[en] As in previous years, this report has been prepared to promote exchange of nuclear data research information between the Federal Republic of Germany and other member states of OECD/NEA and IAEA. It covers progress reports from the research centres at Karlsruhe and Juelich, the universities of Dresden, Hannover, Koeln and Mainz, as well as from the PTB Braunschweig. Each contribution is presented under the laboratory heading from where the work is reported. The names of other participating laboratories are also mentioned. The emphasis in the work reported here is on measurement, calculation, compilation and evaluation of nuclear data for applied science programmes, such as those relevant to reactor technology and safety, transmutation concepts, accelerator shielding and development, astrophysics research, cosmogenic and meteoritic investigations, radiation therapy, production of medically important radioisotopes, etc. (orig.)

[en] The aim of this working instrument is, with little effort, to make a coarse evaluation of the economics of a wood energy installation in comparison with pure heat generation. The results of this coarse evaluation is meant to show whether a more detailed analysis is worthwhile. (author) figs., tabs

[en] As in previous years, this report has been prepared to promote exchange of nuclear data research information between the Federal Republic of Germany and other member states of OECD/NEA and IAEA. It covers progress reports from the research centres at Karlsruhe and Juelich, the universities of Dresden, Hannover, Koeln, Mainz, Muenchen as well as from the PTB Braunschweig. The emphasis in the work reported here is on measurement, calculation, compilation and evaluation of nuclear data for applied science programmes, such as those relevant to reactor technology and safety, transmutation concepts, accelerator shielding and development, astrophysics research, cosmogenic and meteoritic investigations, radiation therapy, production of medically important radioisotopes, etc. The coordination of nuclear data activities at the international level is done by two committees: the NEA-Nuclear Science Committee (NEA-NSC) and the IAEA-International Nuclear Data Committee (INDC). The present Editor has the privilege and the responsibility of representing Germany in both the countries. This report should therefore also serve as a background information to some areas of work of those committees. Each contribution is presented under the laboratory heading from where the work is reported. The names of other participating laboratories are also mentioned. When the work, is relevant to the World Request List for Nuclear data, WRENDA 93/94 (INDC(SEC)-104/U+G), the corresponding identification numbers are given. (orig.)

[en] During the past years, steadily increasing damage due to natural hazards and concurrently diminishing funds for defense measures have led to a situation where efficient resource utilization is of utmost importance. This work describes the development of several concepts of resource utilization and their critical evaluation and presents appropriate practical recommendations. It deals with four major tasks: - reconstructing the history of damage caused by natural hazards during the past 500 years and giving a forecast for the next 50 to 100 years, - developing a methodology allowing the analysis of natural risks, - providing an estimation of the sociopolitical perception and evaluation of natural risks by the public and giving recommendations for improvement of risk communication, - finding principles and developing recommendations for an efficient management of natural risks. The past development of damage can be reconstructed using a model based on population, economic performance and climate of the past as independent variables. While the climate was found to be an irrelevant factor, strong correlations could be shown between damage and the two remaining factors. Based on this model, an extrapolation indicates that in the period until 2050, the damage may increase by 20 to 25%. In this estimation, a possible influence of future climatic changes (such as a greenhouse effect) was not taken into account. In spite of their different character, the same procedure can be used to analyse the risks of both technical and natural systems. Four steps must be taken: system delimitation and description, identification and assessment of hazards, exposure analysis and consequence analysis. In principle, all the methods developed for technical applications can also be used for the analysis of natural risks. Of these, the most important are shortly described herein. One major problem with natural systems is the scarcity and uncertainty of the input data. (author) figs., tabs., refs

[en] As in previous years, this report has been prepared to promote exchange of nuclear data research information between the Federal Republic of Germany and other member states of OECD/NEA and IAEA. It covers progress reports from the research centres at Karlsruhe and Juelich, the universities of Dresden, Hannover, Koeln as well as from the PTB Braunschweig. The emphasis in the work reported here is on measurement, calculation, compilation and evaluation of nuclear data for applied science programmes, such as those relevant to reactor technology and safety, transmutation concepts, accelerator shielding and development, astrophysics research, cosmogenic and meteoritic investigations, radiation therapy, production of medically important radioisotopes, etc. The coordination of nuclear data activities at the international level is done by two committees: the NEA-Nuclear Science Committee (NEA-NSC) and the IAEA-International Nuclear Data Committee (INDC). The present Editor has the privilege and the responsibility of representing Germany in both the countries. This report should therefore also serve as a background information to some areas of work of those committees. Each contribution is presented under the laboratory heading from where the work is reported. The names of other participating laboratories are also mentioned. When the work, is relevant to the World Request List for Nuclear data, WRENDA 93/94 (INDC(SEC)-104/U+G), the corresponding identification numbers are given. (orig.)

[en] The work in the direction of 'sustainability' must, in the author's opinion, include the development of appropriate sustainability criteria. These must be concretised in such a way that they can be considered as technically mature and that one can derive from them further requirements for the development of energy systems. Once such criteria have been defined and accepted and dogmatism is driven back, nuclear technology would have considerable chances. On a planetary level, nuclear energy has a convincing perspective. The ongoing development work and the tendencies followed thereby, including a new safety cannot last for ever. An unprejudiced debate on nuclear risks, as can be observed at many places, on adequate internalisation of external costs, on the 'value' of technology for a country are signs of a 'normalisation'. However, this process is not (yet) robust and reliable, or even manageable. (author) 9 figs., 3 tabs

[en] Residential energy use accounts for approximately 28 per cent of total primary energy use in the UK, with consumption in this sector forecast to increase due partly to expanding numbers of households. Finding ways to reduce residential energy consumption must form a key part of the climate change strategies of the UK and all developed countries. In 1995, an innovative piece of legislation was passed in the UK, devolving residential energy efficiency responsibility to local government. Under 'The Home Energy Conservation Act' (HECA), local authorities are obliged to consider the energy efficiency of private as well as public housing stock. Authorities were given a duty to produce a strategy for improving residential energy efficiency in their area by 30 per cent in the next 10-15 years. This paper describes the enormous variation in the quality of local authorities' strategies and discusses reasons for this variation. Based on a nationwide survey of HECA lead officers, it considers the opportunities and constraints facing local authorities, and what has been achieved to-date under the Act. It also examines how HECA fits into the UK's national energy policy and explains the roles of other institutions across the public, private and voluntary sector in facilitating implementation of the Act. Finally, the paper considers how other countries can learn from the UK's HECA experience and can use the Act as a template to apply the principle of subsidiarity to this area of environmental policy. (Author)

[en] In the region of Basle, Switzerland, meteorological measurements were obtained at 49 temporary stations operated during 1991 and 1992 as part of project MISTRAL. MISTRAL is a sub-project of the international climate research program REKLIP. The present study was performed to identify and classify the typical near-surface flow fields within a complex terrain region. These typical flow fields are used to determine the underlying physical processes modifying the near-surface wind field and are a necessary base for emergency response planning and air pollution management. The typical flow fields are found by an objective classification of near-surface wind fields. A near-surface wind field is defined in this work as the set of wind observations at a specific time at all measurement sites. An objective method of obtaining an equal-weight classification scheme which accounts for all stations simultaneously was developed using cluster analysis, a multivariate statistical technique. Initial experiments with small datasets led to a method of applying a two-step cluster analysis on the data. In the first step, a hierarchical analysis, the complete linkage method, is used, giving indications for reasonable numbers of clusters from the actual structure of the data. In a second step, the clusters obtained from the first step are refined with a k-means clustering method in order to enhance the stability of the classification scheme. The two-step clustering scheme is applied to the MISTRAL dataset, which consists of the one-hour-average wind measurements obtained for a full year. The twelve wind filed classes that are obtained represent well-separated flow patterns. A majority of the classes shows both a seasonal and a diurnal variation. Of the twelve classes, five occur more frequently during daytime and four occur more frequently during nighttime. The three remaining classes do not have a clear diurnal variation. (author) 42 figs., tabs., refs

[en] 11 Papers were presented on the following subjects at the SVA Information Meeting: for and against withdrawing from nuclear energy, technical and economical development guidelines, world-wide development tendencies, overall conditions and perspectives in Switzerland. figs., tabs., refs

[en] On behalf of the International Committee on Nuclear Technology (ILK) the Paul Scherrer Institut carried out a comparative study addressing the sustainability of electricity supply technologies operating under German-specific conditions. The general objective of this analysis was to provide a support for the formulation of ILK position on the sustainability of various electricity supply technologies, with special emphasis on nuclear energy. The evaluation covers selected current fossil, nuclear and renewable technologies, which are representative for the average conditions in Germany. Two methods of indicator aggregation were employed, i.e. estimation of total (internal and extemal) costs and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). Use of MCDA is motivated by acknowledgement of the role of value judgements in decision-making. Both total costs and MCDA-based technology-specific total scores are useful comparative indicators of sustainability. Sustainability perspective implies a balanced (equal) importance assignment to economic, ecological and social aspects. In summary, this study provides a framework for systematic evaluation of sustainability of energy systems. Refinements of the methodology and specific indicators are feasible. Options for future applications include direct involvement of stakeholders, and evaluations of future technologies and of supply scenarios combining the various candidate technologies. Tools supporting such analyses have been developed by PSI and can be adjusted to the needs of country-specific applications. (author)