Nuclear Operators Research Articles

The Tsunami of March 2011 and the Subsequent Nuclear Incident at Fukushima: Who Compensates the Victims?

The tsunami which took place on 2011.3.11 before the coast of Japan and the subsequent nuclear incident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have shocked the world and raised many questions. One of the questions is to what extent victims of the tsunami and of the nuclear incident can receive adequate compensation. We focus on the compensation system for earthquakes in Japan and show that Japan relies on an interesting private-public partnership whereby earthquake insurance is added to fire insurance and supplemented with a government guarantee in the re-insurance scheme. Since the earthquake coverage is, however, limited substantial government aid is still provided as well which raises questions on the influence of this government compensation on incentives of victims to take preventive measures and to purchase insurance coverage. Interestingly Japan has a detailed system of risk differentiation, e.g., rewarding victims for choosing earthquake proof constructions. After a critical analysis of the earthquake system we move to the compensation for nuclear damage in Japan, showing that, strikingly, Japan has a system of unlimited liability. However, given limited liability of the nuclear operator liability may de facto still be limited and should therefore be supplemented with financial guarantees. These are provided by the Japan Atomic Energy Insurance Pool. In case the damage is caused by an uninsurable risk like a natural disaster insurance coverage does not intervene, but the liability of the operator is covered via an indemnity agreement with the government. The indemnity is not a subsidy (like in many other legal systems) but the operator has to pay a fee for the indemnity provided by government. Only when the nuclear incident would be caused by a natural disaster of an exceptional character would liability of the operator be excluded. We show that the government is reluctant to admit the 3.11 tsunami as such a “natural disaster of an exceptional character” and the liable operator (TEPCO) takes up his financial responsibility. However, even though the operator in Japan pays a fee for the indemnity agreement also the compensation regime for nuclear disasters in Japan has substantial subsidies. This is also made clear by the recent act which is supposed to deal with the damage caused by the Fukushima incident via a Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation. The damage to be paid via this corporation will be financed not only by the liable operator TEPCO, but also via financial interventions from other nuclear operators and via the government. We examine the way in which the nuclear liability regime in Japan has been applied to two well-known incidents, being the Tokai-mura incident of 1999 and of course the recent Fukushima incident of March 2011. Moreover, we examine how the compensation regime for earthquakes and nuclear incidents in Japan compares to international tendencies and developments in the US. We argue that there are important lessons to be learned from the Fukushima disaster. An important lesson can be related to the fact that many hold that the incident was due to a construction failure for which most likely not the operator (TEPCO) was liable (or at least not only), but the constructor General Electric. This raises important questions concerning the efficiency of the so-called channeling of liability to the nuclear operator (meaning that only the operator can be held liable, excluding all other parties from liability) as it is incorporated in the international conventions.

Electromagnetic structure ofA=2and 3 nuclei in chiral effective field theory

Background: The $A=2$ and 3 form factors are among the observables of choice for testing models of nuclear interactions and associated electromagnetic charge and current operators. Here we investigate the validity of the chiral-effective-field-theory ($\ensuremath{\chi}$EFT) approach to describe the strong-interaction dynamics in these few-nucleon systems and their response to electromagnetic probes.Purpose: The objectives of the present work are twofold. The first is to address and resolve some of the differences present in independent, $\ensuremath{\chi}$EFT derivations up to one loop, recently appearing in the literature, of the nuclear charge and current operators. The second objective is to provide a complete set of $\ensuremath{\chi}$EFT and hybrid predictions for the structure functions and tensor polarization of the deuteron, for the charge and magnetic form factors of ${}^{3}$He and ${}^{3}$H, and for the charge and magnetic radii of these few-nucleon systems.Methods: The calculations use wave functions derived from either chiral or conventional two- and three-nucleon potentials and Monte Carlo methods to evaluate the relevant matrix elements.Results: In reference to the two objectives mentioned earlier, we find that (i) there are no differences between the $\ensuremath{\chi}$EFT magnetic dipole operator at one loop derived in our formalism and that obtained by K\"olling et al. [Phys. Rev. C 80, 045502 (2009)] with the unitary transformation method and (ii) there is excellent agreement between theory and experiment for the static properties and elastic form factors of these $A=2$ and 3 nuclei up to momentum transfers $q\ensuremath{\lesssim}2.0$--2.5 fm${}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. A complete analysis of the results is provided.Conclusions: Nuclear $\ensuremath{\chi}$EFT provides a very satisfactory description of the isoscalar and isovector charge and magnetic structure of the $A=2$ and 3 nuclei at low momentum transfers $q\ensuremath{\lesssim}3{m}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}$. In particular, contributions from two-body charge and current operators are crucial for bringing theory into close agreement with experiment. At higher $q$ values the present $\ensuremath{\chi}$EFT predictions are similar to those obtained in the hybrid approach, as well as in older studies based on the conventional meson-exchange picture, and fail to reproduce the measured $A=2$ and 3 form factors in the diffraction region.

A Note on Generalized Approximation Property

We introduce a notion of generalized approximation property, which we refer to as --AP possessed by a Banach space , corresponding to an arbitrary Banach sequence space and a convex subset of , the class of bounded linear operators on . This property includes approximation property studied by Grothendieck, -approximation property considered by Sinha and Karn and Delgado et al., and also approximation property studied by Lissitsin et al. We characterize a Banach space having --AP with the help of -compact operators, -nuclear operators, and quasi--nuclear operators. A particular case for () has also been characterized.

Lessons of TEPCO’s Fukushima Accident from Human and Organizational Aspects and Challenge for Nuclear Safety Reform

The author participated in international experts' meeting held by IAEA on May 21, 2013 and presented the paper focusing on human and organizational aspects of the Fukushima nuclear accident. It clarified TEPCO's basic recognition: 'The cause of the accident should not be treated merely as a natural disaster due to an enormous tsunami being something difficult to anticipate and we believe it is necessary to seriously acknowledge the result that TEPCO failed to avoid an accident which might have been avoided if ample preparations had been made in advance with thorough use of human intellect' and then reconsidered the Fukushima nuclear accident: 'could we predict an enormous tsunami and take whatever countermeasures?' and 'could we respond to the accident better?' for the worldwide operators to avoid such an accident, which moved meeting's participants deeply. Presentation's contents followed 'Reassessment of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident and Nuclear Safety Reform Plan' published by TEPCO on March 29. This article described outline of the presentation. Though the only way to explore the possibility to save Unit 1 was that operators could bravely go up to the 4th floor of reactor building and open the isolation valves to start IC, it was given up without any clear communication among key decision makers for confirming the IC operational status. As for Unit 3, operators could not achieve thorough focus on ensuring core cooling such that proactive transfer from RCIC/HPCI to low pressure water injection was not challenged, mainly because of low trust on Diesel/Driven Fire Protection Pump (DDFP). During the design stage and afterward, ample consideration was not given to common cause failures originating in external events, which led to a severe situation where almost all the power supplies and safety system functions were lost. Continuous efforts to reduce risks were not ample, including the collection, analysis and utilization of information on safety enhancement measures and operational experiences in other countries and/or the consideration of new technical knowledge. Preparation for a severe accident was somewhat deficient in terms of facility and personnel deployment. Action plan for nuclear safety reform was as follows: (1) enhance safety awareness of top management, (2) establishment of Nuclear Safety Oversight Organization (NSOO), (3) improve engineering ability to propose Defense in Depth (DiD) safety measures, (4) establish risk communicator positions and Social Communication Office to build trust with local community and public, (5) reorganize emergency response team based on Incident Command System (ICS), and (6) enhance on-site staff technical capabilities. Nuclear operators' ultimate measures might be to continuously improve their own fundamental engineering capabilities and firsthand technical skills. (T. Tanaka)

Regulatory independence and accountability: a survey of international nuclear regulatory regimes

As the government of India considers development of an independent regulator for civil nuclear power, examples from other nations around the world, including those with established civil nuclear programmes and those now developing new nuclear, provide interesting insights and lessons to be learned. This paper compares the organisational structure of the Indian governmental agency, the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority, proposed in Bill No. 76 of 2011, with the organisational structures of independent national regulators of civil nuclear power programmes from the USA, the UK, Japan, the People’s Republic of China and the United Arab Emirates. The paper discusses where in the government the agency is housed, sources of authority, sources of funding, regulatory powers and functional independence, both from the government agency charged with developing civil nuclear power and from nuclear facility operators.

L’indépendance de l’Autorité de sûreté nucléaire, des progrès à envisager

The Nuclear Safety Authority is an independent administrative body. Nevertheless, functional and organic independence from operators and government can have different degrees. Having a look on the actual context, where government holds a large part of the main nuclear French operators, independence has to be maximal in order to avoid any conflict of interest that could attempt to nuclear safety. In a global point of view, it is possible to think about the risks or the benefits of the institutionalized cooperation between national regulators on the necessary independence of the Nuclear Safety Authority.

The classical subspaces of the projective tensor products of lpand C(α) spaces, α< ω1

We completely determine the lq and C(K) spaces which are isomorphic to a subspace of lp⊗ˆπC(α), the projective tensor product of the classical lp space, 1≤p<∞, and the space C(α) of all scalar valued continuous functions defined on the interval of ordinal numbers [1,α], α<ω1. In order to do this, we extend a result of A. Tong concerning diagonal block matrices representing operators from lp to l1, 1≤p<∞. The first main theorem is an extension of a result of E. Oja and states that the only lq space which is isomorphic to a subspace of lp⊗ˆπC(α) with 1≤p≤q<∞ and ω≤α<ω1 is lp. The second main theorem concerning C(K) spaces improves a result of Bessaga and Pelczynski which allows us to classify, up to isomorphism, the separable spaces (X,Y) of nuclear operators, where X and Y are direct sums of lp and C(K) spaces. More precisely, we prove the following cancellation law for separable Banach spaces. Suppose that K1 and K3 are finite or countable compact metric spaces of the same cardinality and $1 (a) (lp⊕C(K1),lq⊕C(K2)) and (lp⊕C(K3),lq⊕C(K4)) are isomorphic.

Spaces of nuclear and compact operators without a complemented copy of [formula omitted

This paper deals with spaces of nuclear operators N(X,Y) and spaces of compact operators K(Z,W) containing no complemented copy of C(ωω). For fixed ordinals ω≤α≤β<ω1 and ξ,η<ω1 of the same cardinality, we provide additional conditions on the Banach spaces X, Y, Z and W ensuring that each of the following statements is equivalent to β<αω. (1)N(X⊕C(ξ),Y⊕C(α)) is isomorphic to N(X⊕C(η),Y⊕C(β)).(2)K(Z⊕C(ξ),W⊕C(α)) is isomorphic to K(Z⊕C(η),W⊕C(β)).These results are generalizations of the classical isomorphic classification of spaces C(α), ω≤α<ω1, due to Bessaga and Pełczyński [7], to the setting of the spaces of operators on X⊕C(α) spaces. The generalization (1) covers the case where X is an ℓ1-predual and Y contains no complemented copy of C(ωω). The generalization (2) covers the case Z=ℓp, 1≤p<∞ and W contains no copy of c0.

Stability, stabilizability and detectability for Markov jump discrete-time linear systems with multiplicative noise in Hilbert spaces

In this article we discuss stability, stabilizability and detectability problems for Markov-jump discrete-time linear systems (MJDLSs) with multiplicative noise (MN) and countably infinite state space of the Markov chain. On the basis of a new solution representation formula, we give new deterministic characterizations of the stability and the detectability properties of MJDLSs with MN. These results are obtained using an operatorial approach and the properties of certain positive evolution operators defined on ordered Banach spaces of sequences of nuclear operators. Assuming detectability conditions and avoiding stochastic proofs, we prove that any global, nonnegative and bounded solution of the Riccati equation of control is stabilizing for the MJDLSs with MN and control. Finally, we apply our results to solve a linear quadratic optimal control problem. The theory is illustrated by an example.

The legalities of a nuclear shutdown

In July 2002, Germany amended its Atomic Energy Act so no new nuclear power plants could be built and existing power plants would continue running only for a limited time. In 2009, however, a coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel took control of the German government and reversed the country’s nuclear phase-out policy, extending nuclear plant operating lives and announcing that risks associated with nuclear energy were insignificant. Three months later, just days after the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, the German government abruptly reversed course again, closing eight older nuclear power plants and eventually ordering the nine remaining plants to cease operations by 2022, at the latest. Three out of the four operators of German nuclear power plants have since taken legal action, seeking compensation for profits supposedly lost as a result of the nuclear policy change. But due to a number of factors—including the German constitution, which places a duty on the government to protect citizens, and the nuclear operators’ participation in the original 2002 agreement to phase out nuclear power—most legal observers believe these legal challenges to Germany’s nuclear exit are destined to fail. The German nuclear exit includes financial compromises that allow nuclear operators to recoup investments in their nuclear power plants, and the legal protection these compromises provide to the government may be the part of the German initiative that is of most interest to other countries considering nuclear exits.

Exit economics: The relatively low cost of Germany’s nuclear phase-out

The decision of the German government, post-Fukushima, to phase out the country’s nuclear power sector by 2022 builds on legislation in place since 2002. This earlier legislation was amended in 2010 to extend the lifetime of the nuclear plants, but the German parliament reversed this extension in the summer of 2011, slightly accelerating the original phase-out schedule; therefore, the market and the nuclear operators were prepared for the shutdown schedule. In this context, it is not surprising that the observed price impacts from the shutdown of 40 percent of the German nuclear power capacity in 2011 are smaller than some modeling exercises had projected. When empirical observation is analyzed in light of a range of economic models, the price effect of the nuclear phase-out can be expected to peak at 5 euros per megawatt-hour or less for a few years around 2020, a reasonably small increase compared with the uncertainties created by other fundamental determinants of Europe’s electricity prices. The macroeconomic effects attributable to the complete shutdown of nuclear power also appear likely to be relatively small, peaking at perhaps 0.3 percent of gross domestic product or less a few years before 2030. In the end, the management of the German transition to an energy mix dominated by renewable energies—and not the use of the existing nuclear reactor fleet for a decade more or less—will be the key determinant of whether that shift has larger or smaller effects on electricity prices or on the German economy overall.

Civil Liability, Safety and Nuclear Parks: Is Concentrated Management Better?

Ultra-hazardous risky activities as nuclear industry cannot be considered as normal i.e. industries without abnormal environmental and health risks. Consequently, the industrial organization of these specific sectors is of the utmost importance. This paper aims at studying this question. We focus on the associated costs of prevention and civil liability. We analyze how civil liability rules may contribute to extend or to discourage the expansion of nuclear parks to new operators. The paper compares the consequences of extending the management of nuclear stations to several independent operators. This question can apply to the unification process of the European electricity market in which several public and private nuclear power operators are running. The paper shows that the choice between either a monopolistic scheme (one operator managing several plants) or a decentralized one (one operator by station) depends on the condition of application of the legal civil liability regime and on the strength of the safety control exerted by the Nuclear Regulatory Authorities. It is shown that when the control is high, then the safety costs generated by the monopolistic organization are less than the same costs of a decentralized one. However, conditions on the insurance policy can mitigate this result.

The Fukushima Nuclear Accident, Damage Compensation Resolution and Energy Stock Returns

In this paper, we investigate both the market reaction soon after the accident and the market reaction when the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund Act was passed and signed into law. TEPCO, the damaged electric power company’s stock price lost the largest consecutively for direct damage of its nuclear plants in Fukushima. Nuclear construction stock prices dropped soon after the accident. And significant contagion effects spread to non-damaged regionally monopolistic electric power and nuclear construction stocks, as worse information arriving. Non-damaged power companies’ subsidiary suppliers gained in stock prices. Competitive effects occur for alternative energy companies and their stock prices gained from the accident. Also, the market believed the primary beneficiary of the original bill of the Act was TEPCO which was bailed out. In contrast to the original bill’s positive effects on all electric power companies, the revision of the bill had negative impacts on TEPCO, nuclear operators and non-nuclear electric power companies. Finally, we discuss the relationship between liability compensation regime and nuclear safety incentives.

Grothendieckʼs nuclear operator theorem revisited with an application to p-null sequences

Let X and Y be Banach spaces and let α be a tensor norm. The principal result is the following theorem. If either X⁎⁎⁎ or Y has the approximation property, then each α-nuclear operator T:X⁎→Y such that T⁎(Y⁎)⊂X can be approximated in the α-nuclear norm by finite-rank operators of type X⊗Y. In the special case of (Grothendieck) nuclear operators, the theorem provides a strengthening for the classical theorem on the nuclearity of operators with a nuclear adjoint. The hypotheses about the approximation property are essential. The main application yields an affirmative answer to [C. Piñeiro, J.M. Delgado, p-Convergent sequences and Banach spaces in which p-compact sets are q-compact, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 139 (2011) 957–967]: for p⩾1, a sequence (xn)⊂X is p-null if and only if limxn=0 and (xn) is relatively p-compact in X.

Fast and accurate 3D tensor calculation of the Fock operator in a general basis

The present paper contributes to the construction of a “black-box” 3D solver for the Hartree–Fock equation by the grid-based tensor-structured methods. It focuses on the calculation of the Galerkin matrices for the Laplace and the nuclear potential operators by tensor operations using the generic set of basis functions with low separation rank, discretized on a fine N×N×N Cartesian grid. We prove the Ch2 error estimate in terms of mesh parameter, h=O(1/N), that allows to gain a guaranteed accuracy of the core Hamiltonian part in the Fock operator as h→0. However, the commonly used problem adapted basis functions have low regularity yielding a considerable increase of the constant C, hence, demanding a rather large grid-size N of about several tens of thousands to ensure the high resolution. Modern tensor-formatted arithmetics of complexity O(N), or even O(logN), practically relaxes the limitations on the grid-size. Our tensor-based approach allows to improve significantly the standard basis sets in quantum chemistry by including simple combinations of Slater-type, local finite element and other basis functions. Numerical experiments for moderate size organic molecules show efficiency and accuracy of grid-based calculations to the core Hamiltonian in the range of grid parameter N3∼1015.

Nuclear multilinear operators with respect to a partition

We introduce the notion of multilinear nuclear operator with respect to a partition and extend Grothendieck’s characterizations of nuclear linear operators into \(l_{1},\) resp. \(L_{1}( \mu ),\) in this new setting. We give the necessary and sufficient conditions for a natural operator to be nuclear with respect to a partition.

Improving healthcare quality through organisational peer-to-peer assessment: lessons from the nuclear power industry

Healthcare has made great efforts to reduce preventable patient harm, from externally driven regulations to internally driven professionalism. Regulation has driven the majority of efforts to date, and has a...

Is Vietnam Ready for Nuclear Power?

V demand on power supply is increasing rapidly along with economic growth. It is a matter of urgency for Vietnam to find alternative energy source other than fossil fuel in order to minimize the influence on local climate. Currently the world’s largest nuclear power market exists in emerging economies and developing countries as those countries are in great need of relatively cheap energy to drive its economic growth. But nuclear power, neither cheap nor safe, is putting those countries in a dilemma. As the hot spot of the nuclear power market shifted from “advanced technology” to “economic affordability”, how to find a comprehensive nuclear power solution for developing countries with specific requirements poses a serious question to the international community. Demand on power supply grows by 14% per year and the growth is expected to reach 15% in Vietnam until 2015. Vietnam relies on hydro power, which accounts for 36.04% of national power supply in 2009. Short of other energy resources, it will be very difficult for Vietnam to meet the country’s power demand in the future only with hydro power and power converted from fossil fuels (such as oil, coal and natural gas). Nuclear power supply, an efficient option that addresses power shortage without emitting greenhouse gases, is still a powerful attraction to developing countries represented by Vietnam. Vietnam announced its ambitious nuclear power program that is scheduled to grow from one reactor in 2020 to 10 reactors by 2030 in which nuclear contribution to the national grid will be 1.5% in 2020, 8% in 2030, and 20−25% by 2050. Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant, located at Phuoc Dinh, is supplied by Atom Story Export from Russia. Its second, at Vinh Hai, is supplied by JAPC from Japan. As a developing country, the only thing Vietnam could do is to make nuclear power an integral part of the national grid and at the same time ensure its safety and security. Russia and Japan promised to provide aid package to Vietnam in order to meet Vietnam’s requirements on funds, technology, nuclear fuel, power plant construction and operation, etc., as Vietnam does not have the basic elements to develop nuclear power on its own. Developing countries as Vietnam must put nuclear safety and security on the first place and conduct researches on nuclear accidents in history, for example, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc., the influence of natural disasters on nuclear power plants prior to developing nuclear energy. To keep a nuclear power plant running smoothly and safely, it is also necessary to build a team of nuclear experts, engineers, professionals, and operators. It takes years or decades for a country to master the essence of nuclear science and technology, depending on a country’s existing infrastructure. Since nuclear professionals are scarce in developing countries, Vietnam should add more nuclear engineering courses in colleges and universities to enlarge the scope of basic nuclear education and professional training. Government should invest more funds to support domestic training institutions and conduct cooperation programs with foreign counterparts to develop its indigenous nuclear professionals. The location of nuclear power plant is very important. According to local meteorological experts, the nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan province is under the threat of tsunami. To minimize the influence of tsunami, the government should build a tsunami and earthquake warning center and establish a tsunami forecast system. Even if the nuclear power program is kicked off with sufficient funds and technologies, any delay in the phase of engineering construction will bring about disastrous and unimaginable consequences to a developing country like Vietnam. In the case of France’s EPR project, EDF announced a revised cost estimate of EUR 6 billion caused by delay, set against cost estimate of EUR 5 billion in 2010. A lesson learned from the Fukushima experience shows the way the Government and Nuclear Safety Agency supervise and regulate the management and operation of a nuclear power plant is of great importance to its safety and security. We think that it is difficult to establish a perfect nuclear management system with high safety standards in such a short period of time. A former director of the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute emphasized a bad safety culture is prevailing in every field of the country, as is shown by frequent traffic accidents in

An attempt to confirm the origin of Xe135 detected in the Fukushima Daiichi II Nuclear Power Plant in November 2011

► The 135 Xe production due to fission processes in the Fukushima Unit 2 was calculated. ► The uncertainties in the isotopic concentration and xenon activity were calculated. ► A indicator for evaluation of the neutronic condition of the damaged fuel was defined. ► The spontaneous fission process was the unique responsible for xenon production. ► There is no evidence of recriticality in the damaged nuclear reactor. The recent detection of 135 Xe activity opens doubts about the evidence of nuclear recriticality in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant – Unit 2. The nuclear plant operator, after some investigation, reported that the measured concentration would be consequence from spontaneous fission process from damaged fuel. This work aims to perform an independent calculation to confirm the origin of 135 Xe activity measured. The 135 Xe activity calculated was compared to the experimental measurements accomplished by TEPCO. The comparison between the value obtained experimentally and the value calculated in this work, for 135 Xe activity, shows that the spontaneous fission process of actinides, presents in the nuclear fuel, was the unique responsible for the production of xenon, since the value of the xenon activity is within the range of uncertainties calculated in this work. It was also defined in this work a complementary indicator for the assessment of the neutronic condition of the nuclear fuel, based on the ratio between the activities of 135I and 135 Xe. From this result, one can conclude that there is no evidence of recriticality in the damaged reactor.

Nuclear Electro-disintegration with Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics

The extended antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) wave function is used to study the two-body nuclear electro-disintegration. The final-state interactions are included using the Glauber multiple scattering approximation. Non-relativistic nuclear charge and current operators are employed when calculating longitudinal and transverse nuclear response functions. It is found that the AMD model gives a very good description of experimental data for the 4He response functions.