The influence on the radioxenon background during the temporary suspension of operations of three major medical isotope production facilities in the Northern Hemisphere and during the start-up of another facility in the Southern Hemisphere

Medical isotope production facilities (MIPF) have recently been identified to emit the major part of the environmental radioxenon measured at many globally distributed monitoring sites deployed to strengthen the radionuclide component of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) verification regime. Efforts to raise a global radioxenon emission inventory revealed that the yearly global total emission from MIPF’s is around 15 times higher than the total radioxenon emission from nuclear power plants (NPP's).Given that situation, from mid 2008 until early 2009 two out of the ordinary hemisphere-specific events occured:1) In the Northern hemisphere, a joint temporary suspension of operations of the three largest MIPF's made it possible to quantify the effects of the emissions related to NPP’s. The average activity concentrations of ¹³³Xe measured at a monitoring station close to Freiburg, Germany, went down significantly from 4.5 ± 0.5 mBq/m³ to 1.1 ± 0.1 mBq/m³ and in Stockholm, Sweden, from 2.0 ± 0.4 mBq/m³ to 1.05 ± 0.15 mBq/m³.2) In the Southern hemisphere the only radioxenon-emitting MIPF in Australia started up test production in late November 2008. During eight test runs, up to 6.2 ± 0.2 mBq/m³ of ¹³³Xe was measured at the station in Melbourne, 700 km south-west from the facility, where no radioxenon had been observed before, originating from the isotopic production process.This paper clearly confirms the hypothesis that medical isotope production facility are at present the major emitters of radioxenon to the atmosphere. Suspension of operations of these facilities indicates the scale of their normal contribution to the European radioxenon background, which decreased two to four fold. This also gives a unique opportunity to detect and investigate the influence of other local and long distance sources on the radioxenon background. Finally the opposing effect was studied: the contribution of the start-up of a renewed radiopharmaceutical facility to the build up of a radioxenon background across Australia and the Southern hemisphere.     

Energy efficiency and conservation for individual Americans

Americans make up only 4% of the world population, yet currently consume 25% of the world’s fossil fuels. The U.S. imports 63% of its oil and it is predicted that by 2020 the U.S. will be importing 95% of its oil resources. Over the past century, ample and affordable supplies of fossil fuels have powered the growth and prosperity of the economies of the US and other countries. Within this century, world oil supplies will decline while demand is projected to continue to increase, suggesting that we will have to transition to different fuels or become much more energy efficient or both. Looking ahead to the near decades, estimates are that consumers will have to reduce their energy use by at least 50%. This reduction will be necessary in large part due the decline in the availability of conventional oil and gas, but also because the U.S. population will continue to grow in number. Although government action is important, individuals too often discount their ability to make significant contributions to solving such major problems. This investigation identifies how informed and concerned individuals can collectively conserve fossil energy. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue. An erratum to this article can be found at     

垂直厌氧折流板反应器处理树脂废水的中试研究

介绍了采用垂直厌氧折流板反应器(VABR)处理离子交换树脂生产废水的中试实验装置以及实验研究过程,并着重分析了COD容积负荷和盐分对COD的去除率及出水VFA的影响,并确定了该废水的厌氧产沼气率。研究结果表明,在中温(37±1℃)环境下,容积负荷在9 kg COD/(m3.d)左右时,HRT为24 h的条件下,VABR对COD的平均去除率保持在70%左右,平均每去除1 kg COD约产生沼气0.44 m3,且运行稳定。     

化工生产中硫化氢泄漏事故的预防和处置对策

通过发生在昆明市安宁齐天化肥有限公司的硫化氢中毒事故,提出硫化氢泄漏事故的预防措施及相应的处置方法,同时总结经验教训,提出整改措施,以避免类似事故的再次发生.     

浅析建设项目“三同时”验收监测“大负荷”与“小负荷”的把握

对现有的以"大负荷"为衡量指标的"三同时"验收监测生产负荷考核思路进行了介绍。列举监测实例,说明验收监测只单一考核全厂生产"大负荷"不关注各工段"小负荷"对验收结果的影响,并提出了解决措施。     

油气生产过程中集输设施安全管理问题研究

针对油气生产中集输设施安全问题导致的油气泄漏引发的问题,以系统的方法分析其观念、技术、方法对集输设施管理的影响。围绕石油企业降本增效和可持续发展战略目标,从投资、建设、管理、养护各环节,管理体制、运行机制、管理方式等各方面系统研究,通过明确职能、落实责任、制定标准、严格程序、科学奖惩、强化管理等手段,从而树立正确管理理念,完善设施投入机制、监督考核机制、激励约束机制,强化企业管理基础工作等方面,提出与该系统工艺流程相适应的管理模式和方法,以管理优化保障工艺优化,延长设施使用寿命,提高系统运行效率,确保安全生产。     

基于AIC准则优选AR模型研究我国生产事故

目前,由于生产力水平低,安全投入不足,安全监管体制不健全等因素,国内生产安全事故仍然居高不下.将基于AIC准则进行 AR 模型优选的方法应用到我国工矿死亡人数预测中,为事故预测统计提供一种新方法,预测结果将为预防生产安全事故提供依据.     

清洁生产定量评价方法及其应用

本文运用专家调查打分法，以承德帝贤兴业造纸项目为例，初步分析了清洁生产量化评价的方法在建设项目环境影响评价中的应用。     

铈离子光催化降解茜素绿的性能和机理

主要研究了简单铈离子（Ce3＋）在紫外光（uv）的作用下对蒽醌染料茜素绿（AG）的光催化降解效果和反应机理。结果表明，UV／Ce3＋体系能够有效降解AG，初始反应速率随AG浓度的倒数值和Ce3＋浓度的增加而线性增加，随初始溶液pH的增加先降低后增加，在酸性条件下有很高的TOC去除率。荧光探针实验表明，反应过程中可以产生·OH自由基。UV／Ce3＋体系对其他类型染料和对硝基苯酚都有较好的降解效果。     

Evaluation of electronic components in life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA), a quantitative method for evaluating the total environmental impact of a product, from the materials in its manufacture to its final disposal, is playing an increasingly important role in manufacturing. When the LCA method is applied to a product containing many kinds of electronic components, there is a need for life cycle inventory (LCI) data on the components. This paper provides an original calculation of the LCI data for each electronic components industry. These data show the amount of input energy and emissions into the atmosphere per yen of production yield. It is demonstrated that the magnitude of the LCI data for each industry is essentially equal to that of the other industries. Furthermore, we conclude that the LCI data for all electronic components are roughly equivalent, making it possible to calculate the LCI data of any electronic component by simply multiplying the LCI data for the industry by the price of the component. Furthermore, after comparing the materials production stages with the component manufacturing stage in the calculation, it became clear that for several component industries the materials production stage could not be omitted from the calculation. Received: April 10, 1998 / Accepted: February 8, 1999