Prediction of Peak Temperatures of Nigeria Research Reactor Core Components under Several Reactivity Accident Tests

The Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) consists of small water cooled square cylindrical core of 23cm in diameter and 23cm high. The small dimension of the core of this reactor facilitated our choice of PARET to perform reactivity accident analysis for NIRR-1 system. Our goal in this work is to predict the peak temperature of some important Nigeria Research Reactor (NIRR-1) core components under several reactivity accident tests. At power levels below 80kW, there were no significant differences between the peak fuel centerline temperatures, the peak fuel surface temperature and the peak clad surface temperature in the hot channel as well as in the average channel. The result from the reactivity accident test shows that power can never rise to an uncontrollable level in the core of NIRR-1 under ramp or step insertion of up to 4mk of reactivity. The calculated temperature of the important core components (e.g. fuel and clad) in the two channels (during this reactivity accident test) were far below their melting point temperatures. Boiling of any kind was not observed during this reactivity accident test. Therefore, NIRR-1 can be operated safely even if there is an inadvertent addition of up to 4mk of positive reactivit

Risks Comparison between Nuclear Generated Electricity and Other Electricity Generation Sources in Nigeria

Nigeria with over 0.181 Billion people currently suffers from acute power shortage which has seriously affected the country’s economy for several years with no viable solution thus far. Salvaging this situation brings up the need for a search for more efficient means of generating ‘24/7’ electricity in Nigeria. Several attempts by Government to introduce nuclear generated electricity were faced with a lot of criticism from the Nigerian populace. This paper focuses on the perceptions of Nigerians vis-a-vis electricity production using nuclear energy. It raised valid questions and sampled opinions of Nigerians.  The survey carried out in this work shows that a lot of Nigerians do not understand that we have accepted more risky physical facilities or riskier option of electrical energy generation as compared to nuclear energy. Hence it made comparison between the casualty rates from other energy generation sources, accident from various means of transportation and from nuclear power plant. The analysis of data used in this work (as provided in table 6.0), shows that it would take road traffic accidents just about four days to claim as much lives as nuclear reactors in 50 years and that in about three years, aviation industry in Nigeria claim more lives than accidents from nuclear reactors in 50 years. We also observed that electricity production from nuclear energy has the lowest record of accidents and fatalities rate as compared to other major energy generation sources

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely