[en] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has two important safety-related functions: 1. establishing safety standards to protect against the impacts on health of ionizing radiation, and 2. ensuring the application of safety standards at the request of a member state. The IAEA safety standards (in their present structure, 1 fundamental, 15 requirements, and 106 guides) are not binding upon member states in the legal sense of international law, but may be incorporated into the respective national legal systems. The standards are binding upon IAEA activities conducted on the Agency's behalf. Since the 1950s, extensive regulations, instructions for action, and general proposals have been developed at IAEA in the nuclear field. In the 1990s, the decision was taken therefore to merge the independent texts of regulations, harmonize them, and combine them under a common heading. In 2004, the IAEA Council of Governors adopted the so-called 2004 Action Plan, 'Measures to Strengthen International Cooperation in Nuclear, Radiation and Transport Safety and Waste Management - Action Plan for the Development and Application of IAEA Safety Standards' (GOV/2004/6). The Agency's concept was then adopted that the safety standards constitute the global reference for the protection of persons and the environment. In addition, ten measures ('actions') were adopted on the development of safety standards, feedback from users, and further dissemination of the standards. he measures and activities derived from that step and identified have been initiated and, in part, completed. In some respects, new challenges have arisen which are also being addressed. (orig.)

[en] The interaction properties of projectile fragments from the fragmentation of 0.9 GeV/nucleon and 1.8 GeV/nucleon ⁴⁰Ar with Cu have been studied using radioactivation techniques. In this experiment, two identical copper blocks, 1 cm thick and 8 cm in diameter, are irradiated by relativistic projectiles in different configurations. In configuration 0, the blocks are touching while in configuration 10 or 20, the blocks are separated by 10 or 20 cm of air, respectively. It is assumed that when the relativistic projectiles interact with the first block of each pair, projectile fragments are created which interact with other nuclei in the first and second blocks. What is measured is the ratio of some target fragment activity, such as ²⁴Na or ²⁸Mg, produced in the second block relative to the first block, R

[en] The interaction properties of projectile fragments from the fragmentation of 0.9 A GeV and 1.8 A GeV ⁴⁰Ar with Cu have been studied using radioactivation techniques. Projectile fragments formed in the interaction of the primary Ar beam with a thick Cu disk (the target disk) interacted with a second detector Cu disk. The relative reaction product yields in the two disks were measured as a function of the separation between the disks. A large increase in the yield of deep spallation products (²⁴Na, ²⁸Mg) in the detector disk was observed as the projectile energy increased from 0.9 A GeV to 1.8 A GeV. At 1.8 A GeV (but not at 0.9 A GeV) the yields of the deep spallation products decreased as the separation between the disks increased indicating either a dramatic broadening of the relevant projectile fragment angular distribution between 0.9 A GeV and 1.8 A GeV or a decay in flight of some of the projectile fragments at 1.8 A GeV (but not at 0.9 A GeV). Calculations will be discussed that cast doubt on the first possibility. 15 references

No abstract available

[en] Projectile fragments formed in the interaction of 0.9A-GeV and 1.8A-GeV ⁴⁰Ar ions with a Cu disk interact with a second Cu disk and the relative yields of products in the two disks are measured by radioactivation techniques as a function of the distance between them. The data at 1.8A-GeV demand either (1) decay in flight (t/sub 1/2/roughly-equal10^-10 s) of some projectile fragments having large cross sections or (2) production of secondaries with unexpectedly large transverse momenta

[en] A method was to be developed for routine determination of Np-237 and Pu-238-242, especially a fast method for isotopic analysis of the plutonium isotopes. From samples of uranium end product solutions of the reprocessing step, the Np and Pu activities have been chemically separated and reprocessed. For this purpose, various chemical separation techniques have been combined for suitable series of separation steps, suitability being proven by alpha-spectroscopy. Isotopic analysis has been made with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer as alpha-spectrometry is not applicable to the three isotopes Pu-239, 240, 241. Specimen preparation has been done by electrodeposition of the transuranium elements from weakly acid solution onto thin platinum foils. Np and Pu isotopes have been detected by the time-of-flight mass spectrometer which will be modified and improved for this type of analysis in order to achieve still better results. (orig./RB)

No abstract available

[en] After nuclear fuel reprocessing, the final and purified uranium compound (called 'final uranium') contains small amounts of transuranium nuclides such as Np, Pu and Am in the order of about 10^-9 g(Pu)/g(U), 10^-6 g(Np)/g(U). A method has been developed for determining the concentration of these nuclides and their isotopic composition with high accuracy in short time. 'Short time' in this work means 1 to 2 hours. (author)

[en] A search for postulated (²⁴⁷CmX^-) has been carried out. This nuclide is expected to have chemical properties similar to americium. A trivalent actinide-lanthanide fraction which would contain any americium was radiochemically isolated from hot brines from the 'Atlantis-II deep region' of the Red Sea. Its alpha and spontaneous fission (SF) activity was measured. No unknown alpha activity was observed. Assuming (²⁴⁷CmX^-) has an alpha energy of 4.35 MeV, a limit of < 10¹² atoms per gram of dried Atlantis-II precipitate can be calculated. Furthermore, no spontaneous fission activity was observed, giving a limit of < 8x10^-8 SFxmin^-1xg^-1. (orig.)

No abstract available