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The relatively low capital cost and contributions to mitigating global warming have favoured the continuous construction and operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) across the world. One critical phase in the operation of nuclear plants for ensuring the safety and security of radioactive products and by-products is decommissioning. With the advent of digital twinning in the building information modelling (BIM) methodology, efficiency and safety can be improved from context-focus access to regulations pertaining to demolition of structures and the cleaning-up of radioactivity inherent in nuclear stations. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to propose a BIM-driven framework to achieve a more regulation-aware and safer decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

The framework considers task requirements, and landscape and environmental factors in modelling demolition scenarios that characterise decommissioning processes. The framework integrates decommissioning rules/regulations in a BIM linked non-structured query system to model items and decommissioning tasks, which are implemented based on context-focussed retrieval of decommissioning rules and regulations. The concept’s efficacy is demonstrated using example cases of digitalised NPPs.

This approach contributes to enhancing improvements in nuclear plant decommissioning with potential for appropriate activity sequencing, risk reduction and ensuring safety.

A BIM-driven framework hinged on querying non-structured databases to provide context-focussed access to nuclear rules and regulations and to aiding decommissioning is new.

In a lecture before the National Industrial Conference Board, New York, on 29th October, 1953, Sir Christopher Hinton—then Deputy Controller of Atomic Energy (Production), now Managing Director, U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, Industrial Group—told his audience: ‘We hope that in a few years' time we may be able, after successful pilot operation, to encourage industry to build thermal reactors … for large‐scale power production’. In February, 1955, H.M. Government issued a White Paper A programme of nuclear power (Cmd. 9389) in which Sir Christopher's early hopes became official policy, in the following terms: ‘The [nuclear power] stations will be built in the normal way by private industry for the Electricity Authorities, who will own and operate them’ (para. 23). The Industrial Group's first prototype thermal reactors are nearing completion already at Calder Hall, near Sellafield, Cumberland. Representatives from four large industrial consortiums, after receiving intensive training courses in reactor technology, have now returned from the U.K.A.E.A. to their firms to set up design departments for development of the basic Calder prototype. The first two of these privately built power stations are expected to begin construction in 1957.

The purpose of this paper is to make recommendations for policy makers, promotors and project managers on how to structure and deliver new nuclear build programmes, by drawing on the megaprojects literature and salutary lessons from previous megaprojects.

This paper is underpinned by the extant literature and an analysis of public domain data from three proposed new nuclear power plants in the UK. It identifies the main challenges facing new nuclear build projects and subsequently proposes lessons that can be learnt from megaprojects, in order to plan, structure and deliver new nuclear build programmes successfully.

The paper argues that megaprojects are simultaneously trait-making, rather than trait-taking, possess a temporality and timescale in excess of typical infrastructure projects, suffer from high levels of uncertainty and ambiguity, are organisationally complex, costly and are highly likely to destroy rather than create value. Second, it argues that the challenges facing new nuclear build are not merely technological but also institutional, political and societal in nature. The nature of these challenges is exemplified using three proposed new nuclear build projects in the UK.

This is the first paper to draw on both extant megaproject theory and on an analysis of the public domain data from three proposed new nuclear power plants in the UK. It makes contributions to megaprojects theory and practice, and specifically to nuclear new build projects. Importantly, it proffers recommendations for how new nuclear build programmes around the world might be structured, planned and delivered to minimise the risks of failure.

The purpose of this study is to measure the quality of nuclear science and technology research using the scientometric indicators, like activity index, attractivity index and publication efficiency index.

The present scientometric study is based on the bibliographic data extracted from the core collection of the Web of Science database from 1989 to 2019. The data was collected using the advanced search feature, with a search string of 28 related terms. The bibliographic data for all the journal articles, excluding all other formats, was downloaded for statistical analysis.

The present study highlights the growth pattern and the research efforts devoted to the field of nuclear science and technology worldwide, as reflected through the Core Collection of the Web of Science database, for 31 years from 1989 to 2019. The USA has emerged as the topmost producer, with a total share of almost 29% with respect to the world literature followed by Japan, Germany, France and UK. However, the relative citation impact has been the highest for Netherlands followed by the USA, Germany, France and UK, respectively. The study depicted that the activity index, also called as the relative performance indicator, has been the highest for the USA, whereas the attractivity index has been the highest for China, indicating its dominance in attracting citations to its publications in the field of nuclear science and technology. The publication efficiency index, the value has been the maximum for Iran, for which the value has been greater than 1 (1.618). The measure suggests that Iran’s research effectiveness in the field of nuclear science and technology has been more than the research effort devoted to the field.

The paper was based on the data retrieved from a single database, and the results may vary across other databases. Hence, caution should be taken while generalizing the findings.

Several scientometric studies have taken place in the field of nuclear science and technology, particularly in its allied branches, but none of the studies has focused on evaluating the research efforts carried out by the countries in terms of activity index, attractivity index and publication efficiency index, and the present study is an attempt to fill the gap.

In recent years, three-dimensional (3D) seismic base isolation system has been studied extensively. This paper aims to propose a new 3D combined isolation bearing (3D-CIB) to mitigate the seismic response in both the horizontal and vertical directions.

The new 3D-CIB composed of laminated rubber bearing coupled with combined disk spring bearing (CDSB) was proposed. Comprehensive analysis of constitution and theoretical derivation for 3D-CIB were presented. The advantage of CDSB is that the constitution can be flexibly adjusted according to the requirements of the bearing capacity and vertical stiffness. Hence, four different combinations of CDSB were designed for the 3D-CIB and employed to isolate nuclear reactor building. A comparative study of the seismic response in terms of seismic action, acceleration floor response spectra (FRS), peak acceleration and relative displacement response was carried out.

3D-CIB can effectively reduce seismic action, FRS and peak acceleration response of the superstructure in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Overall, the horizontal isolation effectiveness of 3D-CIB was slightly influenced by vertical stiffness. The decrease in the vertical stiffness of the 3D-CIB can reduce the vertical FRS and shift the peak values to a lower frequency. The vertical peak acceleration decreased with a decrease in the vertical stiffness. The superstructure exhibited a rocking effect during the earthquake, and the decrease in the vertical stiffness may increase the rocking of the superstructure.

Although the advantage of 3D-CIB is that the vertical stiffness can be flexibly adjusted by different constitutions, the vertical stiffness should be designed by properly accounting for the balance between the isolation effectiveness and displacement response. This study of isolation effectiveness can provide the technical basis for the application of 3D-CIB into real engineering of nuclear power plants.

Depending on the adopted principles of their domestic energy policy, individual countries responded in different ways to the information coming in from Japan. The majority of European countries having atomic power stations recommended inspection of the installations, particularly of those of older types. Discussion concerning the safety of nuclear installations also flared up. Opponents of the atomic power industry and environmentalists, asexpected, pointed to a need to lean energy production toward so-called renewable energy sources. This chapter explores public debate on the planned construction of nuclear power station in Poland in the aftermath of the Chernobyl and Japanese nuclear reactor explosions.

In recent years, a new type of double-layered containment structure of nuclear power plant has been built in China, named ACP1000 NNP. This paper aims to propose a new method to mitigate the seismic responses of this type of the structure.

The new base isolation structure (BIS)- tuned mass damper (TMD) structure was proposed and implemented only by modifying the connection between various components of NPPs, and the application of this concept design in ACP1000 was skillfully realized.

The new structure adopts the combination of structural form and function, adopts appropriate amplification of the seismic response of the secondary component, possesses advantages in explicit damping mechanism, good damping effect, robustness of seismic structures, simple implementation process, etc., and meets the special seismic safety requirements of the NPPs.

This seismic and hazard mitigation and BIS-TMD structure can avoid the risk of ACP1000 accidents caused by horizontal earthquakes.

AN incentive is a motive and it has long been accepted as axiomatic in the world of industry that the only motive which will move men to greater effort is a financial one. Wage incentive schemes operate in large sections of manufacturing industry today and any increase in a firm's productivity is almost automatically attributed to them.

A description is given of the English Electric ‘Thesaurofacet’, a faceted classification and thesaurus covering engineering and related scientific, technical, and management subjects. A novel feature of the system is the integration of the classification schedules and thesaurus. Each term appears both in the thesaurus and in the schedules. In the schedules the term is displayed in the most appropriate facet and hierarchy: the thesaurus supplements this information by indicating alternative hierarchies and other relationships which cut across the classified arrangement. The thesaurus also controls word forms and synonyms and acts as the alphabetical index to the class numbers. The resulting tool is multipurpose, as easily applicable to shelf arrangement and conventional classified card catalogues as to co‐ordinate indexing and computerized retrieval systems. The reasons are given for modifying certain traditional facet techniques, including the choice of traditional disciplines for main classes, the lack of a ‘built‐in’ preferred order, and the me, in certain instances, of enumeration rather than synthesis to express multi‐term concepts. Methods of application of the Thesaurofacet in pre‐coordinate and post‐coordinate systems are discussed and a brief account is given of the techniques employed in its compilation.