[en] A progress report of the Sizewell-B PWR reactor enquiry. The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) witnesses have presented their evidence. Cross-examination of witnesses and presentation of the arguments against from objectors have still to come. The main area of dissatisfaction with the CEGB case is the reprocessing and storage of existing waste and the arrangements that there will be when Sizewell-B's waste is ready for storage. The issue of when safety aspects should be discussed is unresolved as the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has not yet approved the reactor design. The inquiry also looks like becoming a debate on the whole nuclear power issue rather than relating specifically to Sizewell-B. (U.K.)

[en] This report is based on the Public Inquiry into a proposal to build a nuclear power station (a Pressurized Water Reactor) at Sizewell, on the Suffolk coast. The Main Hearing began on 11th January 1983 and ended on 7th March 1985, lasting 340 working days. As well as background information, the chapters in Part I are topic based, covering the issues in the inquiry process which emerged as the most prominent and controversial and including a review of the roles of the Inspector and his 'team', financial problems, the policy context of the Sizewell proposal, attempts to assess reactor safety and the use of a semi-judicial format. Part II looks briefly at recent exercises and reports relating to other public inquiries - none of the recommendations about trying new forms of debate for major planning proposals have been implemented. Part III brings together the main general conclusions from Part I followed by recommendations concerning future major public inquiries. (U.K.)

[en] A method is described for the radioimmunoassay of thyroxine comprising: (a) affixing to a solid phase particular mouse monoclonal antibodies produced by hybridoma cell lines designated as ATCC HB 8499 and ATCC HB 8500, the antibodies being specific for thyroxine and having a cross reactivity to triiodothyronine of no more than 0.12%; (b) reacting the monoclonal antibodies with a composition comprising thyroxine and a predetermined amount of radiolabeled thyroxine to cause binding therebetween; (c) separating the solid phase from unreacted thyroxine and radiolabeled thyroxine; (d) determining the amount of radiolabeled thyroxine bound on the solid phase; (e) repeating steps (a) to (d) with other compositions comprising predetermined and different amounts of thyroxine; (f) repeating steps (a) to (d) with a composition comprising an unknown amount of thyroxine; and (g) determining the unknown amount of thyroxine by ascertaining which of the solid phases reacted with a predetermined amount of thyroxine has the same amount of bound radiolabeled thyroxine as the solid phase reacted with the unknown amount of thyroxine

[en] In this paper the brief summary of selected procedural aspects of the Sizewell Inquiry indicates that the way in which major and controversial planning proposals are subject to public debate is in need of urgent review. The Sizewell Inquiry fell short of public expectation, and indeed of Government promises, on two major counts; it did not provide a forum for the debate of certain questions which are clearly of utmost importance and concern to the nuclear issue, while its semi-judicial format and unbalanced funding effectively discouraged and often prevented the level of participation which many objecting parties sought. The Government's assurance of a 'full and fair' debate proved to be hollow and in some quarters this has served to increase scepticism of the stated desire for public involvement in nuclear decision-making. Of the major controversies which have been in the subject of public inquiries in recent years, nuclear power is clearly one of the most challenging. It brings together an extremely varied band of objectors which, in the light of recent radioactive leakages from Windscale, future plans for waste storage facilities and the proposed plutonium reprocessing plant at Dounreay, promises only to grow

[en] This paper describes the status of the wind energy markets world-wide, in Europe and in the UK. It outlines the main methods of financing wind energy installations and discusses why different institutional structures have led to different markets in the UK and in Germany, with some concern about the state of the UK onshore industry. The paper looks ahead to the opening up of the potentially much larger offshore wind resource, concluding that in this area, existing UK development and financing structures are well suited. (Author)

No abstract available

[en] Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with locally advanced unresectable disease have a grim prognosis. Radiotherapeutic strategies are necessary to improve the permanent eradication of thoracic disease. The poor results achieved with conventional external beam radiation therapy reflect in part, the inadequacy of such therapy in achieving its primary objective of achieving local control. The impact of three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3-DCRT) on local disease eradication and its potential role in improving survival is assessed. This review addresses aspects of the software and hardware technology of 3-DCRT, the clinical and technical aspects of target volume definition, the use of 3-DCRT to predict radiation pneumonitis, strategies for dose escalation in NSCLC, and analyses the clinical results to date. Initially investigators compared the best treatment techniques devised with conventional planning techniques to those devised with 3-DCRT. These analyses showed that 3-DCRT had the potential to deliver high dose radiation (>70 Gy) with minimal underdosing and with a concomitant relative sparing of normal tissues. This technical demonstration of enhanced therapeutic ratio is the basis for the evolving clinical utilization of 3-DCRT for NSCLC. Software and hardware developments continue to develop and have the potential to solve evolving clinical issues. Dose-volume-histograms have been used to accurately quantify lung dose and derived parameters have the potential to predict the risk of pneumonitis for individual patients before treatment. Initial clinical results have been promising and strategies for further dose escalation are emerging. Preliminary experience has resulted in promising survival following three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy alone for locally advanced NSCLC. More follow-up and experience will determine late toxicity, maximum dose, and efficacy of dose escalation with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy. Strategies should be developed to integrate this modality into the combined treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. (author)

[en] Massive coalescing binary systems are candidate sources of gravitational radiation in the millihertz frequency band accessible to spacecraft Doppler tracking experiments. This paper discusses signal processing and detection probability for waves from coalescing binaries in the regime where the signal frequency increases linearly with time, i.e., 'chirp' signals. Using known noise statistics, thresholds with given false alarm probabilities are established for one- and two-spacecraft experiments. Given the threshold, the detection probability is calculated as a function of gravitational wave amplitude for both one- and two-spacecraft experiments, assuming random polarization states and under various assumptions about wave directions. This allows quantitative statements about the detection efficiency of these experiments and the utility of coincidence experiments. In particular, coincidence probabilities for two-spacecraft experiments are insensitive to the angle between the directions to the two spacecraft, indicating that near-optical experiments can be done without constraints on spacecraft trajectories. 28 refs

[en] Increasing the burnup of reactor fuel can have advantages such as improved utilization of fissile resources, reduced spent fuel volume, and, in the case of reactors with on-power refuelling, decreased operational demand on the fuelling machines. Higher burnups are also desirable for many advanced fuel cycles, such as minor actinide-bearing fuels where high burnups are required to achieve better actinide destruction, and thorium based fuel cycles where increased irradiation time converts and burns more U-233 from Th-233. However, this will impose more challenging operating conditions on the fuel, particularly in the case of on-power refuelling. A program is underway at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to develop a new fuel bundle concept to enable greater burnups. One option that AECL is investigating is an internally cooled annular fuel (ICAF) element concept. ICAF contains annular cylindrical pellets with cladding on the inner and outer diameters. Coolant flows along the outside of the element and through the centre. With such a concept, the maximum fuel temperature as a function of linear element rating is significantly reduced compared to conventional, solid-rod type fuel. The preliminary ICAF bundle concept considered in this study contains 24 half-metre long internally cooled annular fuel elements and one non-fuelled centre pin. The introduction of the non-fuelled centre pin reduces the coolant void reactivity (CVR), which is the increase in reactivity that occurs on voiding the coolant in accident scenarios. Lattice cell and full core physics calculations of the preliminary ICAF fuel bundle concept have been performed for medium burnups of approximately 18 GWd/tU using WIMS-AECL and reactor fuel simulation program (RFSP). The results will be used to assist in concept configuration optimization. The effects of radial and axial core power distributions, linear element power ratings, refuelling rates and operational power ramps have been analyzed. The results suggest that burnups of greater than 18 GWd/tU can be achieved in current reactor designs. At approximately 18 GWd/tU, expected maximum linear element ratings in a pressure tube heavy water reactor (PT-HWR) with online-refuelling are approximately 90 kW/m. These conditions would be prohibitive for solid-rod fuel, but may be possible in ICAF fuel given the reduced maximum fuel temperature as a function of linear element rating. (author)

[en] Purpose: To examine the role of brachytherapy in carcinoma of the extrahepatic biliary system. Materials and Methods: Between 1979 and 1992 44 patients with locoregional carcinoma of the extrahepatic biliary system were treated with radiation. We divided these patients into two groups: those that received brachytherapy (BT, 24 patients) and those that did not (NBT, 20 patients) both groups were prognostically matched. Chemotherapy, generally 5FU +/-mitomycin-C, was added in 9 BT, 10 NBT. External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) was added in 19 of the BT patients, all of the NBT patients, with similar techniques, dose ranges, and energy ranges. Brachytherapy consisted of temporary Ir-192 (total dose range 700 - 3175 cGy, median 2000 cGy) in 15 patients and permanent I-125 (range 10 to 295 Gy with median dose 140 Gy) in 10 patients; one patient received both types. Results: Median follow up is 12 months (3 - 112). To date 8 patients are NED: 7 BT patients (at 112, 50, 27, 9, 8, 7, 7 months) and 1 NBT patient (at 10 months). Actuarial survival was significantly improved with the addition of brachytherapy. 45% versus 15% at 2 years, 38% versus 0% at 5 years, and 38% versus 0% at 8 years (p <0.05). Patterns of failure in both groups were similar and all patients experienced local failure as a component of failure. Conclusions: Failure in all the cases in this series was initially local; thus better methods are clearly needed to improve local control. While it is difficult to draw conclusions about such heterogeneously treated, nonrandomised patients, our data suggests that brachytherapy may be a useful component of treatment