Dissolution experiments of commercial PWR (52 MWd/kgU) and BWR (53 MWd/kgU) spent nuclear fuel cladded segments in bicarbonate water under oxidizing conditions. Experimental determination of matrix and instant release fraction

The denominated instant release fraction (IRF) is considered in performance assessment (PA) exercises to govern the dose that could arise from the repository. A conservative definition of IRF comprises the total inventory of radionuclides located in the gap, fractures, and the grain boundaries and, if present, in the high burn-up structure (HBS). The values calculated from this theoretical approach correspond to an upper limit that likely does not correspond to what it will be expected to be instantaneously released in the real system. Trying to ascertain this IRF from an experimental point of view, static leaching experiments have been carried out with two commercial UO2 spent nuclear fuels (SNF): one from a pressurized water reactor (PWR), labelled PWR, with an average burn-up (BU) of 52 MWd/kgU and fission gas release (FGR) of 23.1%, and one from a boiling water reactor (BWR), labelled BWR, with an average BU of and 53 MWd/kgU and FGR of 3.9%.; One sample of each SNF, consisting of fuel and cladding, has been leached in bicarbonate water during one year under oxidizing conditions at room temperature (25 +/- 5) degrees C. The behaviour of the concentration measured in solution can be divided in two according to the release rate. All radionuclides presented an initial release rate that after some days levels down to a slower second one, which remains constant until the end of the experiment. Cumulative fraction of inventory in aqueous phase (FIAPc) values has been calculated. Results show faster release in the case of the PWR SNF. In both cases Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Y, Tc, La and Nd dissolve congruently with U, while dissolution of Zr, Ru and Rh is slower. Rb, Sr, Cs and Mo, dissolve faster than U. The IRF of Cs at 10 and 200 days has been calculated, being (3.10 +/- 0.62) and (3.66 +/- 0.73) for PWR fuel, and (035 +/- 0.07) and (0.51 +/- 0.10) for BWR fuel. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Altered protein expression and protein nitration pattern during d-galactosamine-induced cell death in human hepatocytes: a proteomic analysis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatic injury by d-galactosamine (d-GalN) is a suitable experimental model of hepatocellular injury. The induction of oxidative and nitrosative stress participates during d-GalN-induced cell death in cultured rat hepatocytes. This study aimed to identify protein expression changes during the induction of apoptosis and necrosis by d-GalN in cultured human hepatocytes. METHODS: A proteomic approach was used to identify the proteins involved and those altered by tyrosine nitration. A high dose of d-GalN (40 mM) was used to induce apoptosis and necrosis in primary culture of human hepatocytes. Cellular lysates prepared at different times after addition of d-GalN were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Gel spots with an altered expression and those matching nitrotyrosine-immunopositive proteins were excised and analyzed by mass spectrometry. RESULTS: d-GalN treatment upregulated microsomal cytochrome b5, fatty acid binding protein and manganese superoxide dismutase, and enhanced annexin degradation. d-GalN increased tyrosine nitration of four cytosolic (Hsc70, Hsp70, annexin A4 and carbonyl reductase) and three mitochondrial (glycine amidinotransferase, ATP synthase beta chain, and thiosulfate sulfurtransferase) proteins in human hepatocytes. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidences that oxidative stress and nitric oxide-derived reactive oxygen intermediates induce specific alterations in protein expression that may be critical for the induction of apoptosis and necrosis by d-GalN in cultured human hepatocytes

Baryogenesis and Degenerate Neutrinos

We bring the theoretical issue of whether two important cosmological demands, baryon asymmetry and degenerate neutrinos as hot dark matter, can be compatible in the context of the seesaw mechanism. To realize leptogenesis with almost degenerate Majorana neutrinos without severe fine-tuning of parameters, we propose the hybrid seesaw mechanism with a heavy Higgs triplet and right-handed neutrinos. Constructing a minimal hybrid seesaw model with SO(3) flavor symmetry for the neutrino sector, we show that the mass splittings for the atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations which are consistent with the requirements for leptogenesis can naturally arise.Comment: 13 pages with one figure using axodraw.st

Neutrino Mass and Grand Unification

Seesaw mechanism appears to be the simplest and most appealing way to understand small neutrino masses observed in recent experiments. It introduces three right handed neutrinos with heavy masses to the standard model, with at least one mass required by data to be close to the scale of conventional grand unified theories. This may be a hint that the new physics scale implied by neutrino masses and grand unification of forces are one and the same. Taking this point of view seriously, I explore different ways to resolve the puzzle of large neutrino mixings in grand unified theories such as SO(10) and models based on its subgroup $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R\times SU(4)_c$.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; Invited talk at the Nobel Symposium 129 on Neutrinos at Haga Slott, Sweden, August, 200

Neutrino Unification

Present neutrino data are consistent with neutrino masses arising from a common seed at some ``neutrino unification'' scale $M_X$. Such a simple theoretical ansatz naturally leads to quasi-degenerate neutrinos that could lie in the electron-volt range with neutrino mass splittings induced by renormalization effects associated with supersymmetric thresholds. In such a scheme the leptonic analogue of the Cabibbo angle $\theta_{\odot}$ describing solar neutrino oscillations is nearly maximal. Its exact value is correlated with the smallness of $\theta_{reactor}$. These features agree both with latest data on the solar neutrino spectra and with the reactor neutrino data. The two leading mass-eigenstate neutrinos present in \ne form a pseudo-Dirac neutrino, avoiding conflict with neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: RevTex format, 2 figures, 4 pages, a few new references, no other important change, figures unchanged, version to be published in PR

The SUSY seesaw model and lepton-flavor violation at a future electron-positron linear collider

We study lepton-flavor violating slepton production and decay at a future e^+e^- linear collider in context with the seesaw mechanism in mSUGRA post-LEP benchmark scenarios. The present knowledge in the neutrino sector as well as improved future measurements are taken into account. We calculate the signal cross-sections \sigma(e^{+/-}e^- -> l_{\beta}^{+/-} l_{\alpha}^- \tilde{\chi}_b^0 \tilde{\chi}_a^0); l_{\delta}=e, \mu, \tau; \alpha =|= \beta and estimate the main background processes. Furthermore, we investigate the correlations of these signals with the corresponding lepton-flavor violating rare decays l_{\alpha} -> l_{\beta} \gamma. It is shown that these correlations are relatively weakly affected by uncertainties in the neutrino data, but very sensitive to the model parameters. Hence, they are particularly suited for probing the origin of lepton-flavor violation.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, version published in Phys. Rev.

Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment and mu -> e gamma in B-L Model with Inverse Seesaw

We study the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, a_\mu, and lepton flavor violating decay \mu -> e \gamma in TeV scale B-L extension of the Standard Model (SM) with inverse seesaw mechanism. We show that the B-L contributions to a_\mu are severely constrained, therefore the SM contribution remains intact. We also emphasize that the current experimental limit of BR(\mu -> e \gamma) can be satisfied for a wide range of parameter space and it can be within the reach of MEG experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 4 Figure

Work and heat fluctuations in two-state systems: a trajectory thermodynamics formalism

Two-state models provide phenomenological descriptions of many different systems, ranging from physics to chemistry and biology. We investigate work fluctuations in an ensemble of two-state systems driven out of equilibrium under the action of an external perturbation. We calculate the probability density P(W) that a work equal to W is exerted upon the system along a given non-equilibrium trajectory and introduce a trajectory thermodynamics formalism to quantify work fluctuations in the large-size limit. We then define a trajectory entropy S(W) that counts the number of non-equilibrium trajectories P(W)=exp(S(W)/kT) with work equal to W. A trajectory free-energy F(W) can also be defined, which has a minimum at a value of the work that has to be efficiently sampled to quantitatively test the Jarzynski equality. Within this formalism a Lagrange multiplier is also introduced, the inverse of which plays the role of a trajectory temperature. Our solution for P(W) exactly satisfies the fluctuation theorem by Crooks and allows us to investigate heat-fluctuations for a protocol that is invariant under time reversal. The heat distribution is then characterized by a Gaussian component (describing small and frequent heat exchange events) and exponential tails (describing the statistics of large deviations and rare events). For the latter, the width of the exponential tails is related to the aforementioned trajectory temperature. Finite-size effects to the large-N theory and the recovery of work distributions for finite N are also discussed. Finally, we pay particular attention to the case of magnetic nanoparticle systems under the action of a magnetic field H where work and heat fluctuations are predicted to be observable in ramping experiments in micro-SQUIDs.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures (Latex