Radiological assessment of the Belarusian nuclear power plant site in the pre-operational period

Field studies on the pre-operational period of a Belarusian NPP have allowed us to determine the “background” level of gamma-emitting radionuclides in individual components of the environment. The results of measuring the dose rate at the NPP construction site are from 0.048 to 0.089 μSv/h. External radiation in the surveyed area is at 96% due to 40K, 226Ra and 232Th. The radionuclides in the surface soil layer are: 40K - from 530 to 700 Bq/kg; 226Ra - from 30 to 55 Bq/kg; and 232Th - from 17 to 35 Bq/kg; 137Cs from 2 to 13 Bq/kg. The dose rate in the floodplain of the Viliya River from 0.033 to 0.082 μSv/h. The activity concentrations of the radionuclides in the surface soil layer of the floodplain of the Viliya River are: 40K - from 390 to 690 Bq/kg; 226Ra - from 33 to 50 Bq/kg; 232Th - from 15 to 50 Bq/kg; 137Cs - from 3 to 12 Bq/kg. The activity concentration of carbon-14 and tritium in the dominant vegetation species were determined to be: from 74.4 to 111.5 pMC and less than lower range limit, respectively. © 2020 RAD Conference Proceedings

Performance of novel CaO-based sorbents in high temperature CO2 capture under RF heating

The problem of CO₂ mitigation on a small and medium scale can be resolved by developing a combined system of CO₂ capture and its consecutive conversion into valuable products. The first stage of CO₂ looping, however, should be reliable, effective and easy to control and radiofrequency heating, as a new advanced technology, can be used to improve the process. CO₂ absorption and desorption RF units can be installed within power plants and powered during the periods of low energy demand thus stabilizing the electrical grid. In this work, a CaO sorbent produced by template synthesis was studied as a sorbent for a CO₂ looping system under RF heating which offers short start-up times, highly controlled operation, high degree of robustness and low price. The sorbent reached its stable CO₂ capacity of 15.4 wt.% already after 10 temperature cycles (650/850 °C) under RF heating. Higher CO₂ desorption rate and lower degree of the sorbent sintering was observed under RF heating as compared to conventional heating

Electron Cooling Experiments in CSR

The six species heavy ion beam was accumulated with the help of electron cooling in the main ring of Cooler Storage Ring of Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou(HIRFL-CSR), the ion beam accumulation dependence on the parameters of cooler was investigated experimentally. The 400MeV/u 12C6+ and 200MeV/u 129Xe54+ was stored and cooled in the experimental ring CSRe, the cooling force was measured in different condition.Comment: 5 pages 11 figure

Space-Time Diffusion of Ground and Its Fractal Nature

We present evidences of the diffusive motion of the ground and tunnels and show that if systematic movements are excluded then the remaining uncorrelated component of the motion obeys a characteristic fractal law with the displacement variance dY^2 scaling with time- and spatial intervals T and L as dY^2 \propto T^(Alpha)L^(Gamma) with both exponents close to 1. We briefly describe experimental methods of the mesa- and microscopic ground motion detection used in the measurements at the physics research facilities sensitive to the motion, particularly, large high energy elementary particle accelerators. A simple mathematical model of the fractal motion demonstrating the observed scaling law is also presented and discussed.Comment: 83 pages, 46 fig

Status of Muon Collider Research and Development and Future Plans

The status of the research on muon colliders is discussed and plans are outlined for future theoretical and experimental studies. Besides continued work on the parameters of a 3-4 and 0.5 TeV center-of-mass (CoM) energy collider, many studies are now concentrating on a machine near 0.1 TeV (CoM) that could be a factory for the s-channel production of Higgs particles. We discuss the research on the various components in such muon colliders, starting from the proton accelerator needed to generate pions from a heavy-Z target and proceeding through the phase rotation and decay ($\pi \to \mu \nu_{\mu}$) channel, muon cooling, acceleration, storage in a collider ring and the collider detector. We also present theoretical and experimental R & D plans for the next several years that should lead to a better understanding of the design and feasibility issues for all of the components. This report is an update of the progress on the R & D since the Feasibility Study of Muon Colliders presented at the Snowmass'96 Workshop [R. B. Palmer, A. Sessler and A. Tollestrup, Proceedings of the 1996 DPF/DPB Summer Study on High-Energy Physics (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, 1997)].Comment: 95 pages, 75 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Special Topics, Accelerators and Beam

Escherichia coli Frameshift Mutation Rate Depends on the Chromosomal Context but Not on the GATC Content Near the Mutation Site

Different studies have suggested that mutation rate varies at different positions in the genome. In this work we analyzed if the chromosomal context and/or the presence of GATC sites can affect the frameshift mutation rate in the Escherichia coli genome. We show that in a mismatch repair deficient background, a condition where the mutation rate reflects the fidelity of the DNA polymerization process, the frameshift mutation rate could vary up to four times among different chromosomal contexts. Furthermore, the mismatch repair efficiency could vary up to eight times when compared at different chromosomal locations, indicating that detection and/or repair of frameshift events also depends on the chromosomal context. Also, GATC sequences have been proved to be essential for the correct functioning of the E. coli mismatch repair system. Using bacteriophage heteroduplexes molecules it has been shown that GATC influence the mismatch repair efficiency in a distance- and number-dependent manner, being almost nonfunctional when GATC sequences are located at 1 kb or more from the mutation site. Interestingly, we found that in E. coli genomic DNA the mismatch repair system can efficiently function even if the nearest GATC sequence is located more than 2 kb away from the mutation site. The results presented in this work show that even though frameshift mutations can be efficiently generated and/or repaired anywhere in the genome, these processes can be modulated by the chromosomal context that surrounds the mutation site