NMSS handbook for decommissioning fuel cycle and materials licensees

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission amended its regulations to set forth the technical and financial criteria for decommissioning licensed nuclear facilities. These regulations were further amended to establish additional recordkeeping requirements for decommissioning; to establish timeframes and schedules for the decommissioning; and to clarify that financial assurance requirements must be in place during operations and updated when licensed operations cease. Reviews of the Site Decommissioning Management Plan (SDMP) program found that, while the NRC staff was overseeing the decommissioning program at nuclear facilities in a manner that was protective of public health and safety, progress in decommissioning many sites was slow. As a result NRC determined that formal written procedures should be developed to facilitate the timely decommissioning of licensed nuclear facilities. This handbook was developed to aid NRC staff in achieving this goal. It is intended to be used as a reference document to, and in conjunction with, NRC Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 2605, ``Decommissioning Inspection Program for Fuel Cycle and Materials Licensees.`` The policies and procedures discussed in this handbook should be used by NRC staff overseeing the decommissioning program at licensed fuel cycle and materials sites; formerly licensed sites for which the licenses were terminated; sites involving source, special nuclear, or byproduct material subject to NRC regulation for which a license was never issued; and sites in the NRC`s SDMP program. NRC staff overseeing the decommissioning program at nuclear reactor facilities subject to regulation under 10 CFR Part 50 are not required to use the procedures discussed in this handbook

A cyclical period variation detected in the updated orbital period analysis of TV Columbae

The two CCD photometries of the intermediate polar TV Columbae are made for obtaining the two updated eclipse timings with high precision. There is an interval time \sim 17yr since the last mid-eclipse time observed in 1991. Thus, the new mid-eclipse times can offer an opportunity to check the previous orbital ephemerides. A calculation indicates that the orbital ephemeris derived by Augusteijn et al. (1994) should be corrected. Based on the proper linear ephemeris (Hellier, 1993), the new orbital period analysis suggests a cyclical period variation in the O-C diagram of TV Columbae. Using Applegate's mechanism to explain the periodic oscillation in O-C diagram, the required energy is larger than that a M0-type star can afford over a complete variation period \sim 31.0(\pm 3.0)yr. Thus, the light travel-time effect indicates that the tertiary component in TV Columbae may be a dwarf with a low mass, which is near the mass lower limit \sim 0.08Msun as long as the inclination of the third body high enough.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Super-conservative interpretation of muon g-2 results applied to supersymmetry

The recent developments in theory and experiment related to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon are applied to supersymmetry. We follow a very cautious course, demanding that the supersymmetric contributions fit within five standard deviations of the difference between experiment and the standard model prediction. Arbitrarily small supersymmetric contributions are then allowed, so no upper bounds on superpartner masses result. Nevertheless, non-trivial exclusions are found. We characterize the substantial region of parameter space ruled out by this analysis that has not been probed by any previous experiment. We also discuss some implications of the results for forthcoming collider experiments.Comment: 10 pages, latex, 3 fig

Implications of the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment for Supersymmetry

We re-examine the bounds on supersymmetric particle masses in light of the E821 data on the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We confirm, extend and supersede previous bounds. In particular we find (at one sigma) no lower limit on tan(beta) or upper limit on the chargino mass implied by the data at present, but at least 4 sparticles must be lighter than 700 to 820 GeV and at least one sparticle must be lighter than 345 to 440 GeV. However, the E821 central value bounds tan(beta) > 4.7 and the lighter chargino mass by 690 GeV. For tan(beta) < 10, the data indicates a high probability for direct discovery of SUSY at Run II or III of the Tevatron.Comment: 20 pages LaTeX, 14 figures; references adde

Probing exotic phenomena at the interface of nuclear and particle physics with the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms: A unique window to hadronic and semi-leptonic CP violation

The current status of electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms which involves the synergy between atomic experiments and three different theoretical areas -- particle, nuclear and atomic is reviewed. Various models of particle physics that predict CP violation, which is necessary for the existence of such electric dipole moments, are presented. These include the standard model of particle physics and various extensions of it. Effective hadron level combined charge conjugation (C) and parity (P) symmetry violating interactions are derived taking into consideration different ways in which a nucleon interacts with other nucleons as well as with electrons. Nuclear structure calculations of the CP-odd nuclear Schiff moment are discussed using the shell model and other theoretical approaches. Results of the calculations of atomic electric dipole moments due to the interaction of the nuclear Schiff moment with the electrons and the P and time-reversal (T) symmetry violating tensor-pseudotensor electron-nucleus are elucidated using different relativistic many-body theories. The principles of the measurement of the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms are outlined. Upper limits for the nuclear Schiff moment and tensor-pseudotensor coupling constant are obtained combining the results of atomic experiments and relativistic many-body theories. The coefficients for the different sources of CP violation have been estimated at the elementary particle level for all the diamagnetic atoms of current experimental interest and their implications for physics beyond the standard model is discussed. Possible improvements of the current results of the measurements as well as quantum chromodynamics, nuclear and atomic calculations are suggested.Comment: 46 pages, 19 tables and 16 figures. A review article accepted for EPJ

Radiative processes (tau -> mu gamma, mu -> e gamma and muon g-2) as probes of ESSM/SO(10)

The Extended Supersymmetric Standard Model (ESSM), motivated on several grounds, introduces two vectorlike families (16 + 16-bar) of SO(10)) with masses of order one TeV. It is noted that the successful predictions of prior work on fermion masses and mixings, based on MSSM embedded in SO(10), can be retained rather simply within the ESSM extension. These include an understanding of the smallness of V_{cb} ~ 0.04 and the largeness of nu_mu - nu_tau oscillation angle, sin^2 2 theta_{nu_mu nu_tau}^{osc} ~ 1. We analyze the new contributions arising through the exchange of the vectorlike families of ESSM to radiative processes including tau -> mu gamma, mu -> e gamma, b -> s gamma, EDM of the muon and the muon (g-2). We show that ESSM makes significant contributions especially to the decays tau -> mu gamma and mu -> e gamma and simultaneously to muon (g-2). For a large and plausible range of relevant parameters, we obtain: a_mu^{ESSM} ~ +(10-40) times 10^{-10}, with a correlated prediction that tau -> mu gamma should be discovered with an improvement in its current limit by a factor of 3-20. The implications for mu -> e gamma are very similar. The muon EDM is within reach of the next generation experiments. Thus, ESSM with heavy leptons being lighter than about 700 GeV (say) can be probed effectively by radiative processes before a direct search for these vectorlike leptons and quarks is feasible at the LHC.Comment: 27 pages LaTex, 2 figure

Prominence seismology using small amplitude oscillations

Quiescent prominences are thin slabs of cold, dense plasma embedded in the much hotter and rarer solar corona. Although their global shape is rather irregular, they are often characterised by an internal structure consisting of a large number of thin, parallel threads piled together. Prominences often display periodic disturbances mostly observed in the Doppler displacement of spectral lines and with an amplitude typically of the order of or smaller than 2--3 km s$^{-1}$, a value which seems to be much smaller than the characteristic speeds of the prominence plasma (namely the Alfv\'en and sound velocities). Two particular features of these small amplitude prominence oscillations is that they seem to damp in a few periods and that they seem not to affect the whole prominence structure. In addition, in high spatial resolution observations, in which threads can be discerned, small amplitude oscillations appear to be clearly associated to these fine structure constituents. Prominence seismology tries to bring together the results from these observations (e.g. periods, wavelengths, damping times) and their theoretical modeling (by means of the magnetohydrodynamic theory) to gain insight into physical properties of prominences that cannot be derived from direct observation. In this paper we discuss works that have not been described in previous reviews, namely the first seismological application to solar prominences and theoretical advances on the attenuation of prominence oscillations

Interpreting the New Brookhaven g_mu - 2 Result

The latest g_mu - 2 measurement by Brookhaven confirms the earlier measurement with twice the precision. However, interpretation of the result requires specific assumptions regarding the errors in the hadronic light by light (LbL) correction and in the hadronic vacuum polarization correction. Under the assumption that the analysis on LbL correction of Knecht and Nyffeler and the revised analysis of Hayakawa and Kinoshita are valid the new BNL result implies a deviation between experiment and the standard model of 1.6 sigma -2.6 sigma depending on the estimate of the hadronic vacuum polarization correction. We revisit the g_mu - 2 constraint for mSUGRA and its implications for the direct detection of sparticles at colliders and for the search for supersymmetric dark matter in view of the new evaluation.Comment: 15 pages, Latex including 3 figure

The Origin, Early Evolution and Predictability of Solar Eruptions

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were discovered in the early 1970s when space-borne coronagraphs revealed that eruptions of plasma are ejected from the Sun. Today, it is known that the Sun produces eruptive flares, filament eruptions, coronal mass ejections and failed eruptions; all thought to be due to a release of energy stored in the coronal magnetic field during its drastic reconfiguration. This review discusses the observations and physical mechanisms behind this eruptive activity, with a view to making an assessment of the current capability of forecasting these events for space weather risk and impact mitigation. Whilst a wealth of observations exist, and detailed models have been developed, there still exists a need to draw these approaches together. In particular more realistic models are encouraged in order to asses the full range of complexity of the solar atmosphere and the criteria for which an eruption is formed. From the observational side, a more detailed understanding of the role of photospheric flows and reconnection is needed in order to identify the evolutionary path that ultimately means a magnetic structure will erupt