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| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
099294
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2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) can potentially reduce vehicle CO2 emissions by using recuperated kinetic vehicle energy stored as electric energy in a hybrid system battery (HSB). HSB performance affects the individual net HEV CO2 emissions for a given driving pattern, which is considered to be equivalent to unchanged net energy content in the HSB. The present study investigates the influence of HSB performance on the statutory correction procedure used to determine HEV CO2 emissions in Europe based on chassis dynamometer measurements with three identical in-use examples of a full HEV model featuring different mileages. Statutory and real-world driving cycles and full electric vehicle operation modes have been considered. The main observation is that the selected HEVs can only use 67-80% of the charge provided to the HSB, which distorts the outcomes of the statutory correction procedure that does not consider such irreversibility. CO2 emissions corrected according to this procedure underestimate the true net CO2 emissions of one HEV by approximately 13% in real-world urban driving. The correct CO2 emissions are only reproduced when considering the HSB performance in this driving pattern. The statutory procedure for correcting HEV CO2 emissions should, therefore, be adapted.
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| 2 |
ID:
124851
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The United States produced about 2 tons of uranium-233, a weapons-useable fissile material, as part of its military and civilian nuclear program. Of that, 1.55 tons was separated at costs estimated to be between $5.5 and $11 billion. Of the 1.55 tons, approximately 96 kg of uranium-233 may be unaccounted for. There are also varying site-specific estimates suggesting that material control and accountability of the U.S. uranium-233 inventory needs to be more stringent. About 428 kg of uranium-233 is stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in Tennessee at Building 3019, a 69-year-old structure which DOE describes as the "oldest operating nuclear facility in the World" and one that does not meet current safeguards and security requirements.
Currently, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) goal for disposition of the 428 kg is 2018, more than 20 years after significant environmental, safety, and security vulnerabilities were first officially acknowledged. To meet this goal, DOE plans to waive its own waste acceptance criteria to allow direct shallow land disposal of a large portion of the uranium-233 by August 2014. Granting a disposal waiver sets a bad precedent for international safeguards and standards for the disposal of reprocessed wastes containing high concentrations of fissile materials.
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| 3 |
ID:
104159
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2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The amount of plutonium discarded as wastes from the U.S. nuclear weapons complex appears to be significantly greater than the U.S. Department of Energy's 1996 declaration of its plutonium holdings. This is due to in part to improved radioactive waste characterization and the disposal of plutonium residues originally intended for use in weapons. The Hanford site in Washington State has the largest quantity of plutonium wastes, which pose potentially serious human risks to ground water and the near shore the Columbia River. The department should revise its accounting for plutonium, and take steps to remove plutonium discarded to the environment at Hanford, as it is required to do at Idaho National Laboratory.
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| 4 |
ID:
065326
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Jan-Aug 2005.
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| 5 |
ID:
171422
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| Summary/Abstract |
Climate change and its accompanying sea-level rise is set to create risks to the United States’ stockpile of spent nuclear fuel, which results largely from nuclear power. Coastal spent fuel management facilities are vulnerable to unanticipated environmental events, as evidenced by the 2011 tsunami-related flooding at the Fukushima plant in Japan. We examine how policy-makers can manage climate risks posed to the coastal storage of radioactive materials, and identify the coastal spent fuel storage sites that will be most vulnerable to sea-level rise. A geospatial analysis of coastal sites shows that with six feet of sea-level rise, seven spent fuel sites will be juxtaposed by seawater. Of those, three will be near or completely surrounded by water, and should be considered a priority for mitigation: Humboldt Bay (California), Turkey Point (Florida), and Crystal River (Florida). To ensure policy-makers manage such climate risks, a risk management approach is proposed. Further, we recommend that policy-makers 1) transfer overdue spent fuel from cooling pools to dry casks, particularly where located in high risk sites; 2) develop a long-term and comprehensive storage plan that is less vulnerable to climate change; and 3) encourage international nuclear treaties and standards to take climate change into account.
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