A model for radiological consequences of nuclear power plant operational atmospheric releases

A dynamic dose and risk assessment model is developed to estimate radiological consequences of atmospheric emissions from nuclear power plants. Internal exposure via inhalation and ingestion, external exposure from clouds and radioactivity deposited on the ground are included in the model. The model allows to simulate interregional moves of people and multi-location food supply in the computational domain. Any long-range atmospheric dispersion model which yields radionuclide concentrations in air and on the ground at predetermined time intervals can easily be integrated into the model. The software developed is validated against radionuclide concentrations measured in different environmental media and dose values estimated after the Chernobyl accident. Results obtained using the model compare well with dose estimates and activities measured in foodstuffs and feedstuffs.     

面向制信息权的核污染扩散预警技术研究

以核电站核污染扩散预警技术为研究对象,基于环保指挥自动化系统C4ISRE,通过整合WRF、HYSPLIT、Unidata IDV、AGI STK、Arc GIS系统等构建核污染扩散单一合成图SIP(Single Integrated Picture),并通过SIP对核污染扩散进行详细分析,进而实现对核污染应急处置的制信息权。研究表明:当研究区实际的天气系统具备了本例模拟的气象特征时,即主体风向为局部区域东北风3~4级,局部区域西北风6~7级,发生与日本福岛核事故同样等级的事故,12个小时后,受影响的居民区主要为谢屯镇、炮台镇、李店镇、普兰店市、无名区1。其中,炮台镇的大部分区域浓度为10 Pbq,面积为2.66 km 2,东北方向部分区域浓度为100 Pbq,面积为0.03 km~2;普兰店市西南部区域浓度为10 Pbq,面积为8.00 km~2,东北部区域浓度为100 Pbq,面积为0.033 km 2;李店镇东北区域浓度为1 Pbq,面积为0.93km~2;无名区1南部区域浓度为1 Pbq,面积为4.50 km~2。     

Public concerns and the public role in siting nuclear and chemical waste facilities

Nuclear and chemical waste facilities can be successfully sited, despitenimby responses, if siting programs account for the sources of public concern. Irrational fear is not the main source; instead, waste managers must deal with perceived inequities in the distribution of benefits and costs, and concern about facility safety. Benefit-cost inequities may be dealt with in part by keeping wastes where they are generated, through political restrictions, or by providing economic compensation and political incentives (for example, a local veto). Assuring people of facility safety includes allowing local control (monitoring, health assessment, regulation), and enhancing trust of facility managers through such means as rectifying past mistakes, individual-oriented education campaigns, and negotiation of compensation packages with local residents. These means should reduce —without eliminating—public opposition to local siting of nuclear and chemical waste facilities.     

放射性污染防治对策与建议

根据2001年浙江省放射性申报登记试点城市－－嘉兴市的申报登记结果，在分析该市的放射性污染控制现状和管理现状的基础上，结合该市的实际情况，对放射性污染管理防治工作中存在的问题和薄弱环节，有针对性地提出嘉兴市放射性污染防治对策与建议，供有关部门参考。     

The uranium and nuclear industries in China

This article reviews the available information on the uranium industry and the beginning of nuclear power in China. Few details of China's uranium industry have hitherto been published in the West. The broad conclusions reached are that China is faced with severe energy shortages for the foreseeable future; nuclear power will help to solve this problem but the timing and extent of its contribution are uncertain. The central question of civil nuclear policy is whether or not to use imported technology, although satisfactory development of the uranium industry probably will require foreign assistance. The principle conestraint in this regard is foreign exchange. To help overcome this problem the Chinese are now, for the first time, offering uranium on the international market.     

核电站浸渍活性炭阴燃蔓延特性的实验研究

碘吸附器内的核级浸渍活性炭是核电站主要火灾荷载之一,首先通过热重实验与分析,确定了核级浸渍活性炭阴燃前锋温度为350℃,获得了活化能为48.6 kJ/mol。继而基于自主设计的圆柱型活性炭填充床阴燃模拟实验台,在无强迫气流条件下,针对上表面中心引燃条件下的核级浸渍活性炭横向与纵向阴燃蔓延特性进行了实验研究。填充床径向截面温度场重构结果表明,核级浸渍活性炭在高温点热源作用下,易形成快速发展的阴燃蔓延燃烧过程。其中,横向蔓延燃烧速度达3.6 mm/min,明显快于纵向蔓延速度的0.5 mm/min。此外,内部温度场动态演化过程表明,浸渍活性炭向下蔓延燃烧过程中,将在其中部区域形成不断扩大的高温燃烧区,局部温度高于700℃,而此时其上表面温度却相对降低,易掩盖内部的危险区域。     

Development of a mitigation system against hydrogen-air deflagrations in nuclear power plants

A novel mitigation system against hydrogen-air deflagrations in nuclear power plant buildings is proposed and developed through a series of field experiments using explosion vessels of different volume sizes. The mitigation system is installed on the outer surface of the vessels, and it comprises flame arrester and explosion air bag. The flame arrester is made by stacking 10–20 sheets of fine-mesh wire screens, and the air bag is connected for holding explosion gas. The successful mitigation mechanism is the sequence of pressure-rise reduction by the air bag expansion, flame quenching by the flame arrester, and the slow burning of the gas mixture sucked from the air bag back into the vessel due to the negative pressure caused by the rapid condensation of water vapor inside the vessel. Necessary conditions for the successful mitigation system are discussed, and the practical unit size of flame arrester sheet is recommended.     

Risks to the stratospheric ozone shield in the Anthropocene: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Ozone Layer

Crutzen (1974) and Crutzen and Ehhalt (1977) presented two key papers in Ambio that in Ambioexemplify how science first revealed to humankind the potential for damage to our ozone shield in the Anthropocene. Crutzen’s (1974) review is a sweeping summary of the risks to the ozone layer from supersonic aircraft, chlorofluorocarbons, as well as nuclear weapons testing and nuclear war. Crutzen and Ehhalt (1977) described how the nitrous oxide produced from fertilizers could pose another threat to the stability of the stratospheric ozone layer. The two papers are part of a body of influential scientific work that led to the pioneering Montreal Protocol to Protect the Earth’s Ozone Layer to phase out production of chlorofluorocarbons (in 1987), as well as national decisions that slowed or stopped production of supersonic planes (in the 1970s). They remain guideposts today for ongoing international negotiations regarding reducing emissions from fertilizer and limiting nuclear testing.     

Heidegger and Being at the Hanford Reservation: Standing Reserve,Enframing, and Environmental Communication Theory

This essay examines the potential of Heidegger's phenomenology as a foundation for environmental communication theory, emphasizing his critiques of modern science, technology, humanism, and metaphysics. A phenomenological approach to environmental communication provides resources for recognizing metaphysical assumptions that endanger both humans and nature. The Hanford nuclear reservation serves as an illustrative text, exemplifying Heidegger's reading of nuclear energy as a culmination of both Western metaphysics and the instrumental stance that he calls “enframing.” In Heidegger's view, the ordering and control accomplished through enframing obscures the mutually constitutive relationship between humans and nature, and in doing so, diminishes the possibilities for authentic human existence. The chapter examines how both representational and constitutive models of communication contribute to those conditions, and adopts a set of concepts from Heidegger's phenomenology as a foundation for an alternative, “bounded constitutive” model.     

Arguments For What No One Wants: The Narratives of Waste Storage Proponents

In this essay, the authors examine the public discourse of three different proponent groups (Native Americans, Industry, and Community Advocates) to gain insight into the narratives used to justify the decision to support a typically unwanted land use. The questions they ask are: first, who are the actors, what is their agency, and what is their purpose, as revealed through an analysis of the compiled text? Second, in what ways do their stories combine into a coherent narrative of support for the project; and, finally, does the meta-narrative resonate with their primarily western states audience? They conclude with suggestions as to how this project informs participants in other waste management controversies.