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DOE announces NEPA exclusion for advanced reactors
The Department of Energy has announced that it is establishing a categorical exclusion for the application of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures to the authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization, and decommissioning of advanced nuclear reactors.
According to the DOE, this significant change, which goes into effect today, “is based on the experience of DOE and other federal agencies, current technologies, regulatory requirements, and accepted industry practice.”
Vincenzo Nassisi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 4 | July 1998 | Pages 468-475
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A46
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transmutation of elements in Pd hydrides with gas loading instead of liquid electrochemistry has been observed. The number of elements found increased for deuterated Pd samples processed with an XeCl excimer laser. The processing times were less than and more than 60 days, and some samples became incandescent when they were put into contact with air. The Pd-processed samples were analyzed with a scanning electron microscope and an electron probe microanalyzer; many pits on the surfaces of the samples were found along with the transmutation of many elements - Al, Au, C, Ca, Fe, Mg, Na, Nd, Ni, O, S, and Si - while the quartz windows, utilized to seal the cell, presented Al, C, Ca, Cl, K, Mg, Na, Ni, S, V, and Zn. Elements were also found, when the cross sections of the Pd samples were analyzed (particularly at a few micrometres from the external surface), that corresponded to the pits. Analysis of the samples that were processed less than 60 days showed that the highest X-ray peak was due to an Al-K emission line, and its intensity was 40% with respect to the Pd-L peak. In samples processed at 60 days, the Al concentration decreased while the Si-K, Fe-K, and O-K emission lines increased, resulting in the highest emission line, and their intensities were 50, 40, and 30%, respectively, with respect to the Pd-L peak.