Beijing Radioactive Ion-Beam Facility Progress Report of Beijing Radioactive Ion-Beam Facilities （BRIF） in 2006

Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facilities （BRIF） project is in progress. The preliminary engineering design of BRIF has been finished. The working drawing design of the project and some critical equipment ordering were started in 2006.     

Monitoring Radioactive Aerosols in the Object “Cover”

The results of an investigation of aerosols in the rooms of the object Cover at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in November–December 2000 are presented. Using packets of Petryanov three-layer filtering materials, the dynamics of the volume activity of the products of the accident in the No. 4 unit and the daughter products of radon and thoron is traced, and the size of the carrier particles in room 207/5 is determined. It is shown that the ¹³⁷Cs concentration varied from 0.2 to 20 Bq/m³. The median aerodynamic diameter of carrier particles ranged from 0.5 to 6 m for ¹³⁷Cs and from 0.08 to 0.8 m for the daughter products of radon. The sources of the coarsely dispersed cesium aerosols at maximum concentration were determined in both cases.     

Cosmogenic <Superscript>7</Superscript>Be fallout near Samarkand in 2002–2009

⁷Be fallout measurements performed around Samarkand in 2002–2009 are presented. The calendar period included in this research covers the ascending part of the 23rd solar activity cycle; this part of the cycle corresponded to a decrease of the monthly average value of the Wolf number from 60 to <5. The linear correlation observed between the fallout and amount of wet precipitation indicates that the latter plays the main role in the removal of ⁷Be from the troposphere. The average seasonal ⁷Be fallout is 223 ± 46 Bq/m² during winter, 324 ± 66 Bq/m² during spring, 75 ± 29 Bq/m² during summer, and 189 ± 43 Bq/m² during fall. These measurements make it possible to evaluate the contribution of precipitation in the form of dust and dew to the total ⁷Be fallout during the summer. The correlation between the solar radiation and ⁷Be fallout is confirmed.     

Radar–Spectrometric Method for Determining the Characteristics of Radioactive Emission

The uncertainty of the measurement geometry – absence of information about shape, dimensions, activity distribution, and spatial position of the radioactive cloud relative to the detector location – makes it difficult to perform spectrometry of radioactive emissions, for example, from nuclear power plants. The combined use of spectrometer and radar-tracer method, which visualizes a radioactive cloud, makes it possible to switch from qualitative analysis of spectra to determination of quantitative content of radionuclides in the emission. Schemes for radar-spectrometric probing and the basic computational relations for determining the activity of radionuclides are examined.     

Experimental Study on Nuclides Determination in Simulated High Radioactive Backgroud

It is very difficult to distinguish and eliminate the effect of radioactive background as the same nuclides both existed in sample(in container) and in environment as γ-ray measurement. Furthermore, the quantities analysis of the nuclides should be influ…     

Evolution of microstructure and second-phase particles in Zr–Sn–Nb–Fe alloy tube during Pilger processing

Evolution of microstructure and second-phase particles (SPPs) in Zr–Sn–Nb–Fe alloy tube were investigated during Pilger process using electron backscatter diffraction, secondary electron and transmission electron microscopy imaging techniques. Results show that the Pilger rolled tubes present heterogeneous structures with the C axes of less deformed grains mostly concentrated in the axial direction. During the Pilger rolling, the increase of deformation caused weakening of linear distribution of second-phase particles. The mean diameters of the precipitates are in the range of 70–100 nm in all specimens, and the growth mechanism of SPPs follows second-order kinetics. The grain growth is controlled by Zener pinning in the Pilger rolling–annealing specimens. Clusters containing the Zr(Nb,Fe)₂ and β_Nb precipitates formed in the Zr–1.0Sn–1.0Nb–0.12Fe alloy. Most of the particles located in grain boundaries are the Zr(Nb,Fe)₂ Laves phase with hexagonal structure, and stacking faults have been found in the Zr(Nb,Fe)₂ precipitates. The types, morphology and distribution of precipitates depend on the constituent and structural fluctuations of the nucleation area.     

Gross β activity level of fallout in the environment around Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant

This paper presents the measurement results of gross β activities in fallout samples collected from the en- vironment around Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) during 1993-2002. The gross β activity of 191 samples col- lected at five monitoring spots were (0.11～3.64) Bq·m-2·d-1, with an average of (0.91±0.49) Bq·m-2·d-1. This value was lower than (1.02±0.35) Bq?m-2?d-1 , the average of the samples collected at the reference spot in Hangzhou. It indicated that no obvious…     

Gross β activity level of fallout in the environment around Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant

This paper presents the measurement results of gross β activities in fallout samples collected from the environment around Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) during 1993-2002. The gross β activity of 191 samples collected at five monitoring spots were (0.11～3.64) Bq · m-2 · d-1, with an average of (0.91 ±0.49) Bq · m-2 · d-1. This value was lower than (1.02±0.35) Bq·m-2·d-1 , the average of the samples collected at the reference spot in Hangzhou.It indicated that no obvious rise in the gross β activity level of fallout was observed in ambience of Qinshan NPP.     

Progress Report of Beijing Radioactive Ion-Beam Facilities (BRIF) in 2006

Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facilities (BRIF) project is in progress. The preliminary engineering design of BRIF has been finished. The working drawing design of the project and some critical equipment ordering were started in 2006.     

Quality Assurance in Production and Use of Special Form Radioactive Material—Focal Points in BAM Approvals

Abstract

BAM, as the competent authority for approval of special form radioactive material,attaches great importance to a detailed audit of the required quality assurance programmes for design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance and inspection. Applicants have to submit, together with their application documentation, information on general arrangements for quality assurance as well as on quality assurance in production and in operation. Fields where BAM has often found deficiencies are leak test methods, weld seam quality and the safety level after use.     

Design development and analytical assessment of LLCB TBM in Russian Federation during 2012–2013

The activity on the design, analysis, and R&D for the test blanket module (TBM) with lead–lithium (LL) eutectic coolant and ceramic breeder (CB) was performed in the Russian Federation (RF) according to the technical program of cooperation between the leading research institutes of India (“leader” of the LLCB TBM concept) and RF (“partner”). During the period of 2012–2013, the joint efforts of the RF and Indian specialists were focused on the development of the TBM's basic design with an optimal set of parameters (in particular for testing on both H-H and H-D operation phases of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) machine). This article briefly describes the results of the TBM design and analysis that have been obtained by the RF specialists (“NIKIET” and D.V. Efremov Institute) in support of the LLCB concept (both DEMO blanket and TBM itself). The main directions of this activity in RF institutes were as follows:

• –development of the TBM design taking into account the ability to manufacture the TBM elements (load-bearing casing, tritium-breeding zone, and attachment system);
• –thermal analysis (in both stationary and transient approaches) of TBM design options (four variations of helium and eutectic flowing directions);
• –structural analysis of TBM design elements for Inductive I operation mode; and
• –recommendations (based upon the results of comparative analysis) on the reference design to be used on further stages of concept development.

The critical issues and further plans on the development of LLCB TBM and corresponding DEMO blanket in the RF are also presented in this article.