State Power Plant Siting: a Sketch of the Main Features of a Possible Approach

Work on various phases of power plant technology and siting has been underway within the Environmental Quality Laboratory (EQL) at the California Institute of Technology for some time. Of particular relevance to this memorandum, a good deal of effort has been devoted to institutional aspects of the siting process. Our purpose in what follows is to draw from our past work -- and from the discussions and work of others -- a sketch of the major outlines of one possible approach to power plant siting for the state. We hope in doing so to give our present views about the issues and how they might rationally be resolved, not so much to convince as to inform, stimulate fruitful ideas, and help provide the basis for constructive debate. We ourselves are not necessarily wedded to any of the discussion that follows; we find our own minds changing from time to time as we study the problem further or confront sound suggestions from others. Part I of this memorandum briefly outlines the major features of what we see as a fruitful approach to the siting problem. Sections A through E of Part I describe some elements of the approach; Section F sketches the actual siting decision process we suggest, and in doing so shows how the elements play into the process. Section G comments briefly on a suggested role for judicial review. In Part II we attempt to reduce our ideas to a fairly precise outline for a state siting statute, and to deal with certain matters of detail not covered in Part I. Section A of Part II introduces the statutory outline by summarizing each of its provisions; Section B sets forth the outline itself. The Appendix to this memorandum depicts our suggested approach in time-line fashion; it should be helpful in reading and understanding the proposal

Space augmentation of military high-level waste disposal

Space disposal of selected components of military high-level waste (HLW) is considered. This disposal option offers the promise of eliminating the long-lived radionuclides in military HLW from the earth. A space mission which meets the dual requirements of long-term orbital stability and a maximum of one space shuttle launch per week over a period of 20-40 years, is a heliocentric orbit about halfway between the orbits of earth and Venus. Space disposal of high-level radioactive waste is characterized by long-term predictability and short-term uncertainties which must be reduced to acceptably low levels. For example, failure of either the Orbit Transfer Vehicle after leaving low earth orbit, or the storable propellant stage failure at perihelion would leave the nuclear waste package in an unplanned and potentially unstable orbit. Since potential earth reencounter and subsequent burn-up in the earth's atmosphere is unacceptable, a deep space rendezvous, docking, and retrieval capability must be developed

Field ionization electrodes Patent

Electrodes having array of small surfaces for field ionizatio

Rectification of the register - Prospective or retrospective?

In Gold Harp v MacLeod [2014] EWCA Civ 1084, the Court of Appeal considers Schedule 4, paragraph 8 Land Registration Act 2002. It interprets this provision so as to mean that the priority between mistakenly de-registered interests and registered interests can be altered following rectification. The court can give the de-registered interest the priority which it ‘would have had’ but for the mistake. In other words, it allows for retrospective rectification. This case note concludes that this is the correct interpretation of paragraph 8 and of the words ‘for the future’. However, it argues that the current range of options available to the court in terms of rectification are producing uncertainty, and that a better approach may be to rely on the priority provisions in sections 28 and 29.This is the accepted manuscript. It will be embargoed until 02/03/2016. The final version is available from Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2230.12119/abstract

Analysis of air quality management with emphasis on transportation sources

The current environment and practices of air quality management were examined for three regions: Denver, Phoenix, and the South Coast Air Basin of California. These regions were chosen because the majority of their air pollution emissions are related to mobile sources. The impact of auto exhaust on the air quality management process is characterized and assessed. An examination of the uncertainties in air pollutant measurements, emission inventories, meteorological parameters, atmospheric chemistry, and air quality simulation models is performed. The implications of these uncertainties to current air quality management practices is discussed. A set of corrective actions are recommended to reduce these uncertainties

Temperature dependence of the average electron-hole pair creation energy in Al0.8Ga0.2As

The temperature dependence of the average energy consumed in the creation of an electron-hole pair in the wide bandgap compound semiconductor Al 0.8Ga0.2As is reported following X-ray measurements made using an Al0.8Ga0.2As photodiode diode coupled to a low-noise charge-sensitive preamplifier operating in spectroscopic photon counting mode. The temperature dependence is reported over the range of 261 K-342 K and is found to be best represented by the equation ε AlGaAs 7.327-0.0077 T, where εAlGaAs is the average electron-hole pair creation energy in eV and T is the temperature in K. © 2013 © 2013 Author(s)

Property In The Anthropocene

Intergenerational justice, community interests, and environmental protection are all goals sought through the imposition of the duties of stewardship onto owners of land. But such duties, when imposed by law, require justification beyond the morality of maintaining and preserving land in a good condition for its present and future use. The potential for sanction imposed by the state means that stewardship duties, if they are to be justified, must be grounded in established principles of justified legal intervention. Of those, the most convincing is, and always has been, the harm principle: intervention is justified where a rule prevents one person from harming another. This test is a challenge for duties of stewardship, where the focus is on preserving one’s own land for the benefit of future generations; who is harmed by a failure to comply? This Article explains that the harm in such a breach of duty lies in the erosion of the collective interest which cements the community of land owners and users, a collective to which the relevant owner of land herself belongs. The community is justified in imposing sanction for breach of that rule, not because of any environmental damage per se, but in order to ensure the continued and ongoing existence of the group. In this way, stewardship should be seen not as a rule arising from environmental ethics, but as a coordination rule, justified by the role it plays in maintaining the collective, and as such, stewardship thus inheres in private property. The two are not dichotomous, but inextricable

Responsibility and liability for climate loss and damage after Paris

This article considers the loss and damage provisions of the Paris Agreement emerging from the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) of December 2015, and examines the extent to which they represent an innovation from the voluntary-focused Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM). It concludes that whilst on its surface the Paris Agreement very much continues the WIM approach, the combination of the reference to differentiated responsibilities, the inclusion of a loss and damage article within the main Agreement, and the refusal to allow this article to act as a basis for liability raises some legal and policy ambiguities. These ambiguities raise the question as to whether it is necessary or useful to develop a responsibility allocation mechanism (which need not give rise to liability) in order to assess differentiated responsibilities for loss and damage, and if so, how such a mechanism might be constructed. This article then goes on to consider two alternative approaches to loss and damage: an insurance-based approach and an approach based on the twin pillars of causal connection and fault. The difficulties of designing an allocation mechanism on the basis of causation and fault are discussed. Nevertheless, it is concluded that if, in the future, as seems likely, there will be increasing pressure to determine some sort of responsibility allocation, these issues will need to be grappled with head-on.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2016.119709

Incoherence and incompatibility in planning law

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the obligations imposing localism and the presumption in favour of sustainable development in English planning law.Design/methodology/approach– The paper uses doctrinal analysis to examine section 38 PCPA 2004 and the NPPF to assess whether the obligations are coherent when considered as stand-alone obligations, and whether they are compatible when combined. Case law and the statutory provisions are examined to assess this. Planning theory is also examined to bring a multidisciplinary focus to the analysis.Findings– The paper concludes that there are problems with these legal obligations when considered as stand-alone obligations. There is imprecision over the meaning of key terms; the “presumptions” established do not operate as true presumptions; and there is an ambiguity as to the hierarchy of norms and the allocation of decision-making control. When combined, the incoherence increases. It is argued that this occurs thanks to underlying disagreements in key concepts in planning theory.Originality/value– This paper examines the new structures of planning law introduced under the Localism Act 2011 and the NPPF and considers how this structure works in practice. It does so from the multidisciplinary viewpoint of planning law and planning theory and links these two approaches. This is not replicated elsewhere in the literature. It considers in detail the ensuing case law, and the contradictions that appear. Again, there is little surveying the overall framework of planning law in the UK.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Emerald Insight at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJLBE-07-2014-0019?journalCode=ijlbe

Influence of age on outcome from thrombolysis in acute stroke: a controlled comparison in patients from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA)

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> Thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke in patients aged >80 years is not approved in some countries due to limited trial data in the very elderly. We compared outcomes between thrombolysed and nonthrombolysed (control) patients from neuroprotection trials to assess any influence of age on response.</p> <p><b>Method:</b>Among patients with ischemic stroke of known age, pretreatment severity (baseline National Institutes of Health Scale Score), and 90-day outcome (modified Rankin Scale score; National Institutes of Health Scale score), we compared the distribution of modified Rankin score in thrombolysed patients with control subjects by Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and then logistic regression after adjustment for age and baseline National Institutes of Health Scale score. We examined patients ≤80 and ≥ 81 years separately and then each age decile.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Rankin data were available for 5817 patients, 1585 thrombolysed and 4232 control subjects; 20.5% were aged >80 years (mean ± SD, 85.1 ± 3.4 years). Baseline severity was higher among thrombolysed than control subjects (median National Institutes of Health Scale score 14 versus 13, P<0.05). The distribution of modified Rankin Scale scores was better among thrombolysed patients (P<0.0001; OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.26 to 1.54). The association occurred independently with similar magnitude among young (P<0.0001; OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.26 to 1.59) and elderly (P=0.002; OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.70) patients. ORs were consistent across all age deciles >30 years; outcomes assessed by National Institutes of Health Scale score gave supporting significant findings, and dichotomized modified Rankin Scale score outcomes were also consistent.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Outcome after thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke was significantly better than in control subjects. Despite the expected poorer outcomes among elderly compared with young patients that is independent of any treatment effect, the association between thrombolysis treatment and improved outcome is maintained in the very elderly. Age alone should not be a barrier to treatment.</p&gt