Comparison of copper emission rates from wood treated with different preservatives to the environment

This study describes a laboratory method for the estimation of emission from preservative-treated wood in the different situations where emissions could enter the environment for use classes 3 (not in contact with ground) and 4 and 5 (in contact with the ground, fresh water or sea water) according to OECD Guidelines. Samples of scotch pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.) were treated with CCA (1% and 2%), ACQ-1900 (3% and 7%), ACQ-2200 (2%), Tanalith E 3491 (2% and 2.8%), and Wolmanit CX-8 (2%).     

Simulation of the VVER-1000 pump start-up experiment of the OECD V1000CT benchmark with CATHARE and TRAC-PF1

In the framework of joint effort between the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of OECD, the United States Department of Energy (US DOE), and the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), France a coupled three-dimensional (3D) thermal-hydraulics/neutron kinetics benchmark for VVER-1000 was defined. The benchmark consists of calculation of a pump start-up experiment labelled V1000CT-1 (Phase 1), as well as a vessel mixing experiment and main steam line break (MSLB) transient labelled V1000CT-2 (Phase 2), respectively. The reference nuclear plant is Kozloduy-6 in Bulgaria. The overall objective is to assess computer codes used in the analysis of VVER-1000 reactivity transients. A specific objective is to assess the vessel mixing models used in system codes. Plant data are available for code validation consisting of one experiment of pump start-up (V1000CT-1) and one experiment of steam generator isolation (V1000CT-2). The validated codes can be used to calculate asymmetric MSLB transients involving similar mixing patterns. This paper summarizes a comparison of CATHARE and TRAC-PF1 system code results for V1000CT-1, Exercise 1, which is a full plant point kinetics simulation of a reactor coolant system (RCS) pump start-up experiment. The reference plant data include integral and sector average parameters. The comparison is made from the point of view of vessel mixing and full system simulation. CATHARE used a six-sector multiple 1D vessel thermal-hydraulic model with cross flows and TRAC used a six-sector, 18-channel coarse-mesh 3D vessel model. Good agreement in terms of integral parameters and inter-loop mixing is observed.     

Demand elasticities in OECD: Dynamical aspects

Four models with different lag structures are used to express final energy demand in OECD from 1960–1982 as a function of real GDP and average energy price. The income and long-run price elasticities are not significantly dependent on the model specification, but the Koyck lag scheme, estimated in its distributed lag form, is found to give the most satisfactory results. The statistical properties of the data together with evidence of trends in the elasticities both suggest that the period of falling real prices prior to 1971 is not comparable to the present period. For the period after 1971, an income elsticity of 1.02 and a long-run price elasticity of -0.37 are obtained.     

Patenting and licensing by Spanish firms: Available survey evidence

This paper presents the results of the OEPM (Spanish Patent and Trademark Office)/OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) survey on the economic and financial uses of patents carried out in 2008 among Spanish business applicants of OEPM patents. It also summarizes evidence from previous surveys. All available information indicates that only a few Spanish firms holding patents license them out. Results from the OEPM/OECD survey also reveal that obtaining public support is the first financial use of patents for Spanish firms. Responses to the same OECD questionnaire by EPO patent applicants from several European countries are quite different: licensing out is an extended practice among EPO patent holders from different countries, including Spain, and convincing venture capitalists and private investors are their two most important financial uses of patents. In our view this suggests that there are significant differences across European countries as regards the development of national technology markets and results from international surveys are driven by responses from the largest and more developed countries. The drivers and actors in markets for patents that only protect inventions nationally may be quite distinct from those in markets for patents that protect inventions regionally, such as EPO patents within Europe.     

Electricity intensity convergence in IEA/OECD countries: Aggregate and sectoral analysis

Convergence in electricity intensity is analyzed among a sample of IEA countries. Sigma-convergence (the narrowing of the distribution) and to a lesser degree gamma-convergence (movement within the distribution) are detected. However, electricity intensity convergence is less dramatic than energy intensity convergence. Convergence within the end-use sectors is more diverse: in terms of the rates, timing, extent, and ultimate modal structure of the distributions. Commercial electricity intensity has more recently converged toward a bell-shape distribution. By contrast, industry electricity intensity is largely converging toward two distinct groups of countries: one with relatively high electricity intensity and another one with relatively low electricity intensity. Different still is related residential electricity consumption per capita where a small group of countries has stopped growing; another group has slowed considerably, while a third group experienced rapid growth.     

MELCOR/MACCS simulation of the TMI-2 severe accident and initial recovery phases, off-site fission product release and consequences

MELCOR has become the preferred code of the Swiss nuclear industry and of PSI for severe accident analysis, on account of its integrated systems-level approach and validation against experiments and more detailed codes, while MACCS is commonly used by safety authorities for independent assessment of off-site consequences, in particular health effects. The present work arises out of a programme to assess MELCOR independently using empirical data consistent with the recommendations of the OECD/CSNI validation matrix for core degradation codes. The MELCOR 1.8.5RD calculations are based on a model for phases 1 and 2 provided by the code developers but with a simplified thermal hydraulic noding in certain regions and the inclusion of a simple representation of the fission product release and transport pathways. The model has also been extended to simulate phases 3, 4, and the continuing initial period of core recovery and stabilisation. These calculations are a first attempt to demonstrate a MELCOR–MACCS capability to simulate the whole plant accident sequence beyond phase 4, including the containment response and off-site consequences arising from fission product release from the containment. Emphasis is placed on the overall accident evolution and whole plant response, rather than the detailed behaviour. Results are compared with observed and deduced data for the major accident signatures and rough estimates for exposure based on off-site monitoring. The results provide a good basis for the NPP analysis foreseen.     

Standardized tests fail to assess the effects of antibiotics on environmental bacteria

Pharmaceuticals are designed and used because of their specific biological effects. Over the past decade, compounds from various classes of pharmaceuticals have been detected in the environment. Concern has grown about the adverse effects pharmaceuticals in the environment might potentially have on human and ecological health. A sound risk assessment is therefore urgently needed for pharmaceuticals. Standardized tests for assessing the effects of chemicals on environmental organisms are widely used for this purpose. However it is questionable whether classical standardized tests give reliable data needed for environmental risk assessment. In this study we investigated the suitability of the respiration inhibition test OECD 209 for the assessment of the effects of antibiotics, disinfectants and cytotoxics on sewage sludge bacteria. We found that inhibition concentrations can strongly depend on the test period and the type of compound. We conclude that tests to assess the effects of pharmaceuticals on environmental organisms such as bacteria have to be evaluated before their results can be used in environmental risk assessment.     

Home energy use in nine OECD countries, 1960–1980

Government institutions and individuals have responded to fluctuations in energy supply and price with the implementation of policies and the initiation of conservation. While these activities have resulted in noticeable conservation of energy, primarily through behavioural actions, further savings could be achieved through the exchange of information regarding promising policies and technologies. Toward this end, data on residential sector energy use for nine OECD countries (Canada, Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the USA) have been collected over the period 1960–1980 and have been analysed using both indicators of energy-use intensity and econometric methods.     

OECD/NEA activities relating to innovative nuclear energy systems

The mission of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for the safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In fulfilling that mission, the NEA conducts technical, economic and policy studies in response to the needs and interests of its 28 member countries. In recent years, a number of these studies have addressed various aspects of the next generation of nuclear power plants. This paper will describe some of the major activities recently completed and currently underway that may be of particular interest to the COE-INES program.     

Combined exposure to cyanobacterial biomass, lead and the Newcastle virus enhances avian toxicity

Under environmental conditions, wild birds can be exposed to multiple stressors including natural toxins, anthropogenic pollutants and infectious agents at the same time.This experimental study was successful in testing the hypothesis that adverse effects of cyanotoxins, heavy metals and a non-pathogenic immunological challenge combine to enhance avian toxicity. Mortality occurred in combined exposures to naturally occurring cyanobacterial biomass and lead shots, lead shots and Newcastle vaccination as well as in single lead shot exposure. Mostly acute effects around day 10 were observed. On day 30 of exposure, there were no differences in the liver accumulation of lead in single and combined exposure groups. Interestingly, liver microcystin levels were elevated in birds co-exposed to cyanobacterial biomass together with lead or lead and the Newcastle virus. Significant differences in body weights between all Pb-exposed and Pb-non-exposed birds were found on days 10 and 20. Single exposure to cyanobacterial biomass resulted in hepatic vacuolar dystrophy, whereas co-exposure with lead led to more severe granular dystrophy. Haematological changes were associated with lead exposure, in particular. Biochemical analysis revealed a decrease in glucose and an increase in lactate dehydrogenase in single and combined cyanobacterial and lead exposures, which also showed a decreased antibody response to vaccination.The combined exposure of experimental birds to sub-lethal doses of individual stressors is ecologically realistic. It brings together new pieces of knowledge on avian health. In light of this study, investigators of wild bird die-offs should be circumspect when evaluating findings of low concentrations of contaminants that would not result in mortality on a separate basis. As such it has implications for wildlife biologists, veterinarians and conservationists of avian biodiversity.