Study on hydrogen absorption in Zr powder used for tritium confinement in a production system of tritium for fusion reactors with a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor

ABSTRACT: A tritium production method using a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor loaded with lithium compound particles has been proposed for steadily starting up and stably operating a fusion reactor. In order to confine the produced tritium, small lithium-compound particles are considered to be coated by ceramic materials. The present authors have proposed adding zirconium fine particles into the inside of the ceramic coating to improve tritium confinement performance. In this work, powdered zirconium was exposed to hydrogen or deuterium gas in a closed volume at elevated temperatures and absorption rate constant and Sieverts' constant were evaluated by the pressure drop by absorption. After the experiments, it was found that the powdered zirconium sample became a lump by a sintering effect. By referring literature data for α-zirconium and its oxide, the observed absorption rate was speculated to include the influence of sintering and oxide layer. The obtained Sieverts’ constants were slightly smaller than literature data. By taking into account the observed hydrogen absorption behavior in powdered zirconium, tritium leak from alumina-coated lithium-compound particles containing zirconium fine particles was roughly estimated in some conditions. Tritium permeation rate can be reduced by adding zirconium but the leak suppression effect is limited. Keywords: Hydrogen absorption, Zirconium, Tritium confinemen

Standard Rape Cases in the Criminal Justice System in Campinas, São Paulo

This study presents a longitudinal analysis of the records found in the Women’s Defense Division of the Public Ministry and in the Criminal Courts of the municipality of Campinas, São Paulo State. The study identified both the characteristics of rape (the accused, victims and relations between them), as well as the processes of selection and filtering to which they are submit during their processing. The results found for Campinas reflect rape complaints found in international studies, which indicate that rape is a heterogeneous category, although the aggressors are invariably men and the victims young. On the other hand, when the criminal selection process is analyzed, a filtering of typologies is noticed, found in the complaint phase in three standards for the crime of rape: intrafamiliar, committed by an unknown aggressor and among youth who know each other

Private Conflicts, Public Powers: Domestic Violence in the Courts in Latin America.

NoDuring the last two decades the judiciary has come to play an increasingly important political role in Latin America. Constitutional courts and supreme courts are more active in counterbalancing executive and legislative power than ever before. At the same time, the lack of effective citizenship rights has prompted ordinary people to press their claims and secure their rights through the courts. This collection of essays analyzes the diverse manifestations of the judicialization of politics in contemporary Latin America, assessing their positive and negative consequences for state-society relations, the rule of law, and democratic governance in the region. With individual chapters exploring Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, it advances a comparative framework for thinking about the nature of the judicialization of politics within contemporary Latin American democracies