Building a Nuclear Security Regime: Questions to Be Asked

This chapter outlines some of the key questions to be asked by a State when considering a nuclear programme and thus a nuclear security regime. In the context of globalization and the emergence of a world in which States are interdependent, it is recognized that the way one State carries out its mission to protect nuclear materials and nuclear activities concerns other States also. In response to this, and despite the reluctance of States to expose their sovereign security practices, an international framework, composed of legally binding or non-binding tools, has been built up with the idea of promoting greater consistency and thus providing guarantees to all States. It is also important, for this one State, to comprehend the national and international context beyond nuclear security within which it falls. This State has then to question itself, in the light of security issues and the fundamental principle of State sovereignty, on the essential concepts that are found in certain components of the nuclear field, such as the positioning of the competent authority, the protection of information, transparency or the place of the operator.

Study on specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of uranium nitride

In this study, we have proposed an analytical method for calculating the specific heat capacity of uranium nitride nuclear material. The specific heat capacity results have obtained by the use of the Debye-Einstein approximation. The thermal conductivity of nuclear material has been obtained by using the experimental data of thermal diffusivity and the calculation results of specific heat capacity. This method shows that our results are satisfactory for the wide range temperature variations. The proposed approach can be easily applied to determine the thermodynamic properties of the other nuclear materials.

Resurgence of a Nation’s Radiation Science Driven by Its Nuclear Industry Needs

This article describes the radiation facilities and associated sample preparation, management, and analysis equipment currently in place at the Dalton Cumbrian Facility, a facility which opened in 2011 to support the UK’s nuclear industry. Examples of measurements performed using these facilities are presented to illustrate their versatility and the breadth of research they make possible. Results are presented from research which furthers our understanding of radiation damage to polymeric materials, radiolytic yield of gaseous products in situations relevant to nuclear materials, radiation chemistry in light water reactor cooling systems, material chemistry relevant to immobilization of nuclear waste, and radiation-induced corrosion of fuel cladding elements. Applications of radiation chemistry relevant to health care are also described. Research concerning the mechanisms of radioprotection by dietary carotenoids is reported. An ongoing open-labware project to develop a suite of modular sample handling components suited to radiation research is described, as is the development of a new neutron source able to provide directional beams of neutrons.

Management of nuclear materials containing natural uranium and thorium salts

This paper highlights an experimental model proposed for the management of nuclear materials containing natural uranium and thorium salts, based on technical and legislative methods. The investigated nuclear materials originate from laboratory chemicals with expired validity, having as manufacturers companies specialized in the manufacture of laboratory substances such as: Merck, Chemapol, Sigma Aldrich, Bucharest Reagent. The experimental program refers to several issues of great importance in the waste and environmental management, such as: a) the processing of radioactive substances containing nuclear materials and radioactive waste represented by solid objects contaminated with radionuclides from the radioactive series of U-238 and Th-232; b) gamma dose rate measurement during handling and processing of open sources of ionized radiation; c) measurement of suspicious contamination of the operating personnel which handles the equipment, including the materials used in the processing of open sources of ionizing radiation; and d) the inventory of nuclear materials according to the chemical formula, the mass of chemical substance, the mass of the nuclear element in each container and type of packaging. For the good development of processing these open sources of ionizing radiation containing nuclear materials, the ALARA principle (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) was applied, which is fundamental to the principles of radiation protection. All the measurements for determining the gamma dose rate and suspicious contamination were performed with the aid of a CoMo 170 radiometric device produced by Nuvia Instruments Gmbh Germany, equipped with a 170x100 mm2 PL detector with zinc sulfide calibrated with the aid of C-14, Co-60, Cs-137, U-238 and Am-241 radioactive isotopes and an external probe containing a scintillating crystal with sodium iodide enriched with thallium calibrated with Cs-137.