Experience in handling spent fuel from nuclear power stations in the Soviet Union, including storage and transportation

1983 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. Dubrovskii ◽  
V. I. Zemlyanukhin ◽  
A. N. Kondrat'ev ◽  
Yu. A. Kosarev ◽  
L. N. Lazarev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
The Soviet Union

scholarly journals Material Matters

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Stoll
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Water Reactors ◽  
Enriched Uranium

The following article is based on a talk for Symposium X presented by Wolfgang Stoll, Chief Scientific Advisor and Consultant in Siemens, Germany, at the 1996 MRS Fall Meeting.Since 1941 when Glenn Seaborg first isolated plutonium in milligram quantities, the total amount converted through neutron capture in U-238 has increased worldwide to about 1,200 tons and continues to grow about 70 tons/year. What was fissioned in situ in operating nuclear power stations is roughly equivalent to 5 billion tons of black coal, while the fission energy contained in those 1,200 tons unloaded in spent fuel is equivalent to another 2 billion tons of coal. About 260 of these 1,200 tons are ready to release their energy in about 4 kg-portions each in microseconds which is equivalent to 10,000 tons of coal. Most people believe this release of energy poses a major threat of the worldwide arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The about 20-fold overkill stored in worldwide WMD is considered superfluous after the crumbling of the Soviet Union. Options are sought to dispose of this surplus in a safe, speedy, and controllable manner. While for highly enriched uranium (HEU) (the other nuclear weapons material) dilution into low-enriched uranium and utilization in current light water reactors (LWR) poses market adaptation problems only, and while the worldwide consensus on the elimination of chemical and biological WMD is still in an initial phase, the decision of both the United States (US) and the former Soviet Union (FSU) to remove most of the plutonium out of weapons looks as if it was a firm political decision.

Remarks by Herbert Scoville

1973 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 115-117
Author(s):  
Herbert Scoville
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Force ◽  
Arms Control ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nuclear Forces ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Attack ◽  
The Status ◽  
Near Future

In speaking about arms control negotiations in a multipolar world, it is necessary to bear in mind that we are not really in a multipolar world right now. But perhaps we are starting toward one, at least as far as nuclear power is concerned. Britain, France, and China possess only relatively small nuclear forces at present but they will grow in time and eventually will have to be taken into consideration at least in arms control negotiations involving nuclear weapons. France and Britain at the present do have a nuclear deterrent force which would deter an attack as far as the Soviets are concerned. The status of the Chinese nuclear force is very much more uncertain. It is possible that they now possess a very limited deterrent to an attack by the Soviet Union. Certainly there is no question that at the present time they do not have any means by which they can threaten, even in retaliation, a nuclear attack against the United States. As a consequence, the Chinese do not provide any direct threat to us and we can go ahead and negotiate agreements with the Soviet Union without any real consideration of Chinese participation. One need not conclude from the growing Chinese nuclear power that they must necessarily be brought into the SALT negotiations in the near future.

scholarly journals Long-Term Mass Displacements—The Main Demographic Consequence of Nuclear Disasters?

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-48
Author(s):  
Dávid Karácsonyi ◽  
Kazumasa Hanaoka ◽  
Yelizaveta Skryzhevska
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Natural Reproduction ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Demographic Trajectories ◽  
Scientific Attention

Abstract Human history has witnessed several major disasters that have affected the economic, social and environmental conditions of their respective regions. The nuclear disaster of Chernobyl (1986, Ukraine, that time the Soviet Union) and Fukushima (2011, Japan) appears to be the most significant disasters in terms of negative outcomes produced for their population over a long time. Despite this, the analysis of the socio-economic outcomes of these disasters has attracted much less scientific attention than health or radiation-related issues (UNDP 2002a; Lehman and Wadsworth 2009, 2011). Although nuclear accidents are deemed to be rare events, the Fukushima disaster occurred only 25 years after Chernobyl. These disasters highlighted the need for a detailed long-term socio-economic analysis of these accidents to acquire sufficient knowledge to be applied when considering new construction sites for nuclear power facilities (Lehman and Wadsworth 2011). This chapter focuses on the problem of permanent resettlement resulting from nuclear disasters and its effects on regional demographic trajectories and spatial shifts. Based on the results of this study we argue that mass displacement after a nuclear disaster rather than the radiation itself has a much more significant impact on deteriorating health, natural reproduction and economic performance of the affected population. Furthermore, given the differences in radio-ecological conditions, reconstruction policy and the time framework, Fukushima may demonstrate demographic consequences that are different from the Chernobyl case.

scholarly journals A novel localization approach for underwater welding vehicles in spent fuel pools via attitude heading reference system and altimeters

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 172988141983054
Author(s):  
Yang Luo ◽  
Jianguo Tao ◽  
Hao Sun ◽  
Zhuang Hao ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reference System ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Localization Algorithm ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Beam Angle ◽  
General Applicability ◽  
Underwater Welding ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Underwater Localization ◽  
Localization Approach

In this article, a novel localization approach incorporating attitude and heading reference system and underwater altimeters is presented to accurately localize the underwater welding vehicles in spent fuel pools of the nuclear power stations. Different from the conventional underwater localization technologies, the presented localization approach is a more suitable approach in cases of confined structured water areas. Firstly, a multi-regions division localization algorithm is proposed for calculating the coordinate of the underwater welding vehicle through data from sensors. Also, considering the attitude errors of the underwater welding vehicle, the beam angle of the altimeters, and the boundary effects of cross-regions, an optimized multi-regions division localization algorithm is introduced for general applicability of the multi-regions division localization. Then, computer simulations are employed to evaluate the validity and the performance of multi-regions division localization and optimized multi-regions division localization. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed approach is confirmed via system experiments. The experimental results are consistent with simulation results which further indicate that the presented approach holds great potential in effective underwater vehicles localization for confined structured water scenarios.

The Structure of Great Power Politics, 1963–75

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Trachtenberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
The Status ◽  
Great Power Politics ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Political Understanding

This chapter details events that occurred from 1963 to 1975. John F. Kennedy's most fundamental goal as president of the United States was to reach a political understanding with the Soviet Union based on the following principle: America and Russia were both very great powers and therefore needed to respect each other's most fundamental interests. The United States was thus prepared, for its part, to recognize the USSR's special position in eastern Europe. America would also see to it that West Germany would not become a nuclear power. In exchange, the Soviets would have to accept the status quo in central Europe, especially in Berlin. If a settlement of that sort could be worked out, the great problem that lay at the heart of the Cold War would be resolved. However, to reach a settlement based on those principles, Kennedy had to get both the USSR and his own allies in Europe to accept this sort of arrangement.

A Belated and Tragic Ecological Revolution: Nature, Disasters, and Green Activists in the Soviet Union and the Post-Soviet States, 1960s-2010s

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Coumel ◽  
Marc Elie
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The 1960S

In the late Soviet period, environmental issues gained an unprecedented media resonance and dramatic socio-political importance. The “Ecological Revolution” took a tragic turn in the Soviet Union, against the background of high-impact industrial and natural disasters. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (Ukraine, 1986) and in a context of increased free-speech, Soviet citizens seized on new and old, covered up or forgotten environmental issues and demanded that a hesitant government put them on the political agenda. In a mixture of media revelations, mass demonstrations, and intense voluntary-sector activity, environmental issues of local, national and global significance ranked high among the main preoccupations of the Soviet population. In this introduction to a special issue of SPSR on the environmental history of the late Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, we explore new avenues of understanding the upsurge of ecological perestroika from the 1960s to the 2010s.

The economics of nuclear power in the Soviet Union

1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Kelly ◽  
Hugh L. Shaffer ◽  
J. Kenneth Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
The Soviet Union
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