Experience shows that an assessment of the seismic capacity of an existing operating facility can be required for a number of reasons, for example identification of potential seismic vulnerabilities based on operating experience events or the periodic safety review programme. This publication covers the seismic safety evaluation programmes to be performed on existing nuclear installations in order to ensure that the required fundamental safety functions are available, with particular application to the safe shutdown of reactors. It includes lessons learned based on the IAEA Action Plan for Strengthening Nuclear Safety, following the Fukushima accident, and updated methodologies for seismic safety evaluation of nuclear installations.

This book looks at the early history of nuclear power, at what happened next, and at its longer-term prospects. The main question is: can nuclear power overcome the problems that have emerged? It was once touted as the ultimate energy source, freeing mankind from reliance on dirty, expensive fossil energy. Sixty years on, nuclear only supplies around 11.5% of global energy and is being challenged by cheaper energy options. While the costs of renewable sources, like wind and solar, are falling rapidly, nuclear costs have remained stubbornly high. Its development has also been slowed by a range of other problems, including a spate of major accidents, security concerns and the as yet unresolved issue of what to do with the wastes that it produces. In response, a new generation of nuclear reactors is being developed, many of them actually revised versions of the ideas first looked at in the earlier phase. Will this new generation of reactors bring nuclear energy to the forefront of energy production in the future?

For reactors currently operating, the types of wastes expected to be generated under normal operating regime are known and, aside from a few problematic wastes (such as graphite, tritium and radiocarbon) most of these wastes have clearly defined cradle-to-grave (end-to-end) pathways. However, for advanced and innovative reactors and their fuel cycles, some waste types may either have new or different properties or might be problematic for processing with the currently available technologies. One of the primary challenges for advanced and innovative reactors and their nuclear fuel cycles is that solutions must be identified for all eventually problematic wastes prior to initiating construction of these facilities. This publication sets the stage for considering the waste generation of advanced fuel fabrication, reactor operation and decommissioning, reprocessing of spent fuel and waste pathways early in the development of new reactors and their associated fuel cycles. It describes waste flows in broad chemical and physical terms and identifies possible processing, recycling and disposition pathways. The publication is intended to support the nuclear industry in taking an early and integrated approach to waste managemen

Nuclear power is not an option for the future but an absolute necessity. Global threats of climate change and lethal air pollution, killing millions each year, make it clear that nuclear and renewable energy must work together, as non-carbon sources of energy. Fortunately, a new era of growth in this energy source is underway in developing nations, though not yet in the West. Seeing the Light is the first book to clarify these realities and discuss their implications for coming decades. Readers will learn how, why, and where the new nuclear era is happening, what new technologies are involved, and what this means for preventing the proliferation of weapons. This book is the best work available for becoming fully informed about this key subject, for students, the general public, and anyone interested in the future of energy production, and, thus, the future of humanity on planet Earth.

The development of nuclear weapons by the Manhattan Project during World War II was one of the most dramatic scientific/technological episodes in human history. This book, prepared by a recognized expert on the Manhattan Project, offers a concise survey of the essential physics concepts underlying fission weapons. The text describes the energetics and timescales of fast-neutron chain reactions, why only certain isotopes of uranium and plutonium are suitable for use in fission weapons, how critical mass and bomb yield can be estimated, how the efficiency of nuclear weapons can be enhanced, how the fissile forms of uranium and plutonium were obtained, some of the design details of the 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' bombs, and some of the thermal, shock, and radiation effects of nuclear weapons. Calculation exercises are provided, and a Bibliography lists authoritative print and online sources of information for readers who wish to pursue more detailed study of this fascinating topic.

The United States of America ratified the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention) in April 2003. The Joint Convention establishes an international peer review process among Contracting Parties and provides incentives for nations to take appropriate steps to bring their nuclear activities into compliance with general safety standards and practices. The U.S. participated in Review Meetings of the Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention in November 2003, May, 2006, and May 2009, in Vienna, Austria. This Fourth Report, an update of the U.S. National Report prepared under the Joint Convention in September 2011, documents spent fuel and radioactive waste management safety in the U.S. under the terms of the Joint Convention. It was prepared by the U. S. Government for review by the Contracting Parties.

as this paper goes to press, Iran has just come through its longanticipated presidential election. despite predictions of a victory for a well-known clerical "moderate," former president and expediency council head akhbar hashemi-rafsanjani, the winner was the hard-line conservative mayor of tehran, Mahmoud ahmadinejad, a relative unknown. the terms hard-liner and conservative are used virtually interchangeably by many inside and outside Iran; they are relative terms, since there are no political parties in Iran, with their meaning dependent on context and issue. the election consolidated control of all branches of the Iranian government-legislative, executive, and judicial-in conservative hands. It also brought to the presidency for the first time in the republic's history a non-cleric who ran a populist-style campaign attacking corruption and non-Islamic practices that had crept into government since the death of the ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.