[en] A comprehensive and accessible analysis is presented of the productivity and efficiency of the United Kingdom electricity distribution companies, between the years 1971 and 1993. During this period, the electricity regulator was undertaking a review of changes in the industry. As the European Community develops its policy of international power distribution networks, the evaluation of comparative efficiency of the distribution systems of Member States will become increasingly important. Models developed in this paper will be of assistance in establishing appropriate future energy policies. (UK)

[en] The CRI is pleased to publish this econometric study of British Gas marketing and customer costs to determine their relationship with changes in output. If there are economies of scale, then that may confer significant competitive advantages on the incumbent. It may also suggest that the incumbent is a natural monopoly in certain respects, which would militate against, and possibly frustrate, the introduction of long run, self-sustaining competition. Empirical evidence will need to be collected as the gas supply market opens up over the next two years. It may be that British Gas will be shown to be an inefficient natural monopoly; and this will leave a margin for new entrants which achieves contestability. Alternatively, new entrants themselves may be able to take part in the benefits of economies of scale by being part of larger groups themselves or availing themselves of specialist service firms such as has been set up by United Utilities following the take-over of Norweb by North West Water. Finally, account may have to be taken of the research into activity based costing which has shown that in the long run costs appear to rise more in proportion than is suggested by the short run variations in costs. (UK)

[en] The new ICRP recommendations contained in ICRP Publications 60 (ICRP 1991a) and 61 (ICRP 1991b) mean that all radiological regulations, standards and codes of practice based on the earlier recommendations need to be reviewed and revised. In Australia national recommendations on radiation protection are promulgated by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and these are used by the Standards Association of Australia, (SAA) National Occupation Health and Safety Commission (Worksafe Australia), state governments and other bodies, in their standards, codes and regulations. As part of the review and revision process, NHMRC and SAA recognised the need to produce a new radiotoxicity hazard classification, and formed a small working party to carry out this task. This paper is the report of the working party and summarises the work carried out and presents the recommendations for the revised radiotoxicity hazard classification. Previous classifications have been examined and the basis for such classifications has been considered. The working party propose that the most appropriate basis is the most restrictive inhalation annual limit intake (ALI), and that there is a need to consider this ALI in terms of both mass and activity. Using an index based on mass and activity, the radionuclides listed in ICRP 61 have been divided into four classes of radiotoxicity hazard. This list of revised radiotoxicity hazard class is presented in the paper and a floppy disk of the data is available. 17 refs., 4 figs

[en] July 1999 The Netherlands Electricity Regulatory Service (DtE) published an Information and Consultation Document on the title subject. By means of price cap regulation tariffs are determined such that businesses are stimulated continuously to organize their total processes and operation as efficient as possible. In the consultation document a large number of questions with respect to the future organization and planning of the system of economic regulation of the electricity sector in the Netherlands can be found. Many reactions and answers were received, compiled and analyzed. The results are presented in the main report, which forms the framework for the DtE to shape the economic regulation of the Dutch electricity sector. In this background document attention is paid to the most appropriate models by means of which the efficiency of the electricity companies in the Netherlands can be analyzed

[en] The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency is an agency of the Australian Government with the responsibility of undertaking research and providing advice in relation to radiation protection and nuclear safety. In addition the agency has the responsibility of regulating those radiation practices undertaken by Australian Government organizations. The activities of ARPANSA include monitoring the doses to workers in Australia. Internal dose assessment from the inhalation of insoluble dusts is a significant problem in industries associated with the mining and milling of radioactive ores and in the rehabilitation of sites contaminated by activities associated with the development of nuclear weapons. In order to assess doses to these workers ARPANSA has refurbished its whole body monitor as a lung monitor. The internal dimensions of the shielded room are 2.1 m long x 1.7 m wide x 1.8 m high. The shielding comprises 18 cm of laminated steel sheets, 2 cm of laminated lead sheets and 3 mm of copper. A hydraulically powered sliding door occupies half of one wall to allow access. Air to the room is filtered to remove radon and radon daughters. Subjects are measured using a bed geometry with the detectors arranged above them. There are four large area low energy germanium detectors (Canberra LEGe) each 70 mm diameter (active area 3800 mm²) and 25 mm thick. The detector window is made from 0.6 mm carbon composite material. There are two 7 liter Canberra ACT II dewars each with a cryostat that holds two detectors. The dewars are mounted on a frame that allows adjustment for height and position and the angle of the detectors is also adjustable both laterally and longitudinally. The lung monitoring facility is used routinely to monitor workers involved in the clean up of plutonium contaminated sites by assessing the 59.5 keV gamma ray from ²⁴¹Am which is present in the plutonium. Mineral sands workers have also been assessed by monitoring the 238 keV gamma ray from the decay of ²¹²Pb which is a daughter product of ²³²Th

[en] The document contains the end of award report on research into re-balancing and price structure in privatised utilities, funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC). Ramsey pricing ideas in United Kingdom utilities were modelled under different forms of regulation and cost/price relationships measured. Alternative forms of regulation that permit Ramsey pricing were also evaluated. Option price theory is shown to be central to an understanding of incentive mechanisms and their relationship to regulatory options. (UK)

[en] July 1999 The Netherlands Electricity Regulatory Service (DtE) published an Information and Consultation Document on the title subject. By means of price cap regulation tariffs are determined such that businesses are stimulated continuously to organize their total processes and operation as efficient as possible. In the consultation document a large number of questions with respect to the future organization and planning of the system of economic regulation of the electricity sector in the Netherlands can be found. Many reactions and answers were received, compiled and analyzed. The results are presented in this report, which forms the framework for the DtE to shape the economic regulation of the Dutch electricity sector

[en] Full text: We have proposed a cavity configuration for compact, stable, single-frequency operation in Yb:YAB. Modelling of the cavity output in the infrared and green has shown that sufficient mode discrimination can be achieved within the tuning range of the crystal. Experiments are planned to demonstrate efficient single longitudinal mode infrared operation of the devices that can be extended to include the self-frequency-doubled output. Details of the modelling and preliminary results will be presented at the conference

[en] The delivery and validation of a specified dose to a medical device are key concerns of operators of electron beam irradiation facilities. In an IMPELA-based irradiator, four of the parameters that directly influence the absorbed dose distribution in the product are controllable in real time - the electron energy, average beam current, scanned area, and the product exposure time. The 10 MeV accelerator operates at 50 kW with a stream of 200 μs wide, 100 mA pulses at a repetition rate of 250 Hz. The combination of short-term intra-pulse regulation with long-term pulse-to-pulse stability makes the IMPELA output attractive for the sterilization of medical products. The measurement and closed-loop control techniques used in the IMPELA design will be described with reference to facilitating compliance with medical sterilization standards. (orig.)

No abstract available