Integrated System for Retrieval, Transportation and Consolidated Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel in the US -13312

ABSTRACT The current inventory of used nuclear fuel assemblies (UNFAs) from commercial reactor operations in the United States totals approximately 65,000 metric tons or approximately 232,000 UNFAs primarily stored at the 104 operational reactors in the US and a small number of decommissioned reactors. This inventory is growing at a rate of roughly 2,000 to 2,400 metric tons each year, (Approx. 7,000 UNFAs) as a result of ongoing commercial reactor operations. Assuming an average of 10 metric tons per storage/transportation casks, this inventory of commercial UNFAs represents about 6,500 casks with an additional of about 220 casks every year. In January 2010, the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) [1] was directed to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and recommend a new plan. The BRC issued their final recommendations in January 2012. One of the main recommendations is for the United States to proceed promptly to develop one or more consolidated storage facilities (CSF) as part of an integrated, comprehensive plan for safely managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Based on its extensive experience in storage and transportation cask design, analysis, licensing, fabrication, and operations including transportation logistics, Transnuclear, Inc. (TN), an AREVA Subsidiary within the Logistics Business Unit, is engineering an integrated system that will address the complete process of commercial UNFA management. The system will deal with UNFAs in their current storage mode in various configurations, the preparation including handling and additional packaging where required and transportation of UNFAs to a CSF site, and subsequent storage, operation and maintenance at the CSF with eventual transportation to a future repository or recycling site. It is essential to proceed by steps to ensure that the system will be the most efficient and serve at best its purpose by defining: the problem to be resolved, the criteria to evaluate the solutions, and the alternative solutions. The complexity of the project is increasing with time (more fuel assemblies, new storage systems, deteriorating logistics infrastructure at some sites, etc.) but with the uncertainty on the final disposal path, flexibility and simplicity will be critical

Pebbles and avalanches

This joint exhibition of ten artists from the University of Lincoln was curated by Clare Charnley and used artworks to draw attention to the complex dynamics of the two-way process of influence between teachers and students of art. This show included stills from one of my video pieces - ‘Domain of formlessness’, which was inspired by Steve Dutton whom I met whilst doing my Masters. The video relates (quite literally) to the notion of ‘avalanches’ in the title of this exhibition and the film stems from a conversation that started between Steve and myself (and continues to this day) about the catastrophes that result from trying to deal with landslides of material from abandoned artistic activities which often end up strewn chaotically across the studio. Dutton and Peacock made a film called ‘Plague-Orgy-Time’ in 1997 and I first saw it in their exhibition ‘Apocatropes’ at the Mappin Gallery in the same year. I was taken by their approach to a ‘series of accretions of things in a space punctuated by scattered evidence of artistic activity’ (Glover, I. 1997). My film deals with a similar issue but in this case the studio is reduced to a model and artistic activities are miniaturised in a series of ‘Gulliver-esque’ tableaux or enactments – each one punctuated by the close of a stage curtain. In a way my film consciously tends towards 'the reproduced', the constructed stage, film or theatre set in its depictions of a series of avalanches and visually references old slapstick humour films in a sequence of ‘vignettes’. The strange beauty of this apparently absurd process experienced in the studio is foregrounded in this 'homage'. References Izi Glover 1997 ‘Musée Imaginaire’ Frieze Issue 3

Pharmacologic Inhibition of the TGF-β Type I Receptor Kinase Has Anabolic and Anti-Catabolic Effects on Bone

During development, growth factors and hormones cooperate to establish the unique sizes, shapes and material properties of individual bones. Among these, TGF-β has been shown to developmentally regulate bone mass and bone matrix properties. However, the mechanisms that control postnatal skeletal integrity in a dynamic biological and mechanical environment are distinct from those that regulate bone development. In addition, despite advances in understanding the roles of TGF-β signaling in osteoblasts and osteoclasts, the net effects of altered postnatal TGF-β signaling on bone remain unclear. To examine the role of TGF-β in the maintenance of the postnatal skeleton, we evaluated the effects of pharmacological inhibition of the TGF-β type I receptor (TβRI) kinase on bone mass, architecture and material properties. Inhibition of TβRI function increased bone mass and multiple aspects of bone quality, including trabecular bone architecture and macro-mechanical behavior of vertebral bone. TβRI inhibitors achieved these effects by increasing osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, while reducing osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption. Furthermore, they induced the expression of Runx2 and EphB4, which promote osteoblast differentiation, and ephrinB2, which antagonizes osteoclast differentiation. Through these anabolic and anti-catabolic effects, TβRI inhibitors coordinate changes in multiple bone parameters, including bone mass, architecture, matrix mineral concentration and material properties, that collectively increase bone fracture resistance. Therefore, TβRI inhibitors may be effective in treating conditions of skeletal fragility

Effects of Red-Cell Storage Duration on Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery

Some observational studies have reported that transfusion of red-cell units that have been stored for more than 2 to 3 weeks is associated with serious, even fatal, adverse events. Patients undergoingcardiac surgery may be especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of transfusion