randalleavitt's Feed

Expanding the Reach and Impact of Consumer e-Health Tools

randalleavitt — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:56:00 -0400

Study highlights that such tools can be very beneficial, but the chaos and complexity of the user community makes expansion difficult. Tagged by randalleavitt under Topic: personal health tools, Date: 2006, Author: Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Title: Expanding the Reach and Impact of Consumer e-Health Tools,

Transportation Information Papers

randalleavitt — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:51:00 -0500

2006: Several overview papers, including: (1) Radioactive Materials Transport - Industry Experience (2) Radiation Protection Programmes - for Road Carriers, Sea Carriers and Port Handlers (3) Nuclear Fuel Cycle Transport - The IAEA Regulations and their Relevance to Severe Accidents. The transportation industry has a very good safety record for the handling of radioactive materials. The excessively long time needed for regularity approvals has a measureably negative effect on the fission sourced energy industry. The renewed interest in nuclear power is introducing rapid change in the transportation technology and regulation regimes. Compliance with regulations is further complicated by varying interpretations of the IAEA documents that specify transportation requirements. Another problem is availability of carriers. There are only a limited number of ships designed for the safe transport of radioactive material. When these ships are all busy other shipments are delayed. These days everyone is concerned about security. This is adding further constraints for the transportation of radioactive material. Tagged by randalleavitt under Rank: worth reading, Date: 2006, Author: World Nuclear Transport Institure, Title: Transportation Information Papers, Topic: nuclear fission energy,

New Commercial Reactor Designs

randalleavitt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:59:00 -0400

Tom Murphy - 2007 Nov: Nuclear reactor designs that are: participating in the U.S. NRC design certification program. This article lists a number of nuclear reactor designs, and gives a brief description of each. It provides numerous links for more detailed descriptions. It is up to date and accurate. This is a good starting point for someone who wants to know what is being proposed for near term use. Tagged by randalleavitt under Rank: worth reading, Date: 2007, Author: Murphy T, Title: New Commercial Reactor Designs, Topic: nuclear fission energy,

American Nuclear Society Position Statements

randalleavitt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:59:00 -0400

Web Site - updated frequently: Statements about nuclear science and technology that present a consensus of opinion from the ANS. This collection of brief statements presents clear descriptions that the general reader can easily follow. The articles are dated, so read the most recent ones first. This is an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to learn about the nuclear power situation. There is an American bias here, so other sources should also be consulted. Tagged by randalleavitt under Rank: worth reading, Date: regularly updated, Author: American Nuclear Society, Title: American Nuclear Society Position Statements, Topic: nuclear fission energy,

Recycling Nuclear Waste: The Promise of Fast-Neutron Reactors

randalleavitt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:59:00 -0400

W.H. Hannum, G.E. Marsh, G.S. Stanford - 2006 Mar: Full recycling of fission fuel can provide the energy needed for civilized living and solves the problem of spent fuel disposal. Fast neutron reactors can operate using a closed fuel cycle, which means that they reuse their uranium fuel until all of its energy potential is extracted. This is much better than today's thermal reactors which only utilize one percent of the fuel's potential. Fast reactors can also process military plutonium, making it unsuitable for weapon use. An American demonstration of such a system was halted in 1994, when it was only a few months away from completion. This research should be resumed. Prior to fast reactors, the plan for extending fission fuel involved breeder reactors, and a fuel recycling procedure dubbed "PUREX". This plan required too much handling of dangerous plutonium isotopes. The fast neutron reactor fuel cycle solves this problem. Instead of PUREX, a pyroprocessing technique is used to recondtion used fuel. The pyroprocessing technique separates fission products innefficiently, which is ideal for fast reactor use, and not useful for weapons use. A number of years of operational experience with fast reactors has been developed in various countries. Such reactors are inherently safe, and economical. So there are no technical barriers, other than starting up something new, to prevent the use of this technology. Tagged by randalleavitt under Rank: worth reading, Date: 2006, Author: Stanford G S, Author: Marsh G E, Author: Hannum W H, Title: Recycling Nuclear Waste: The Promise of Fast-Neutron Reac, Topic: nuclear fission energy,