Understanding nuclear trade: data sources and tools

Over the last few years, a growing concern developed around the trade of equipment designed for nuclear use and nuclear-related dual-use items that may be diverted to non-peaceful uses. Trade data sources and tools presented hereafter can enhance understanding of nuclear related trade from different perspectives. One perspective is nuclear safeguards. Since 2007, the Joint Research Centre has been supporting the IAEA in finding and evaluating collections of open source data on trade. We identified, and documented in a catalogue of trade data, sources stemming from declarations made by importers and exporters to customs authorities. Customs data are collected nationally, processed and published in transactional or aggregated formats by decision of individual States. Bringing these data together results in a large collection that creates a global geographical view on trade, covers all commodities, and reports trade in quantitative form over several years. The data are retrieved by Harmonised System (HS) codes, the taxonomy of goods designed and maintained by the World Customs Organization. HS codes introduce approximations in the description of the trade making the data of no immediate use to safeguards. Their use requires first mapping items of interest to safeguards verifications to HS codes. To this goal, correspondence tables have been developed by trade analysts and experts of the Harmonised System. To make these tables easy-to-use, we have designed and developed a software tool named The Big Table (TBT) which supports: (a) searching a collection of reference documents relevant to nuclear trade (legal documents and handbooks); (b) selecting items of interest to specific safeguards verifications; (c) mapping items to HS codes by means of correspondence tables. These steps are preliminary to data retrieval from sources on trade described above. These data sources and TBT are currently in use at IAEA¿s Trade and Technology Analysis Unit, for safeguards purposes. Other perspective uses of trade data pertain to the area of export controls. Potential uses include the estimation of trade flows of controlled items to inform the design of export control policies, as well as verifications on compliance with export controls regulations. In this paper we present firstly a collection of data sources on global trade. The paper will then tackle in some detail the first perspective, i.e. the use of trade data to support safeguards with a focus on the TBT software tool for nuclear trade analysis. Other perspectives on the use of trade data will then be briefly outlined.JRC.E.9-Nuclear security (Ispra

The Big Table - A Software Tool for Nuclear Trade Analysis

This report overviews functionalities provided by 'The Big Table' (TBT), a software tool designed to support nuclear trade analysis for IAEA safeguards. TBT allows analysts to perform steps preparatory to the retrieval and analysis of data records pertinent to case studies on nuclear trade. Trade data records stem from open source web data services on global trade and are retrieved by Harmonized System codes, i.e. commodity descriptors used by traders to declare imports and exports to customs authorities. The report is structured in two main Parts. The first Part presents elements of nuclear trade analysis. The report concludes by comparing TBT to related information tools developed in the context of export controls. Future developments on TBT are outlined pointing to new application areas.JRC.DG.E.9-Nuclear security (Ispra

DCF Data Call Coverage Report for the Mediterranean and Black Sea in 2014

DG Mare called the DCF Data from Member States in the Mediterranean and Black Sea on April 2014, defining the deadline of 9 June 2014 for data submissions from member states, under the Community Framework of Data Collection Regulation (DCR) (Council Regulation (EC) № 199/2008 of 25th February 2008). A second deadline specific for the Black Sea was established on 8 September 2014. The data call also defined a third deadline 12 January 2015 for the submission of trawl surveys data for Mediterranean MS. aruptii. The DCF data submitted by national correspondents are duly evaluated in the present coverage report by JRC DCF team as part of an Administrative Arrangement with DG MARE. The report provides a detailed review of the timeliness and completeness of data submissions by Member States.JRC.G.3-Maritime affair

The TAC Dependency Tool: EU fishing fleet’s economic dependency on stocks subjected to fishing TACs. Online tool v2, including Species_GSA units for the Mediterranean & Black Sea fleet

The present report develops a TAC Dependency Indicator for stocks regulated by a Total Allowable Catch as listed in the Council Regulations fixing fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters, in line with Regulation No 1380/2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The TDI focuses on providing an estimate of the economic relevance that each stock subjected to a TAC has on EU fishing fleets from a regulatory perspective. This approach was chosen taking into consideration the main aim of the exercise, which is to provide policy makers with reference economic data collected under the Data Collection Framework and analysed within the scope of the AER in a format that can be easily linked to TACs and TAC proposals. The TDI consists in the proportion between the value of landings associated to a given stock and the total value of landings of a fleet segment. Proportional employment and GVA associated to each TAC unit are also provided.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

The VVDS type-1 AGN sample: The faint end of the luminosity function

In a previous paper (Gavignaud et al. 2006), we presented the type-1 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) sample obtained from the first epoch data of the VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey (VVDS). The sample consists of 130 faint, broad-line AGN with redshift up to z=5 and 17.5< I <24.0, selected on the basis of their spectra. In this paper we present the measurement of the Optical Luminosity Function up to z=3.6 derived from this sample, we compare our results with previous results from brighter samples both at low and at high redshift. Our data, more than one magnitude fainter than previous optical surveys, allow us to constrain the faint part of the luminosity function up to high redshift. By combining our faint VVDS sample with the large sample of bright AGN extracted from the SDSS DR3 (Richards et al., 2006b) and testing a number of different evolutionary models, we find that the model which better represents the combined luminosity functions, over a wide range of redshift and luminosity, is a luminosity dependent density evolution (LDDE) model, similar to those derived from the major X-surveys. Such a parameterization allows the redshift of the AGN space density peak to change as a function of luminosity and explains the excess of faint AGN that we find at 1.0< z <1.5. On the basis of this model we find, for the first time from the analysis of optically selected samples, that the peak of the AGN space density shifts significantly towards lower redshift going to lower luminosity objects. This result, already found in a number of X-ray selected samples of AGN, is consistent with a scenario of "AGN cosmic downsizing", in which the density of more luminous AGN, possibly associated to more massive black holes, peaks earlier in the history of the Universe, than that of low luminosity ones.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to A&

The [OIII] emission line luminosity function of optically selected type-2 AGN from zCOSMOS

We present a catalog of 213 type-2 AGN selected from the zCOSMOS survey. The selected sample covers a wide redshift range (0.15<z<0.92) and is deeper than any other previous study, encompassing the luminosity range 10^{5.5} < Lsun< L[OIII] < 10^{9.1} Lsun. We explore the intrinsic properties of these AGN and the relation to their X-ray emission (derived from the XMM-COSMOS observations). We study their evolution by computing the [OIII]5007A line luminosity function (LF) and we constrain the fraction of obscured AGN as a function of luminosity and redshift. The sample was selected on the basis of the optical emission line ratios, after applying a cut to the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the relevant lines. We used the standard diagnostic diagrams [OIII]/Hbeta versus [NII]/Halpha and ([OIII]/Hbeta versus [SII]/Halpha) to isolate AGN in the redshift range 0.15<z<0.45 and the diagnostic diagram [OIII]/Hbeta versus [OII]/Hbeta to extend the selection to higher redshift (0.5<z<0.92). Combining our sample with one drawn from SDSS, we found that the best description of the evolution of type-2 AGN is a luminosity-dependent density evolution model. Moreover, using the type-1 AGN LF we were able to constrain the fraction of type-2 AGN to the total (type-1 + type-2) AGN population. We found that the type-2 fraction decreases with luminosity, in agreement with the most recent results, and shows signs of a slight increase with redshift. However, the trend with luminosity is visible only after combining the SDSS+zCOSMOS samples. From the COSMOS data points alone, the type-2 fraction seems to be quite constant with luminosity.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Tracing the cosmic growth of supermassive black holes to z~3 with Herschel

We study a sample of Herschel selected galaxies within the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South and the Cosmic Evolution Survey fields in the framework of the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) Evolutionary Probe project. Starting from the rich multiwavelength photometric data sets available in both fields, we perform a broad-band spectral energy distribution decomposition to disentangle the possible active galactic nucleus (AGN) contribution from that related to the host galaxy. We find that 37 per cent of the Herschel-selected sample shows signatures of nuclear activity at the 99 per cent confidence level. The probability of revealing AGN activity increases for bright (L 1−1000 > 10 11 L ? ) star-forming galaxies at z > 0.3, becoming about 80 per cent for the brightest (L 1−1000 > 10 12 L ? ) Infrared (IR) galaxies at z≥1. Finally, we reconstruct the AGN bolometric luminosity function and the supermassive black hole growth rate across cosmic time up to z ∼ 3 from a far-IR perspective. This work shows general agreement with most of the panchromatic estimates from the literature, with the global black hole growth peaking at z ∼ 2 and reproducing the observed local black hole mass density with consistent values of the radiative efficiency Erad (∼0.07)

The spatial clustering of X-ray selected AGN in the XMM-COSMOS field

We study the spatial clustering of 538 X-ray selected AGN in the 2 deg^2 XMM-COSMOS field that are spectroscopically identified to I_{AB}<23 and span the redshift range z=0.2-3.0. The median redshift and luminosity of the sample are z = 0.98 and L_{0.5-10}=6.3 x 10^{43} erg/s, respectively. A strong clustering signal is detected at ~18sigma level, which is the most significant measurement obtained to date for clustering of X-ray selected AGN. By fitting the projected correlation function w(r_p) with a power law on scales of r_p=0.3-40 Mpc/h, we derive a best fit comoving correlation length of r_0 = 8.6 +- 0.5 Mpc/h and slope of gamma=1.88 +- 0.07 (Poissonian errors; bootstrap errors are about a factor of 2 larger). An excess signal is observed in the range r_p~5-15 Mpc/h, which is due to a large scale structure at z ~ 0.36 containing about 40 AGN. When removing the z ~ 0.36 structure, or computing w(r_p) in a narrower range around the peak of the redshift distribution (e.g. z=0.4-1.6), the correlation length decreases to r_0 ~ 5-6 Mpc/h, which is consistent with that observed for bright optical QSOs at the same redshift. We investigate the clustering properties of obscured and unobscured AGN separately. Within the statistical uncertainties, we do not find evidence that AGN with broad optical lines (BLAGN) cluster differently from AGN without broad optical lines (non-BLAGN). The correlation length measured for XMM-COSMOS AGN at z~1 is similar to that of massive galaxies (stellar mass M_*> 3 x 10^{10} M_sun) at the same redshift. This suggests that AGN at z~1 are preferentially hosted by massive galaxies, as observed both in the local and in the distant (z~2) Universe. (shortened)Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in A&A. Language edited versio

An Information Tool on Items Listed for Export Controls

Global trade data are collected worldwide and made available by national statistical services as well as dedicated data providers. JRC has carried out a support task to IAEA to identify main trade data sources and explore uses for safeguards. In this context a software tool has been developed in support to nuclear trade analysis. The tool, called The Big Table (TBT), allows IAEA¿s analysts to search control lists, identify items of interest to trade-related case studies, and link these to technical documentation and descriptors needed to retrieve global trade data. A distinguishing trait of TBT is that it enables searching in an ¿inter-related way¿ a collection of reference documents for export controls on nuclear and nuclear-related items. Reference documents include: regulatory documents, technical handbooks and the Harmonized System, the taxonomy of goods by the World Customs Organization used by traders to declare exports and imports to customs. By inter-related search it is meant that semantically related items listed in different documents of TBT¿s collection are put in correspondence by ad hoc correspondence tables. In this way, any document in the collection can be taken as starting point for a search, and retrieve complementary perspectives on items given other relevant documents. TBT can serve a variety of tasks and communities underpinning export controls, including the rating of items by licensing authorities and commodity identification for customs controls.JRC.E.9-Nuclear security (Ispra