[en] Renewable energy facilities have been installed in many regions, because of their possibility to be an alternative to fossil fuels for mitigating global warming. Besides the profitability of renewable energy businesses, indirect economic effects of installing renewable energy facilities should be clarified. This study examines the possibility that the renewable energy facilities give renewed impetus to regional economic progress. The economic effects are analysed with input-output techniques in a rural area in Japan. As a consequence, both positive and negative effects on the rural economy are derived. In addition, we will focus on the changes in sectors such as construction, business services, banking, etc. as a result of economic activities for renewable systems. The business benefits of renewable energy system are discussed. (author)

[en] The infrared spectra of hydrogen and deuterium molecules chemisorbed on nickel surfaces is studied experimentally. Several new bands in this system are assigned to Ni-H and Ni-D bonds

[en] Electrical resistivity and Hall coefficients of layered chalcogenides of TlCu_2-xSe₂, TlCu_2-xTe₂ and (Tl_1-xBa_x)Cu₂Se₂ were measured on sintered pellets. TlCu_2-xSe₂ and TlCu_2-xTe₂ were stable in the range of (2-x) between 1.95 and 2.00, and 1.96 and 2.00, respectively. TlCu₂Se₂ gave fairly small values of ρ at low temperatures (e.g., ρ=2x10^-7 Ωcm at 2 K). TlCu₂Te₂ gave a ρ of ca. 3x10^-6 Ωcm at 2 K. The values of residual resistivity were also quite small for these compounds in spite of the presence of a large number of impurities and lattice defects. TlCu_2-xSe₂ showed T² dependence of ρ below 50 K, indicative of electron-electron scattering. Hall measurements for all systems showed that conduction occurs predominantly by holes originating from charge compensation, and by a small number of electrons. The Hall mobility showed substantial T^-3/2 dependence for all samples, suggesting the dominance of acoustic phonon scattering. The (Tl_1-xBa_x)Cu₂Se₂ system showed mixed conduction with holes and electrons, where electrons originate from the Ba²⁺ ions that are substituted for Tl⁺ ions

[en] A periodic boundary condition in 3-D analysis has been examined. The definition of 3-D periodic phenomena is clarified, and the periodic conditions for A - phi method are established. The usefulness of the periodic boundary conditions is shown by analyzing some models and observing that the CPU time is considerably decreased

[en] In Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), successful development and operations of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) are coordinated by programs to study applied systems of the promising reactor technology. One such program being carried out from 2001 to 2007 is the design and development for the Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor of 300 MWe nominal capacity (GTHTR300), aiming at demonstration of a prototype plant in 2010s in Japan. GTHTR300 features an original design of fuel cycle based on improved HTTR fuel element and of greatly simplified plant system in pursuit of economical performance with minimal development requirements. The fuel cycle characterizes on high burnup, low power peaking factor, and extended refueling interval. The plant system incorporates salient design simplification including conventional steel reactor pressure vessel, non-intercooled power conversion cycle, horizontal single-shaft turbomachine, and distributed modular maintenance of the overall plant. Planned research and development supporting detailed design efforts include performance tests of subscale components and control system. This paper describes the GTHTR300 reference design and related R and D activities in JAERI

[en] The 3D finite element method is improved so that both the computer storage and the CPU time can be reduced by examining the boundary conditions. The improved method is applied to the analysis of the Fusion Electromagnetic Induction Experiment (FELIX) facilities, and the characteristics of 3-D eddy current distributions are investigated. (orig.)

[en] This paper presents a preliminary study on nuclear characteristics of plutonium burning with High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTR). The following information is obtained from comparison of features of HTR and cell burn-up calculations with the use of HTR fuel: (1) HTR has good potential for plutonium utilization. (2) Core property changes at around the same quantity of plutonium as fissile uranium. (3) In the case of small size HTR, plutonium loading of 0.5% in fuel volume is feasible without any serious influence on basic characteristics. Plutonium loading of 0.1% causes no problems, and improves burn-up characteristics. (4) The quality of plutonium becomes poor in the discharged fuel. (author)

[en] It is difficult to achieve sufficient accuracy of power loss measurement at high magnetic field densities where the magnetic field strength gets more and more distorted, or in cases where the influence of noise increases (small specimen cross section). The influence of averaging on the accuracy of power loss measurement was studied on the cast amorphous magnetic material Metglas 2605-TCA. The results show that the accuracy of power loss measurements can be improved by using the averaging of data acquisition points

[en] The boundary conditions for the A-φ method and the Π-Ω method are systematically investigated in order to reduce the CPU time and the computer storage. The models of International Electromagnetic Workshops are analyzed using the boundary conditions, and the behaviour of eddy currents are discussed. (author)

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