[en] With current global nuclear fleet of 449 operational units with additional 60 units under the construction, nuclear power generates around 392 GWe in 2016, increasing about 9.2 GWe since 2015. Thirty countries currently use nuclear power and about same number of countries are considering, planning or actively working to include it in their energy mix. Among those units under the construction, PWR is the dominated type. IAEA's 2016 projections for 2030 show that the global nuclear power capacity will expand by between 1.9% in the low and 56% in the high case scenario. Emphasizing the decision to pursue nuclear energy is the sovereign right of member states (MSs), IAEA has been providing various service and support over past 3 scores years in meeting the growing demands of MSs. These supports cover broad spectrum of sectors, including whole nuclear fuel cycle and whole life cycle of nuclear facilities. IAEA is also jointly working with MSs in strengthening their capacity building and improving their knowledge preservation and transfer to ensure their pursuance of nuclear energy is in safe, secure and sustainable manner. In the context of entry into force of Paris Agreement and full gear of SDGs implementation in 2016, nuclear energy should have a great potential in playing bigger role in addressing those global issues.

[en] Highlights: • The state-of-the-art PFM technique is employed to analyze a reactor pressure vessel. • Various P–T limit transients are established as the loading condition. • Novel flaw model and embrittlement correlation are considered in the study. • The critical values of RT_NDT for a postulated flaw under P–T limit transients are determined by deterministic minimization analysis. • K_IC based P–T curve which can increase the operational margin of nuclear power plant is recommended. - Abstract: According to the Code Case N-640 issued in 1999, the fracture toughness requirement of reactor pressure vessel materials in ASME Section XI–Appendix G was amended to the K_IC curve. In Taiwan, the present pressure–temperature limit operation curves of normal reactor startup (heat-up) and shut-down (cool-down) for the reactor pressure vessel is still calculated per the K_Ia curve in 1998 or earlier editions. In the paper, the failure risks of a Taiwan domestic reactor pressure vessel under various pressure–temperature limit operations were analyzed. First, the pressure–temperature limit curves of the reactor pressure vessel based on K_Ia and K_IC curves, and various levels of radiation embrittlement, were established. Then, the ORNL's probabilistic fracture mechanics code, FAVOR, and the PNNL's flaw model were employed to assess the failure probabilities of the reactor pressure vessel under such pressure–temperature limit transients. Further, the deterministic analyses of FAVOR code were also conducted. It is found that under the pressure–temperature limit transients based on K_IC curves, the reactor pressure vessel presents higher failure probabilities, but are all below the allowable risk. The present results indicate that using the K_IC curve the pressure–temperature limits can increase the operational margin as well as maintaining the sufficient stability of the analyzed reactor pressure vessel

[en] Highlight: • The PTS loading conditions consistent with the USNRC's new PTS rule are applied as the loading condition for a Taiwan domestic PWR. • The state-of-the-art PFM technique is employed to analyze a reactor pressure vessel. • Novel flaw model and embrittlement correlation are considered in the study. • The RT-based regression formula of NUREG-1874 was also utilized to evaluate the failure risks of RPV. • For slightly embrittled RPV, the SO-1 type PTSs play more important role than other types of PTS. - Abstract: The fracture risk of the pressurized water reactor pressure vessel of a Taiwan domestic nuclear power plant has been evaluated according to the technical basis of the U.S.NRC's new pressurized thermal shock (PTS) screening criteria. The ORNL's FAVOR code and the PNNL's flaw models were employed to perform the probabilistic fracture mechanics analysis associated with plant specific parameters of the domestic reactor pressure vessel. Meanwhile, the PTS thermal hydraulic and probabilistic risk assessment data analyzed from a similar nuclear power plant in the United States for establishing the new PTS rule were applied as the loading conditions. Besides, an RT-based regression formula derived by the U.S.NRC was also utilized to verify the through-wall cracking frequencies. It is found that the through-wall cracking of the analyzed reactor pressure vessel only occurs during the PTS events resulted from the stuck-open primary safety relief valves that later reclose, but with only an insignificant failure risk. The results indicate that the Taiwan domestic PWR pressure vessel has sufficient structural margin for the PTS attack until either the current license expiration dates or during the proposed extended operation periods.

[en] The cavity mode method is a new method for computing the dispersion curves and fields of accelerating structures. The method assumes that the field of interest is expanded with open and short modes. These modes are constructed on the basis of the resonant fields in a unit cell. With the wave equation and the Floquet boundary conditions, the method is mathematically simplified into a general eigenvalue problem to calculate the dispersion curve and fields for any phase shift in the structures. This method has been used in analyzing the higher-order modes in the periodic structures. In further study, it is also expected to be useful for analyzing non-periodic structures in the next generation linear collider

[en] The densities of (o-xylene, or m-xylene, or p-xylene + dimethyl sulfoxide) were measured at temperatures (293.15, 303.15, 313.15, 323.15, 333.15, 343.15, 353.15) K and atmospheric pressure by means of a vibrating-tube densimeter. The excess molar volume V_m^E calculated from the density data provide the temperature dependence of V_m^E in the temperature range of (293.15 to 353.15) K. The V_m^E results were correlated using the fourth-order Redlich-Kister equation, with the maximum likelihood principle being applied for the determination of the adjustable parameters. Also we have calculated partial molar volume and excess partial molar volumes of two components. It was found that the V_m^E in the systems studied increase with rising temperature

[en] Preparation of the monomer modified by phosphite is described. According to the results of IR, MS and ¹H-NMR, the possible synthesis path was deduced. The coating was made up of polyurethane acrylate, modified monomer, active diluent and so on. A non-tacky transparent film can be obtained after EB curing in the air. The experiment indicated that the modified monomer plays a great role in resisting oxygen inhibition. Furthermore, it reduces the radiation dose that the curing needs, and takes effect on radiation sensitization. The optimum radiation condition is 40 KGy. The gel content was used to express the curing extent and the relationship between dose and P-H bond conversion was studied

[en] An improved method of analysis of metals in protein bands with synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) separation is introduced and applied to human liver cytosol. Through a step of drying the gel before SRXRF determination, the continuous background resulting mainly from the Compton-scattering of X-rays by the gel matrix was substantially reduced, and the detection of biological trace elements, such as Cu, Fe, and Zn in protein bands was thereby made possible. With the new procedure, six Zn-containing proteins with molecular weights (MWs) of 17.5, 20.5, 27, 35, 55, and 63 kDa, respectively were found in human liver cytosol, among which the 63 kDa Zn-containing band was shown to be the dominant form of zinc. In addition, at least four Fe containing proteins with MWs of 20, 23, 43, and 83.5 kDa, respectively, were present in the samples. The metal contents in some metalloproteins, such as the 63 kDa Zn-containing protein, the 23 and 83.5 kDa Fe-containing proteins, and a 22 kDa Cu-containing protein were more closely related to the metal level in the sample. It is demonstrated that the procedure could be widely used to further investigate metal-binding proteins in biological samples

[en] We apply the bunching-parameter analysis to the hadron-hadron collisions within the FRITIOF model. The monofractal structure of intermittency is observed, in contrast to the multifractal structure in the e⁺e^- annihilation. The unusual enhancement of the second-order bunching parameters is a direct manifestation of the enhanced void probability. (author)

[en] Due to the large number and variety of cable tray supports in nuclear power plants, the workload of the seismic analysis of cable tray supports is huge, so it is of great significance to improve the efficiency of the seismic analysis of cable tray supports. In this paper, the rapid seismic analysis method of cable tray support is studied from two aspects of modeling and post-processing. Firstly, the structural characteristics of cable tray support are parameterized, and then the automatic modeling, automatic result extraction and automatic evaluation methods of cable tray support are studied. On this basis, the corresponding rapid modeling and post-processing software of cable tray is developed. The software can automatically generate ANSYS command flow of cable tray support modeling and result extraction by inputting structural characteristic parameters of cable tray support, and automatically evaluate the extracted results, thus greatly improving the efficiency of the seismic analysis of cable tray support. (authors)

[en] In Daya Bay and LingAo Plant Radiation Monitoring system retrofit project, channels for monitoring activity of liquids in Nuclear Island and Conventional Island Liquid Waste Discharge system will use on line liquid monitor to replace the existing off-line sampling monitor. A mathematical model was created by using of the Monte Carlo simulation software-MCNP5. After inputting several parameters about the on line liquid monitor measurement loop, the measurement range and the minimum detectable activity (MDA) of the on line liquid monitor calculated by MCNP5 are better than the existing off-line sampling monitor. The results indicates that it is feasible to use on line liquid monitor to monitor activity of liquids in Nuclear Island and Conventional Island Liquid Waste Discharge system, and the performance can completely meet the requirement of the original design of these channels, so as to realize the optimization of the radiation monitoring system. (authors)