放射性废金属熔炼去污分配系数研究

放射性污染金属熔炼去污后循环再利用是处理放射性污染金属的有效手段。为了确保熔炼污染物的排放符合国家标准,合理估算释放源项,需要对放射性废金属熔炼去污分配系数进行研究。经对国外金属熔炼设施的分配系数的比较、分析,推荐了一套适用于评价放射性废金属熔炼设施辐射影响采用的核素去污分配系数。     

核与辐射安全监管大数据平台建设策略研究

核能与核技术利用事业的快速发展为我国经济社会发展提供了强大的助推力,但也使得我国面临的核与辐射安全风险日益加大,对核与辐射安全监管的需求与日俱增。当前,我国核与辐射安全监管工作挑战与机遇并存。介绍了我国核与辐射安全监管工作开展现状,分析了其中存在的困难与问题,提出亟需利用信息化及大数据技术,推动我国核与辐射安全监管现代化进程。基于我国核与辐射安全监管数据现状,提出了促进我国核与辐射安全监管数据管理水平提升的几点措施,包括完善数据管理体制,提升数据管理技术,转变数据管理思维,树立数据共享意识等。此外,详细阐述了核与辐射安全监管大数据建设策略,包括总体架构、建设目标、主要任务等。     

浅谈重离子加速器应用放射性污染防治措施

针对重离子加速器运行过程中产生的各类放射性污染物,从辐射防护措施、放射性废物治理措施、辐射安全措施和辐射防护监测4个方面分别进行了放射性污染防治措施的讨论。得出只要严格实施了各项放射性污染防治措施的要求后,放射性工作人员及公众的人身安全是可以保证的,辐射区域周围的环境是安全的。同时,也为辐射环境管理提供了科学依据。     

城市放射性废物库运行安全管理浅议

随着核技术在工业、医疗、探矿、科研等诸多领域的广泛应用和人们对放射性危害认识的提高,废旧放射源和放射性废物逐渐被人们所关注,城市放射性废物库是一个地区重要的放射性污染防治设施,它的安全与否,直接关系到人民群众的身体健康和辐射环境安全。本文介绍了青海省城市放射性废物库基本情况和安全管理做法,并就如何加强城市放射性废物库安全运行管理提出了建议。     

四川省野外探伤的辐射安全现状与对策

本文对四川省的野外探伤单位探伤作业的辐射安全现状进行了调查,分析了野外探伤作业过程中存在的辐射安全问题,提出了野外探伤作业辐射安全监管对策与措施。     

对吉林省困难企业放射性废物（源）管理现状及安全管理对策

在全面调查吉林省困难企业放射性废物(源)管理现状的基础上，通过吉林省辐射环境管理部门近年来对放射性废物的管理经验，分析总结了一系列的放射性废物(源)收贮对策，以保证辐射环境安全，杜绝放射性污染事故的发生。     

新疆某区域矿产资源开发放射性水平调查与评价

为加强对新疆某区域矿产资源开发过程中的辐射安全监管,通过对该区域52家矿产资源开发企业的γ辐射剂量率进行监测,对超出"当地本底水平+50 nGy/h"的2家企业进行了采样,调查和测量了固体样品中放射性核素含量和水中放射性核素含量,估算了矿产企业工作人员所受年有效剂量。监测结果表明:大部分企业的γ辐射剂量率处在新疆及全国环境本底水平,2家企业处于全疆范围内的γ辐射剂量率的波动范围之外;其中1家企业的固体样品中放射性核素含量异常;水中放射性核素含量均处于全国环境本底水平。2家企业的工作人员所受年有效剂量分别为0.35 mSv和0.75 mSv。评价结果表明:该区域2家矿产资源开发企业存在放射性问题,需加强该区域的辐射安全监管工作。     

国际石油和化工公司场地污染防治经验之借鉴

在简要分析我国石油场地污染特征及所面临形势的基础上,调研了国际典型石油污染事故事件,调查总结了BP、壳牌、埃克森美孚、杜邦公司等国际大型石油和化工企业在场地污染防治方面采取的管理措施。综合上述分析,从加强配套管理和技术机构建设、加强场地环境保护能力建设、加强制度和标准体系建设、加强全生命周期场地环境管理、建立企业场地污染防控资金保障机制等7方面,提出国际石油公司在场地污染防治方面的教训和经验对我国石油企业的借鉴建议,对我国石油行业加强场地污染防控和调查修复工作具有指导作用。     

全省各地环保部门加强汛期环境安全工作

为防范和应对汛期次生突发环境事件,我省近日下发了《进一步加强汛期环境安全管理工作的紧急通知》,要求各地环保部门通过加强环境风险源企业的监管、加强污染防治设施的监管、加强监测预警工作、加强突发环境事件应对准备、加强环境应急工作责任落实等措施确保汛期环境安全。全省各地环保部门根据《通知》要求,     

青海省辐射环境监测现状及发展对策的思考

辐射环境监测是核与辐射环境安全监管的重要技术支撑。本文从青海省辐射环境监测能力建设现状和工作开展的实际情况,分析了目前存在的问题,提出了改进措施和对策,对今后的发展提出了几点思考建议。     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

Surface applied water treatment residuals affect bioavailable phosphorus losses in Florida sands

Water treatment residuals (WTR) can reduce runoff P loss and surface co-application of P-sources and WTR is a practical way of land applying the residuals. In a rainfall simulation study, we evaluated the effects of surface co-applied P-sources and an Al-WTR on runoff and leacheate bioavailable P (BAP) losses from a Florida sand. Four P-sources, namely poultry manure, Boca Raton biosolids (high water-soluble P), Pompano biosolids (moderate water-soluble P), and triple super phosphate (TSP) were surface applied at 56 and 224kgPha(-1) (by weight) to represent low and high soil P loads typical of P- and N-based amendments rates. The treatments further received surface applied WTR at 0 or 10gWTRkg(-1) soil. BAP loss masses were greater in leachate (16.4-536mg) than in runoff (0.91-46mg), but were reduced in runoff and leachate by surface applied WTR. Masses of total BAP lost in the presence of surface applied WTR were less than approximately 75% of BAP losses in the absence of WTR. Total BAP losses from each of the organic sources applied at N-based rates were not greater than P loss from TSP applied at a P-based rate. The BAP loss at the N-based rate of moderate water-soluble P-source (Pompano biosolids) was not greater than BAP losses at the P-based rates of other organic sources tested. The hazards of excess P from applying organic P-sources at N-based rates are not greater than observed at P-based rates of mineral fertilizer. Results suggest that management of the environmental P hazards associated with N-based rates of organic materials in Florida sands is possible by either applying P-sources with WTR or using a moderate water-soluble P-source.     

Animal Consciousness and Ethics in Asia and the Pacific

The interactions between humans, animals and the environment have shaped human values and ethics, not only the genes that we are made of. The animal rights movement challenges human beings to reconsider interactions between humans and other animals, and maybe connected to the environmental movement that begs us to recognize the fact that there are symbiotic relationships between humans and all other organisms. The first part of this paper looks at types of bioethics, the implications of autonomy and the value of being alive. Then the level of consciousness of these relationships are explored in survey results from Asia and the Pacific, especially in the 1993 International Bioethics Survey conducted in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore and Thailand. Very few mentioned animal consciousness in the survey, but there were more biocentric comments in Australia and Japan; and more comments with the idea of harmony including humans in Thailand. Comparisons between questions and surveys will also be made, in an attempt to describe what people imagine animal consciousness to be, and whether this relates to human ethics of the relationships. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Rehabilitation and Flood Management Planning in a Steep,Boulder-Bedded Stream

This study demonstrates the integration of rehabilitation and flood management planning in a steep, boulder-bedded stream in a coastal urban catchment on the South Island of New Zealand. The Water of Leith, the primary stream flowing through the city of Dunedin, is used as a case study. The catchment is steep, with a short time of concentration and rapid hydrologic response, and the lower stream reaches are highly channelized with floodplain encroachment, a high potential for debris flows, significant flood risks, and severely degraded aquatic habitat. Because the objectives for rehabilitation and flood management in urban catchments are often conflicting, a number of types of analyses at both the catchment and the reach scales and careful planning with stakeholder consultation were needed for successful rehabilitation efforts. This included modeling and analysis of catchment hydrology, fluvial geomorphologic assessment, analysis of water quality and aquatic ecology, hydraulic modeling and flood risk evaluation, detailed feasibility studies, and preliminary design to optimize multiple rehabilitation and flood management objectives. The study showed that all of these analyses were needed for integrated rehabilitation and flood management and that some incremental improvements in stream ecological health, aesthetics, and public recreational opportunities could be achieved in this challenging environment. These methods should be considered in a range of types of stream rehabilitation projects.     

AN INDEX FOR MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS WITH AN APPLICATION1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a statistically valid index for measuring the performance of irrigation systems. The index is applied to a sample of 39 farms on a watercourse under the warabandi system of irrigation management in India. It is found that while the farmers in fact irrigated almost exactly the total amount of irrigated area as designed, inter-farm variations were considerable. The index shows that the degree of error of managerial effectiveness of irrigation on this watercourse is 20 percent. Therefore it is concluded that the system is performing at 80 percent effectiveness.     

WATER LOSS EQUATIONS AND COEFFICIENTS TO ESTIMATE RUNOFF FROM RAINFALL1

Infiltration models are based on physical characteristics of the soil and initial soil moisture. For a given soil it is based on the initial soil moisture distribution. A computer simulation model for flood runoff systems (FH-Model) was used to analyze 39 sets of rainfall-runoff data on four small watersheds ranging in size from 17 to 342 square kilometers located in the Yamaska River basin in Quebec. From these analyses, parameters and coefficients have been determined for a water loss (infiltration) equation. A method for determining the loss parameters, using a nonlinear least square curve fitting technique, is presented. Expressions were made to relate the loss parameters to antecedent precipitation. The equations were tested on 11 storm rainfall and runoff events on a watershed located in the same region and close agreements were found.     

Vegetation dynamics in impounded marshes along the Indian River Lagoon,Florida, USA

Data are presented on the vegetation dynamics of two impounded marshes along the Indian River Lagoon, in east-central Florida, USA. Vegetation in one of the marshes (IRC 12) was totally eliminated by overflooding and by hypersaline conditions (salinities over 100 ppt) that developed there in 1979 after the culvert connecting the marsh with the lagoon was closed. Over 20% recovery of the herbaceous halophytesSalicornia virginica, S. bigelovii, andBatis maritima was observed at that site after the culvert was reopened in 1982, but total cover in the marsh remains well below the original 75%. No recovery of mangroves was observed at this site. The second site (SLC 24), while remaining isolated from the lagoon during much of the study, did not suffer the complete elimination of vegetation experienced at the first site. At this location, mangroves increased in cover and frequency with a concomitant decrease in herbaceous halophytes. Considerable damage to the vegetation was evident at IRC 12 when the impoundment was closed and flooded for mosquito control in 1986. Although the damage was temporary, its occurrence emphasizes the need of planning and constant monitoring and adjustment of management details as conditions within particular marshes change. Storms and hurricanes may be important in promoting a replacement of black mangroves by red mangroves in closed impoundments because the former cannot tolerate pneumatophore submergence for long periods of time. University of Florida-IFAS Journal Series R-00521.