Pathways towards the nuclear revival in Finland, France, and the UK

Nuclear power is undergoing a revival in a number of countries of both developed and developing world, and is increasingly presented as a solution to the problems of climate change and energy security. This paper analyses the history of and the debates on nuclear power in France, the UK and Finland, all of which are in the process of either planning or building new nuclear plants. The paper traces the history of nuclear power since the early post-War years, distinguishing five distinct phases of development, from the early period of nuclear enthusiasm, through the emergence of doubt and risk in the 70s and 80s, to the recent 'nuclear renaissance'. Emphasis in the analysis is placed on issue framings, argumentative strategies, the role of independent expertise, public opinion and the degree of openness of decision-making. Key similarities, converging trends and differences between the countries are identified and tentative conclusions drawn on the potential stability of the current framing of nuclear energy as a response to the double challenge of climate change and energy security

Futur du nucléaire - Nucléaire du futur

Ecole de Physique Les Houches SFP- SFEN-PACE-CEA-IN2P3 Région Rhône-AlpesL'énergie nucléaire peut jouer un rôle important dans un futur proche pour la production massive d'énergie au niveau mondial. Pour cela, elle devra satisfaire un certain nombre de critères généraux qui ont été définis par les organismes internationaux (IAEA, le Forum International Génération IV), et qui sont : une sûreté accrue, la durabilité par l'utilisation des noyaux fertiles, une bonne gestion des déchets, un champ élargi d'utilisations, une rentabilité économique acceptable et la résistance à la prolifération. Plusieurs concepts sont à l'étude voire en développement pour essayer de répondre à ces critères au sein de collaborations internationales plus ou moins larges. Après une présentation du contexte énergétique et de son futur au niveau mondial, ce papier exposera les arguments en faveur d'un futur du nucléaire en détaillant les avantages de cette forme de production d'énergie, avant une présentation des principaux systèmes en cours d'étude pour le nucléaire du futur

Muon tomography applied to active volcanoes

Muon tomography is a generic imaging method using the differential absorption of cosmic muons by matter. The measured contrast in the muons flux reflects the matter density contrast as it does in conventional medical imaging. The applications to volcanology present may advantadges induced by the features of the target itself: limited access to dangerous zones, impossible use of standard boreholes information, harsh environmental conditions etc. The Diaphane project is one of the largest and leading collaboration in the field and the present article summarizes recent results collected on the Lesser Antilles, with a special emphasis on the Soufri\`ere of Guadeloupe.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, International Conference on New Photo-detectors,PhotoDet2015, 6-9 July 2015, Moscow, Troitsk, Russia. Submitted to Po

Signals of Bose Einstein condensation and Fermi quenching in the decay of hot nuclear systems

We report experimental signals of Bose-Einstein condensation in the decay of hot Ca projectile-like sources produced in mid-peripheral collisions at sub-Fermi energies. The experimental setup, constituted by the coupling of the INDRA 4$\pi$ detector array to the forward angle VAMOS magnetic spectrometer, allowed us to reconstruct the mass, charge and excitation energy of the decaying hot projectile-like sources. Furthermore, by means of quantum fluctuation analysis techniques, temperatures and mean volumes per particle "as seen by" bosons and fermions separately are correlated to the excitation energy of the reconstructed system. The obtained results are consistent with the production of dilute mixed (bosons/fermions) systems, where bosons experience a smaller volume as compared to the surrounding fermionic gas. Our findings recall similar phenomena observed in the study of boson condensates in atomic traps.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (december 2014

Measurement of the Multi-TeV Neutrino Interaction Cross-Section with IceCube Using Earth Absorption

Neutrinos interact only very weakly, so they are extremely penetrating. The theoretical neutrino–nucleon interaction cross-section, however, increases with increasing neutrino energy, and neutrinos with energies above 40 teraelectronvolts (TeV) are expected to be absorbed as they pass through the Earth. Experimentally, the cross-section has been determined only at the relatively low energies (below 0.4 TeV) that are available at neutrino beams from accelerators1,2. Here we report a measurement of neutrino absorption by the Earth using a sample of 10,784 energetic upward-going neutrino-induced muons. The flux of high-energy neutrinos transiting long paths through the Earth is attenuated compared to a reference sample that follows shorter trajectories. Using a fit to the two-dimensional distribution of muon energy and zenith angle, we determine the neutrino–nucleon interaction cross-section for neutrino energies 6.3–980 TeV, more than an order of magnitude higher than previous measurements. The measured cross-section is about 1.3 times the prediction of the standard model3, consistent with the expectations for charged- and neutral-current interactions. We do not observe a large increase in the cross-section with neutrino energy, in contrast with the predictions of some theoretical models, including those invoking more compact spatial dimensions4 or the production of leptoquarks5. This cross-section measurement can be used to set limits on the existence of some hypothesized beyond-standard-model particles, including leptoquarks

Structure properties of even-even actinides

Structure properties of fifty five even-even actinides have been calculated using the Gogny D1S force and the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach as well as the configuration mixing method. Theoretical results are compared with experimental data.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, proceeding of FUSION0

Gamma ray production cross sections in proton induced reactions on natural Mg, Si and Fe targets over the proton energy range 30 up to 66 MeV

Gamma-ray excitation functions have been measured for 30, 42, 54 and 66 MeV proton beams accelerated onto C + O (Mylar), Mg, Si, and Fe targets of astrophysical interest at the separate-sector cyclotron of iThemba LABS in Somerset West (Cape Town, South Africa). A large solid angle, high energy resolution detection system of the Eurogam type was used to record Gamma-ray energy spectra. Derived preliminary results of Gamma-ray line production cross sections for the Mg, Si and Fe target nuclei are reported and discussed. The current cross section data for known, intense Gamma-ray lines from these nuclei consistently extend to higher proton energies previous experimental data measured up to Ep ~ 25 MeV at the Orsay and Washington tandem accelerators. Data for new Gamma-ray lines observed for the first time in this work are also reported.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. IOP Institute of Physics Conference Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics VII, 28th EPF Nuclear Physics Divisional Conference, May 18-22 2015, York, U

Towards a unitary Dalitz plot analysis of three-body hadronic B decays

A unitary model of the final state kaon pion interaction amplitudes in the B --> K pi pi decays is constructed. The weak decay penguin amplitudes, derived in QCD factorization, are supplemented by phenomenological contributions. The strange kaon- pion scalar and vector form factors are used to calculate the kaon pion effective mass and helicity angle distributions, branching ratios, CP asymmetries and the phase difference between the B0 and anti B0 decay amplitudes to K*(892) pi. The fit on the phenomenological parameters leads to a good agreement with the experimental data, particularly for the B --> K*(892) pi decays. However, our predicted B+- --> K*0(1430) pi+-, K*0(1430)--> K+-pi-+ branching fraction is smaller than the results of the Belle and BaBar collaborations, obtained from isobar model analyses. A new parameterization of the S-wave kaon- pion effective mass distribution, which can be used in future experimental Dalitz plot analyses, is proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, contribution to Proc. Int. Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics (HEP2009), July 16-22, 2009, Krakow, Poland, PoS(HEP2009)20

The Air Microwave Yield (AMY) experiment - A laboratory measurement of the microwave emission from extensive air showers

The AMY experiment aims to measure the microwave bremsstrahlung radiation (MBR) emitted by air-showers secondary electrons accelerating in collisions with neutral molecules of the atmosphere. The measurements are performed using a beam of 510 MeV electrons at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) of Frascati INFN National Laboratories. The goal of the AMY experiment is to measure in laboratory conditions the yield and the spectrum of the GHz emission in the frequency range between 1 and 20 GHz. The final purpose is to characterise the process to be used in a next generation detectors of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. A description of the experimental setup and the first results are presented.Comment: 3 pages -- EPS-HEP'13 European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (July, 18-24, 2013) at Stockholm, Swede