Evaluation Methodology For Proliferation Resistance And Physical Protection Of Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems: An Overview

This paper provides an overview of the methodology approach developed by the Generation IV International Forum Expert Group on Proliferation Resistance & Physical Protection for evaluation of Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection robustness of Generation IV nuclear energy systems options. The methodology considers a set of alternative systems and evaluates their resistance or robustness to a collection of potential threats. For the challenges considered, the response of the system to these challenges is assessed and expressed in terms of outcomes. The challenges to the system are given by the threats posed by potential proliferant States and sub-national adversaries on the nuclear systems. The characteristics of the Generation IV systems, both technical and institutional, are used to evaluate their response to the threats and determine their resistance against the proliferation threats and robustness against sabotage and theft threats. System response encompasses three main elements: 1.System Element Identification. The nuclear energy system is decomposed into smaller elements (subsystems) at a level amenable to further analysis. 2.Target Identification and Categorization. A systematic process is used to identify and select representative targets for different categories of pathways, within each system element, that actors (proliferant States or adversaries) might choose to use or attack. 3.Pathway Identification and Refinement. Pathways are defined as potential sequences of events and actions followed by the proliferant State or adversary to achieve its objectives (proliferation, theft or sabotage). For each target, individual pathway segments are developed through a systematic process, analyzed at a high level, and screened where possible. Segments are connected into full pathways and analyzed in detail. The outcomes of the system response are expressed in terms of PR&PP measures. Measures are high-level characteristics of a pathway that include information important to the evaluation methodology users and to the decisions of a proliferant State or adversary. They are first evaluated for segments and then aggregated for complete pathways. Results are aggregated as appropriate to permit pathway comparisons and system assessment. The paper highlights the current achievements in the development of the Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection Evaluation Methodology. The way forward is also briefly presented together with some conclusions

The Formation of the First Stars in the Universe

In this review, I survey our current understanding of how the very first stars in the universe formed, with a focus on three main areas of interest: the formation of the first protogalaxies and the cooling of gas within them, the nature and extent of fragmentation within the cool gas, and the physics -- in particular the interplay between protostellar accretion and protostellar feedback -- that serves to determine the final stellar mass. In each of these areas, I have attempted to show how our thinking has developed over recent years, aided in large part by the increasing ease with which we can now perform detailed numerical simulations of primordial star formation. I have also tried to indicate the areas where our understanding remains incomplete, and to identify some of the most important unsolved problems.Comment: 74 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Space Science Review

Increased activity of the ribosomal dissociation factor in the pre-replicative phase of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy

The activity of the ribosomal dissociation factor and the formation in vitro of free 60S and 40S subunits increased in the first 12--48 h after partial hepatectomy. This suggests an accelerated reconversion into active subunits of ribosomes that complete a translation cycle in the early phases of liver regeneration

Zero Metallicity Stellar Sources and the Reionization Epoch

We reconsider the problem of the cosmological reionization owing to stellar sources. Using a method similar to that developed by Haiman & Loeb, we investigate the effect of changing the stellar models and the stellar spectra adopted for deriving the ionizing photon production rate. In particular, we study the consequences of adopting zero-metallicity stars, which is the natural choice for the first stellar populations. We construct young isochrones representative of Population III stars from existing sets of evolutionary models (by Forieri and Cassisi & Castellani) and calculate a suitable library of zero-metallicity model atmospheres. The number of ionizing photons emitted by such a zero-metal population is about 40 per cent higher than that produced by standard metal-poor isochrones. We find that adopting suitable zero-metallicity models modifies the reionization epoch. However the latter is still largely affected by current uncertainties in other important physical processes such as the efficiency of the star formation and the fraction of escaping UV photons