear facilities are likely to be more useful than studies of rare childhood cancer.

Nuclear energy is the third most common energy source after fossil fuels and renewable energy worldwide. Nuclear energy provides about 10% of the world's electricity currently. However, there has been a growing discussion over nuclear energy because of its risks and benefits. Supporters argue that nuclear energy does not release direct greenhouse gas emissions which is considered a solution to global warming. Opponents claim that nuclear energy pose risks to the environment and public health due to the potential nuclear accident events. There are hard and soft nuclear energy laws that regulate nuclear safety at the international level. However, the latest nuclear accident, The Fukushima nuclear accident, shows that international nuclear law could be not an effective tool to achieve nuclear safety all over the world. For this reason, the role of international nuclear law on nuclear safety stays questionable. The main purpose of this paper is to argue the weaknesses and strengths of international nuclear energy regulations to achieve nuclear safety and regulate nuclear accident related risks to the environment and public health.

An outcome of the Joint Review Panel that evaluated the proposal by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for the Darlington New Nuclear Project was that OPG must undertake a formal quantitative cost-benefit analysis for cooling tower versus once-through condenser cooling water systems [1]. While OPG's analysis concluded the preference for the once-through condenser approach, the possibility for using cooling towers remains. This paper presents an analysis of the different cooling tower designs that could be used for a potential CANDU new build at the Darlington Site. The work was completed in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a capstone design project by a group of nuclear engineering students. The project considered the various cooling tower designs used in similar applications for both nuclear and thermal power plants, and identified the preferred option based on criteria such as: energy penalty, cost, thermal/aquatic effects, social acceptance and land use.

Energy is the prime need for the development of a country and its substantial economic growth. Over all forms of energies, nuclear energy is the most prominent, powerful and challenging energy source. Despite the effectiveness of this energy, its hazardous radiation effects can enormously be dangerous and destructive. Our study mainly focuses on the comparative overviews of nuclear energy aspects of Bangladesh, discussions on radiation effects on environment and living objects health. This paper also suggests some challenges to meet the probable future shortcomings of Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh.

Kärnkraften har länge arbetat med att minska riskerna för mänskliga felhandlingar i drift och underhåll. Men tillbudet i Forsmark 2006 visar att systemets utformning kan vara en större felkälla. Kärnkraftverket hade inte förutsett den utlösande händelsen och inte konstruerat systemet för att kunna hantera den. Inte heller Kärnkraftinspektionen (SKI) hade insett dessa konstruktionsbrister, i likhet med resten av kärnkraftsindustrin i hela världen. SKI och Forsmark förklarar de två konstruktionsbristerna som en brist i riskanalysen, även om båda också ser brister i säkerhetskulturen som viktiga att ta itu med för att garantera en säker verksamhet. I denna rapport analyserar jag hur Forsmark och SKI har beskrivit och tolkat denna händelse och dess orsaker och vilka åtgärder de har vidtagit som en följd av denna tolkning. Jag diskuterar också alternativa tolkningar, kunskapsluckor och vilka övergripande brister i industrins kunskapsproduktion som tillbudet indikerar. 
I samband med ett planerat underhållsarbete vid ett ställverk som förbinder Forsmarks kärnkraftverk med det yttre elnätet bröts förbindelsen mellan reaktor 1 och ställverket. Turbingeneratorerna kompenserade för bortfallet vilket medförde en kortvarig överspänningspuls genom reaktorblockets elsystem. Pulsen slog ut hälften av det avbrottsfria nätet så att delar av den säkerhetskritiska utrustningen slogs ut. Om fyra istället för två säkerhetssystem hade fallerat hade personalens skickliga ingripande varit nödvändigt för att undvika skador på härden och i förlängningen härdsmälta.
Jag fokuserar på fyra tematiker:
1. I medierna beskrivs kontrollrumspersonalen som hjältar medan Forsmark och SKI pekar på värdet av väl utformade instruktioner. Studier av verkligt kontrollrumsarbete och intervjuer indikerar att instruktioner och träning har varit en nödvändig förberedelse men att personalens drifterfarenheter varit lika oundgängliga.
2. Tillbudet visade att kärnkraftverket inte var så robust utformat som man kunde förvänta sig. Bristerna i diversifiering kan ha orsakats av en övertro på tillförlitligheten i den egna konstruktionen.
3. SKI beskriver hur brister i säkerhetskulturen föranlett särskild tillsyn för att säkerställa tilltron till Forsmarks förmåga till säker drift. Jag argumenterar för att resonemanget visar på problematiska antaganden om säkerhetskulturens funktion och kring organisatoriska orsakssamband.
4. Bristerna i kunskapsproduktionen av det avbrottsfria växelströmsnätet kan ha uppstått vid tre skilda processer: vid byggandet av Forsmark, brister i riskanalys vid ombyggnader och/eller från brister i lärande från andra tillbud.
Kunskapen om kärnkraftens risker baseras till stora delar på beräkningar och simuleringar, även om verkliga händelser används för att utveckla beräkningar och modeller. Samtidigt måste både företag och myndigheter fatta beslut trots återstående osäkerheter. Men kunskapsproduktionen kan förbättras också utan olyckor. För det första skulle drift- och underhållspersonalens kunskaper kunna bidra på ett bättre sätt till att förbättra förståelsen av hur kärnkraftverket fungerar. Det skulle kräva en utveckling av begreppsapparat och teorier för dessa kunskaper och kring organisatorisk styrning. För det andra borde den ingenjörsbaserade riskanalysens metoder, modeller och kriterier för tillräcklig visshet granskas.

Background: In France in the 1950s, the electrical energy demand was already 14,000 megawatts an increase of 8% per year. It was produced by hydro and thermal plants. Under the presidency of Charles de Gaul at the beginning of the Fifth Republic the nation decided to go nuclear and between 1967 and the end of the Millennium, built 58 nuclear reactors delivering each 500 megawatts to 950 megawatts judiciously distributed over the territory and producing 80% of the electrical energy. Without the powerful, reliable, and clean nuclear energy, France would have been dependent at 80% from the importation of fossil fuel resource from friendly, or like today, from belligerent nations or would have not been able to maintain her economic growth.

• Response-history analysis of nuclear structures base-isolated using lead–rubber bearings is performed. • Advanced numerical model of lead–rubber bearing is used to capture behavior under extreme earthquake shaking. • Results of response-history analysis obtained using simplified and advanced model of lead–rubber bearings are compared. • Heating of the lead core and variation in buckling load and axial stiffness affect the response. a b s t r a c t Seismic isolation using low damping rubber and lead–rubber bearings is a viable strategy for mitigating the effects of extreme earthquake shaking on safety-related nuclear structures. The mechanical properties of these bearings are not expected to change substantially in design basis shaking. However, under shaking more intense than design basis, the properties of the lead cores in lead–rubber bearings may degrade due to heating associated with energy dissipation, some bearings in an isolation system may experience net tension, and the compression and tension stiffness may be affected by the lateral displacement of the isolation system. The effects of intra-earthquake changes in mechanical properties on the response of base-isolated nuclear power plants (NPPs) are investigated using an advanced numerical model of a lead–rubber bearing that has been verified and validated, and implemented in OpenSees. A macro-model is used for response-history analysis of base-isolated NPPs. Ground motions are selected and scaled to be consistent with response spectra for design basis and beyond design basis earthquake shaking at the site of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station. Ten isolation systems of two periods and five characteristic strengths are analyzed. The responses obtained using simplified and advanced isolator models are compared. Strength degradation due to heating of lead cores and changes in buckling load most significantly affect the response of the base-isolated NPP.

Nuclear power has been a constant subject of intense enquiry and misinformation. This paper explores two main tenets of this enquire, reactor safety & waste disposal, and how contribution to reducing these factors compare to the overall benefit of lowering CO2 emissions.  There is both key analysis of the current and future reactor technology as well as an assessment of the true dangers of nuclear waste, and it is the finding of this paper that the potential hazards and risks by use of increased nuclear power are far outweighed by the benefits.

There is an increasing international focus on the need to optimise decommissioning strategies, driven by the anticipation of high costs and major effort for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the coming decades. The goals are to control and mitigate costs and negative impacts on workers, the general public, and the environment. The methods presently employed for many decommissioning tasks do not apply the latest advancements of science and technology. Therefore, there is growing interest in research and development into the adoption of novel techniques for improving safety, reducing costs, and increasing transparency.
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the authors’ results from investigating how current and emerging technologies can be applied to enhance the international decommissioning strategy, focussing in particular on three-dimensional simulation, virtual reality, advanced user interfaces, mobile and wearable devices, and geographical information systems. Our results demonstrate that emerging technologies have great potential for supporting adoption of new instrumentation, improving data and knowledge management, optimising project plans, briefing and training field operators, and for communication, surveillance, and education in general.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is the organization responsible for site selection,
design, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance, plant life extension and decommissioning activities of
nuclear power plants in India. Presently, NPCIL has 17 Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in operation with a total
installed capacity of 4020 MWe and is constructing 5 NPPs, which will add 2660 MWe. With rich experience in all
relevant fields of nuclear power generation and to meet the emerging regulatory requirements, safety of Indian NPPs
is continuously being reviewed and upgraded. The paper details some of the safety improvements and activities for
the existing NPPs in India like life extension and safety up gradation of BWR TAPS-1&2, retrofitting of
components and Up gradation for old PHWR units and accident management.

Bilişim Yoluyla Sabotaj ve Fidye Perspektifinde Enerji Santrallarine  Siber Saldırı Dokunuşları
By Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu  12 Eylül 2017



ÖZET:  Bu makale, başta  elektrik piyasası olmak üzere, enerjide tedarik sürekliliği ve kalitesini kesintiye uğratabilecek Siber Saldırılar ile bunlara karşı alınan tedbirlere son zamandaki gelişmeler doğrultusunda ışık tutmayı ve .böylece "Enerjide Kritik Alt Yapı Siber Güvenlik Ekseninde Türkiye"  konulu bir çalışmanın da öncülü olmayı amaçlamaktadır.

In the advancing world of today, the demand for clean and reliable electricity is constantly increasing. With restrains on carbon emissions and with the reduction of fossil fuel
reserves; the need of the hour is efficient nuclear power plants.  With this paper, it is demonstrated that with modular helium cooled reactors using spherical fuel elements; it is possible to increase the efficiency of the reactor cycle with a safer nuclear process control. In addition, it is also demonstrated that parallel to electricity production, conversion of methane to hydrogen will be carried out simultaneously, thus decreasing the operational cost of such a nuclear power plant