Nuclear Data for Sustainable Nuclear Energy

Final report of a coordinated action on nuclear data for industrial development in Europe (CANDIDE). The successful development of advanced nuclear systems for sustainable energy production depends on high-level modelling capabilities for the reliable and cost-effective design and safety assessment of such systems, and for the interpretation of key benchmark experiments needed for performance and safety evaluations. High-quality nuclear data, in particular complete and accurate information about the nuclear reactions taking place in advanced reactors and the fuel cycle, are an essential component of such modelling capabilities. In the CANDIDE project, nuclear data needs for sustainable nuclear energy production and waste management have been analyzed and categorized, on the basis of preliminary design studies of innovative systems. Meeting those needs will require that the quality of nuclear data files be considerably improved. The CANDIDE project has produced a set of recommendations, or roadmap, for sustainable nuclear data development. In conclusion, a substantial long-term investment in an integrated European nuclear data development program is called for, complemented by some dedicated actions targeting specific issues.JRC.D.5-Neutron physic

Monitoring biological wastewater treatment processes: Recent advances in spectroscopy applications

Biological processes based on aerobic and anaerobic technologies have been continuously developed to wastewater treatment and are currently routinely employed to reduce the contaminants discharge levels in the environment. However, most methodologies commonly applied for monitoring key parameters are labor intensive, time-consuming and just provide a snapshot of the process. Thus, spectroscopy applications in biological processes are, nowadays, considered a rapid and effective alternative technology for real-time monitoring though still lacking implementation in full-scale plants. In this review, the application of spectroscopic techniques to aerobic and anaerobic systems is addressed focusing on UV--Vis, infrared, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, chemometric techniques, valuable tools to extract the relevant data, are also referred. To that effect, a detailed analysis is performed for aerobic and anaerobic systems to summarize the findings that have been obtained since 2000. Future prospects for the application of spectroscopic techniques in biological wastewater treatment processes are further discussed.The authors thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors also acknowledge the financial support to Daniela P. Mesquita and Cristina Quintelas through the postdoctoral Grants (SFRH/BPD/82558/2011 and SFRH/BPD/101338/2014) provided by FCT - Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CANDIDE - Coordination Action on Nuclear Data for Industrial Development in Europe

A Co-ordinated Action has been launched with the ambition to establish a durable network on nuclear data efforts that are important in the context of minimising the high-level waste stream of nuclear energy. This implies optimal incineration of all actinides that nowadays constitute spent nuclear fuel, in critical and sub-critical reactors. As a consequence, the scope of the CA encompasses transmutation in fast critical reactors as well as sub-critical systems (ADS). The purpose is to identify the needs for improved nuclear data, assess the present status of knowledge, and to estimate what accuracy can be reached with state-of-the-art techniques

CANDIDE - Coordination Action on Nuclear Data for Industrial Development in Europe

A Co-ordinated Action has been launched with the ambition to establish a durable network on nuclear data efforts that are important in the context of minimising the high-level waste stream of nuclear energy. This implies optimal incineration of all actinides that nowadays constitute spent nuclear fuel, in critical and sub-critical reactors. As a consequence, the scope of the CA encompasses transmutation in fast critical reactors as well as sub-critical systems (ADS). The purpose is to identify the needs for improved nuclear data, assess the present status of knowledge, and to estimate what accuracy can be reached with state-of-the-art techniques.JRC.D.5-Neutron physic