Current R & D Activities in the Study on Geosphere Stability

Author(s):  
Takahiro Hanamuro ◽  
Ken-Ichi Yasue ◽  
Yoko Saito-Kokubu ◽  
Koichi Asamori ◽  
Tsuneari Ishimaru ◽  
...  

The Japanese islands are located in a tectonically active zone. The scientific base is required for assessing the geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste in Japan. JAEA is promoting the establishment of investigation method for geotectonic events affecting geosphere stability and prediction model for the future changes of geological environments, that is necessary for site selection and safety assessment of the HLW geological disposal. For seismicity and faulting, detection techniques for active faults without topographic surface expression, such as using helium isotope ratios in hot spring gases or detection of hydrogen gas, and studies on the assessment of fault evolution have been developed. For volcanism and geothermal activity, heat sources for anomalous geothermal activity in non-volcanic regions are considered. Detection techniques for high-temperature fluids and magma deep underground, using geophysical and geochemical approaches, were constructed. For uplift, denudation and climatic/sea-level changes, a methodology to predict the future topographic change was developed. Also, for dating techniques as an essential part to proceed on these studies, C-14 and Be-10 dating using AMS and (U-Th)/He dating using QMS and ICP-MS have been developed. We are planning the establishment of assessment methods for geosphere stability including assessment of the activity of faults encountered in underground excavations, development of long-term prediction model of volcanism and hydrothermal activities, and hydrogeological analyses considering topographic change.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keren Dai ◽  
Xianlin Shi ◽  
Jisong Gou ◽  
Leyin Hu ◽  
Mi Chen ◽  
...  

Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) has suffered from uneven land subsidence since 1935, which affects the smoothness of airport runways and seriously threatens the safety of aircrafts. In this paper, a spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) with high-resolution Cosmo-SkyMed SAR data was utilized at BCIA for the first time to diagnose the subsidence hazard. The results show that subsidence is progressing at BCIA at a maximum rate of 50 mm/year, which is mainly distributed in the northwest side of the airport. It was found that the Shunyi-Liangxiang fault directly traverses Runway2 and Runway3 and causes uneven subsidence, controlling the spatial subsidence pattern to some degree. Four driving factors of subsidence were investigated, namely: the over-exploitation of groundwater, active faults, compressible soil thickness, and aquifer types. For the future sustainable development of BCIA, the influence of Beijing new airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport (BDIA), was analyzed and predicted. It is necessary to take relevant measures to control the uneven subsidence during the initial operation of BDIA and conduct long-term monitoring to ensure the regular safe operation of BCIA. This case demonstrates a remote sensing method of diagnosing the subsidence hazard with high accuracy and non-contact, providing a reliable alternative for the geohazard diagnosis of key infrastructures in the future.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 610
Author(s):  
Yijie Sui ◽  
Dongjie Fu ◽  
Fenzhen Su

With the advancement of global warming, the Arctic sea routes (ASRs) may open for the entire year. The ASRs will be far more competitive than they are now, and they will be the major international sea routes in the future. To date, most studies have researched the economic feasibility in the short term from a company’s perspective. To help to plan the shipping market in the future, we developed a three-stage model to simulate the trade demand of the ASRs for the long term. This model firstly considers the seasonal sea ice dynamics in the future and plans new paths for vessels shipping through the Arctic. Additionally, an improved trade prediction model was developed to adapt to the long-term forecasts. After verification, the accuracy of the model was found to be very high (R2 = 0.937). In comparison with another transportation cost model and a trade prediction model, our model was more reasonable. This study simulated the trade volumes of China, Europe (EU), and North America (NA) in 2100 with the ASRs open. The results show that the percentage of port trade can be up to 26% in representative concentration pathway (RCP)2.6, and the percentage of port trade can be up to 52% in RCP8.5.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
Sulkhiya Gazieva ◽  

The future of labor market depends upon several factors, long-term innovation and the demographic developments. However, one of the main drivers of technological change in the future is digitalization and central to this development is the production and use of digital logic circuits and its derived technologies, including the computer,the smart phone and the Internet. Especially, smart automation will perhaps not cause e.g.regarding industries, occupations, skills, tasks and duties


2017 ◽  
Vol 168 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-185
Author(s):  
Marc Hanewinkel

The forest-game conflict – how can forest economics contribute to solve it? (Essay) Core parameters of forest economics such as land expectation value or highest revenue show that damage caused by wild ungulates can critically influence the economic success of forest enterprises. When assessing and evaluating the damage in order to calculate damage compensation, methods are applied in Germany that look either into the past (“cost value methods”) or into the future (“expected value methods”). The manifold uncertainties related to this evaluation over long-term production periods are taken into account within a framework of conventions through strongly simplifying assumptions. Only lately, the increased production risk due to game-induced loss of species diversity is also considered. Additional aspects that should be taken into account in the future are the loss of climate-adapted species, the change of the insurance values of forest ecosystems and the impossibility of specific management systems such as single-tree selection forestry due to the influence of game. Because of high transaction costs when assessing the damage, financial compensation should only be the “ultimate measure” and a meditation between stakeholder groups with the goal to find a cooperative solution before the damage occurs should be preferred.


2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 46-82
Author(s):  
Fathi Malkawi

This paper addresses some of the Muslim community’s concerns regarding its children’s education and reflects upon how education has shaped the position of other communities in American history. It argues that the future of Muslim education will be influenced directly by the present realities and future trends within American education in general, and, more importantly, by the well-calculated and informed short-term and long-term decisions and future plans taken by the Muslim community. The paper identifies some areas in which a wellestablished knowledge base is critical to making decisions, and calls for serious research to be undertaken to furnish this base.


Author(s):  
Hunter M. Holzhauer

This chapter begins with a breakdown of recent growth trends for the overall commodities market. However, the long-term future of the market will heavily depend on three pressing issues: excess supply, increased regulations, and algorithmic trading. The section on excess supply explores how traders are changing strategies to adjust to the current imbalance between supply and demand, especially in the steel industry, and how that imbalance might change in the future based on global population trends and climate change concerns. The next section examines several regulatory trends, including the dramatic exodus of some investment banks from certain segments of the commodities market followed by a section focusing on how algorithmic trading is influencing how commodities are traded. A discussion of potential scenarios for the commodities market follows. The chapter concludes by examining a few ways in which the market and commodity traders may both survive and even thrive in the future.


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