EURATOM Projects, radioactive waste management and public participation: What have we learnt so far? A synthesis of principles.

Since 2000, the EURATOM Framework Programmes (FPs) have dedicated political attention and economic support to public participation in radioactive waste management (RWM). Although a one-fit-all solution for a participatory RWM does not exist, the diversity that characterizes the European Union (EU) offers a relevant pool of knowledge and experience. The JRC has used the knowledge and experience cumulated by relevant EURATOM projects to define a list of general principles for a more participatory approach to RWM. The principles explained in this report can ultimately work as indications for the changes and strategic actions that are needed for a better RWM in the EU.JRC.F.4-Innovative Technologies for Nuclear Reactor Safet

The social acceptance of wind energy: Where we stand and the path ahead

Social acceptance is a key challenge for the deployment of wind energy and could limit the overall wind resource we are able to exploit to meet climate change targets. Social acceptance can be influenced by a very wide range of factors, including project characteristics, perception of the distribution of costs and benefits, degree of public participation. Perceived impacts of projects on landscapes, property values, health and biodiversity also influence social acceptance. This complexity means that acceptance cannot be addressed through simple fixes such as community benefit funds or just more consultation, but we need a far more fundamental reform of how energy systems engage with communities and citizens.JRC.G.10-Knowledge for Nuclear Security and Safet

Radioactive Waste Management Stakeholders Map in the European Union - Report May 2014

The report presents institutions and organisations involved in radioactive waste management (RWM) in several Members States (MSs) of the European Union (EU). It also identifies the responsibilities of different actors and the relationships and lines of accountability existing between them. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive overview of the RWM key stakeholders in the EU MSs. The report also locates RWM facilities in each country through the use of geographical maps. Detailed country profiles are provided for fifteen MSs: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.JRC.F.4-Innovative Technologies for Nuclear Reactor Safet

Radioactive Waste Management Stakeholders Map in the European Union - Corrigendum

The present document is a corrigendum to the report 'Radioactive Waste Management Stakeholders Map in the European Union'.JRC.F.4-Innovative Technologies for Nuclear Reactor Safet

Adopting Redundancy Techniques for Multicast Stream Authentication

Various schemes have been proposed to achieve strong authentication of streamed data in a lossy network by means of "light" digital signatures. Such techniques perform a strong authentication on only one packet, to which others are linked by means of hash functions, so that the authentication property propagates to them too. Most of these schemes make the basic assumption that the signature packet is not lost, even if no practical and precise solutions are proposed that guarantee such a property. In this paper we show how adoption of some redundancy techniques can be used in the context of multicast stream authentication in order to increase probability that the signature packets are received and correctly verified against their digital signature. Finally some experimental results are presented comparing computational overheads due to the authentication schemes both at the sender and at the receiver

E-TRACK/RWM 2014 Annual Activity Report: Collect, Connect and Share

The "Energy – Transparency Centre of Knowledge" (E-TRACK) is a joint initiative of two Directorates-General (DGs) of the EC: the Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Informal discussions about the centre started at the end of 2012 between the services involved in nuclear safety in both DGs. Discussions crossed national borders, since the rationale of the centre, its scope and founding documents were debated across DGs, Directorates and Units of the EC located in Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium. In 2013, the two DGs agreed about the need to establish a reliable source of information on matters that concern the implementation of energy policies for all energy sources (including nuclear). The discussions that followed between the two DGs during the first semester of 2013 insisted on the fact that citizens have the right to express their opinion on energy matters and may contribute, through their practical knowledge, to the political debate and collective decisions. Information, when effectively delivered, is essential to promote active participation and build trust. Practices of active participation are nonetheless still scarce. Therefore, the primary goal of the new centre is to become a central point of reference for collecting, disseminating and sharing information on the existing practices of public participation in energy policy implementation across the EU in order to facilitate lesson-drawing on this matter and, consequently, enhance citizens' involvement in all Member States (MSs). This report summarises the activities carried out in E-TRACK's first year of operation.JRC.F.4-Innovative Technologies for Nuclear Reactor Safet

Understanding the stability and properties of bulk nanobubbles

The existence of bubbles in the nanoscale is an object of debates and disputes in recent years. New types of nanoscale bubble systems have been reported, and among these, Bulk Nanobubbles represent a challenging problem due to their extraordinary stability experimental reported. In pure water, the pressure estimated from the Young-Laplace equation inside a nanobubble of 100 nm diameter will be close to ~30 atm, therefore, questions of their existence/ stability inevitably arise considering that the lifetime of macrobubbles (>1 mm) is on the order of minutes and that of microbubbles (1-1000 µm) is on the order of seconds, whereas bulk nanobubbles (50-300 nm) have been reported to last for days or weeks. Bulk nanobubbles have a higher curvature leading to a higher Laplace pressure, and a larger interfacial area for gas to diffuse out and it should be in principle less stable. Reports stated that they are negatively charged, and speculations arise on the stability mechanism that could affect their stability against the bubble dissolution theories. Bulk nanobubbles are recent, and their research is still in its infancy; however, many applications have been reported and tested, and it appears that there is immense scope for nanobubbles to impact and perhaps revolutionise many current industrial sectors and medical processes