Lithium incorporation into thin films of vanadium oxides

Thin-film electrodes based on vanadium oxides have been obtained using the thermal oxidation of vanadium films deposited in vacuum. It is established that these electrodes admit the reversible incorporation of lithium from aprotic electrolytes and possess an initial capacity exceeding 250 mA h/g. The electrodes have good prospects for use in thin-film lithium ion batteries.     

Unique high-bandwidth UV fiber delivery system for the OMEGAdiagnostics applications

A special fiber-optic signal delivery system for 351-nm pulse-shape measurements has been developed in the contest of a large laser fusion facility. To deliver a sufficient signal and preserve an overall bandwidth of >33 GHz over a distance of ~15 m, a seven-fiber bundle of gradient-index fiber was developed, fabricated, and tested, and is now applied in routine operation     

Production of Carbon Materials with Specified Porosity

The results of studies on the oxidation of carbon black are represented. It was found that materials with different porosity can be obtained by varying the nature of an activating agent and the conditions of activation. A correlation of the sizes of carbon crystallites in the initial sample, the extent of their boundaries, and the rates of pyrocompaction and oxidation of these samples with the specific surface area of materials obtained upon activation was established.     

System of automatic regulation of rotation frequency of diesel engine-electrical units

An analysis of the possibility of reducing the specific fuel consumption in a currently used diesel engine-electrical unit is conducted in a wide range of loading based on regulating the rotation frequency of the diesel engine.     

Introducing a new ladle-treatment system for steel used to produce thick sheet

A ladle-treatment system for steel supplied to continuous-casting machine 6 has been introduced in the oxygen-converter shop at OAO Magnitogorskii Metallurgicheskii Kombinat. This permits the introduction of world-class new products at the 5000 thick-sheet mill and the manufacture of increased-strength pipe blanks for the oil and gas industry.     

Tribological principles of developing medicinal preparations based on blood serum as a liquid-crystalline medium for therapeutic correction of synovial joints

It is established experimentally using a pendulum tribometer that medical preparations based on hyaluronates and chondroitin sulfate exert unequal effects on the lubricity of blood serum during friction of cartilage against cartilage. The best tribological characteristics for the combinations with blood serum are demonstrated by drugs based on chondroitin sulfate, which display characteristics close to natural synovial fluid during frictional interaction of cartilage.     

Possible Application of γ-Ray Spectrometers Based on CdZnTe Detectors

New semiconductor -ray detectors based on CdZnTe have been developed in the last few years, and they are now being widely used. Their advantages are small size and possibility of operating without cooling. In the present work, these detectors are used to measure the radiation from spent fuel assemblies in holding ponds and dry storage sites, unirradiated nuclear materials, and radioactive wastes. The results are analyzed and compared with other types of detectors. The possible applications of CdZnTe-type detectors are determined.     

Calculated estimate of the strength of large-diameter high-pressure conduits at the three Gorges hydro development

Conclusions  

Experience with uranium-erbium fuel at the Ignalinsk Atimic Power Plant

Conclusions Experience with uranium-erbium fuel assemblies at the Ignalinsk Atomic Power Plant confirms the possibility of removing additional absorbers and considerably increasing the depth of fuel burnup, while maintaining permissible values of the steam reactivity and other characteristics important for reactor safety. Conversion of the reactor to uranium-erbium fuel permits not only the maintenance of α_ϕ within specified limits but also compensation for its growth on account of replacement of the control rods. The effectiveness of uranium-erbium fuel up to degrees of burnup close to the design value (∼20 MW·day/kg) has been demonstrated. The good agreement of the theoretical predictions and the actual characteristics offers hope that the complete conversion of reactors to uranium-erbium fuel and appropriate removal of additional absorbers will yield high fuel burnup and considerable improvement in the economic performance of atomic power plants. Other means of increasing the fuel burnup in RBMK-1500 reactors might be to increase the fuel enrichment and erbium content, to use zirconium spacers, and to reduce the operational reserve of reactivity. Ignalinsk Atomic Power Plant. Kurchatovskii Institute Russian Scientific Center. Mashinostroitel'nyi Zavod Joint Stock Company. Scientific-Research and Design Institute of Energy Technology. A. A. Bochvar All-Russian Scientific-Research Institute of Nonferrous Materials. Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 91–97, August, 1998.