atw - International Journal for Nuclear Power | 05.2020

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atw Vol. 65 (2020) | Issue 5 ı May 298 NUCLEAR TODAY John Shepherd is a freelance journalist and communications consultant. Sources: NEI’s response to Covid-19 https://bit.ly/2JEJiDL Rosatom announcement https://bit.ly/2JUscC1 Dr Fatih Birol statement https://bit.ly/2ReYKup Energy Providers Deserve Our Gratitude Now More Than Ever What a strange and unnerving time we live in at the moment. As I write this article, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives as Covid-19 sweeps across the world. According to the director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, world leaders are confronting “the defining health crisis of our time… at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart – if we let it”. The world is indeed at war with a common enemy and the ‘soldiers’ confronting the virus on the front line are undoubtedly health service workers. Tributes have been paid to healthcare professionals in many countries by members of the general public who have emerged from lockdowns and isolation only to show their appreciation by applauding, singing and waving national flags from their windows and balconies. Beyond the medics, there are many others who are rightly identified as essential workers, those whose day- today jobs in supporting services and infrastructure take on far greater significance at this unsettling time. I suspect many of us now depend more than ever on our internet-connected devices to work from home, to stay in contact with family and friends, or to order shopping and to pass the time with films and games. And for that, we owe a debt of gratitude to some of the unsung essential workers of this crisis – the energy sector employees who ensure electricity continues to reach our homes, hospitals and other services. Electricity, whether derived from nuclear, fossil fuels, wind or solar, is always taken for granted in the developed world, but it should not be so during the Covid-19 pandemic. The multifaceted benefits of peaceful nuclear power activities deserve particular recognition and praise at this time. For example, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is currently part of the United Nations’ Crisis Management Team on Covid-19. The agency recently announced that it had dispatched the first batch of equipment to more than 40 countries to enable them to use a nuclear-derived technique to rapidly detect the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. The IAEA said dozens of laboratories in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean will receive diagnostic machines and kits, reagents and laboratory consumables to speed up national testing, which is crucial in containing the outbreak. They will also receive biosafety supplies, such as personal protection equipment and laboratory cabinets for the safe analysis of collected samples. The first batch of supplies, worth around €4 million, will help countries use the technique known as real time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR). The IAEA said that this is the most sensitive technique for detecting viruses currently available. The nuclear-derived DNA amplification method originally used radioactive isotope markers to detect genetic material from a virus in a sample, the IAEA said. Subsequent refining of the technique has led to the more common use today of fluorescent markers instead. Meanwhile, the nuclear industry continues to keep the power flowing to essential services while also increasing already stringent safeguards for employees. The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said measures in the US included setting up screening points before people can enter nuclear plants, to identify those who have symptoms. The NEI said it was committed to maintaining “safe, reliable operations in times of challenging national circumstances”. “Our industry has had pandemic guidelines since 2006, and these were updated early this year,” the NEI said. “They include keeping masks on hand and exercising social distancing.” In the UK, the Nuclear Industry Association said there was a “strong focus on protecting personnel by keeping only essential workforce on-site and adapting working practices to make sure social distancing is possible – including the approach to worker transport and accommodation and increased temperature monitoring at construction sites like Hinkley Point C”. The UK’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre is also supporting a national effort to step up production of vital medical equipment such as ventilators. In common with other nuclear sites worldwide, Sellafield Ltd in the UK said it had donated items including disposable respirators and protective clothing to health care workers. In Russia, a subsidiary of Rosatom’s nuclear fuel company TVEL, Rusatom-Additive Technologies, said it had started producing prototypes and was set to start 3D printing valves for Venturi oxygen masks – a component of ventilators. Rosatom said the need for the valves had increased substantially as a result of the pandemic. Rosatom said production facilities had the capacity to produce about 300 valves per week using a biocompatible polymer “that does not require additional processing”. The China National Nuclear Corporation announced that it was sending tonnes of personal protective equipment to a number of countries to support the fight against the virus. Covid-19 has focused minds as never before in modern times on the importance of maintaining and expanding critical power systems in the developed world, while helping less-developed regions acquire the infrastructure needed to connect to electricity grids. The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Dr Fatih Birol, has said in response to the pandemic that baseload electricity generating capacity such as that provided by nuclear is “a crucial element in ensuring a secure electricity supply”. Birol has urged policymakers to already be thinking and preparing for beyond the crisis and to “design markets that reward different sources for their contributions to electricity security, which can enable them to establish viable business models”. The IEA chief’s analysis is spot on. Covid-19 can and will be beaten, but its legacy should include a commitment to ensure that more and not less is invested in clean nuclear-generated electricity systems to help protect and prepare the world for whatever future challenges we may face. Author John Shepherd Nuclear Today Energy Providers Deserve Our Gratitude Now More Than Ever ı John Shepherd
Kommunikation und Training für Kerntechnik Rückbau kerntechnischer Anlagen In Kooperation mit TÜV SÜD Energietechnik GmbH Baden-Württemberg Seminar: Stilllegung und Rückbau in Recht und Praxis Seminarinhalte Genehmigungen für die Stilllegung und den Rückbau ı ı Gestaltung der Übergänge zwischen der Betriebs- und der Stilllegungsgenehmigung Gestaltung der Übergänge zwischen Genehmigungs- und Aufsichtsphase Rechtliche Gestaltung des Genehmigungsverfahrens ı ı ı ı Elemente des Umweltbereiches UVP und Erörterungstermin Anfechtung von Genehmigungen Stellungnahmen der EU-Kommission Reststoffe und Abfälle ı ı ı ı Vorstellung von Reststoffkonzepten Bewertung der Reststoffkonzepte Neue Regelungen zum Übergang der Entsorgungsverantwortung Entsorgungsfragen rund um Abfälle aus dem Rückbau Zielgruppe Die 2-tägige Schulung wendet sich an Fach- und Führungskräfte, Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter von Betreibern, Industrie und Dienstleistern, die sich mit der Thematik aktuell bereits beschäftigen oder sich künftig damit auseinander setzen werden. Maximale Teilnehmerzahl: 12 Personen Referenten Dr. Stefan Kirsch Dr. Christian Raetzke Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Teilnahme! ı Abteilung Stilllegung, Entsorgung, Reaktorphysik, TÜV SÜD Energietechnik GmbH Baden-Württemberg ı Rechtsanwalt, Leipzig Bei Fragen zur Anmeldung rufen Sie uns bitte an oder senden uns eine E-Mail. Termin 2 Tage 24. bis 25. September 2020 Tag 1: 11:00 bis 18:00 Uhr Tag 2: 09:00 bis 16:30 Uhr Veranstaltungsort Kaiserin Friedrich-Haus Robert-Koch-Platz 7 10115 Berlin Teilnahmegebühr 1.598,– € ı zzgl. 19 % USt. Im Preis inbegriffen sind: ı Seminarunterlagen ı Teilnahmebescheinigung ı Pausenverpflegung inkl. Mittagessen Kontakt INFORUM Verlags- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH Robert-Koch-Platz 4 10115 Berlin Petra Dinter-Tumtzak Fon +49 30 498555-30 Fax +49 30 498555-18 seminare@KernD.de
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atw - International Journal for Nuclear Power | 05.2020

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