As the accident at Chernobyl illustrated, the geographical scope of damage caused by a nuclear accident is not necessarily confined to national boundaries. In the event of a nuclear accident causing damage in more than one country, it is desirable that the protection accorded to victims by a third party liability regime be distributed equitably among affected countries. Although the high safety standards of the nuclear industry mean that the risk of an accident is very low, the possible magnitude of damage from a nuclear accident is such that insurance coverage of liability requires international collaboration between national insurance pools. These considerations were recognised in the early years of the nuclear power industry and inspired States to develop the existing international regimes. Furthermore, there is a significant amount of transboundary transport of nuclear materials. Such international movement is both better regulated and facilitated by being subject to one uniform regime.
There are two basic international regimes for nuclear third party liability in force: the Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy ("the Paris Convention") was established on 29 July 1960 under the auspices of the NEA and covers most West European countries, while the Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage ("the Vienna Convention") was established on 21 May 1963 under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and is worldwide in character. The list of Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention is as follows:
Coverage under the Paris Convention is extended by the Supplementary Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 31 January 1963 ("the Brussels Supplementary Convention"). The list of Contracting Parties to the Brussels Supplementary Convention is as follows:
The Paris Convention and the Brussels Supplementary Convention have both been amended three times: by Additional Protocols adopted in 1964, 1982 & 2004. Furthermore, the Paris and Vienna Conventions have been linked by the Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention of 21 September 1988 ("the Joint Protocol") which entered into force on 27 April 1992. The Paris and the Vienna Conventions are supplemented, in relation to maritime transport, by the Convention Relating to Civil Liability in the Field of Maritime Carriage of Nuclear Material of 17 December 1971 ("the 1971 Brussels Convention").
Nuclear Legislation in OECD Countries
Regulatory and Institutional Framework for Nuclear Activities
Each country profile in this valuable reference work provides a detailed review of a full range of nuclear law topics. These include: the general regulatory regime, including mining; radioactive substances and equipment; nuclear installations; trade in nuclear materials; radiation protection; radioactive waste management; non-proliferation and physical protection; transport; and nuclear third party liability.
Revised Nuclear Third Party Liability Conventions improve victims' rights to compensation
The signing of the Protocols to amend the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention will take place on 12 February, at OECD headquarters. The revised Conventions will allow for a considerable increase in the amount of compensation available to victims of a nuclear accident and for the expansion of the scope of application of the Paris Convention. (10 February 2004).
Slovenia joins the Paris Convention on Nuclear Third Party Liability
Slovenia acceded to the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy on 16 October 2001. This was the first time that a non-member country of the OECD has acceded to the Paris Convention and Slovenias accession brings the number of Contracting Parties to the Convention to 15.
Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage
Convention maintained under the auspices of the IAEA.
Last updated: 9 December 2011


Table of Contents
- Loss of Countless Lives
- Nuclear Winter
- Nuclear Famine
- Electromagnetic Pulse
- Nuclear Fallout
- Thermal Radiation
- Radar Blackout
- Ionizing Radiation
- Damage Due to the Blasts
- Consequences in a Nutshell
If you are one to follow the news, you probably know that the chances of a nuclear war breaking out are more likely than ever. In light of recent events, an oft-asked question is how you can survive a full-blown nuclear war. However, the question that needs to be asked is that do you even want to survive a nuclear war?
Before going into the direct and indirect effects of a nuclear war breaking out, it is important to understand that even a low profile nuclear war can wreak enough damage to make the earth inhabitable. A nuclear war isn’t just any war. As of 2018, nine countries have nuclear warheads. Five of these nine countries, France, the US, the UK, China, and Russia are part of the original owner’s club. (1) So, without any further ado, let us explain the 10 things that will definitely happen should a nuclear war break out.
Loss of Countless Lives
Unsurprisingly, the loss of countless human lives is at the top of the effects of a nuclear war. Moreover, the unprecedented loss of lives is something that will continue well after the war, courtesy of the after-effects. Hundreds of millions of innocent people will die during the war. Entire cities and their inhabitants will be vaporized. It doesn’t end there. Even after the war is long over, millions will die due to radiation exposure, cancer, and starvation. The dirt and debris that was sucked up into the mushroom clouds would be made radioactive by neutrons. A significant part of this material will fall back to the earth, resulting in radioactive fallout. Hundreds of millions will die from exposure. (2)
As nuclear firestorms vaporize cities and forests, great torrents of smoke will envelop the planet, spreading out in black clouds of ash. The ultimate result will be darkness at all times, causing the temperatures to plummet. All living things will slowly but surely die. A prolonged and severe cooling effect after extensive firestorms is the characteristic of nuclear winter. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that firestorms can cause soot to block direct sunlight, resulting in noontime darkness. (3)
Though it is difficult to estimate the total number of causalities due to nuclear winter, it is a no-brainer that most of them are caused by nuclear famine. Characterized by mass starvation, more than a third of the world’s population will starve to death if a regional conflict should erupt. (4) With a continuous winter, no crops will grow. The reduction in food supplies will only serve to raise prices, affecting hundreds of millions of people. With no crops, herbivores and carnivores will slowly starve to death. Humans will gain no reprieve.
EMP or an electromagnetic pulse is defined as a burst of electromagnetic radiation. Nuclear explosions can create an electromagnetic radiation pulse, which can disrupt or damage electronic equipment. Even a single nuclear weapon can disable all of the electronics in the United States. (5) Needless to say, EMP can disable hospitals, food storage facilities, communication, and water treatment facilities. The consequences of EMP attacks can span over months or years, resulting in a prolonged power loss. (6)
Nuclear fallout is radioactive ash and dust that is thrust into the atmosphere after an explosion. Though limited to a certain area, radioactive fallout is by no means tame. Darkened by soot, residual radioactive ash can fall in the form of black rain.
Containing radioactive isotopes such as strontium 90 and cesium 137, black rain and fallout can contaminate waterways, crops, and soil. Direct contact with such radioactive materials ultimately leads to radiation poisoning. The after-effects of radiation poisoning and exposure include prodromal syndrome, death of your bone marrow, death of the central nervous system as well as gastrointestinal death. Long-term effects of radiation exposure also include cancer, and in utero effects on the development of humans. (7) (8)
Nuclear weapons can emit large amounts of thermal radiation in the form of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. Known as ‘flash’, thermal radiation can cause burns and eye injuries. Thermal radiation is also capable of starting fires. Constituting about 35-40% of the energy released in a nuclear explosion, thermal radiation can cause hazards like flash blindness and retinal burns.
Flash blindness is usually temporary, resulting in bleaching of the visual pigments. On the other hand, a retinal burn results in permanent damage due to scarring. Caused by the concentration of thermal energy on the retina, a retinal burn only occurs when the explosion or fireball is in your field of vision. An uncommon injury, retinal burns can occur at a considerable distance from the explosion. The actual height of the burst as well as the fireball’s size determines the extent of retinal scarring.
The heat emitted by the explosion causes ionization of the air in your surroundings. This creates a fireball. The free electrons in said fireball can affect radio waves, making a significant part of the sky opaque to radar. (9) Beta particles can also cause another blackout. Beta particles can travel longer distances, and reach the upper atmosphere. Causing ionization very similar to the fireball, beta particles can cover a wider area.
An obvious effect of a nuclear war, the pressure generated by an underground wave can travel through the ground and cause an earthquake. (10) Studies have shown that a nuclear war can cause fault ruptures and major and minor earthquakes. (11)
At least 5% of the energy released in a nuclear explosion is released in the form of ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation includes neutrons, gamma rays, alpha particles, and electrons. All of these particles travel at the speed of light, gamma rays faster than its counterparts.
At the site of the explosion, the intensity of neutrons is far greater than the gamma intensity. The neutron radiation is transmuted to the matter in your surroundings, making it highly radioactive. When dust and ash are added to the radioactive material released by the bomb, a significant amount of radioactive material is released into the environment. This type of radioactive poisoning is termed as a nuclear fallout. The nuclear fallout is the chief risk of exposure to the ionizing radiation of a nuclear weapon.
Damage Due to the Blasts
Most of the damage caused by nuclear explosions are due to the blasts themselves. Nuclear explosions can cause buildings to fold under, and vaporize entirely. The high temperatures and radiation of the nuclear explosions can cause the release of a shock wave. These shock waves and compressions can weaken structures. The weakened buildings are then destroyed by blast winds. Compressions and shock waves, coupled with drag phases can exert a force that is ten times stronger than a hurricane.
Other than destroying buildings and structures, blasts can cause irreparable damages to the human body. The shock waves caused by the explosions can exert pressure waves throughout the tissues of your body. Chiefly damaging the junctions between tissues of bone and muscles, shock waves wreak havoc on your lungs and abdominal cavity. Injuring tissues having different densities, shock waves can cause severe hemorrhaging and embolisms. Both of these are highly fatal. The pressure exerted by the shock waves can damage lungs and even rupture eardrums.
Consequences in a Nutshell
It is common knowledge that the physical and biological effects of a nuclear war have certainly advanced over the years. The harmful effects of a nuclear war on the environment are in greater focus. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the socio-economic effects of a nuclear war. Though it is difficult to estimate the exact effects of a nuclear war, it is by no means an invitation for us to find out just what would happen. With fluctuating temperatures, and perpetual darkness, the planet Earth will make surviving very difficult should nukes fly.
Even if a regional war between Pakistan and India were to break out, the effects will be felt by the whole world. If the US and Russia use only a small number of their warheads, two billion people will lose their lives. This rough estimate does not include the long-term effects of a nuclear war. With a multitude of medical issues, including cancer, burns, bone marrow death, and central nervous system death, a nuclear war will certainly do in mankind. Should a nuclear war break out, the human race will, slowly but surely, die out. With constant winter, crops will die out, food prices will rise and the poorer countries will bear the brunt. Eventually, all herbivores and predators will die out, and so will humans.


The year of 2011 was unprecedented and life-changing for every member of our company due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck our nation on March 11th.
The accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant hindered our capabilities in the area of stable power supply and caused the release of radioactive materials. This resulted in a tremendous amount of anxiety and inconvenience for not only the people of Fukushima but also broader society. In addition, the trustworthiness of TEPCO and nuclear energy were lost.
On the other hand, thanks to the unselfish and cooperative efforts of all those involved, we were able to improve the situation step by step and succeed in the implementation of the four "Urgent Issues". Namely, achieving "earliest possible restoration from the accident", "empathy- based compensation payouts", "securement of stable power supply" and "thorough management streamlining."
We have now entered 2012. Although the fundamentals of the recovery work we are engaged in will not change, in terms of the present timeframe and work contents, there will be many big changes. Our focus will now shift from "urgent and temporary" actions to "mid-to-long term and drastic" measures.
Last year, while in the midst of much future uncertainty, we had no choice but to respond quickly to many problems as they arose day to day. However, this year, our target will shift from "urgent matters" to resolving "mid-to-long term issues".
More precisely, over a time span of several years, ten years or even several decades, in cooperation with all of our group companies, it will be necessary for us to work harder to solve such mid-to-long term issues as "the decommissioning project while not neglecting safety and R&D", "securement of stable power supply under limited management resources" and "large and widely varying compensation payouts".
In order to achieve these targets, we must be flexible in our implementation of sweeping reforms and not cling to convention or our vested interests. It is time to move forward, make amends where needed, and unflinchingly do what needs to be done
By this March, in cooperation with the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation, we will review the "Comprehensive Special Business Plan" which will outline how the TEPCO group intends to solve these issues and will include TEPCO's mid-to-long term direction and targets.
During the implementation of the reforms, I would like you to pay special heed to the meaning of the word "Shinshu". "Shinshu" embodies the qualities of fearlessness and attempting new things while not being bound by tradition. It means not being afraid to take risks even in the face of the unknown. Although restoring societal trust and our company's reputation as a stable power provider will not be easy, please let the spirit of this word motivate you as we move forward together to accomplish the mid-to-long issues.
Finally, as painful as it was, TEPCO had to make the difficult decision to increase electricity rates for our customers in the deregulated sector. This is not going to be easy to accomplish without our customer's understanding. However, after much deliberation, this step has been deemed essential to our management streamlining efforts. Hence, it is of utmost importance that the reasons and necessity of this step be kindly and thoroughly explained to all of our valued customers.
* This address was given to TEPCO employees.


Larger particles spill out of the stem and cascade down the outside of the fireball in a downward current, even as the cloud rises, so rain begins to reach near ground zero in an hour. More than half of the total debris from the bomb falls to the ground in about 24 hours as local rain. Radioactivity and precipitation could have serious effects on the environment and health. Depending on the magnitude of a nuclear conflict, explosions could even affect the climate.
The exact distribution of precipitation depends crucially on the speed and direction of the wind; in some conditions, lethal rain can extend several hundred miles downwind of an explosion. A nuclear weapon that explodes at a high altitude does not produce any of the explosion or local rain effects just described. But can we eliminate nuclear weapons? Should we? What risks could such removal entail? Those are the real issues in the ongoing debates on the future of nuclear weapons. A limited form of nuclear warfare would be like conventional conflict on the battlefield, but using low-performance tactical nuclear weapons.
A nuclear war would produce enormous quantities of ozone-consuming chemicals, and studies suggest that even modest nuclear exchange would lead to unprecedented increases in ultraviolet exposure. This was counterproductive, as Sagan was ridiculed by aggressive physicists such as Edward Teller, who had an interest in perpetuating the myth that nuclear war could be won and the belief that a missile defense system could protect the United States from nuclear attack. The most immediate effect of a nuclear explosion is an intense burst of nuclear radiation, mainly gamma rays and neutrons. Retaliatory nuclear forces (a virtual impossibility, given nuclear missile submarines, but a scenario considered with lethal seriousness by nuclear planners).
This web page provides information on the radioactive consequences of nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere conducted during the 1940s and 1950s. Nuclear Winter A substantial reduction in global temperature that could result from the injection of soot into the atmosphere during a nuclear war. Rain is mainly composed of fission products, although neutron capture and other nuclear reactions provide additional radioactive material. When a nuclear detonation occurs, people, plants and animals can be exposed to rain in a variety of ways.
Using updated models of Cold War nuclear explosions, the Wellerstein simulator can roughly predict the number of casualties and injuries from a nuclear bomb in a given location, large or small. The highest levels of outdoor rain radiation occur immediately after the arrival of rain and then decrease over time. The debate about the national and global effects of nuclear war continues, and it is unlikely that issues will be conclusively decided without the unfortunate experiment of real nuclear war. The destructive effects of explosions extend miles from the point of detonation of a typical nuclear weapon, and the lethal consequences can cover communities hundreds of miles downwind of a single nuclear explosion.


Take a look at the word thorium.
What do you see?
Those familiar with Norse mythology or the Marvel comic books might notice the root of the word is Thor, the name of the god of thunder. Thor is known for his strength and power, wielding a hammer and controlling the lightning and thunder.
The name alone implies a superhuman power, a superior energy. And the element doesn’t disappoint…
Thorium is a radioactive chemical element that can be found in soil and rocks. In its purest form, it appears as a silver metal, but when heated in the air, it becomes like a white light, like lightning.
Thorium is currently used in things such as light bulbs and camera lenses. It can create a high-quality refractive glass, and its high melting point can allow ceramics to resist high temperatures.
But light bulbs and ceramics aren’t what have the energy industry watching closely…
Heat resistance is.
You see, thorium’s ultra-high melting point can be useful in more than just ceramics. Heat resistance is something scientists and energy specialists alike have been trying desperately to achieve with nuclear energy.
One of the biggest issues with nuclear plants is the meltdowns that can occur if the uranium is not cooled properly. We saw that tragically exhibited in Japan in 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami caused a series of meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The fact that the only other disaster of that caliber was the 1986 Chernobyl disaster has done little to ease the minds of world governments and energy companies. This simply highlighted the tragedy that can come along with it.
Which is why thorium’s properties have become so coveted. If the material were virtually meltdown-proof, the clean energy possibilities would be endless.
There is only one problem: Thorium is unable to sustain a nuclear reaction on its own.
Thorium in Nuclear Energy
Thorium’s inability to sustain a nuclear chain reaction causes a problem, but it’s not one without a solution.
The material can actually prove quite effective when combined with a fissile material — one that is able to sustain a nuclear reaction.
These materials include uranium-233 (which is actually an isotope of thorium), enriched uranium (U-235), and plutonium (Pu-239).
The use of thorium in a nuclear reaction significantly lowers the waste produced; of the waste that does occur, radioactively decaying elements are lowered as well. Combined with weapons-grade uranium, for instance, one University of Oslo researcher found that thorium can aid in reducing radioactive waste by up to 95%.
And the safety of a thorium reactor compared to one using uranium is much higher. As mentioned before, thorium’s high melting point makes a nuclear meltdown much less likely.
But thorium can’t be used in just any nuclear reactor. Only seven types are safe for thorium reactions, including heavy water reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, boiling (light) water reactors, pressurized (light) water reactors, fast neutron reactors, molten salt reactors, and accelerator driven reactors. Molten salt reactors and accelerator driven reactors are still conceptual, though the other five have all been operational at some point.
The liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR), a type of molten salt reactor, is being touted by many as the best solution to thorium-powered nuclear energy. In these types of reactors, thorium and uranium fluorides are combined into a salt mixture that’s heated to a molten substance, which is then used to fuel the reactor.
These reactors have the potential to become self-sustainable, as they will be able to produce U-233 (the thorium isotope).
Flibe Energy, a company started by nuclear technologist and former NASA aerospace engineer Kirk Sorensen, is conducting research on LFTR technology with a view to eventually incorporate these reactors not just into electrical energy generation, but also into fields as vastly different as desalination, cancer treatment, and deep space exploration.
Creating the Nuclear Reaction
Still, the fissile material that enables a thorium reactions is actually fairly difficult to supply…
For years, the U.S. has had a steady stream of U-235 coming in, but that runs out this year.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Lisbon Protocol in 1992, the U.S. and Russia arrived at the U.S.-Russian Highly Enriched Uranium Agreement, or what came to be known as the “Megatons to Megawatts Program.”
Under the terms of the 1993 agreement, Russia would dismantle Soviet nuclear warheads and convert 500 tonnes of highly-enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium, which would be sold to the U.S. for use in nuclear reactors.
By 2013, ten years after the start of the program, all 500 tonnes would be converted. As a result, the U.S.’s steady supply of uranium came to a halt in 2013.
But for thorium, it might not be as bad as it seems. After all, U-235 isn’t the only fissile material that could be combined with thorium for a nuclear reaction…
U-233, an isotope of thorium, can react with thorium for a nuclear reaction. And this is the focus of the LFTRs, as it could lead to self-sufficiency of these reactors with the recycled waste.
It’s not easy. Thermal breeding, as the process is called, requires the reactor to produce more fissile material than it consumes, and it requires a highly specialized type of reactor.
Regular nuclear reactors are unable to breed to the point where it is unnecessary to add more of the fissile material. But many LFTRs are being designed as breeding reactors. While regularly adding thorium to these reactors would be necessary, adding U-233 would not. Enough fissile material would be created in the reactions to sustain it on its own.
Investing in Thorium
Investing in thorium can be tough, as it’s not yet used for nuclear power generation. Companies like Flibe Energy, which is focused on thorium reactors, are still private.
But there are several companies working on thorium solutions that you can add to your portfolio…
Uranium Mining Companies
Several uranium miners, like Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) and Unity Energy Corp. (UTY.V), are mining uranium in areas that also have concentrations of thorium.
Though neither company has reported on significant mining of thorium, both are well-positioned to profit should the demand for the metal skyrocket.
As thorium reactor testing continues in nations like Norway and India, and major investors like Bill Gates (whose company TerraPower has also begun testing thorium reactors) get involved, attention to the metal will only grow…
Research on these reactors will lead to implementation, and that will lead to profits for the well-positioned investor.
Thorium is the key nuclear fuel of the future. Keep a close eye on this one.


Gas-phase chromatography studies of nihonium (Nh, Z=113 were carried out at the one-atom-at-a-time level. For the production of nihonium, the heavy-ion-induced nuclear fusion reaction of 48 Ca with 243 Am was used. This leads to isotopes 284, 285 Nh, as the direct descendants of the α -decaying precursors 288, 289 Mc. Combining the Dubna Gas-Filled Recoil Separator with gas-phase chromatographic separation, the experiment was sensitive to elemental nihonium and its adsorption behavior on Teflon, theoretically predicted by modern relativistic density functional theory. The non-observation of any decays of Nh after the chemical separation indicates a larger than expected retention of elemental Nh on a Teflon surface.


This half hour interview of Paul Blanch on Facing the Future Television explains why a radioactive release at the failed beachfront nuclear waste dump at San Onofre is, in his words, “inevitable.” The current location contains 3.6 million pounds of eternally deadly radioactive “spent” nuclear fuel, stored 108 feet from the beach in a tsunami flood zone, on top of earthquake faults, in temporary canisters that are only guaranteed to last 25 years.**
At issue is the fact that the NRC has failed to conduct a site-specific risk analysis of any kind, claiming that the possibility of an radiation release at any nuclear waste dump in the USA is “non-credible.” Although it isn’t mentioned in this brief interview, the NRC stands completely alone in its opinion that a nuclear accident at San Onofre is “non-credible.” The facts are that the American insurance industry has assessed nuclear risks, and not a single corporation in the USA offers insurance to protect you from the damages caused by a nuclear disaster.
* It is impossible for Americans to purchase insurance against a radiation disaster because the risk is too high. For more information visit the Insurance Information Institute.
** Southern California Edison, the owner of the canisters, claims the “design life” is sixty years.


The Selective Production of Exotic Species (SPES) is a nuclear facility currently under construction at the National Laboratories of Legnaro (LNL) of the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), aiming at the production of Radioactive Ion Beams.
In the first SPES production phase, low energy and low intensity ion beams are planned to be produced using different targets. A continuous proton beam of 40 MeV of energy and 20 µA of current will impinge on SiC and UCx targets, whose operational temperature is 2000 °C. The life-cycle of the Target and Ion Source (TIS) unit is 15-day long. After this time, the TIS unit will be removed from the Front-End.
A semi-automatic handling system for this kind of target units is being designed at the SPES laboratories. Such a system picks up the TIS unit and takes it to a temporary storage, where it will be hosted until the final disposal. The system foresees the presence of an operator. Due to the residual activity of the irradiated target, shielding calculations have to be performed based on the frequency and on the duration of the planned operations.
The ambient dose equivalent rate has been calculated with Fluka Monte Carlo code, for the two different target compositions, SiC and UCx, during the TIS removal operations. Different shielding conditions have been analyzed. Shielding calculations performed for both the semi-automatic handling system and for the exhausted target unit temporary storage represent mandatory inputs for the design of the SPES project.


At an isolated location along the Columbia River in 1944, the world's first plutonium factory became operational, producing fuel for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II. Former Seattle Times science writer Hill Williams traces the amazing, tragic story - from the dawn of nuclear science to Cold War testing in the Marshall Islands.
The book is published by Washington State University Press.
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Apart from coal, thorium is the only abundant energy source in India. Recent developments at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) give hope that this mineral can be India’s answer to green energy.
BARC is working on several technologies for using thorium, of which two are noteworthy.
One is the ‘Indian high-temperature reactor’ (IHTR), which is designed to produce heat and, in turn, produce hydrogen through the ‘sulphur-iodine’ method. In this process, sulphuric acid decomposes into oxygen, sulphur dioxide and water under high temperature. When iodine is added to sulphur dioxide and water, you get hydrogen iodide, which again splits into hydrogen and iodine at high temperatures. The fuel for this reactor is a mixture of uranium-233 dioxide and thorium dioxide. Uranium-233 does not occur naturally and is obtained by the mutation of thorium in reactors.
The other important thorium technology at BARC is the ‘ Indian molten salt breeder reactor’ (IMSBR). This 5-MW pilot project in Visakhapatnam is cloaked in secrecy, with BARC declining to share information about it.
Its design has two interesting features. First, it pulls more uranium-233 from thorium and is, therefore, considered better than the fast-breeder reactors like the one under construction (for decades) in Kalpakkam, near Chennai. The IMSBR is also a ‘breeder reactor’, which means it produces more that it consumes.
This happens when you place uranium-233 inside the reactor core and a blanket of thorium around the core. When neutrons bombard the fissile nuclei of uranium-233, energy is produced, but some of the neutrons hit the thorium nuclei and convert it into uranium-233. Thus, even as uranium-233 is burnt inside the reactor, more of it is produced (from thorium) outside the reactor.
However, there is a problem. Thorium does not mutate into uranium-233 straightaway; it first turns into an isotope of an element known as protactinium. The isotope, protactinium-233, turns into uranium-233. Meanwhile, during its brief life, protactinium-233 is also bombarded by neutrons and it partly absorbs the neutrons to become uranium-234, which is not fissile and therefore useless. The longer protactinium tarries in the reactor, the lower the output of uranium-233 from thorium.
BARC’s design, on the other hand, features a fluid fuel instead of the solid fuels used in conventional reactors. Liquid fuels can be pumped in and out unlike solid fuels, which stay in place until they burn out completely. In the IMSBR, the fuel is a liquid thorium-based salt. It can be pumped out to ensure that the decay of protactinium-233 into uranium-233 happens outside the reactor, leading to a higher output than in conventional reactors. There are a few more advantages, too. These, as BARC scientist IV Dulera notes in a paper, include continuous removal of xenon and krypton, resulting in improved neutron economy, negative fuel salt reactivity coefficient and other technical benefits.
BARC has developed an appropriate salt for this purpose (LiF-CaF -ThF –UF) which is circulated by pump through the reactor core. (Elsewhere in the world, researchers are coming up with better salts, which are chloride-based rather than fluoride-based (such as NaCl-ThCl4-PlCl3).
BARC has also developed other things such as pumps, valves, flow meters and heat exchangers. It has also concocted an alloy for the pipes conducting the molten salt.
The second interesting feature of the IMSBR is how it produces electricity. It does away with the conventional, inefficient Rankine cycle, where water boils to steam and turns the turbine. Instead, the IMSBR is to be married to the highly efficient Brayton cycle, where supercritical carbon dioxide (namely, carbon dioxide that is in a state between liquid and gas at a certain temperature and pressure) is used to drive the turbines, thereby cutting water use and producing a lot more electricity.
In response to an emailed query from Quantum, Dr Soumyakanti Adhikari, Head, Scientific Information Resource Division, BARC, said: “The MSBR and HTR are promising technologies among other available options and constitute a part of our continuing developmental endeavour. Both these systems and the associated fuel cycle aspects are in exploratory evaluation and initial assessment stages.” The aim is to gain a sound understanding of the challenges inherent in these reactors and fuel systems, and the likely solutions to them, he said.
When the IMSBR demonstration plant comes up at Visakhapatnam, it would mark a significant step in India’s green energy journey with the entry of the thorium cycle. It appears as if the electricity generating IMSBR and the hydrogen producing IHTR could be the vehicles taking India closer to its net-zero target. Both use thorium — which is abundant in India and, yet, intriguingly absent in its green transition narrative.


|The following is based on information from Van Buren design documents and is not canon.|
Overloading the reactor core will cause the emergency launch protocol to kick in and five minutes later, the station to blow up.
The PC can try to access the reactor computer that sits next to the Reactor Core. Once accessed, the player, if his Science skill is high enough (> 100), can program the reactor to overload. Once initiated, the emergency launch protocols initiate and the station will blow up in ten minutes – giving the player time to fight his way out, if he wants.
Character type completion breakdown
- Combat Boy, Diplomacy Boy, Science Boy, Stealth Boy - Only if the PC's Science skill is > 100
- B.O.M.B.-001 design document
- If the emergency launch protocol initiates, the missiles will immediately launch. The advantage to this is that since the launch was rushed, the station is not yet in the optimum launching position, which causes the missiles to only be 50% accurate.


The revival of the Japanese nuclear sector will depend on the efforts of workers at Fukushima Daiichi, French industry and energy minister Eric Besson said during a visit to the site.
|Besson addresses workers at Fukushima Daiichi
Besson visited the stricken nuclear power plant during a two-day official visit to Japan. Accompanied on his tour by an AFP journalist, Besson was later reported to have said that nuclear power was too important an energy source to abandon. "I come from a country that produces most of its electricity from nuclear power," he told workers at the site. "We continue to believe in a civilian nuclear energy program operated in the safest possible way. We are relying on you to revive this sector."
Besson is the first overseas minister to visit the Fukushima Daiichi site since the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's north-eastern coast almost one year ago. On finishing his visit to Japan his itinerary takes him to China, where he is due to visit the construction site of China's first EPR units at Taishan.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News


VIENNA, Austria - Iran is threatening to sue countries that it says have damaged its reputation and pushed to have U.N. Security Council involvement in its nuclear program.
It is also accusing the United States of pressuring the International Atomic Energy Agency to base its latest probe of Iran's nuclear program on fake evidence suggesting Tehran has tried to make nuclear arms.
The comments were made Thursday to the 35-nation board of the IAEA by Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the agency.>>>
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|احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱||Dec 02|
|Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day||46 days on hunger strike||Dec 01|
|Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti||In Barcelona||Nov 30|
|گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی||Nov 30|
|Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day||Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years||Nov 30|
|محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین||Nov 29|
|Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day||Kurdish Activist on Death Row||Nov 28|


On May 14th, in China's important accelerator research and development base, with the acceleration of the van truck slowly out of the China Institute of Atomic Energy, the nuclear non-destructive testing linear accelerator developed by China National Nuclear Corporation was officially shipped to Turkey. The Group's first export of high-end manufacturing equipment for accelerators indicates that China's electronic linear accelerator technology has reached the international advanced level. This is a significant step for China National Nuclear Corporation to implement the 'One Belt and One Road' initiative and enhance its international influence. It is of great significance to open up the international market for nuclear technology and application industries. Members, Deputy General Manager Cao Shudong attended the departure activities.
Electronic accelerator is the source technology for nuclear technology application. It is the most advanced radiation device in the world. It is the most complex and the most core equipment for non-destructive inspection systems such as containers and vehicles. At present, only the United States, Germany and a few developed countries have the ability to manufacture nondestructive testing accelerators. The accelerator for this export is the 6MeV dual-energy non-destructive testing electron linear accelerator which has a completely independent intellectual property right at the Institute of Nuclear Energy. This accelerator has an energy regulation function and is the most advanced non-destructive testing accelerator. Users use this accelerator as a high-energy X-ray source. Safety inspection of large container vehicles.
In the activity, Cao Shudong pointed out that as an important supporting force for the innovation and development of CNNC, the Atomic Energy Institute should further emancipate the mind, accelerate the pace of reforms, focus on enhancing the ability of scientific and technological innovation, and make important breakthroughs in nuclear-based scientific research and national major project tasks; it is necessary to deepen science and technology Institutional and institutional reforms will accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, stimulate the enthusiasm and creativity of researchers, accelerate the application and promotion of nuclear technology, promote the in-depth development of military and civilian integration, and make new contributions to the promotion of national nuclear technology and the development of the group's industries.
This year coincided with the 60th anniversary of the completion of the “one reactor” (China's first heavy water reactor, the first cyclotron) in the Institute of Atomic Energy. For 60 years, the Institute of Atomic Energy Accelerators has successively created a number of domestic scientific and technological achievements, and The professional direction of the electron linear accelerator developed detection and irradiation accelerator series of nuclear technology application products. It has developed the first non-destructive testing electron linear accelerator, the first high-energy low-power electron irradiation accelerator and the first high-energy high-power irradiation accelerator, etc. The overall technical level has always been at the leading position in China and has achieved significant influence in the domestic market. On May 9, 2017, since the release of China's first international standard for general nuclear instrumentation, the Institute of Atomic Energy has used electronic linear accelerators for non-destructive testing. International influence has been greatly improved, and many foreign equipment integrators have purchase intentions.
It is understood that in January 2018, the Atomic Energy Research Institute and the Chinese company jointly signed a strategic cooperation agreement on the transfer, transformation and industrialization of Accelerator's scientific and technological achievements. It is planned to cooperate to build an industrialized company in the field of accelerators for China National Nuclear Corporation, and accumulate accelerator technology in the Nuclear Energy Institute. The results can provide CNNIC with an industry scale that further expands, and provides an important source of technology and driving force for further enhancement of industrial capabilities. At present, the two parties have reached preliminary consensus on the cooperation in the detection of three products: linear accelerator, radiation accelerator and PET cyclotron.
China Nuclear Power Group's Ministry of Science and Technology and Information Technology Department, Market Development and Capital Operation Department, International Cooperation Department, Military and Civil Integration Office/Nuclear Technology and Applications Industry Department leaders and related persons, and relevant leaders of the Atomic Energy Institute attended the departure activities.


The Intensity Modulated Proton Linear Accelerator for Cancer Therapy (TOP-IMPLART) is under development and construction by ENEA in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Health (ISS) and the Oncological Hospital Regina Elena-IFO with financial support of Regione Lazio. Its peculiar time structure (few microseconds pulse width) and very high peak intensity (109 proton/pulse) demand for ad hoc dose delivery monitors (DDM). The TOP-IMPLART DDM is based on ionization gas chambers. One segmented chamber prototype uses Micro Pattern Gaseous Detector technology for the 2-dimensional simultaneous x/y readout; the charge collected from each active segment (strips with pad-like shape) is readout by a dedicated gain-adaptable electronics. Two small, highly sensitive, integral ionization chambers, using the same electronics, complement the 2D chamber for the monitor of the single pulse beam charge, down to 1 pC/pulse. While under development and deployment of its accelerating modular cavities, the linear TOP-IMPLART beam is improved thanks also to the continuous monitoring and characterization by these devices, whose responses are periodically compared to calibrated dosimetric detectors such as real-time active microDiamond sensor, passive Alanine pellets, intrinsically stable integral Faraday Cup. Different calibration campaigns have been recently conducted to measure the recombination and dose-rate effects on the above ionization chambers. The outcome of these measurements shows clear electron-ion recombination in the chamber active volume, largely related to the high beam intensity and its small transverse cross section. Those effects can be taken into account and used to correct the actual measurement of the DDM. In this paper, the TOP-IMPLART project and the DDM devices are shortly presented and details of the above experimental studies are discussed.
|Titolo:||Recombination effects in the ionization chambers dose delivery monitor of the TOP-IMPLART proton beam|
|Data di pubblicazione:||2020|
|Appare nelle tipologie:||4.1 Contributo in Atti di convegno|


P.O. Box 2528
Idaho Falls, Idaho
*9700 Cass Avenue
results of U-Mo dispersion fuel have shown a practical uranium loading limit
below that required to successfully convert some of the targeted research
reactors to low-enriched uranium. In
addition, irradiation tests have shown that U-Mo dispersion fuel suffers from
interaction between the fuel and the aluminum matrix at higher temperatures. A
potential solution to mitigate these phenomena is to use a fuel alloy foil in
place of the fuel-aluminum dispersion. This monolithic fuel provides a lower fuel-matrix
interfacial surface area and a much higher uranium density than dispersion type
fuel. Lacking the compliant matrix of dispersion fuel types, monolithic fuel
production requires the development of new fabrication methods. Research
efforts at Argonne National Laboratory have resulted in the demonstration of a
viable monolithic fuel plate production method, which is described in this
Contact: Mr. Curtis R. Clark
P.O. Box 2528
ID 83403-2528 USA
Phone: +1 (208) 533-7701
Fax: +1 (208) 533-7340
E-mail: [email protected]
The 2016 International RERTR Meeting (RERTR-2016) will take place in Belgium.
Stay tuned for further details.
The 2015 International RERTR Meeting (RERTR-2015) took place in Seoul, Korea on Oct. 11-14, 2015.
For more information visit RERTR-2015.


A blast at the Marcoule nuclear plant in southern France this morning has reportedly killed one person, but initial indications are that no radiation is leaking. Officials worked for five hours this morning to determine the seriousness of the explosion at the facility, which was created in 1955 and works with recycled materials and waste, but does not include a reactor. Midi Libre, a local newspaper, reported that an oven exploded, leaving one dead and injuring four others, but that no evacuation orders were issued for towns nearby. Power company E.D.F., which owns the site, said “it is an industrial accident, not a nuclear one,” and that no workers were contaminated.
This post has been updated with additional information.


Response to FESAC survey, non-fusion connections to Fusion Energy Sciences. Applications of the FES-supported beam and plasma simulation code, Warp
The Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee’s subcommittee on non-fusion applications (FESAC NFA) is conducting a survey to obtain information from the fusion community about non-fusion work that has resulted from their DOE-funded fusion research. The subcommittee has requested that members of the community describe recent developments connected to the activities of the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. Two questions in particular were posed by the subcommittee. This document contains the authors’ responses to those questions.
- Publication Date:
- OSTI Identifier:
- Report Number(s):
- DOE Contract Number:
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Research Org:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org:
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS; 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; PLASMA SIMULATION; THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS; BEAMS; ADVISORY COMMITTEES; INFORMATION; W CODES; USES; TECHNOLOGY TRANSER
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Limitations for using carbon 14 dating
The half-life () is the name given to this value which Libby measured at 556830 years. After 10 half-lives, there is a very small amount of radioactive carbon present in a sample.
At about 50 - 60 000 years, then, the limit of the technique is reached (beyond this time, other radiometric techniques must be used for dating).
Herein lies the true advantage of the radiocarbon method, it is able to be uniformly applied throughout the world.
Included below is an impressive list of some of the types of carbonaceous samples that have been commonly radiocarbon dated in the years since the inception of the method: The historical perspective on the development of radiocarbon dating is well outlined in Taylor's (1987) book "Radiocarbon Dating: An archaeological perspective".
By measuring the C14 concentration or residual radioactivity of a sample whose age is not known, it is possible to obtain the countrate or number of decay events per gram of Carbon.
By comparing this with modern levels of activity (1890 wood corrected for decay to 1950 AD) and using the measured half-life it becomes possible to calculate a date for the death of the sample.
As soon as a plant or animal dies, they cease the metabolic function of carbon uptake; there is no replenishment of radioactive carbon, only decay.
The radiocarbon method is based on the rate of decay of the radioactive or unstable carbon isotope 14 (14C), which is formed in the upper atmosphere through the effect of cosmic ray neutrons upon nitrogen 14.


Colloquium Friday Mar 2, 2018 at 2 pm: Uncertainty Quantification in the supercomputing era, Dr. Rodrigo Navarro Perez, Ohio University
Room P-148, Physics building. Refreshments served at 1:45 pm.
ABSTRACT: Uncertainty quantification has seen a strong renewed interest in recent years within the theoretical nuclear physics community and its importance can hardly be overstated. As chiral effective field theories expand their range of applicability across the nuclear chart, the the study of the effects of statistical and systematic uncertainties in nuclear structure calculations is still a work in progress. This colloquium will review some of the techniques and efforts on quantifying statistical uncertainties in NN interactions and their subsequent propagation into the calculation nuclear structure observables. Recent progress on the propagation of statistical uncertainties into astrophysical phenomena will be discussed as well.


Damage-Function Analysis of Neutron Embrittlement in Steel at Reactor Service Temperatures
NAVAL RESEARCH LAB WASHINGTON DC
Pagination or Media Count:
Neutron-induced increases in the brittle-ductile transition temperature delta TT of A302-B pressure vessel steel have been measured from irradiations in a number of reactor environments for neutraon fluences representative of pressure vessel design lifetimes. While these measurements have permitted formulation of the trends necessary for delta TT projections in operating reactors, certain anomalous results have been observed wherein measurements fell outside the nominal limits of the trends. As a summation of research on this steel and to resolve the anomalous results, a damage function was derived for the neutron-induced delta TT response of A302-B steel at reactor operating temperatures. The damage function is a series of weighting factors for the damaging capacity of neutrons of all energy groups in a reactor spectrum these factors thus indicate the relative importance of specific energy-group neturons to the damaging process. Techniques for derivation of the damage function and the complementing correlation-evaluation method are directly applicable to more advanced reactor systems.
- Metallurgy and Metallography
- Radioactivity, Radioactive Wastes and Fission Products
- Fission Reactor Materials


The neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN, fully operational since 2002, combines a high instantaneous neutron flux with high energy resolution. The wide energy range and the high neutron flux per time-of-flight burst result in a much enhanced signal to background ratio for neutron capture of radioactive isotopes and makes this facility well suited for the measurement of high quality neutron-induced reaction cross-sections.
Neutrons are created by spallation reactions induced by a pulsed 20 GeV/c proton beam impinging on a lead target. A 5 cm water slab surrounding the lead target serves as a coolant and at the same time as a moderator of the spallation neutron spectrum, providing a wide energy spectrum from 0.1 eV to about 250 MeV.
By the end of 2005, a first phase of data taking has been successfully terminated. Fission and capture experiments have been performed on a variety of isotopes of interest for nuclear astrophysics, advanced nuclear technologies and for basic nuclear physics.
The instrumentation developed for this facility consists of parallel plate avalanche counter and fission ionization chamber detectors for the fission experiments and of low mass C6D6 detectors and a 4 pi BaF2 total absorption calorimeter for capture experiments. A new data acquisition system, based on sampling of the detector signals, has been developed to cope with the high count rates and to minimize the effective dead time to only a few tens of nanosecond.
A second phase of data taking is planned to start in 2007, after an upgrade of the spallation target. On the longer term, the construction of a flight path at 20 in resulting in an increased neutron flux of about a factor of 100 opens new possibilities. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
|Number of pages
|Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
|Published - Aug 2007
|19th International Conference on Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry - Ft Worth
Duration: 20 Aug 2006 → 25 Aug 2006


Radioactive Waste Guidelines
- General guidelines for radioactive waste management
- Laboratory permitees must ensure, prior to the procurement of radioactive materials, that a method of disposal for the materials presently exists or can be worked out to the satisfaction of Radiation Safety.
- Each Radioisotope Laboratory must maintain accurate records of the types, quantities, and forms of radioisotopes which comprise the radioactive waste submitted from his/her laboratory to Radiation Safety (Completion of a Radioactive Waste Log Sheet fulfills this requirement).
- It is the Responsible Investigator's responsibility to secure proper storage for radioactive wastes generated in their laboratories.
- Radioactive waste containers shall be stored as close to the work area as feasible to minimize the possibility of spillage during the transfer of waste to the containers.
- Waste containers shall NOT be stored in hallways, stairwells or other uncontrolled areas.
- Radioactive waste containers shall be kept closed at all times when not in use.
- Regardless of content, each radioactive waste container shall be labeled with a "Caution Radioactive Materials" sticker.
- When handling or transferring radioactive waste, the individual shall wear appropriate laboratory attire including lab coat, disposable gloves, protective eye wear and closed toed shoes.
- Radioactive wastes containing carcinogens, biohazards, or extremely hazardous chemicals must be handled separately and packaged in such a way that they present minimal hazards to people who handle the wastes. Contact Radiation Safety for specific requirements.
- DO NOT combine different radioisotopes in the same waste container unless you have prior authorization from Radiation Safety to do so.
- Under NO circumstance shall radioactive waste be released into the sewage disposal system.
- DO NOT place any radioactive waste in regular trash receptacles.
- Package the waste properly according to the attached instructions


President Bush is welcoming a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency demanding that Iran suspend nuclear fuel activities it resumed earlier this week.
President Bush says the resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany, is a "positive first step" and demonstrates the international community's growing resolve to confront Iran over its nuclear program.
"The world is coalescing around the notion that the Iranians should not have the means and the wherewithal to be able to develop a nuclear weapon," he said.
Mr. Bush was speaking with reporters at his Texas ranch where he was meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials.
Mr. Bush said the United States will work with Britain, France and Germany so that Iran hears what the president termed "a common voice" on nuclear matters.
Asked about the visa request for Iran's newly elected president to address the United Nations, Mr. Bush said the United States continues to investigate allegations that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a role in the taking of 52 hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran more than 25 years ago. But Mr. Bush noted that the United States is bound by an agreement to allow foreign dignitaries to enter the United States for official U.N. business, and that he "suspects" the Iranian leader will, in fact, come to the United States.


This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. We are going to check that each of the reactions in plutonium breeding obey all the conservation laws such as number of nucleons has to be conserved, the charge on each side of the reaction has to be conserved and the electron family number is the same in total on both sides. So uranium-238 has 238 nucleons plus 1 nucleon in this neutron for a total of 239 on the left and on the right hand side, we have 239 in this uranium-239 product of this reaction so that checks out total of 239 nucleons on both sides. There are 92 protons in this uranium and zero charge on the neutron and there are 92 protons in the uranium on the right hand side and zero charge in the gamma ray photon so it's 92 on both sides so that checks out and none of these particles have an electron family number so it's 0 on both sides. And then the next step, we have uranium-239 spontaneously decaying into neptunium-239 and a beta particle and an electron anti-neutrino. So we have 239 nucleons in uranium-239 and 239 nucleons in neptunium-239 as well and then there's zero in the beta particle and then zero nucleons in the electron anti-neutrino so 239 total on both sides so that checks out. For the charge, we have 92 in the uranium and 93 in the neptunium and negative 1 in the electron and so that makes a total of 92 on both sides and the electron family number is 0 on the left and on the right hand side, it's positive 1 for the beta particle and then negative one for the electron anti-neutrino and that totals zero as well. And lastly, we have neptunium turning into plutonium-239 and a beta particle and an electron anti-neutrino. So we have 239 nucleons on both sides, 0 nucleons in the beta particle, 0 nucleons in the electron anti-neutrino and the charge is 93 protons on the neptunium on the left side and the plutonium has a charge of 94 its atomic number is 94... there's 94 protons and that's compensated for by a negative 1 charge in this electron that's produced for a total of 93 on the right as well. There's 0 electron family number on the left and then 0 electron family number on the right in the plutonium positive 1 in the electron and negative 1 in the electron anti-neutrino for a total of 0 on the right.


Japan Kept Secret on Fukushima Radiation Measurements
The Japanese government admitted it kept in secret at least 5000 radiation radiation measurements and assessments after the nuclear event which struck the Fukushima Daiichi NPP in March.
This was done in order not to induce panic in the population, a representative of the staff dealing with the nuclear emergency told ITAR-TASS.
"It was a wrong decision," he admitted, pointing out that all upcoming information abouth Fukushima Daiichi will be spread immediately.
The system which collects data about radiation leaks from the Japanese nuclear power plants does not work effectively, Japanese media have reported, according to the Russian agency.
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With the Development of BlackStarTech Brings Nuclear Reliable Emergency Backup Power Supply Systems and Industrial Portable Lighting Solutions
Constellation, the United States’ largest nuclear power plant operator, developed BlackStarTech as a response to Fukushima’s incident where a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply of the three reactors causing a catastrophic meltdown. In response to this disaster, Constellation implemented BlackStarTech’s emergency power systems and industrial portable lighting solutions across Constellation’s 21 nuclear power units. BlackStarTech emergency power systems help address asset preservation in response to an extended loss of AC power (ELAP) situation caused by Beyond Design Events.
The BlackStarTech Emergency Power System Solutions were designed to address three mission critical strategies:
- Provide power to key critical main control room indications, controls, and critical system sub-components
- Support reactor vessel core cooling
- Augment reactor vessel pressure control
Proven Technical Benefits
BlackStarTech augments FLEX strategy and enhances nuclear safety by providing rapidly deployable targeted emergency power systems to respond to a series of Nuclear Design and Beyond Design Basis Events. The solution revolutionizes the approach to extended loss of power events by protecting the nuclear plant asset by providing rapidly deployable battery backup power supply coping system for rapid recovery of main control room critical instrumentation and controls, emergency core cooling and pressure control to prevent a Fukushima type event. For some scenarios, BlackStarTech provides solutions faster than FLEX and the benefits are realized in Station PRA improvements. These enhanced operator flexibilities with extended loss of power scenarios provides assurance and potentially significant savings that could bolster the utility’s reputation and nuclear industry viability.
Due to the timeframe of BlackStarTech’s Emergency Power Systems deployment, it provides quantifiable improvements with station Risk Profiles. In addition to the “absolute” CDF/LERF reductions there are improvements in Significance Determination Process (SDP) vulnerability. This can reduce the significance of NRC findings. With BlackStarTech’s battery backup power supply system being easily deployable within 30 minutes, Quad Cities realized a nearly 15% reduction in CDF and LERF for both Full Power Internal Events and Fire PRAs.
BlackStarTech’s battery power technology has led to development of several product solutions and tooling innovations that enhance industrial and radiological safety and optimize productivity across a nuclear station. Some of which include:
- Replacement Emergency Lighting Battery Packs (Appendix R and Industrial Safety Lighting)
- MOV Battery Packs for testing and sequence optimization
- AOV Battery Packs for testing and sequence optimization
- Portable Power Supplies (containment sump, reactor level instrumentation, source range detectors)
- Contingent Power Supplies (Confined spaces, freeze seal machines, diving dedicated power, Security, portable battery banks)
- RP Containment Outage Dosimetry Battery Pack
- Outage Temporary Lighting
- Security BRE/ Security nano-grid tooling
- ERO remote air sampling and communication power capability
- Security Bus augmentation/replacement
- Flex/B.5.b equipment optimization/replacement including battery optimizations
Emergency Backup Power Supply Systems
BlackStarTech has helped redefine future Flex Strategies while significantly improving PRA benefit for Station through the development and implementation of various emergency power systems. Enhancements can result in a reduction in the continuing costs for FLEX equipment replacement due to shelf life limitations as well as minimize ongoing preventive maintenance resource requirements. Similar enhancements can be realized with B.5b equipment and strategies that could save over $100,000 per Station with eliminating equipment requirements, preventive maintenance activities and training requirements.
Industrial Portable Lighting Solutions
Through the development of Lightworks portable emergency lighting devices and the advanced battery systems, provide reliable lighting solutions for various applications. From providing lighting for maintenance technicians on critical equipment during refueling outages and bus outages, to illuminating egress pathways.
The portable battery power lighting carts utilize 110AC as primary power feed which uses less than 4 amps to provide over 30,000 lumens per unit. If the primary power feed is lost, the outage light car function for 10 to 14 hours without recharging, which eliminates safety issues or work stoppage issues often experienced during outages with a circuit breaker trip. The carts provide general area lighting with telescoping poles and have portable battery packs with lights for illuminating the specific component work areas in which technicians are working for improved visibility and safety. This reduces the pre-outage requirement to have electricians run temporary lighting and placing temporary lighting motor control centers in the plant. This one small application can save approximately 5% to 10% of temporary lighting budget per outage which can average around $400,000 per outage.
Outage and Security Applications
BlackStarTech technology and innovation provides direct productivity and cost savings opportunities with applications for Outages, Security, and ERO/FLEX/B.5.b. Some immediate examples are listed below with further customization available.
- Outage industrial portable lighting devices ranging from hand-held devices that mounted to LED light towers that can operate as a “Nuclear Light Island” Battery Light and TPU
- Freeze Machine battery backup power
- Radiation Protection electronic dosimetry battery power packs eliminating remote dosimetry changout
- Backup Power supplies for Critical Radiation Protection monitoring equipment, Small Article Monitors, and Individual Contaminated Monitoring
- Outage Containment Sump portable power cart backup power supplier
- Nuclear Instrumentation alternate battery power packs
- MOV portable battery powered power pack
- AOV portable battery powered air test units
- Component logic, relay, and breaker testing power carts
- Portable 480V bus power supplies (Uninteruptable Power Supplies)
- 125V/250V Battery Backup Power Supplies
BlackStarTech provides reliable security through emergency power systems and portable lighting with enhanced security options available.
- Battery BRE Backup Power Supply eliminating portable generators
- Security System Backup Power Carts for Security Gates, Critical Doors, and Instrumentation
- Security Portable Battery Lighting Systems with integrated propane generators
- Security Electric Bus Augmentation
- Force on Force Backup Power Solutions
- ERO nano-grid tooling and communication power capability
- RP Air Sampling Battery Packs eliminating generator requirements
- ERO Backup Communication
- ERO Backup Power for Ventilation
- 5.b battery backup power supplies
- FLEX Augmentation
- FLEX Strategy Optimization
The Future of BlackStarTech
While BlackStarTech was developed to protect and reduce risks for Nuclear Power Plants, the emergency power systems and portable lighting solutions can be used to support other critical industries. BlackStarTech is here to serve and address the needs for reliable backup power supplies and portable lighting. Contact a BlackStarTech representative to see how we can better meet your facility’s needs.


By Myrna M. Velasco
Underpinned by a technical assistance from the Russian Federation State Atomic Energy Cooperation (ROSATOM), the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is now well on its way into crafting plans for the country’s nuclear power ambitions.
The department, in a press statement, has noted that the Philippines is now affirmatively taking “the option of adopting nuclear energy.”
According to Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos, “the inclusion of nuclear energy as a potential long-term option for power generation will further diversify the nation’s generation mix.” This will supplement the current technology leanings of the country’s power sector, which are anchored chiefly on coal, natural gas, oil and renewable energy resources including the conventional geothermal and hydropower technologies.
ROSATOM also submitted its pre-feasibility study and assessment of the country’s Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), but the DOE is not yet making public the outcome of that exercise.
On forward nuclear development, the department indicated that part of the preparatory steps to nuclear energy planning has been the technical workshops that the DOE and other relevant agencies have been undertaking, with the help of the Russian nuclear energy firm.
The DOE noted that the workshop last week touched on “integrated solutions” on new and emerging nuclear technologies, capacity-building as well as “inputs in the formulation of policies addressing safety, technology development and other uses of nuclear energy.”
Discussions similarly centered on knowledge-sharing in building, operation and maintaining a nuclear power plant as well as the introduction of modular nuclear technologies which could also be ably provided by Russia.
There had also been exchange of views in the importance of institutionalizing centers of nuclear science and technologies; and the advancing foray of nuclear science into the medical field.
The Philippines should have been way ahead on its nuclear power ambitions, but when the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was mothballed in the 1980s, that energy plan turned into shambles.


Iranian authorities said Monday that within weeks they could exceed an internationally agreed cap on their stockpile of low-enriched uranium, the Wall Street Journal informs.
Tehran threatened earlier this month to step up its nuclear program, saying it would initially stop respecting limits set on its stockpiles of enriched uranium and heavy water, both of which can be used in the production of nuclear weapons.
Iran also warned that without economic help from Europe to buffer the effect of renewed U.S. sanctions, it would take further steps.
The Trump administration deepened already sharp sanctions against Iran and increased the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf. While President Donald Trump has said in recent days that Washington wasn’t seeking war with Iran, on Twitter over the weekend he warned if there is a conflict, “that will be the official end of Iran.”
Top Iranian authorities have said they believe Trump won’t risk war and Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Monday on Twitter that “economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’.” The U.S. has said its military buildup in the Persian Gulf is intended to dissuade Tehran from attacking U.S. interests and scaling up its nuclear program.
On Monday, Iranian media cited officials at the Natanz nuclear facility saying they had made technical changes to the site to allow a quadrupling of Iran’s production of low-enriched uranium, the Journal adds.
Under the 2015 nuclear accord, Iran is permitted to stockpile up to 300 kilograms of uranium enriched up to a 3.67% purity. It was last reported by the U.N. atomic agency in February to have around four-fifths of that amount.
“Soon we will reach 300 kilos and we will surpass that,” the spokesman of Iran’s atomic agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, was quoted saying. “It will not be (even) a few weeks.”
European officials had hoped that Iran would move slowly to gear up its production of nuclear material. Western officials and experts say Tehran would still require around a year to produce enough highly enriched uranium to fuel an atomic weapon. Weapons-grade uranium has a purity of around 90 percent.
While Washington pulled out of the nuclear agreement a year ago, European governments are still supporting it. They have warned Tehran to fulfill the agreement in full but European officials say they won’t take any action unless Iran is actually breaching the deal. Iran argues it would be allowed under the agreement to exceed certain terms in retaliation to U.S. sanctions, the Journal noted.


The Prototype-Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (Proto-MPEX) linear plasma device is a test bed for exploring and developing plasma source concepts to be employed in the future steady-state linear device Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) that will study plasma-material interactions for the nuclear fusion program. The concept foresees using a helicon plasma source supplemented with electron and ion heating systems to reach necessary plasma conditions. In this paper, we discuss ion temperature measurements obtained from Doppler broadening of spectral lines from argon ion test particles. Plasmas produced with helicon heating alone have average ion temperatures downstream of the Helicon antenna in the range of 3 ± 1 eV; ion temperature increases to 10 ± 3 eV are observed with the addition of ion cyclotron heating (ICH). The temperatures are higher at the edge than the center of the plasma either with or without ICH. This type of profile is observed with electrons as well. A one-dimensional RF antenna model is used to show where heating of the plasma is expected.


US 5481577 A
A reactor coolant debris filter for insertion within a nuclear fuel assembly support.
1. A reactor coolant debris filter for insertion within a nuclear fuel assembly support for capturing debris carried by reactor coolant flow before the debris enters the fuel assembly and causes fuel rod cladding damage, said fuel assembly support having a seat for supporting the fuel assembly and a flow duct for the passage of reactor coolant through the fuel assembly support to the fuel assembly, the debris filter comprising:
an interface adapter having on an upper surface a fuel assembly seat for positioning the fuel assembly on the filter, and a lower seating surface on a lower surface for positioning the filter in the flow duct of the fuel assembly support, the interface adapter being adapted to form an aperture for reactor coolant to exit the filter and enter the fuel assembly;
a filter grid for capturing debris carried by reactor coolant flow; and
a hollow shell having a first end attached to the interface adapter and a second end for supporting the filter grid.
2. The debris filter of claim 1 further including filter grid ribs.
3. The debris filter of claim 2 wherein the hollow shell is a wall having a semi-circular cross-sectional shape.
4. The debris filter of claim 3 wherein the filter grid is configured to extend substantially across the flow duct of the nuclear fuel assembly support.
5. The debris filter as in claim 4 wherein the second end of the semi-circular hollow shell is at an oblique angle.
6. The debris filter as in claim 5 wherein the second end of the semi-circular hollow shell has a continuation which extends around the outer perimeter of the filter grid.
7. The debris filter as in claim 6 wherein the filter grid is fabricated of materials selected from the group of sheet metal, wire mesh, and coarse screen.
8. The debris filter as in claim 6 further including a spring connected to the semi-circular hollow shell for retaining the debris filter within the flow duct of the fuel assembly support when the fuel assembly is lifted from the fuel assembly support.
9. The debris filter as in claim 6 further including a spring connected to the interface adapter for retaining the debris filter within the flow duct of the fuel assembly support when the fuel assembly is lifted from the fuel assembly support.
10. The debris filter as in claim 6 wherein the height of the interface adapter is less than approximately 3/4 inch.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to debris filters for nuclear reactor fuel and more particularly to debris filters for Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) nuclear fuel assemblies.
As a result of experience with long term operation and multiple reloads of nuclear fuel elements, it has been found that certain operating conditions arise which tend to reduce energy output per unit of fuel obtainable and thereby affect operating costs and efficiencies in an undesirable manner.
One of the problems in connection with the operation of nuclear reactors is the accumulation of debris of various sizes, which may occur during original construction, subsequent operation or during repair. Examples of such debris include small fasteners, metal clips, welding slag, and small pieces of wire. During the operation of nuclear reactors, the debris which may be present in the nuclear reactor can be carried by the cooling water and can impact upon fuel assembly components. The repeated interaction of such debris and fuel assembly components can result in fretting damage to the components. Certain sizes of this type of debris are particularly troublesome, since that debris is likely to be carried by cooling water to the area near the bottom (lower ends) of the fuel rods. Some of the debris can be caught between the fuel rods and other fuel assembly components. The debris vibrates in the moving coolant and impacts principally upon the lower end of the fuel rods, ultimately abrading and causing fretting wear of the fuel rod cladding at that point. This type of wear is recognized as a significant cause of fuel failures which may release fuel and fission products into the coolant leading to the premature withdrawal from service of the fuel assembly or costly fuel rod replacement.
Attempts have been made in the past to mitigate the affect of such debris on the fuel rods by incorporating integral filter mechanisms during the manufacture of new fuel assemblies containing unirradiated nuclear fuel. However, the problem of protecting irradiated nuclear fuel rods in a nuclear fuel assembly has been more problematic and costly. While the incorporation of debris resistant features in new fuel assemblies during their manufacture is known, it would be an advantage over the prior art to provide debris resistance for irradiated fuel assemblies not so equipped or requiring further debris resistant features. The physical configuration of typical BWR assemblies, however, precludes retrofitting of debris resistant devices to the irradiated fuel assembly without incurring unacceptably high costs. This is due particularly (a) to the configuration of the lower tie plate where debris resistant features must be incorporated to the fuel assembly, and (b) to the need to modify the fuel assembly remotely, typically under several feet of water.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a debris filter for new as well as irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies which does not require the alteration or modification of the fuel assembly or its design but which is positioned external to and below the bottom of the fuel assembly and within the fuel support on which the fuel assembly normally sits.
It is another object of the invention to provide a debris filter that is removable, reusable and interchangeable.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a reactor coolant debris filter for insertion within a nuclear fuel assembly support for capturing debris carried by reactor coolant flow before the debris enters the fuel assembly and causes fuel rod cladding damage, the fuel assembly support having a seat for supporting the fuel assembly and a flow duct for the passage of reactor coolant through the fuel assembly support to the fuel assembly, the debris filter comprising an interface adapter having on an upper surface a fuel assembly seat for positioning the fuel assembly on the filter, and a lower seating surface on a lower surface for positioning the filter in the flow duct of the fuel assembly support, the interface adapter being adapted to form an aperture for reactor coolant to exit the filter and enter the fuel assembly, a filter grid for capturing debris carried by reactor coolant flow, and a hollow shell having a first end attached to the interface adapter and a second end for supporting the filter grid.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a typical boiling water nuclear fuel assembly positioned on the fuel assembly support located laterally in accordance with the prior art;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the lower portion of the fuel assembly, fuel assembly support, and core support plate of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 illustrates a longitudinal view (partly broken away) of a debris filter in accordance with the present invention for insertion in the fuel assembly support of FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIG. 4 is a top view of the debris filter shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the debris filter shown in FIG. 3 taken along line 5--5;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the debris filter shown in FIG. 5 taken along line 6--6;
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the lower portion of a nuclear fuel assembly with the debris filter positioned in the fuel assembly support directly below the fuel assembly in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along line 8--8.
Referring to FIG. 1, a boiling water reactor fuel assembly having a 9×9 fuel rod array is generally shown at 10 having elongated fuel rods 12 containing nuclear fuel pellets. The fuel rods are supported between a lower tie plate 14 and upper tie plate 16 and pass through spacer grids 18 which provide intermediate support of rods 12 over the length of fuel assembly 10. An inner water channel 19 is at the center of the array of fuel rods 12 and replaces the innermost three by three array of fuel rods. Outer channel 11 is shown around the fuel rods 12 and spacers 18. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be used with any type of BWR fuel assembly or any fuel rod array not just the one shown in FIG. 1 for illustration purposes. Inlet nozzle 15 contains a coolant inlet aperture 17 which is surrounded by a multi-pronged fuel assembly insertion guide 13. Each fuel assembly rests upon a fuel assembly support 30 which is located laterally by lower core plate 20 and supported vertically by control rod guide tube 21.
Referring to FIG. 2, which is an enlarged view of the lower portion of FIG. 1, fuel assembly support 30 is comprised of outer wall 31 and inner wall 32 which are adapted to form flow duct 35, coolant entrance orifice 33, and fuel assembly support aperture 34. Reactor coolant flow enters coolant entrance orifice 33, passes through flow duct 35 and exits fuel assembly support 30 by entering aperture 17 of fuel assembly 10 as shown by the flow arrows F in FIG. 2. Fuel assembly 10 is seated against seat 36 which precludes flow from bypassing coolant entrance aperture 17 of fuel assembly 10.
The following described embodiments present the debris filter and its position within the fuel assembly support.
Referring to FIG. 3, the debris filter 50 for insertion into the fuel assembly support 30 and below the fuel assembly 10 is shown. Debris filter 50 comprises an interface adapter 51 to which is attached a hollow shell 52. Hollow shell 52 is in the form of a semi-circular wall except at its lower end, where a continuation 53 serves to surround the outer perimeter of filter grid 54. The lower end of semi-circular hollow shell 52 is formed at an oblique angle. Filter grid 54 is affixed to the oblique angled lower end of semi-circular shell 52 and to continuation 53 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Secured to shell 52 are leaf springs 55.
Referring to FIG. 5 which is a sectional view taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 3, the inner wall of semi-circular hollow shell 52 together with springs 55 are shown. Filter grid 54 is structurally reinforced by filter grid ribs 56 which also serve to establish spacing of individual pieces comprising grid 54. Grid 54 and ribs 56 are affixed to shell 52 and continuation 53. Interface adapter ring 51 is configured to provide a debris filter aperture 57 and a fuel assembly seat 58 which replicate the form and function of fuel support aperture 34 and seat 36, respectively. A lower seating surface 59 replicates the form of that portion of the lower tie plate which contacts seat 36.
Referring to FIG. 7, debris filter 50 is shown positioned within flow duct 35 of fuel assembly support 30 and below fuel assembly 10. Lower seating surface 59 seats against seat 36 of fuel assembly support 30. Inlet nozzle 15 of fuel assembly 10 is positioned within fuel assembly support aperture 57 and seats against fuel assembly seat 58 of interface adapter ring 51. Thus, coolant flow enters orifice 33, passes into flow duct 35 and through filter media grid 54 where it is filtered of debris, and then flows into inlet aperture 17 of fuel assembly 10.
Elevation of the active fuel position of the fuel assembly 10 in the core results from the installation of debris filter 50 in the fuel assembly support 30. The amount of elevation is determined by the height of interface adapter 51. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3-8, the elevation of the fuel assembly is increased by less than approximately 3/4" and can be modified, if desired, according to the design of the core and the position of the control rod(s) when fully extended in the fuel assembly. The active portion of the control rods should extend to substantially the top of the active fuel zone when fully inserted, taking into account the normal tolerances of system components and thermal and radiation induced growth of the fuel.
During reactor operation, debris filter 50 is kept in position within flow chamber 35 by the weight of fuel assembly 10. Leaf springs 55 are provided to engage the recess 37 (FIG. 7) located at the upper underside of inside wall 32 within flow duct 35 and which function to retain debris filter 50 within flow duct 35 when the fuel assembly is lifted during refueling or other fuel handling operations. Debris filter 50 can either be removed or left in place, as desired, if new fuel assemblies incorporating integral debris filters are installed.
Although filter media 54 shown in FIGS. 3-8 is of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,412 which is hereby incorporated by reference, filter media 54 can be fabricated of perforated sheet metal, wire mesh, coarse screen and various other designs can be utilized.
While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention.


NuVision Engineering’s H1000 telerobtic manipulator and control system was developed specifically for the nuclear industry as a heavy¬duty hydraulic manipulator and is ideally suited to the typically arduous decommissioning and size-reduction tasks encountered within the nuclear industry. It is regularly used to assist in such decommissioning tasks as volume reduction, waste retrieval operations and general nuclear processing.
The H1000 is modular in design, and has proven through a variety of numerous different applications to be a flexible work platform.
Previous applications include:
- Decommissioning an active handling cell, requiring 25 kg capacity
- Waste retrieval system requiring vertical mast mounted system with 200 kg capacity.
- Remove in-cell wash system for refurbishment; 100 kg capacity
- Waste handling and size reduction in a PIE cell
- Decontamination of a reactor facility
- Nuclear process plant maintenance using through-tube mount
- Activated waste vault emptying, removing 80 m³ of waste
- Decommissioning of nuclear plant
The manipulators are designed and built in the U.S. at NuVision Engineering’s facility in Pittsburgh, PA. Currently, there are over 20 in operation around the world with more than 100,000 hours of operational experience, proving that the H1000 is a heavy duty, high-payload, very reliable manipulator for use in radioactive and harsh environments.


AECOM is currently providing our nuclear power customers a wide range of operating plant technical services. From plant modifications to beyond-design-basis external events, our services span facilities across the nuclear fuel cycle.
We also support engineering for nuclear new build, development of new nuclear technologies and the emerging small modular reactor market.
Through our global focus, we offer clients a wide range of technical and engineering services, including owner’s engineer for nuclear new build, license renewal, alternate source terms assessments, control-room habitability projects and independent spent fuel storage options for all of the currently available dry cask storage technologies.
For more than 60 years, we have been the engineer or constructor of record for 49 nuclear power plants totaling 39,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Our work has included the first nuclear units in Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mexico and Taiwan, as well as the last new U.S. nuclear plant to be placed online, Watts Bar Unit 1.
Our staff has helped to maintain the reliability of the nuclear operating fleet by accomplishing thousands of technical services tasks and life-extension modifications at more than 100 operating units. We have established a comprehensive and responsive maintenance capability and have managed dozens of refueling, modification and maintenance outages.
Operating through our SGT joint venture, we are one of only two major U.S. companies providing construction-support services for large component replacements, such as steam generators and reactor vessel heads, for the commercial nuclear market. SGT has been repeatedly recognized for superior performance on these intricate modifications under the most aggressive outage schedules.


First Particle Collisions at Record-Shattering Energies in the LHC-Accelerator in Geneva
ALICE continues its research program
With new record-shattering energy for proton collisions, the LHC particle accelerator at the European laboratory for particle physics resumed its research program today in Geneva, Switzerland. At 13:31 local time, the heavy ion experiment ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) recorded the first collisions. The GSI Helmholz Centre für Schwerionenforschung is a significant contributor to the construction as well as the scientific program of ALICE.
The energy per particle impact achieved today was 7 tera-electron volts – over 3500 times more than the impact partner’s rest mass. Upon conclusion of the current experiment cycle, the energy will be increased to the targeted maximum energy.
ALICE is one of the four large international experiments at the LHC. It is the only LHC experiment that researches collisions of heavy nuclei at extremely high energy. The experiment cycle that was started today mainly explores proton collisions and will continue for around 18 months. Protons are the nuclei of hydrogen and thus the lightest projectiles used in the LHC. The collision of lead nuclei is also schedule with an experiment cycle of four weeks each in the fall of 2010 and 2011. Lead nuclei are around 200 times heavier than protons.
„ALICE is specifically designed for the collision of heavy nuclei. By colliding lead nuclei, we try to recreate the extremely hot and dense plasma state of quarks and gluons – the building blocks of matter – which existed for only fractions of seconds after the Big Bang”, explains professor Peter Braun-Munzinger, director of the ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI at the GSI Helmholtz Centre. “These experiments will allow us to gain a new and unique insight into yet unexplored fields of particle physics.”
ALICE is composed of a multitude of components. The detector is 25 meters long, 16 meters wide and 16 meters high. The large magnet that is used to create the magnetic field to analyze the paths of the particles weighs 80,000 tons alone. Right from the start, GSI has played a significant role in the construction as well as the scientific program of ALICE, collaborating with the universities of Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Münster and the universities of applied science in Köln and Worms. Today, more than 1,000 scientists from 30 countries contribute to ALICE. Among them are around 100 scientists from Germany, 30 of which are doctoral candidates. German researchers are involved in three central ALICE projects: the giant time projection chamber, which encloses the collision zone over a length of 5 meters with up to 2.5 meters radial distance; the adjacent transition radiation detector; and the High Level Trigger, a high-performance computer, which evaluates the information content of the events in the space of a few milliseconds.


The answer by annav is correct that the neutron decay products will travel in straight paths in a vacuum chamber; the electron and proton will interact with the walls of the chamber, slow down, and become ordinary matter. (Most actual neutron traps involve strong magnetic fields, which make the charged particles travel on non-straight paths, but that seems like a minor detail.)
However: because the neutron decay involves three objects, the distribution of energy and momentum among the electron, proton, and neutrino is random. The total energy released in the decay is roughly 750,000 eV, which is typically shared more-or-less equally between the electron and the neutrino. However, if the neutrino carries away so much of the energy that the electron and proton together have less that 13 eV, the binding energy of the hydrogen atom, then it is possible for the electron to be immediately captured. This is called "bound beta decay", $\rm n \to H+\bar\nu_e$. As of 2014 this process has not been observed.


During the holiday season, many people place toy trains on circular tracks beneath their Christmas trees.
This month, at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, physicists and engineers built tracks inside one of its fusion reactors and ran a toy train on them for three days.
It was not an exercise in silliness, but in calibration.
The modified model of a diesel train engine was carrying a small chunk of californium-252, a radioactive element that spews neutrons as it falls apart.
“We needed to refine the calibration technique to make sure we are measuring our neutrons as accurately as possible,” said Masa Ono, the project head of the National Spherical Torus Experiment.
The spherical torus experiment is a small reactor designed to test new approaches to fusion, in which hydrogen atoms are fused together at ultrahigh temperatures to produce energy as the Sun does. Fusion generates copious numbers of neutrons, which tell how well the reaction is proceeding.
The reactor has been shut down for improvements, and the downtime provided an opportunity for recalibrating the neutron sensors.
A stationary neutron source was previously used for the calibration, but that did not fully capture how the neutrons bounced around. Putting the californium on the moving train improved the accuracy by about a factor of 10, Dr. Ono said. (The same technique had been used two decades earlier at one of Princeton laboratory’s older reactors.)
Experiments at the reactor are set to restart in March.
Californium is only slightly radioactive, so the toy train did not glow green after its ride in the fusion reactor. And now that it has completed its physics duties, the train, back in its original state, is running around the laboratory’s Christmas tree in the lobby.


School of Pharmacy UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON NMR Spectroscopy Facility Facility Policies Complete policies for facility access, usage and more. This document is extracted from and contained within the NMR Facility User Guide. NMR Training Information about the training process to gain access to NMR Facility resources. User Notes and Other Resources Access the NMR Facility User Guide and other useful documentation for the local NMR community, including Varian NMR manuals and links to other resources. Spectrometer Sign-up Rules Instrument reservation policies are enumerated on the Instrument Reservation System pages. Authorization is required to access these pages. Facility Fees Fee schedule for instrument usage and services for internal (e.g., University of Wisconsin) and external (e.g., private sector) clients. Incident Report Form Use this on-line form to report NMR Facility problems, etc. Laboratory Mishaps Descriptions of accidents, near misses, and otherwise interesting or useful anecdotes.


CAEN SyS is the new Systems & Spectroscopy Division of CAEN SpA.
Our mission is to provide our customers with radiation detection instrumentation that will add operational benefit and enhanced safety via nuclear measurements.
Such division relies upon an extremely strong foundational knowledge of nuclear measurement instrumentation in developing Radiation Measurements Systems and Spectroscopy Solutions.
These systems and solutions are perfectly suited to operations involving Nuclear Power Plants, CBRNe scenarios and Homeland security Applications.
CAEN SyS is built upon CAEN traditions of teamwork and partnership. Decades of collaboration and co-development with very large international research projects have maximized our capability to translate a customer’s needs and expectations into cost-effective and reliable solutions.
CAEN SyS is an official provider of national and international nuclear security companies such as IAEA, JRC, SOGIN, Italian navy, Italian Army ...ecc.


A Brochure for Physicians Acute Radiation Syndrome
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). A Brochure for Physicians: Acute Radiation Syndrome.
This brochure discusses acute radiation syndrome, which is caused by irradiation of most of the entire body by a high dose of penetrating radiation, typically in a matter of minutes.