Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin

Covers new material for April 2008:

NEA publications

Utilisation and Reliability of High Power Proton Accelerators (HPPA5)
Workshop Proceedings, Mol, Belgium, 6-9 May 2007
ISBN 978-92-64-04478-4. 456 pages.

NEA Annual Report 2007
ISBN 978-92-64-99046-3. 48 pages, 1.8 mb.

Disponible également en français :
Rapport annuel 2007
ISBN 978-92-64-99047-0. 52 pages, 2 mo.

Safety Cases for Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste: Where Do We Stand?
Symposium Proceedings, Paris, France, 23-25 January 2007
ISBN 978-92-64-99050-0. 424 pages, 6 mb.

An updated version of the Handbook on Lead-bismuth Eutectic Alloy and Lead Properties, Materials Compatibility, Thermal-hydraulics and Technologies is now available on the NEA website. (Readers with copies of the handbook printed in 2007 can download a one-page errata).


Radioactive waste management

Nuclear safety publications and reports

When preparing the safety case for a deep geological repository of radioactive waste, the integration of wide-ranging information from multidisciplinary sources is a complex task. The OECD/NEA Approaches and Methods for Integrating Geologic Information in the Safety Case (AMIGO) project helps address this challenge. The AMIGO project has been structured as a series of biennial, topical workshops involving site characterisation and safety assessment practitioners with experience in both sedimentary and crystalline rock settings. The third and final project workshop was held on 14-16 April 2008 in Nancy, France. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/igsc_technicalactivities.html.

Sorption is a combination of physical and chemical processes by which the migration of radionuclides in the geosphere (and possibly from a radioactive waste repository) can be slowed down under certain conditions. To demonstrate and support the use of chemical thermodynamic models in safety assessments of radioactive waste repositories, a new phase of the OECD/NEA Sorption Project has been launched. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/jointproj/sorption.html.


Nuclear science

Nuclear science publications

The 11th International Conference on Radiation Shielding and Protection was held on 13-18 April 2008 in Callaway Gardens, Georgia, USA. The 2008 conference marked 50 years since the first symposium on radiation shielding with two panel discussions on the history of the field as well as its future prospects. Other plenary, parallel and poster sessions covered a broad range of scientific, technological and engineering issues associated with radiation shielding in nuclear energy systems, accelerator facilities, space exploration and general environments. Conference participants were also offered tutorials on widely used computer codes. The conference was held in conjunction with the topical meeting of the American Nuclear Society Radiation Protection and Shielding Division. More information is available at http://icrs11.me.gatech.edu.

The Ninth Workshop on Shielding Aspects of Accelerators, Targets and Irradiation Facilities (SATIF-9) took place on 21-23 April 2008 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. Workshop participants discussed such topics as source terms, induced radioactivity and activation in materials, issues relative to industrial and medical applications and radiation dose. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/meetings/SATIF-9/satif9.html.


Data Bank

Nuclear data services

The following nuclear data libraries have recently been added to the evaluated nuclear data (EVA) database:

  • UK Heavy Element Decay Data library, UKHEDD-2.6;
  • UK Activation Product Decay Data library, UKPADD-6.8.

The EVA database contains a large number of evaluated data libraries, all in ENDF format; it can be consulted at www.oecd-nea.org/dbdata/eva/evaret.cgi. More information on evaluated data libraries is available at www.oecd-nea.org/dbdata/data/nds_eval_libs.htm.

Computer program services

The NEA Data Bank organises regular training courses on the computer codes widely used for modelling nuclear energy issues. The latest course was held on 7-10 April 2008 at the NEA offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. During the course participants learnt about Monte Carlo simulations using the computer code TRIPOLI-4. Over 70 people have so far participated in courses held at the NEA in 2008. Other courses have covered such topics as neutron transport theory as well as sensitivity and uncertainty analysis using the computer code SCALE TSUNAMI. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/meetings/.

New computer programs available

NEA Data Bank newsletter

25-APR-2008 PSR-0450 KENO3D, Visualisation Tool for KENO V.A and KENO-VI Geometry Models
(Arrived)

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