scholarly journals Perspectives on a Severe Accident Consequences—10 Years after the Fukushima Accident

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-411
Author(s):  
Jinho Song
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Accident Analysis ◽  
Fukushima Accident ◽  
The Public ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
International Attention ◽  
Nuclear Reactor Safety ◽  
Term Monitoring

Scientific issues that draw international attention from the public and experts during the last 10 years after the Fukushima accident are discussed. An assessment of current severe accident analysis methodology, impact on the views of nuclear reactor safety, dispute on the safety of fishery products, discharge of radioactive water to the ocean, status of decommissioning, and needs for long-term monitoring of the environment are discussed.

scholarly journals Phenological shift in swarming patterns of Rhopilema nomadica in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dor Edelist ◽  
Tamar Guy-Haim ◽  
Zafrir Kuplik ◽  
Noa Zuckerman ◽  
Philip Nemoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current Spread ◽  
Term Monitoring ◽  
Phenological Shift

Abstract Jellyfish (JF) swarms impact human wellbeing and marine ecosystems. Their global proliferation is a matter of concern and scientific debate, and the multitude of factors affecting (and affected by) their density and distribution merits long-term monitoring of their populations. Here we present an eight-year time series for Rhopilema nomadica, the most prominent JF species swarming the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Reports were submitted by the public and within it a group of trained participants via an internet website between June 2011 and June 2019. Data collected included species, size, location, ranked amount and stinging. Swarms of R. nomadica prevailed in July and ended in August but were also prominent in winter from January to March. Both observations deviate from past swarming patterns described in the late 1980s, when summer swarms persevered until October and winter swarms were not documented. Climate change (increasing water temperature) and the westwards up-current spread of R. nomadica are discussed as possible explanations for this phenological shift. We further demonstrate how data obtained by Citizen Science is used to develop a swarming indicator and monitor JF in time and space, and propose a forecast based on these observations.

Issues Associated With the Development of Severe Accident Management Guidelines for NPPs in China

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyi Yang ◽  
Yimin Chong ◽  
Chun Li ◽  
Jian Deng ◽  
Xianhong Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Regulatory Body ◽  
Control Room ◽  
Technical Approach ◽  
Management Guidelines ◽  
Accident Management ◽  
Term Monitoring

After Fukushima nuclear accident, the Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMGs) are required according to the policy of the regulatory body in China. Most nuclear power plants (NPPs) in China adopt the technical approach of generic-SAMG of the Westinghouse Owner Group, consisting of severe accident control room guideline (SACRG), diagnostic flow chart (DFC), severe accident guideline (SAG), severe challenge status tree (SCST), severe challenge guideline (SCG), technical support center (TSC) long term monitoring guideline, and SAMG termination guideline (SAEG). A number of issues have been identified during the development of the SAMGs for M310+ NPPs, which is a dominant reactor type in China. The paper discussed these issues and identified some considerations for their resolution.

CORBA AND MPI-BASED “BACKBONE” FOR COUPLING ADVANCED SIMULATION TOOLS

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Seydaliev ◽  
D. Caswell
Keyword(s):  
Fission Product ◽  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Message Passing ◽  
Message Passing Interface ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Atmospheric Dispersion ◽  
Safety Analysis ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Nuclear Reactor Safety ◽  
Exchange Data

There is a growing international interest in using coupled, multidisciplinary computer simulations for a variety of purposes, including nuclear reactor safety analysis. Reactor behaviour can be modeled using a suite of computer programs simulating phenomena or predicting parameters that can be categorized into disciplines such as Thermalhydraulics, Neutronics, Fuel, Fuel Channels, Fission Product Release and Transport, Containment and Atmospheric Dispersion, and Severe Accident Analysis. Traditionally, simulations used for safety analysis individually addressed only the behaviour within a single discipline, based upon static input data from other simulation programs. The limitation of using a suite of stand-alone simulations is that phenomenological interdependencies or temporal feedback between the parameters calculated within individual simulations cannot be adequately captured. To remove this shortcoming, multiple computer simulations for different disciplines must exchange data during runtime to address these interdependencies. This article describes the concept of a new framework, which we refer to as the “Backbone,” to provide the necessary runtime exchange of data. The Backbone, currently under development at AECL for a preliminary feasibility study, is a hybrid design using features taken from the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), a standard defined by the Object Management Group, and the Message Passing Interface (MPI), a standard developed by a group of researchers from academia and industry. Both have well-tested and efficient implementations, including some that are freely available under the GNU public licenses. The CORBA component enables individual programs written in different languages and running on different platforms within a network to exchange data with each other, thus behaving like a single application. MPI provides the process-to-process intercommunication between these programs. This paper outlines the different CORBA and MPI configurations examined to date, as well as the preliminary configuration selected for coupling 2 existing safety analysis programs used for modeling thermal–mechanical fuel behavior and fission product behavior respectively. In addition, preliminary work in hosting both the Backbone and the associated safety analysis programs in a cluster environment are discussed.

Nuclear Power Risks: Challenge to the Credibility of Science

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce L. Welch
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Nuclear Accident ◽  
Nuclear Accidents ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Impairment ◽  
Nuclear Reactor Safety ◽  
Special Responsibility

For a quarter of a century the Federal Government and the nuclear industry have deliberately deceived the American public about the risks of nuclear power. Facts have been systematically withheld, distorted, and obscured, and calculations have been deliberately biased in order to present nuclear power in an unrealistically favorable light. Most persistent and flagrant have been: (a) attempts to “normalize” public perception of nuclear accident casualties with those of more familiar accidents by emphasizing only acute fatalities and ignoring or downplaying the major effects of nuclear accidents, namely, health impairment and death years delayed; and (b) the cloaking of the objectively undocumentable faith of the atomic energy establishment that a nuclear accident is extremely unlikely in a smokescreen of invalid, pseudo-quantitative statistical probabilities in order to convince the public that the chance of an accident is negligible. Prime examples of these abuses are found in the Rasmussen report on nuclear reactor safety and in its representation to the public. The deceptive practices used in promoting nuclear power have seriously shaken public faith in government, technology, and science. The scientific community has a special responsibility to minimize such future political abuses of science. For those who were responsible for the deliberate breeches of public trust which resulted in this loss of faith, mere professional disdain will not suffice. They should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Learning about Conspiracy Theories

2018 ◽  
pp. 135-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay T. Cullen
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Radioactive Isotopes ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Scientific Fraud ◽  
Public Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Vocal Minority ◽  
Fukushima Disaster

The triple disaster of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdowns that struck Japan in March 2011 led to the release of massive amounts of radioactive isotopes into the environment. My research and that of other professionals in the international scientific community demonstrates that the short- and long-term impacts of these releases on environmental and human health will be difficult to detect. Most of the public response to my work on the Fukushima disaster has been positive. However, a vocal minority, enamored of conspiracy theories, responded with personal threats, accusations of scientific fraud, and attacks on my professional and personal integrity.

EU Funded Research Activities on NPPs Operational Safety

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Manolatos ◽  
G. Van Goethem
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Accident Management ◽  
Operational Safety ◽  
Nuclear Reactor Safety

The 5th framework programme (FP-5), the pluriannual research programme of the European Union (EU), covers the period 1998–2002. Research on nuclear energy, fusion and fission, is covered by the Euratom part of the FP-5. An overview of the Euratom’s research on Nuclear Reactor Safety, managed by the DG-RTD of the European Commission (EC), is presented. This concerns 70 multi-partner projects of approximately € 82.5 million total contract value that have been selected and co-financed during the period 1999–2001. They form the three clusters of projects dealing with the “Operational Safety of Existing Installations”. “Plant Life Extension and Management” (PLEM), “Severe Accident Management” (SAM) and “Evolutionary concepts” (EVOL). Emphasis is given here to the projects of the PLEM cluster.

Probabilistic Analysis of Creep-Induced SGTR for NPP

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjing Li ◽  
Wentao Zhu ◽  
Xinli Yu ◽  
Wei Wei
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Accident Analysis ◽  
Creep Failure ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Accident Management ◽  
Temperature And Pressure ◽  
Technical Basis ◽  
Steam Generator Tubes ◽  
Level 2

Severe accident analysis is the technical basis of severe accident prevention and mitigation, and severe accident phenomenon analysis can provide important technical support for Level-2 Probabilistic Safety Analysis (L2 PSA) and severe accident management of NPP. This paper evaluates the probability of creep-induced steam generator tubes rupture (SGTR) which might lead to direct release of radioactive material to environment based on Risk-Oriented Accident Analysis Methodology (ROAAM). According to Larson-Miller creep failure model, the material parameters are provided first, then a two-loop NPP model is established with MAAP4 code to assess the temperature and pressure of the pipes for typical sequences, and eventually the probability of creep-induced SGTR phenomenon for typical sequences is calculated.

scholarly journals Bats of the medieval Jeroným mine (western Bohemia, Czech Republic): results of a long-term monitoring in the hibernation and swarming periods (Chiroptera)

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-210
Author(s):  
Přemysl Tájek ◽  
Pavla Tájková ◽  
Luděk Bufka ◽  
Libor Dvořák
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Western Bohemia ◽  
Myotis Bechsteinii ◽  
Myotis Daubentonii ◽  
Myotis Nattereri ◽  
Term Monitoring

The medieval mine of Jeroným (Jerome) is one of the most important bat localities known in western Bohemia. Ten bat species have been detected there, including Myotis emarginatus which is very rare in the western part of the Czech Republic. Numbers of wintering bats have been monitored since 1995 and show an upward trend there, even after the opening of a part of the mine to the public during summer (since 2014). The highest numbers of wintering bats correspond to unusually cold winters in 2017 (347 inds.) and 2013 (156 inds.). Mistnetting during the swarming period has been carried out annually since 2009. Numbers of netted bats have been decreasing, probably due to the existence of a new visitor centre built near the entrance to the underground. Species compositions recorded during the hibernation and swarming periods are very similar, but proportions of particular species are different. Myotis daubentonii, M. myotis and M. nattereri were the most abundant bat species during hibernation, while Myotis nattereri, M. daubentonii and Plecotus auritus during the swarming period. Swarming numbers of Myotis mystacinus and M. brandtii have been growing in the last several years. Myotis bechsteinii was detected repeatedly, while Eptesicus nilssonii and Myotis emarginatus (wintering) and Nyctalus noctula (swarming) only once each. The swarming activity of bats was highest 2.5–5.5 hours after sunset. In total, 436 bats were ringed, about 6% of them were recaptured at the site. Some of the ringed bats were recorded at other localities, Myotis myotis at distances up to 39 km, and M. nattereri up to 21 km.

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