Overview of recent operating experience regarding plant aging

Recent, as well as past, studies of reactor trip frequencies and other types of operating experience have shown that relatively high frequencies are likely in new plants with little accumulated operating time. In order to better understand all the factors which contribute to high frequencies in new plants, the authors have made a comparison of reactor trip frequencies between plants which went into operation in the 1960's and the early 1970's and those which have gone into operation more recently. Trip frequency versus accumulated operating time for two plant groups are compared to see the extent to which design differences (e.g., capacity, thermal margin) affect trip frequency.This paper also presents a review of some recent events in which plant age has played a major role. The events which are reviewed have been identified through the normal systematic event analysis program conducted by the NRC. Information regarding these events was obtained through followup by reviews conducted by NRC Resident Inspectors as well as event reports submitted by licensees.     

Development of an octocalcium phosphate cement

From previous studies it is known that alpha-tertiary calcium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate form a cement upon mixing with water. In this study this cement was optimized in terms of the milling of the constituents, their molar ratio, the amount of hydroxyapatite added and the water/powder ratio. The optimum Ca/P molar ratio of the cement mixture was 1.36±0.03. X-ray diffraction showed the reaction product to be octocalcium phosphate. Addition of precipitated hydroxypatite of over 3% diminished the final strength of the cement significantly. However, admixtures of only 2% of precipitated hydroxyapatite (a) kept the final compressive strength at 30±5 MPa after soaking in Ringers solution at 37°C, (b) diminished the initial setting time from 27.5 to 10 min and the final setting time from 65 to 40 min, (c) diminished the time in which the final strength was reached from 36 to less than 14 h. The tensile strength of this cement is 19±1% of its compressive strength. The optimum water/powder ratio as found in this study was 0.30 g/g.     

Comparison of two current modulation strategies for matrixconverters under unbalanced input voltage conditions

In this paper, the input current performance of matrix converters is analyzed, especially with reference to the operating conditions determined by unbalanced supply voltages. The space-vector modulation (SVM) technique is utilized to calculate the duty cycles of the active voltage vectors that must be applied, in each switching cycle period, in order to satisfy the input and output requirements. A detailed theoretical analysis of the input current harmonic content under unbalanced input voltage conditions is presented for two different current modulation strategies. On the basis of numerical simulations as well as measurements on a laboratory prototype setup, the strategies' performance are compared and the validity of the theoretical investigation confirmed. It is concluded that, when the input voltages are unbalanced to a significant extent, a dynamic input current modulation strategy has to be preferred, since a lower harmonic line current distortion will appear     

The multiple interaction model for nonshallow scatterers buriedbeneath 2-d random rough surfaces

The multiple interaction model is hybridized with the robust Steepest Descent Fast Multipole Method (SDFMM) to compute the signature of nonshallow penetrable scatterers buried beneath two-dimensional random rough surfaces. The most attractive feature of the multiple interaction model with using the SDFMM is removing the quasi-planar structure constraint for analyzing nonquasi-planar scatterers. The results show that the buried object's signature is largely due to the first interaction mechanism; however, the contribution of each additional interaction is explicitly calculated, though they may become insignificant especially for lossy background soil     

Ka-band solid-state pulsed Gunn oscillator and power combiner

GaAs Gunn diodes were fabricated for pulse source application at 8 mm wave band and operated with pulsewidths of 0.05 to 2.0 microseconds and duty cycles of 0.001 to 0.01. Peak pulse output power levels of 0.8–1.2W are achieved and the maximum available power is 1.6W with the highest efficiency of 6.5 percent. A simple and compact pulsed power combiner is also given in this paper.     

Quality of life following percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for claudication

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common type of skin cancer and the incidence of BCC is expected to rise, with increased demand on dermatology resources. Little is known of the effect on people's lives of having skin cancer. The aim of this study was to quantify the handicap caused gy basal cell carcinomas before and after therapy. Forty-four patients (22 males, mean age = 65 yrs, range = 35-81 yrs) with 48 BCCs were recruited and 37 patients completed the study. Each patient completed the UK Sickness Impact Profile (UKSIP) and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) at the initial visit to the dermatology clinic, 1 week after treatment and 3 months after treatment. Lesions had been present for a mean of 25 months (range = 1-240 months), their mean diameter was 9.6mm (range = 3-35mm) and the sites were head and neck (79%), trunk (17%) and limbs (4%). There was no relationship between the quality of life score and size of lesion. Overall the scores at presentation were very low, rising 1 week after treatment and falling to below the initial scores at 3 months (mean UKSIP 0.4%, 0.7%, 0.13%; mean DLQI 5.3% 8.7%, 1.2%). BCCs cause little handicap. This may explain the delay in seeking medical attention and should be considered in planning public health education about BCCs.     

As number of patients grows, so do critical problems facing MDs who provide dialysis

The growth in the number of dialysis patients in Canada is causing a critical shortage of resources. The low transplantation rate and an increase in the number of patients, combined with insufficient funding to expand facilities, threatens access to the expensive but life-sustaining therapy. Michel Martin, who recently underwent a kidney transplant, looks at the situation facing dialysis patients in Quebec and Ontario.     

Rupture or stress injury of the flexor tendon pulleys? Early diagnosis with MRI

In node-positive breast carcinoma, the presence of tumour cells in the efferent vessels (EV) of the axillary nodes (positive EV status) was shown to be of poor prognosis in 1979. Later the presence of nodal micrometastases was also related to survival. This report describes a new subgroup in this system that is of potential therapeutic interest. It consisted of the 40% of the EV-positive cases with micrometastases (< 0.2 cm2) in their nodes, in addition to nodes with macrometastases. In them the difference in prognosis associated with EV status no longer held. Their prognosis did not differ markedly from that in the EV-negative patients. In the absence of such 'additional' micrometastases, the prognostic difference was still highly significant. There was also some indication that the presence of micrometastases consisting of embolic tumour growth alone may be associated with early death in EV-negative cases, in keeping with the prognosis in cases with lone micrometastases.