How people perceive risk or threats is important to many disciplines that seek to assist policy makers in developing policies, regulations and laws. Using the previous work of Slovic et al. (Fischhoff, Slovic, Lichtenstein, Read and Combs, 2000; Slovic P., 1992; Slovic, Fischhoff, and Lichtenstein, 2000) in development of the psychometric paradigm, a sample of residents (n=600) from a region with a large number of nuclear reactors was surveyed. The question set was expanded to include demographic questions to determine if they impact risk perception. Two aspects of risk perception were examined, perception of overall risk and perception of riskiness along specific dimensions of concern identified previously in the literature. For both risk and riskiness, respondents’ perceptions of nuclear power were compared to three other perceptions of technologies including use of modern farming methods using chemicals, railroad transportation and coal-generated electricity. The recent increase in public concern about nuclear power following the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant led to the expectation that nuclear power would be rated higher in overall risk and riskiness than the other three technologies consistent with Slovic’s earlier work on risk perception. This expectation was generally supported although respondents tended to perceive modern farming methods using chemical as similar in overall risk and riskiness to nuclear power. The research specifically tested five hypotheses concerning the impact of five demographic factors: gender, race, income, education and political orientation on the overall perception of risk and riskiness. Subsequent analysis using analysis of variance and linear regression found that select demographics only explained 2% of the risk perception for nuclear power generation.

The regulation of atomic energy has had a long and unique history in the United States and it is the effectiveness of that regulation which poses the problem analyzed here. Government documents and secondary sources are used to provide data and critical opinion about atomic energy regulation. The first chapter deals with the history of the earliest attempts to deal vith atomic energy while the second chapter is concerned with the political nature of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Questions o secrecy and potential environmental danger from the nuclear enterprise are topics for the third and fourth chapters respectively. A concluding chapter indicates the future direction the regulation of nuclear power may take under the newly established Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration.

No description available.

This study is an application of production-cost duality theory. Duality theory is reviewed for the competitive and rate-of-return regulated firm. The cost function is developed for the nuclear electric power generating industry of the United States using capital, fuel and labor factor inputs. A comparison is made between the Generalized Box-Cox (GBC) and Fourier Flexible (FF) functional forms. The GBC functional form nests the Generalized Leontief, Generalized Square Root Quadratic and Translog functional forms, and is based upon a second-order Taylor-series expansion. The FF form follows from a Fourier-series expansion in sine and cosine terms using the Sobolev norm as the goodness of fit measure. The Sobolev norm takes into account first and second derivatives. The cost function and two factor shares are estimated as a system of equations using maximum likehood techniques, with Additive Standard Normal and Logistic Normal error distributions. In summary, none of the special cases of the GBC function form are accepted. Homotheticity of the underlying production technology can be rejected for both the GBC and FF forms, leaving only the unrestricted versions supported by the data. Residual analysis indicates a slight improvement in skewness and kurtosis for univariate and multivariate cases when the Logistic Normal distribution is used.

Magister Legum - LLM / African states are interested in the development of nuclear power (also referred to as atomic power) for the generation of electricity and desalination. These include Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia, South Africa, and Uganda. The nuclear governance in South Africa has adopted principles into its legal system which require it to comply with the objectives of numerous resolutions, conventions, treaties, bilateral and multilateral agreements. Therefore, there is an obligation upon the government through ‘reasonable legislative and other measures’ to manage nuclear matters, such as nuclear accidents, in a manner that protects the general public, atomic industry workers as well as prevents the pollution of the surrounding environment. It has been seven years since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident that occurred in Japan on 11 March 2011, when considerable amounts of radioactive material from the damaged plant released into the environment. Health hazards, associated with exposure to low levels of ionising radiation, are a significant concern following such an accident. A nuclear disaster can potentially violate not only the right to health of workers, but that of residents and evacuees alike, particularly pregnant women, older persons, and children. Regional and international human rights conventions impose obligations on state parties to “take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the right to the highest attainable standard of health is enjoyed by all as soon as possible”. In most cases, when a nuclear accident occurs, workers within the nuclear plant are expected to mitigate emergencies. The danger of this expectation is that it could violate their fundamental human rights.

Este trabalho teve por objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia de análise estrutural de heteroestruturas, ou seja, estruturas formadas pela combinação de materiais diferentes depositados em camadas alternadas. O trabalho focalizou aspectos não apenas referentes às técnicas de difração de raios X, comumente utilizadas na caracterização estrutural destes novos materiais, mas também se concentrou no desenvolvimento de cálculos teóricos da intensidade difratada pelos raios X, os quais, comparados com os dados experimentais, dão informação precisa acerca do que poderíamos denominar qualidade estrutural. Uma comparação entre resultados obtidos com a teoria Cinemática Dinâmica foram também explorados e o alcance das duas teorias foi discutido. Este procedimento, embora tenha sido aplicado para a análise de heteroestruturas a base de semicondutores cristalinos, pode também ser aplicado, por exemplo, ao estudo de heteroestruturas magnéticas. É sempre fundamental no processo de desenvolvimento de novos materiais caracterizar as amostras após o crescimento, a fim de comparar os resultados experimentais com os valores nominais obtidos do procedimento de deposição. Em particular, neste trabalho, a caracterização estrutural de super-redes deformadas de Si 1-xGex/Ge e Si/Ge, crescidas sobre substratos de Ge e Si, respectivamente, realizou-se através do uso de técnicas não destrutivas de difração de raios X, envolvendo a medição dos parâmetros próprios das super-redes como: período, número de camadas atômicas, parâmetros de rede e deformação. / The aim of this work was the development of a methodology for the structural analysis of heterostructures, i. e., structures formed by the combination of different materials, deposited as alternate layers. The work focused on aspects not only related to x-ray diffraction techniques, usually utilized for the structural characterization of these new materials, but also it concentrated on the development of theorical calculations of the x-ray diffracted intensity, which were compared with experimental data in order to determine the so-called structural quality. The results obtained with the Kinematical and Dinamical X-ray Diffraction theories were explored and the scope of both theories was discussed. Even though this procedure was applied to the analysis of heterostrutures based on crystalline semiconductors, it also can be used, for example, to the study of magnetic multilayers. It is always fundamental in the development process of new materials to characterize the samples after growth, in order to compare the experimental results with the nominal values obtained by the deposition procedure. ln particular, in this work, the structural characterization of Si1-xGex /Ge and Si/Ge strained superlattices, deposited on Ge and Si substrate, respectively, was performed by means of non-destructive x-ray diffraction techniques, measuring superlattices parameters as: periodicity, number of atomic layers, lattice parameters and strain.

Este trabalho teve por objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia de análise estrutural de heteroestruturas, ou seja, estruturas formadas pela combinação de materiais diferentes depositados em camadas alternadas. O trabalho focalizou aspectos não apenas referentes às técnicas de difração de raios X, comumente utilizadas na caracterização estrutural destes novos materiais, mas também se concentrou no desenvolvimento de cálculos teóricos da intensidade difratada pelos raios X, os quais, comparados com os dados experimentais, dão informação precisa acerca do que poderíamos denominar qualidade estrutural. Uma comparação entre resultados obtidos com a teoria Cinemática Dinâmica foram também explorados e o alcance das duas teorias foi discutido. Este procedimento, embora tenha sido aplicado para a análise de heteroestruturas a base de semicondutores cristalinos, pode também ser aplicado, por exemplo, ao estudo de heteroestruturas magnéticas. É sempre fundamental no processo de desenvolvimento de novos materiais caracterizar as amostras após o crescimento, a fim de comparar os resultados experimentais com os valores nominais obtidos do procedimento de deposição. Em particular, neste trabalho, a caracterização estrutural de super-redes deformadas de Si 1-xGex/Ge e Si/Ge, crescidas sobre substratos de Ge e Si, respectivamente, realizou-se através do uso de técnicas não destrutivas de difração de raios X, envolvendo a medição dos parâmetros próprios das super-redes como: período, número de camadas atômicas, parâmetros de rede e deformação. / The aim of this work was the development of a methodology for the structural analysis of heterostructures, i. e., structures formed by the combination of different materials, deposited as alternate layers. The work focused on aspects not only related to x-ray diffraction techniques, usually utilized for the structural characterization of these new materials, but also it concentrated on the development of theorical calculations of the x-ray diffracted intensity, which were compared with experimental data in order to determine the so-called structural quality. The results obtained with the Kinematical and Dinamical X-ray Diffraction theories were explored and the scope of both theories was discussed. Even though this procedure was applied to the analysis of heterostrutures based on crystalline semiconductors, it also can be used, for example, to the study of magnetic multilayers. It is always fundamental in the development process of new materials to characterize the samples after growth, in order to compare the experimental results with the nominal values obtained by the deposition procedure. ln particular, in this work, the structural characterization of Si1-xGex /Ge and Si/Ge strained superlattices, deposited on Ge and Si substrate, respectively, was performed by means of non-destructive x-ray diffraction techniques, measuring superlattices parameters as: periodicity, number of atomic layers, lattice parameters and strain.

The Safety Analysis Report (SAR) of the Oregon State University TRIGA Research Reactor (OSTR) was prepared and used as a safety baseline for the reactor's operation since 1968. Although, in general, revision of the Safety Analysis Report of a research reactor is not a regulation requirement, it should be revised from time to time to include changes to the facility or procedures or update to current regulatory standards. The ANS 15.21 workgroup developed a draft standard format and content for safety analysis reports for research reactors. An area of this guidance, which was selected for this work's revision of OSTR-SAR, is the radiation protection program and waste management chapter. The Health Physics program of the facility was observed. The radiological data were obtained from the annual reports for more than 10 years of operation. The related data, such as meteorological data, were obtained and prepared for the analysis processes. The current federal regulation limits and recommendations were used as the references for dose assessments. The results show the OSTR has a sufficient radiation protection program not only for the facility's workers, but also for the general public, and the program is in full compliance with the federal regulations. The dose estimation shows that the workers and general public can not receive and have not received doses in excess of regulatory limits from the normal operation of the OSTR. / Graduation date: 2000

The utilisation of alternate sources of energy has reached critical levels due to the constantly growing demand for energy and the diminishing of fossil fuels. The production of hydrogen through the Hybrid Sulphur process is a possible alternative that may contribute towards alleviating the pressure on the world's energy resources. The two-step thermochemical cycle for decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen offers the potential to obtain acceptable thermal efficiencies, while still using common and inexpensive chemicals. The process mainly makes use of two unit process operations: an electrolyser and a chemical decomposition reactor. This research project focuses on the concept design of the decomposition reactor operated adiabatically as a multi-stage reactor system with inter-stage heating, in order to simplify the reactor design. This approach allows for the independent evaluation of the reaction kinetics and the heat transfer mechanism. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Nuclear Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The energy carrier hydrogen is expected to solve some energy challenges. Since its oxidation does not emit greenhouse gases (GHGs), its use does not contribute to climate change, provided that it is derived from clean energy sources. Thermochemical water splitting using a Cu-Cl cycle, linked with a nuclear super-critical water cooled reactor (SCWR), which is being considered as a Generation IV nuclear reactor, is a promising option for hydrogen production. In this thesis, a comparative environmental study is reported of the three-, four- and five-step Cu-Cl thermochemical water splitting cycles with various other hydrogen production methods. The investigation uses life cycle assessment (LCA), which is an analytical tool to identify and quantify environmentally critical phases during the life cycle of a system or a product and/or to evaluate and decrease the overall environmental impact of the system or product. The LCA results for the hydrogen production processes indicate that the four-step Cu-Cl cycle has lower environmental impacts than the three- and five-step Cu-Cl cycles due to its lower thermal energy requirement. Parametric studies show that acidification potentials (APs) and global warming potentials (GWPs) for the four-step Cu-Cl cycle can be reduced from 0.0031 to 0.0028 kg SO2-eq and from 0.63 to 0.55 kg CO2-eq, respectively, if the lifetime of the system increases from 10 to 100 years. Moreover, the comparative study shows that the nuclear-based S-I and the four-step Cu-Cl cycles are the most environmentally benign hydrogen production methods in terms of AP and GWP. GWPs of the S-I and the four-step Cu-Cl cycles are 0.412 and 0.559 kg CO2-eq for reference case which has a lifetime of 60 years. Also, the corresponding APs of these cycles are 0.00241 and 0.00284 kg SO2-eq. It is also found that an increase in hydrogen plant efficiency from 0.36 to 0.65 decreases the GWP from 0.902 to 0.412 kg CO2-eq and the AP from 0.00459 to 0.00209 kg SO2-eq for the four-step Cu-Cl cycle. / UOIT