Congenital anomalies in newborns to women employed in jobs with frequent exposure to organic solvents - a register-based prospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The foetal effects of occupational exposure to organic solvents in pregnancy are still unclear. Our aim was to study the risk of non-chromosomal congenital anomalies at birth in a well-defined population of singletons born to women employed as painters and spoolers in early pregnancy, compared to women in non-hazardous occupations.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The study population for this prospective cohort study was singleton newborns delivered to working mothers in the industrial community of Mončegorsk in the period 1973-2005. Occupational information and characteristics of the women and their newborns was obtained from the local population-based birth register.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 597 women employed as painters, painter-plasterers or spoolers had 712 singleton births, whereof 31 (4.4%) were perinatally diagnosed with 37 malformations. Among the 10 561 newborns in the group classified as non-exposed, 397 (3.9%) had one or more malformations. The overall prevalence in the exposed group was 520/10 000 births [95% confidence limits (CL): 476, 564], and 436/10 000 births (95% CL: 396, 476) in the unexposed. Adjusted for young maternal age, smoking during pregnancy, maternal congenital malformation and year of birth, the odds ratio (OR) was 1.24 (95% CL: 0.85, 1.82); for multiple anomalies it was 1.54 (95% CL: 0.66, 3.59).</p> <p>The largest organ-system specific difference in prevalence between the two groups was observed for malformations of the circulatory system: 112/10 000 (95% CL: 35, 190) in the exposed group, and 42/10 000 (95% CL: 29, 54) in the unexposed, with an adjusted OR of 2.03 (95% CL: 0.85, 4.84). The adjusted ORs for malformations of the genital organs and musculoskeletal system were 2.24 (95% CI: 0.95, 5.31) and 1.12 (95% CI: (0.62, 2.02), respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There appeared to be a higher risk of malformations of the circulatory system and genital organs at birth among newborns to women in occupations with organic solvent exposure during early pregnancy (predominantly employed as painters). However, the findings were not statistically conclusive. Considering that these two categories of malformations are not readily diagnosed perinatally, the difference in prevalence between the exposed and unexposed may have been underestimated.</p

Coastal sea level monitoring in the Mediterranean and Black seas

Employed for over a century, the traditional way of monitoring sea level variability by tide gauges – in combination with modern observational techniques like satellite altimetry – is an inevitable ingredient in sea level studies over the climate scales and in coastal seas. The development of the instrumentation, remote data acquisition, processing, and archiving in the last decades has allowed the extension of the applications to a variety of users and coastal hazard managers. The Mediterranean and Black seas are examples of such a transition – while having a long tradition of sea level observations with several records spanning over a century, the number of modern tide gauge stations is growing rapidly, with data available both in real time and as a research product at different time resolutions. As no comprehensive survey of the tide gauge networks has been carried out recently in these basins, the aim of this paper is to map the existing coastal sea level monitoring infrastructures and the respective data availability. The survey encompasses a description of major monitoring networks in the Mediterranean and Black seas and their characteristics, including the type of sea level sensors, measuring resolutions, data availability, and existence of ancillary measurements, altogether collecting information about 240 presently operational tide gauge stations. The availability of the Mediterranean and Black seas sea level data in the global and European sea level repositories has been also screened and classified following their sampling interval and level of quality check, pointing to the necessity of harmonization of the data available with different metadata and series in different repositories. Finally, an assessment of the networks' capabilities for their use in different sea level applications has been done, with recommendations that might mitigate the bottlenecks and ensure further development of the networks in a coordinated way, a critical need in the era of human-induced climate changes and sea level rise.En prens

Fabrication et découpe laser de simulants des débris de corium de l'accident de Fukushima Dai-ichi

National audienceUn consortium français (COMEX Nucleaire/ONET Technologies + CEA et IRSN) a été sélectionné dans le cadre d'appels d'offre japonais relatif au démantèlement de Fukushima Daiichi afin d’étudier la faisabilité d'une découpe laser du corium.On a pour ce faire, selectionné des blocs de simulants de corium, issus des etudes passées du CEA pour la sûreté des réacteurs a eau pressurisée a l'aide du four a arc plasma VULCANO, et fabrique de nouveaux échantillons simulants grace a un chauffage par induction, avec une composition issue de calculs des accidents graves de Fukushima Daiichi. Les temperatures de liquidus de ces melanges varient entre 1700 et 3000 K selon les compositions, principalement en fonction de la fraction de produits de decomposition du béton. Le CEA a aussi developpé et validé une tête de découpe laser pour la découpe d'acier lors du démantèlement des installations nucléaires. Des essais ont montre la faisabilité de la découpe laser tant sur des échantillons simulants que sur de la zircone electro-fondue. Ces résultats encourageants ont été obtenus, non seulement sur des debris céramique denses ou poreux mais aussi sur des échantillons contenant des inclusions métalliques (acier, zirconium) qui sont généralement difficile a couper avec les outils traditionnels

Fukushima Dai-ichi fuel debris retrieval analysis of aerosol emission and dispersion during simulants laser cutting

International audienceAssessing the production and dispersion of aerosols carrying contamination during corium laser cutting operations is IRSN's contribution to a research project undertaken jointly with ONET Technologies and CEA on behalf of the Mitsubishi Research Institute. The objective is to obtain quantified data for evaluating the risk of disseminating con-tamination when implementing this technique, over the next few years, in the process of decommissioning the dam-aged reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant

Fabricating Fukushima Daiichi in-vessel and ex-vessel fuel debris simulants for the development and qualification of laser cutting technique

International audienceIn their roadmap towards the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi reactors, the Japanese authorities plan to start removing fuel debris by the end of 2021. To reach this objective, several RetD projects have been launched and subsidized by the Japanese government. In this framework, a French consortium (COMEX Nucleaire/ONET Technologies, CEA and IRSN) has been selected to implement RetD related to the laser cutting of Fukushima Daiichi fuel debris and related dust collection technology. Some of the key aspects of this project are to fabricate representative corium debris simulants, to test laser cutting technique on these simulants and to measure the aerosols and dusts that are released during the debris thermal cutting. This paper concentrates on the first issue.Two representative corium compositions have been selected in-vessel debris having the average of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 (1F2) lower head debris composition best estimates from the OECD Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF); ex-vessel debris composition chosen from DOE calculations on Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 (1F1) molten core concrete interaction in order to maximize the concrete content and bound the possible composition space.Fission Products expected 10 years after plant shutdown have also been taken into account. As it was not possible within the current project timeframe to perform debris cutting tests with (depleted) uranium oxide, it has been necessary to simulate uranium oxide and hafnium oxide has been considered as the best option.Based on its 20 year experience in corium experimental RetD, PLINIUS platform at CEA Cadarache has been chosen to fabricate these simulants. Two blocks of 8-10 kg have been induction melted. After melting and cooling, samples have been analyzed (microstructure and chemical composition) and laser cutting of these simulant blocks has been successfully carried out

Characterization of simulated corium and zircalloy during laser cutting, applied to Fukushima-Daiichi needs

International audienceAs part of a partnership between ONET, IRSN and certain CEA sites, research programs are being carried out on corium laser cutting for Fukushima decommissioning operations.Underwater and air cutting trials have been carried out at CEA Saclay with a 7500 W YAG laser on non-uranium corium simulants, VF03 and VF04. Samples of laser cutting spray particles present in the tank, on chamber walls, and on extraction filters were characterized in the LMAC laboratory. To do this, the samples (of water, slag, swabs, or filters) were mineralized using closed or open acidic or basic technical protocols. Their elemental nature was identified after dissolution and ICP/AES chemical analyses, and granulometric analyses were obtained using in situ SEM image analyses.The elemental chemical analyses of various samples from cutting trials enabled the distribution of the different species to be found, most importantly for simulated fission products.Prior to these analyses, corium samples prepared at the CEA Cadarache site had been characterized in order to qualify them before cutting. Each contained about fifteen elements (Hf-Zr-B-Mg-Al-Ca-Cr-Fe-Ni-Sr-Y-Mo-Pd-Sn-Te-Cs-Ba-La-Pr-Nd-Sm-Si).The results enabled the CEA to model contamination distribution in the cutting tank and in the extraction system.To demonstrate that laser cutting does not create a risk of H2 production (through oxidation of unmelted zircalloy in the corium), or at least that this risk remains limited, slag from cutting a zircalloy sample was collected, then examined by SEM EDS and EPMA. The phases formed and their levels of oxidation were determined. They mainly consisted of peripheral β-ZrO2-X and -ZrO2-X phases whose oxygen content was around 20%, and of variable α-Zr core phases with an oxygen content of less than 10%. Zircalloy-4 oxynitridation was also observed, due to the presence of air-borne nitrogen during cutting operations. A cut zircalloy sample was also examined in order to determine the depth of the oxidized zone. The zone thermally-impacted by the laser could be assessed, with a depth of about 400 to 500 µm corresponding to the Z beta structure characteristic of quenched zircalloy-4. The microstructural changes near the cutting zone were clearly identified. Layers formed by a melted zone were identified as having compositions similar to those of slags

Analytical characterisation of nuclear accident corium

International audienc

Gestion des CRues par Intégration des Systèmes transfrontaliers de prévision et de prévention des bassins versants Alpins

[Departement_IRSTEA]Eaux [TR1_IRSTEA]ARCEAULe projet « FRAMEA » (2004-2007) a vu naître deux radars compacts de nouvelle technologie en bande X. Côté français, ce radar météo, prénommé « Hydrix » et installé sur le Mont Vial à 1400 m d’altitude, permet depuis juin 2007 une couverture optimale du territoire des Alpes Maritimes, qui n’était jusque là pas ou peu couvert par les radars existants. Après cette première expérience concluante, le travail de coopération a été poursuivi dès 2008 à travers le projet « Cristal » pour développer des applications opérationnelles pour ces deux territoires. Les expérimentations menées au cours de ce projet par les équipes scientifiques ont permis de démontrer la puissance de l’outil radar et l’efficacité des outils de prévision dans la gestion des crises hydrométéorologiques sur le territoire des Alpes-Maritimes, que ce soit à l’échelle de petits bassins urbains que de bassins versants plus importants comme la Siagne, les Paillons et la Roya à cheval sur les deux pays