Decommissioning in the United States: Past, Present and Future

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jas S. Devgun
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Research Reactors ◽  
The Past ◽  
The U.S

The experience related to decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the United States is very substantial and covers power reactors, research reactors, and many facilities in the Department of Energy complex. The focus of this paper however is on the commercial power plants. With 104 operating reactors, the U.S. fleet of civilian reactors is still the largest in the world. Nuclear power industry in the United States has undergone a dramatic upturn after decades of stalemate. One effect of this nuclear renaissance has been that the plans have changed for several reactors that were initially destined for decommissioning. Instead, the focus now is on relicensing of the reactors and on power uprates. In fact, after the peak period between 1987 and 1998, no additional power reactors have been shutdown. On the contrary, power uprates in the past twenty years have added a cumulative capacity equivalent to five new reactors. Almost all the operating reactors plan to have license extensions, thus postponing the eventual decommissioning. Nevertheless, in addition to the 9 reactors where licenses have been terminated following decommissioning, 12 power and early demonstration reactors and 14 test & research reactors are permanently shutdown and are in decommissioning phase. Substantial experience and lessons learned are available from the U.S. projects that are of value to the international decommissioning projects, especially where such projects are in early stages. These lessons cover a wide array of areas from decommissioning plans, technology applications, large component removal, regulatory and public interface, decommissioning funding and costs, clean up criteria, surveys of the decommissioned site, and license termination. Additionally, because of the unavailability of a national spent fuel disposition facility, most decommissioning sites are constructing above ground interim storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel. The U.S. nuclear power projects are also gearing up for the design and licensing of new reactors. Lessons from the past are useful in the development of such designs so that along with the other factors, the designs are optimized for eventual decommissioning as well. This paper provides an overview of the past reactor decommissioning, lessons learned from the past experience, and status of the current decommissioning activities and issues. It also presents some long term projections for the future of decommissioning in the United States.

The Future of FBI Counterintelligence through the Lens of the Past Hundred Years

2010 ◽  
pp. 504-517
Author(s):  
Raymond J. Batvinis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Federal Bureau ◽  
The Past ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Foreign Intelligence ◽  
Key Events ◽  
The U.S

Counterintelligence is the business of identifying and dealing with foreign intelligence threats to a nation, such as the United States. Its main concern is the intelligence services of foreign states and similar organizations of non-state actors, such as transnational terrorist groups. Counterintelligence functions both as a defensive measure that protects the nation's secrets and assets against foreign intelligence penetration and as an offensive measure to find out what foreign intelligence organizations are planning to defeat better their aim. This article addresses the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) foreign counterintelligence function. It briefly traces its evolution by examining the key events and the issues that effected its growth as the principle civilian counterintelligence service of the U.S. government.

scholarly journals Immunizing the Flock: How the Pandemic Court Rewrote Religious Freedom

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Paul Baumgardner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
The Past ◽  
The U.S

When coronavirus began to descend upon the United States, religious freedom advocates across the country sounded the alarm that citizens’ religious practices and institutions were under threat. Although some of the most extreme arguments championed by these advocates were not validated by our legal system, many were. This article explores the underappreciated gains made by religious freedom advocates before the U.S. Supreme Court over the past year. As a result of the “Pandemic Court”, religious freedom in the United States has been rewritten. This promises to radically change the educational, employment, and health prospects of millions of Americans for the rest of the pandemic and long afterwards.

scholarly journals Drugs, Violence, and Capitalism: The Expansion of Opioid Use in the Americas

2020 ◽  
pp. 0094582X2097500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo José dos Reis Pereira
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin American ◽  
International Security ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
Opioid Use ◽  
The Past ◽  
Emergency Measures ◽  
The U.S

In the past two decades, the United States has experienced a rapid rise in the use of opioids by its population, a context that has come to be assessed by the U.S. government as a threat to national and international security that requires emergency measures. The strategies of the U.S. government and transnational pharmaceutical corporations for resolving the insecurity generated by capitalist accumulation constitute what a certain literature calls “pacification.” In addition, these corporations export to the “foreign” the contradictions inherent in the opioid control policy that underlies the capitalist logic of drugs. Thus Latin American populations have been instrumentalized in the “solution” of this crisis either as a focus of violence by the state or as a focus of consumption by the market. Nas últimas duas décadas, os Estados Unidos vivenciaram uma rápida ascensão do uso de opioides pela sua população, contexto que passou a ser avaliado pelo governo estadunidense como uma ameaça à segurança nacional e internacional que demanda medidas emergenciais. As estratégias do Estado estadunidense e das corporações farmacêuticas transnacionais para solucionar a insegurança gerada pela acumulação capitalista configuram o que certa literatura chama “pacificação” Ademais, elas exportam para o “estrangeiro” as contradições próprias da política de controle de opioides que fundamenta a lógica capitalista das drogas. Assim, populações latino-americanas têm sido instrumentalizadas para a “solução” dessa crise, seja como foco da violência pelo Estado, seja como foco do consumo pelo mercado.

scholarly journals THE MATHEMATICS AND GEOGRAPHY OF MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE U.S., 1982-2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
Maria L. Andersen ◽  
Samantha H. Valone ◽  
Valeriia K. Vakhitova ◽  
Vir Chachra ◽  
Paul Martin Sommers
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Southern States ◽  
The Past ◽  
The U.S

The authors use simple bilinear regression to assess changes in the geographical movement (latitude and longitude) of mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2017.  The path taken by the location of the ninety-five mass shootings over the 36-year period has shifted south.  An analysis of differences by census region and blue/red state distinctions within each census region reveals disproportionately many mass shootings in Midwestern states between 2000 and 2008, and disproportionately many in red Southern states over the past three-plus decades.  

American Bureau of Shipping Activities on Behalf of the United States Coast Guard

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (03) ◽  
pp. 262-269
Author(s):  
John W. Reiter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Working Relationship ◽  
United States Coast Guard ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
The U.S

The American Bureau of Shipping and the U.S. Coast Guard have enjoyed an excellent working relationship for a long period of time. This paper gives a brief description of both organizations, describes some of the past cooperative arrangements, and details the latest agreement concerning commercial vessel plan review and inspection.

Rethinking Market Regulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Drobak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Popular Belief ◽  
The Past ◽  
United States Today ◽  
The Common ◽  
The U.S

Rethinking Market Regulation: Helping Labor by Overcoming Economic Myths tackles the plight of workers who lose their jobs from mergers and outsourcing by examining two economic “principles,” or narratives that have shaped the perception of the economic system in the United States today: (1) the notion that the U.S. economy is competitive, making government market regulation unnecessary, and (2) the claim that corporations exist for the benefit of their shareholders but not for other stakeholders. Contrary to popular belief, this book demonstrates that many markets are not competitive but rather are oligopolistic. This conclusion undercuts the common refrain that government market regulation is unnecessary because competition already provides sufficient constraints on business. Part of the lack of competition has resulted from the large mergers over the past few years, many of which have resulted in massive layoffs. The second narrative has justified the outsourcing of millions of jobs of U.S. workers this century, made possible by globalization. The book argues that this narrative is not an economic principle but rather a normative position. In effect, both narratives are myths, although they are accepted as truisms by many people. The book ties together a concern for the problems of using economic principles as a justification for the lack of government intervention with the harm that has been caused to workers. The book’s recommendations for a new regulatory regime are a prescription for helping labor by limiting job losses from mergers and outsourcing.

A Humanistic Approach to Outreach: Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants

1991 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-16
Author(s):  
David Rymph ◽  
Linda Little
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
The United States ◽  
Illegal Immigrants ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Humanistic Approach ◽  
The U.S

Washington, D.C., like many major cities in the U.S., has experienced a large influx of illegal immigrants in the past decade. Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics have entered the United States, many of them fleeing from the political violence in Guatemala and El Salvador. The Washington metropolitan area may have as many as 80,000 refugees from El Salvador alone.

Demonstration and Licensing of a Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Transfer System

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikal A. McKinnon ◽  
Leroy Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Safety Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Transfer System ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Cooperative Effort ◽  
Site Specific

Abstract Research studies by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) established the technical and operational requirements necessary to enable the onsite cask-to-cask dry transfer of spent nuclear fuel. Use of the dry transfer system has the potential to permit shutdown reactor sites to decommission pools and provide the capability of transferring assemblies from storage casks or small transportation casks to sealed transportable canisters. Following an evaluation by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Academy of Sciences, a cooperative program was established between DOE and EPRI, which led to the cost-shared design of a dry transfer system (DTS). EPRI used Transnuclear, Inc., of Hawthorne, New York, to design the DTS in accordance with the technical and quality assurance requirements of the code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 72 (10CFR72). EPRI delivered the final design report to DOE in 1995 and the DTS topical safety analysis report (TSAR) in 1996. DOE submitted the TSAR to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for review under 10CFR72 and requested that the NRC staff evaluate the TSAR and issue a Safety Evaluation Report (SER) that could be used and referenced by an applicant seeking a site-specific license for the construction and operation of a DTS. DOE also initiated a cold demonstration of major subsystem prototypes in 1996. After careful assessment, the NRC agreed that the DTS concept has merit. However, because the TSAR was not site-specific and was lacking some detailed information required for a complete review, the NRC decided to issue an Assessment Report (AR) rather than a SER. This was issued in November 2000. Additional information that must be included in a future site-specific Safety Analysis Report for the DTS is identified in the AR. The DTS consists of three major sections: a Preparation Area, a Lower Access Area, and a Transfer Confinement Area. The Preparation Area is a sheet metal building where casks are prepared for loading, unloading, or shipment. The Preparation Area adjoins the Lower Access Area and is separated from the Lower Access Area by a large shielded door. The Lower Access Area and Transfer Confinement Area are contained within concrete walls approximately three feet thick. These are the areas where the casks are located and where the fuel is moved during transfer operations. A floor containing two portals separates the Lower Access Area and the Transfer Confinement Area. The casks are located below the floor, and the fuel transfer operation occurs above the floor. The cold demonstration of the DTS was successfully conducted at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) as a cooperative effort between the DOE and EPRI. The cold demonstration was limited to the fuel handling equipment, the cask lid handling equipment, and the cask interface system. The demonstration included recovery operations associated with loss of power or off-normal events. The demonstration did not include cask receiving and lid handling; cask transport and lifting; vacuum/inerting/leak test; canister welding; decontamination; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; and radiation monitoring. The demonstration test was designed to deliberately challenge the system and determine whether any specific system operation could adversely impact or jeopardize the operation or safety of any other function or system. All known interlocks were challenged. As in all new systems, there were lessons learned during the operation of the system and a few minor modifications made to ease operations. System modifications were subsequently demonstrated. The demonstration showed that the system operated as expected and provided times for normal fuel transfer operations. The demonstration also showed that recovery could be made from off-normal events.

Statistical Assessment of Operating Experiences of Power Reactors in France, Japan, and the United States

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitoshi Sakamoto
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Linear Regression ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Major Type ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Statistical Assessment ◽  
Statistical Correlations ◽  
The U.S

Statistical correlations for unavailability of power reactors across countries are sought. France, Japan and the United States, are selected because of their different political climates surrounding nuclear power through the 1990s. Outage data reveal that the dominating type of outage is different in each of the countries in spite of the similar plant types. In France, unplanned, externally caused, partial outages overwhelm other types of outages in number. In Japan, planned outages dominate in terms of number and duration. Unplanned outages are the major type in the U.S. These differences are not only due to technical differences but also to differences in economic and regulatory environments. Results of linear regression analyses suggest that unavailability factors are so random that country of operation, age of reactor and type of reactor cannot predict them well. This finding seems contrasting to an earlier study in the literature.

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