Russian market power on the EU gas market: can Gazprom do the same as in Urkaine?

In the course of 2006, Gazprom sharply increased gas prices for Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova. This paper assesses (i) to what extent Europe is vulnerable to similar use of market power by Russia, and (ii) to what extent the construction of strategic gas storage could help Europe to reduce its vulnerability. The European market for imported gas is described by differentiated Cournot competition between Russia and other – potentially more reliable – suppliers, in particular LNG imports. The results show that Russian market power is limited, because demand is not completely inelastic even in the short run. Moreover, if Russia’s unreliability increases (or if European short-run demand elasticity decreases) Russia gives away more and more of its expected profits to the other suppliers. For Europe, buying gas from more reliable suppliers at a price premium turns out to be more attractive than building storage capacity.

Russian gas imports in Europe: how does Gazprom reliability change the game?.

Europe’s dependence on Russian gas imports has been the subject of increasing political concern after gas conflicts between Russia and Ukraine in 2006 and 2009. This paper assesses the potential impact of Russian unreliability on the European gas market, and how it affects European gas import strategy. We also study to what extent Europe should invest in strategic gas storage capacity to mitigate the effects of possible Russian unreliability. The European gas import market is described by differentiated competition between Russia and a – more reliable – competitive fringe of other exporters. The results show that Russian contract volumes and prices decline significantly as a function of unreliability, so that not only Europe but also Russia suffers if Russia’s unreliability increases. For Europe, buying gas from more reliable suppliers at a price premium turns out to be generally more attractive than building strategic gas storage capacity.

Taxation of nuclear rents: benefits, drawbacks and alternatives.

The taxation of nuclear energy is studied using a stylized model of the electricity sector, with one dominant nuclear producer and a competitive fringe of fossil-fuel plants. We show that an unanticipated tax on nuclear production can generate significant government revenue in the short run without disturbing the market, but will harm investment incentives in the long run, especially if the government cannot credibly commit to a future tax rate. Even if the government is capable of credibly committing to an optimal long-run tax, government revenues from the long-run tax will be very low due to the market power of the incumbent. Lifetime extension agreements negotiated with multiple potential players, and competitive auctioning of new nuclear licenses are shown to be the most attractive policies. The analytical results are illustrated with a numerical simulation for the case of Belgium.

Taxation of nuclear rents: benfits, drawbacks and alternatives

The taxation of nuclear energy is studied using a stylized model of the electricity sector, with one dominant nuclear producer and a competitive fringe of fossil-fuel plants. We show that an unanticipated tax on nuclear production can generate significant government revenue in the short run without disturbing the market, but will harm investment incentives in the long run, especially if the government cannot credibly commit to a future tax rate. Even if the government is capable of credibly committing to an optimal long-run tax, government revenues from the long-run tax will be very low due to the market power of the incumbent. Lifetime extension agreements negotiated with multiple potential players, and competitive auctioning of new nuclear licenses are shown to be the most attractive policies. The analytical results are illustrated with a numerical simulation for the case of Belgium.

The Role of Work-home Interference and Workplace Learning in the Energy-depletion Process

In this study, we tested a work stress model which incorporates both an energydepletion and a workplace learning process. In the energy-depletion process, workhome interference was assumed to mediate the relationship between job demands (workload, emotional demands) and psychological fatigue. In the workplace learning process it was hypothesized that workplace learning mediated the relationship between job resources (autonomy, task variety) and psychological fatigue. Results of a multi-group structural equation modelling (N = 9738) confirmed our hypotheses and as such contribute to a better understanding of the interplay between job characteristics and stress-related outcomes

Evolution of water diffusion in a sorption-enhanced methanation catalyst

Sorption-enhanced methanation has consequent advantages compared to conventional methanation approaches; namely, the production of pure methane and enhanced kinetics thanks to the application of Le Châtelier’s principle. In this paper, we address the question of the long-term stability of a sorption-enhanced methanation catalyst-support couple: Ni nanoparticles on zeolite 5A. Compared to most conventional methanation processes the operational conditions of sorption-enhanced methanation are relatively mild, which allow for stable catalyst activity on the long term. Indeed, we show here that neither coking nor thermal degradation come into play under such conditions. However, a degradation mechanism specific to the sorption catalysis was observed under cyclic methanation/drying periods. This severely affects water diffusion kinetics in the zeolite support, as shown here by a decrease of the water-diffusion coefficient during multiple cycling. Water diffusion is a central mechanism in the sorption-enhanced methanation process, since it is rate-limiting for both methanation and drying

Sputter Deposition of Transition Metal Oxides on Silicon: Evidencing the Role of Oxygen Bombardment for Fermi‐Level Pinning

Different magnetron sputtering‐based deposition methods of nickel oxide SiO₂‐passivated Si surfaces are compared. Results highlight that the presence of oxygen in the deposition chamber during reactive sputtering drastically affects the Si/SiO₂ interface. An alternative method for the preparation of NiO is the sputtering of metallic nickel in oxygen‐free atmosphere followed by a post oxidation of the deposited layer in an oxygen atmosphere without plasma exposition is proposed. This method is introduced as metal layer oxidation (MLO). Using this technique, the barrier height on n‐type silicon increases from ≈0.4 eV for reactively sputtered NiO to more than 0.6 eV for the MLO method. In situ photoelectron spectroscopy evidences the formation of an extra electronic state when NiO is reactively sputtered, which is assigned to the intense oxygen ion bombardment of the Si/SiO₂ surface during the process. This extra‐electronic state pins the silicon energy bands in an undesirable position. The extra‐electronic state is associated with oxygen interstitial in the SiO₂ implanted during reactive sputtering

Robert J. Baczuk v. Salt Lake Regional Medical Center and Dr. Brian Moench : Reply Brief

APPEAL FROM A FINAL JUDGMENT OF THE THIRD DISTRICT COURT THE HONORABLE HOMER F. WILKINSO

Effect of hydriding on nanoscale plasticity mechanisms in nanocrystalline palladium thin films

Thin palladium (Pd) membranes constitute an enabling material in hydrogen permeation and sensing applications. During hydriding of Pd, as long as the H/Pd (atomic ratio) stays below αSSmax≈0.02, the α-Pd with face centered cubic (fcc) lattice will expand from 3.889 Å to 3.895 Å. When the ratio reaches 0.02 a β-phase, again fcc based, having a lattice constant near 4.025 Å appears which induces a 10% volume change. In the present work, nanoscale plasticity mechanisms activated in sputtered nanocrystalline (nc) Pd thin films subjected to hydriding at different hydrogen pressures have been investigated for the first time using advanced TEM. The in-situ measurement of the evolution of the internal stress during hydriding shows that the internal stress increases rapidly and reaches a constant value of 120 MPa tensile stress for α phase and 920 MPa compressive stress for β phase transformation. The automated crystallographic orientation mapping in TEM (ACOM-TEM) before and after hydriding to α and β phase did not reveal significant changes of the grain size and the crystallographic texture, excluding grain boundary mediated processes as dominant hydrogen induced plasticity mechanisms. High resolution TEM (HRTEM) investigation of ∑3 {111} coherent twin boundaries (TBs) in Pd films shows clear loss of the coherency of these boundaries after hydriding to β phase. However, significant changes of microstructure have not been observed in Pd films hydrated to α phase. These results confirm that hydrogen induced plasticity is mainly controlled by dislocation activity at higher hydrogen pressures. Surprisingly, an fcc→9R phase transformation at Σ3 {112} incoherent TBs as well as a high density of stacking faults (SFs) (Fig. 1a) have been observed after hydriding to β phase indicating a clear effect of hydrogen on the stacking fault energy of Pd. Shear type faulted loops rarely reported in nc materials were also observed within the Pd grains after hydriding to β-phase (Fig. 1b). In order to investigate the stability of this shear type loops, different internal stress fields originating from the neighboring dislocation (dislocation d3 ) and surface effects (image forces) have been computed using a Finite Element method (Fig. 1c). Such calculations confirm that high attractive forces exist between the dislocation “d2” and “d3” forming the dipole. On the other hand, although the Peach Koehler force on the dislocation “d1” tends to extend the SF, the force magnitude is much smaller than the force induced by the fault on the partial segments. Therefore, an extra shear stress of +385MPa (τdis.) acting on the glide plane of the dislocation “d1” is required in order to counter balance the attractive force of the SF which thus explains the stability of this dislocation in the TEM thin foil after dehydriding. This shear stress can not be compensated by the negligible image force in such thin foil. Moreover, no residual hydrides were detected using high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. Therefore, the stability of glissile intrinsic SF loops in nc Pd films after dehydriding can thus be attributed to the presence of large internal stress heterogeneities typical of nc materials