GERMANY'S CURRENT AND FUTURE PLUTONIUM INVENTORY

In the past, Germany reprocessed a significant amount of its spent nuclear fuel, partly on its own territory but mostly as a customer of British and French reprocessing plants. In mid-2005, Germany stopped this practice, banning new transports of spent fuel for reprocessing—although the already-exported material would be allowed to be reprocessed and recycled in German reactors as mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. In total, about 6,500 tonnes of heavy metal have been contracted for reprocessing, but a significant portion of this material has neither been reprocessed nor recycled as MOX fuel in German reactors. Due to the complex import-export history and the partly nontransparent information policy of the German government and utilities, a comprehensive and up-to-date plutonium balance for Germany is not publicly available. This report provides an assessment of Germany's plutonium inventory (stored domestically or abroad) based on open-source information. Special attention is paid to the issue of whether the entire inventory of separated plutonium can be completely irradiated in German nuclear reactors before the last of them are shut down in 2022. The authors conclude that Germany's stock of plutonium waiting to be recycled was about 12.2 tonnes as of 2010; this plutonium should be completely re-imported from the United Kingdom and France by 2017. Germany's MOX-consumption capacities should be sufficient to irradiate the remaining plutonium, although further delays are expected that could leave Germany with an inventory of separated (unirradiated) plutonium.     

NUCLEAR ISLANDS

Current International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards do not provide adequate protection against the diversion to military use of materials or technology from certain types of sensitive nuclear fuel cycle facilities. In view of highly enriched uranium's relatively greater ease of use as a nuclear explosive material than plutonium and the significant diseconomies of commercial spent fuel reprocessing, this article focuses on the need for improved international controls over uranium enrichment facilities as the proximate justification for creation of an International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Association (INFCA). In principle, the proposal is equally applicable to alleviating the proliferation concerns provoked by nuclear fuel reprocessing plants and other sensitive nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The INFCA would provide significantly increased nonproliferation assurance to its member states and the wider international community by holding long-term leasehold contracts to operate secure restricted zones containing such sensitive nuclear facilities.     

Effects of Nuclear Technology Export Competition on Nuclear Nonproliferation

ABSTRACT

While nuclear suppliers compete in markets, they simultaneously partner in other fields. This produces a delicate relationship between civilian nuclear programs and nuclear weapon proliferation. This study explores how export competition affects suppliers’ conditions of supply related to nuclear nonproliferation. We investigated three export cases (India, North Korea, and South Korea) and identified four effects that competition has on the conditions of supply related to nonproliferation. First, under highly competitive conditions, suppliers might hesitate to enforce the conditions of supply to avoid negotiation conflicts with recipients. Second, suppliers focus on politically and economically attractive recipients while mostly ignoring unattractive ones, perhaps allowing proliferation problems to fester out of view in marginal states. Third, suppliers can build consensus on the conditions of supply to avoid being the only party experiencing negotiation conflicts. Fourth, suppliers can constrain others from relaxing the conditions of supply to maintain economic benefits and nonproliferation norms. The first two effects accelerate proliferation while the last two promote nonproliferation. Although the extent of these effects can vary with changes in nonproliferation norms, they can contribute to our understanding of the relationship between nonproliferation and civilian nuclear programs.     

Deterrence of Nuclear Terror

Nuclear proliferation, lax security standards in the storage of fissile materials, and international apathy in the prosecution of terrorists make nuclear terror a serious threat to the United States and its allies, yet no doctrine of retaliation has been established. To decrease the probability of terrorist use of nuclear weapons, a doctrine of retaliation—a negligence doctrine—should be considered. If the United States can distinguish whose fissile material was used for a nuclear terror event, a negligence doctrine would prescribe retaliation against that state. Where the proximate cause—terrorists—is unavailable for deterrent retaliation, deterring an accessible mediate cause—a state that has failed to adequately secure its fissile material—is one of a few effective alternatives. In the absence of such a negligence doctrine, the United States and its allies are increasingly vulnerable to a nuclear terror attack and the ensuing negative consequences.     

航空吊放声纳主动方式暴露距离研究

航空吊放声纳是反潜作战主要搜潜设备之一,其主动工作方式暴露范围也是搜潜战术运用的重要参数。基于均方声压声纳方程修正了相关参数,得到了声能声纳方程各项参数定义,结合高斯束射线Bellhop模型,研究了吊放声纳主动方式暴露距离估算方法,针对潜艇两种声纳类型工作特性,进行了仿真和分析。仿真结果表明,在潜艇侦察声纳工作时,吊放声纳主动方式暴露距离明显加大。     

漂浮式微型波力发电装置原理与结构

为了满足偏远岛屿小功率用电保障需求,根据波浪能特点,提出一种新型漂浮式微型波力发电装置。利用重锤惯性定心原理,建立浮动"机架",解决漂浮体内部相对固定问题;采用机-电直接转换系统,提高波浪能的利用效率;研究系统的原理与结构,分析系统的功能特点和主要运动参数。研究结果表明,漂浮式微型波力发电装置具有结构原理新颖、传动效率高、传动质量好与轻巧便携等优点。该研究为漂浮式微型波力发电装置的研发与应用奠定了基础。     

探月飞船初次再入段纵程的解析预测方法

探月飞船升阻比较低,为实现长纵程飞行,必须采用跳跃式再入方式。在跳跃式再入轨迹在线规划或预测制导中,如何快速准确地预测初次再入段纵程是一个非常关键的问题。针对这一问题,研究提出一种解析预测方法:利用匹配渐进展开方法得到再入纵向运动方程的闭型近似解;将初次再入段轨迹分为三段,第一段采用高度作为积分自变量,并利用复合梯形公式得到纵程,第二段和第三段分别采用二次多项式来拟合阻力加速度-能量剖面,根据近似解结果反解出多项式系数,并将得到的阻力加速度倒数-能量函数进行积分,得到第二段和第三段的纵程;对解析预测方法的精度和计算效率进行分析,结果表明该方法计算精度较高,速度快,可用于跳跃式再入轨迹的在线规划和制导。     

离散多音调制中一种改进的动态能量分配方法

本文探讨了离散多音调制（ＤＭＴ）中的动态能量分配的特点和应用范围，并分析了几种典型的动态能量分配方法。在此基础上，本文提出了一种改进的分配方法。计算机模拟结果表明，该方法不仅降低了运算复杂度，而且性能近于最优。文章最后还探讨了动态能量分配中尚待进一步解决的问题。     

一种采用应力分离法的杂交/混合板壳单元

本文利用一种采用应力分离法的杂交/混合板壳有限元模型分析板壳结构静力学问题。分析表明,该元素在总体水平上没有多余零能模式。而且,该元素通过了薄板的闭锁试验,对薄壳算例也没有观察到闭锁现象。与参考解相比,该元素对各种壳结构均能适用,且收敛性较好,精度也较高。     

液体火箭发动机烧蚀冷却推力室室壁温度响应的计算

本文对液体火箭发动机烧蚀冷却推力室的冷却机理进行了分析,较为全面地考虑了影响温度场的主要因素,利用六点中心差分建立了离散数学模型,并对室壁温度响应进行了计算,得到了烧蚀速率和侵蚀速率等。所得结果可供设计推力室时参考。