Laboratory migration experiments with radionuclides and natural colloids in a granite fracture

Natural colloids in groundwater could facilitate radionuclide transport, provided the colloids are mobile, are present in sufficient concentrations and can adsorb radionuclides. This paper describes the results of a laboratory migration study carried out with combinations of radionuclides and natural colloids within a fracture in a large granite block to experimentally determine the impact of colloids on radionuclide transport. The 85Sr used in this study is an example of a moderately sorbing radionuclide, while the 241Am is typical of a strongly sorbed radionuclide with very low solubility. The natural colloids used in this study were isolated from granite groundwater from Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) Underground Research Laboratory (URL), and consisted of mostly 1-10 nm organic colloids, along with lesser amounts of 10-450 nm colloids (organics and aluminosilicates). The measured coefficients for radionuclide sorption onto these colloids were between 3 x 10(2) and 1 x 10(3) ml/g for 85Sr, and between 7 x 10(4) and 7 x 10(5) mg/l for 241Am. The 85Sr sorption on the natural colloids appeared to be reversible. Migration experiments in the granite block were carried out by establishing a flow field between two boreholes (out of a total of nine) intersecting a main horizontal fracture. These experiments showed that dissolved 85Sr behaved as a moderately sorbing tracer, while dissolved 241Am was completely adsorbed by the fracture surfaces and showed no evidence of transport. However, when natural colloids were injected together with dissolved 241Am, a small amount of 241Am transport was observed, demonstrating the ability of natural colloids to facilitate the transport of radionuclides with low solubility. Natural colloids had only a minor effect on the transport of 85Sr. In a separate experiment to test the effect of higher colloid concentrations on 85Sr migration, synthetic colloids were produced from Avonlea bentonite. The introduction of a relatively high concentration of bentonite colloids actually reduced 85Sr transport because, compared to natural colloids, the bentonite colloids were less mobile and they sorbed 85Sr more strongly.     

Sustainability of wild plant use in the Andean Community of South America

Overexploitation is the second biggest driver of global plant extinction. Meanwhile, useful plant species are vital to livelihoods across the world, with global conservation efforts increasingly applying the concept of ‘conservation-through-use.’ However, successfully balancing conservation and biodiversity use remains challenging. We reviewed literature on the sustainability of wild-collected plant use across the countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia—a region of global importance for its biological and cultural richness. After applying defined search terms and a two-stage screening process, 68 articles were reviewed. The numbers which reported sustainable, unsustainable, or context-dependent outcomes were relatively even, but national differences emerged. Through narrative synthesis, we identified five key, reoccurring themes: plant biology; land tenure; knowledge, resource, and capacity; economics and market pressures; and institutional structures, policy, and legislation. Our results show the need for flexible, context-specific approaches and the importance of collaboration, with bottom-up management and conservation methods involving local communities and traditional ecological knowledge often proving most effective. Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01529-7.     

宁夏沙湖自然保护区水生生物调查与分析

宁夏沙湖自然保护区位于平罗县，面积４２４７ｈｍ＾２，水面沼泽２７３２ｈｍ＾２。根据１９９９年７月对其进行了综合考察的统计结果，计有水生两栖类－大鲵１种，鱼类１６种，浮游植物８门２９科６１属（种）、浮游动物２９种、水生底栖无脊椎动物２９种。     

从不稳定能量触发机制探讨突发性灾害

本文通过对各种突发性灾害产生机制的分析，初步建立了不稳定能量蟹良机制模型，指出在实际存在的六种情况下，只有第一种情况下才能发生突发性灾害。     

Influence of active mitigation barriers on LNG dispersion

In recent years, particular interest has been direct to the issues of risk associated with the storage, transport and use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) due to the increasing consideration that it is receiving for energy applications. Consequently, a series of experimental and modeling studies to analyze the behavior of LNG have been carried out to collect an archive of evaporation, dispersion and combustion information, and several mathematical models have been developed to represent LNG dispersion in realistic environments and to design mitigation barriers.This work uses Computational Fluid Dynamics codes to model the dispersion of a dense gas in the atmosphere after accidental release. In particular, it will study the dispersion of LNG due to accidental breakages of a pipeline and it will analyze how it is possible to mitigate the dispersing cloud through walls and curtains of water vapor and air, also providing a criterion for the design of such curtains.     

An evaluation of risk assessment framework for industrial accidents in India

Due to rapid industrialization, with high population density and constraints of land, it is expected that level of risks arising from the hazardous industries will increase in India in the coming decades. However, 30 years after the Bhopal accident (1984), except a few discrete regulations, there is as yet no integrated system for assessing and managing risks arising out of these hazardous industries in India. The gravity of aspects related to the management of industrial risk still remains crucially important. In particular, there is no standard guideline on risk analysis methodology, acceptability or tolerability criteria, nor is there an accident database or a risk reduction strategy for the areas where risk levels are already high. On top of this, there are technical and legislative gaps in the institutional framework to implement any of the above mentioned issues. With the backdrop of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the objective of this paper is therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive risk assessment framework for the emerging economy of India, in order to control and/or to reduce the risk level that exists. In this context, regulations and policies pertaining to industrial risk assessment were reviewed.     

Development of natural treatment system consisting of black soil and Kentucky bluegrass for the post-treatment of anaerobically digested strong wastewater

To develop a sound post-treatment process for anaerobically-digested strong wastewater,a novel natural treatment system comprising two units is put forward.The first unit,a trickling filter,provides for further reduction of biochemical oxygen demand and adjustable nitrification.The subsequent soil–plant unit aims at removing and recovering the nutrients nitrogen(N),phosphorus(P)and potassium(K).As a lab-scale feasibility study,a soil column test was conducted,in which black soil and valuable Kentucky bluegrass were integrated to treat artificial nutrient-enriched wastewater.After a long-term operation,the nitrification function was well established in the top layers,despite the need for an improved denitrification process prior to discharge.P and K were retained by the soil through distinct mechanisms.Since they either partially or totally remained in plant-available forms in the soil,indirect nutrient reuse could be achieved.As for Kentucky bluegrass,it displayed better growth status when receiving wastewater,with direct recovery of 8%,6% and 14% of input N,P and K,respectively.Furthermore,the indispensable role of Kentucky bluegrass for better treatment performance was proved,as it enhanced the cell-specific nitrification potential of the soil nitrifying microorganisms inhabiting the rhizosphere.After further upgrade,the proposed system is expected to become a new solution for strong wastewater pollution.     

“Z型”中庭烟气流动及自然排烟特性实验研究

"Z型"中庭自然排烟设计已经在部分高层建筑中实际运用。然而,现有规范对此类设计方法无具体指导性消防安全要求,同时缺乏相关研究。通过在海南某高层建筑中开展全尺寸火灾实验,选取中庭和办公室不同火灾区域和规模,在不同外界风向和风速下,通过监测有毒气体浓度、烟气温度和能见度以及烟气层厚度等参数,研究超过12m的"Z型"高大中庭烟气流动特性及自然排烟效果,并分析其对中庭和人员安全性的影响。研究结果表明:该建筑采用"Z型"中庭能够有效排出烟气,自然排烟设计合理。所得结论可为消防部门审核该项目提供参考,也为类似高大中庭自然排烟设计提供科学依据。     

An optimization of artificial neural network modeling methodology for the reliability assessment of corroding natural gas pipelines

A fast calculation of the reliability is meaningful to the in-line inspection of corroding natural gas pipelines. However, the traditional Monte Carlo simulation(MCS) method is time consuming for the low possibilities of the pipeline failure. The artificial neural network(ANN) is preferable for the complex nonlinear situation. An optimization of artificial neural network modeling methodology for the reliability assessment of corroding natural gas pipelines is proposed in this paper. To reduce the influence of training sets random behaviors on the calculation results, some algorithms are used to optimize the sequence of the training samples and the initial parameters of ANN models. The optimized model is applied to the reliability assessment of a corroded pipe with two successive inline inspections. According to the physical parameters of the pipeline, the trend of corroding pipeline reliability in time is predicted. The comparison between the trained ANN model, the MCS method and non-optimized ANN model shows the advantages the proposed modeling process. The methodology given in this paper is general and it can be applied to evaluate the reliability of other kind of structure safeties in practical systems.     

Resolving structural uncertainty in natural resources management using POMDP approaches

In recent years there has been a growing focus on the uncertainties of natural resources management, and the importance of accounting for uncertainty in assessing management effectiveness. This paper focuses on uncertainty in resource management in terms of discrete-state Markov decision processes (MDP) under structural uncertainty and partial observability. It describes the treatment of structural uncertainty with approaches developed for partially observable resource systems. In particular, I show how value iteration for partially observable MDPs (POMDP) can be extended to structurally uncertain MDPs. A key difference between these process classes is that structurally uncertain MDPs require the tracking of system state as well as a probability structure for the structure uncertainty, whereas with POMDPs require only a probability structure for the observation uncertainty. The added complexity of the optimization problem under structural uncertainty is compensated by reduced dimensionality in the search for optimal strategy. A solution algorithm for structurally uncertain processes is outlined for a simple example in conservation biology. By building on the conceptual framework developed for POMDPs, natural resource analysts and decision makers who confront structural uncertainties in natural resources can take advantage of the rapid growth in POMDP methods and approaches, and thereby produce better conservation strategies over a larger class of resource problems.