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Friday, May 3, 2019

Arms trafficking

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arms trafficking, also known as gunrunning, is broadly defined as the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arms, unlike other organized crime commodities, is more closely associated with exercising power in communities instead of achieving economic gain. Scholars estimate illegal arms transactions amount to over US$1 billion annually.
 
US Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class Matthew Burger returns to the USS Dewey during a visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) operation
 
To keep track of imports and exports of several of the most dangerous armament categories, the United Nations, in 1991, created a Register for Conventional Arms, however participation is not compulsory and lacks comprehensive data in regions outside of Europe. Africa, due to a prevalence of corrupt officials and loosely enforced trade regulations, is a region with extensive illicit arms activity. In a resolution to complement the Register with legally binding obligations, a Firearms Protocol was incorporated into the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, which requires states to improve systems that control trafficked ammunition and firearms.

The 1999 Report of the UN Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms provides a more refined and precise definition, which has become internationally accepted. This distinguishes between small arms (revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, submachine guns, assault rifles, and light machine guns), which are weapons designed for personal use, and light weapons (heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, and mortars of calibres less than 100 mm), which are designed for use by several persons serving as a unit. Ammunition and explosives also form an integral part of small arms and light weapons used in conflict.

Impact

Areas

Although arms trafficking is widespread in regions of political turmoil, it is not limited to such areas, and for example, in South Asia, an estimated 63 million guns have been trafficked into India and Pakistan.

The suppression of gunrunning is one of the areas of increasing interest in the context of international law. Examples of past and current gunrunning include:
In the United States, the term "Iron Pipeline" is sometimes used to describe Interstate Highway 95 and its connector highways as a corridor for arms trafficking into New York City.

Africa

Liberia and Sierra Leone Conflict

The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted from 1991-2002, and left 75,000 people dead. Arms Trafficking played a significant role in this conflict. Both small and large arms were shipped to all sides in both Sierra Leone, and Liberia from outside actors. Small arms being any handheld gun (pistol, assault rifle, sub machine gun, shotgun,) and other items such as grenades, claymores, knives, machetes, etc. Large arms indicates large amounts of explosives, missiles, light machine guns, mortars, anti tank missiles, tanks, planes, etc. During this time a civil war was occurring in nearby Liberia. The Liberian Civil Wars took place from 1989 through 1997. The war was between the existing government and the National Patriotic Front. Leader of the National Patriotic front of Liberia, Charles Taylor, helped to create the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone. Taylor was the recipient of thousands of illegally trafficked arms from easter Europe (mostly the Ukraine). Taylor then sold some of these weapons to the RUF in exchange for diamonds. President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, “directly facilitated Liberia’s arms-for-diamonds trade” with Liberia and Sierra Leone. Compaore would give guns to Taylor, who would then sell them to the RUF in exchange for diamonds. These blood diamonds would then be sold back to Compaore for more guns. The cyclical exchange allowed Compaore the ability to deny directly sending arms to Sierra Leone.

A tower of confiscated smuggled weapons about to be set ablaze in Nairobi, Kenya
 
The Liberian government received arms through an elaborate from company in Guinea. The arms were intended to be shipped (legally) from Uganda to Slovakia. However, the arms were diverted to Guinea as a part of “an elaborate bait and switch.” Additionally the British government “encouraged Sandline International, a private security firm and non state entity, to supply arms and ammunitions to the loyal forces of the exiled government of President Kabbah.” Sandline proceeded 35 tons of arms from Bulgaria, to Kabbah’s forces.

Why Traffickers Choose Africa

Kimberly Thachuk and Karen Saunders argue that arms trafficking is no different from any other illegal business in their work Under the Radar: Airborne Arms Trafficking Operations in Africa. Traffickers first need a headquarters, or somewhere to base their operations. A headquarters needs several aspects to make it an ideal place to traffic weapons. First, the headquarters should have appropriate infrastructure. For a weapons trafficking this would include a landing strip for both importation and exportation. Additionally, warehouses are needed to “store product awaiting delivery." Once the product has arrived and been stored it needs to be delivered to the customer, thus, the headquarters should be in somewhat of a central location near each customer. This is not the primary reason many traffickers choose Africa certainly has multitudes of unoccupied land that can be used by traffickers, as is asserted by Thachuk and Saunders.

Physical space is important but the rules and regulations of said space are also relevant. Traffickers look for places with corrupt, supply side, officials that can either be bribed, or blackmailed. This allows the trafficker to “circumvent the regulatory and oversight systems” put in place by the government. Furthermore, a “lax financial system” is key so the large amounts of money moved by the trafficker are not seen as suspicious.

Thachuk and Saunders finish their argument, a stable, and highly centralized government, is important. They then point out that 10 different African countries have leaders that have been in power for more than 20 years, which they argue meets the criteria a highly centralized and stable government.

Europe

Since 1996, countries throughout Europe have taken notice of arms trafficking. Europe has been an overall large exporter of illicit weapons with the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in the national lead for the most exports. Imports to Europe in from 2004-2013 have decreased by 25%, with the United Kingdom importing the most overall in Europe. The firearms that are imported and passed around are commonly small arms and lighter weapons (SALW) compared to large machinery, such as tanks and aircraft. The SALW bought in Europe tends to be secondhand weapons that are cheap and regularly available. Gun cultures, such as in Germany, where the "taken-for-granted cultural practice of carrying a handgun," increases illicit SALW because guns are viewed as a way to enhance masculinity and status. In 2000, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) started on regional solutions and security measures to address the firearms trafficking problem.

Global Market Value

The total value of the global arms market is estimated around $60 billion a year, with around $8 billion attributed to pistols, rifles, machine guns, and bullets.

Due to a lack of legal transparency, estimating the market value of the arms trafficking industry is sometimes difficult. In 2001 alone, the value of legal Small Arms and Light Weapons exports was US$2.4 Billion. After being processed by customs, that number increases to somewhere between US$5-7 Billion, according to Small Arms and Light Weapons (1994-2001). An additional 10-20% (US$1 Billion) are suspected to be added to that number from black market transactions. The Kalashnikov AK-47 is the most appealing weapon to the illegal weapons trade due to its low cost. With a surplus of AK-47s flooding the market from post-cold war armies, the prices of this firearm sunk as low as US$15 in 2000. Trends have shown that the price of the AK-47 have stayed constant in countries with current civil wars, while stable countries prices for the AK-47 have been on the rise. Even biker gangs have gotten in on profitable arms trafficking. United States Law enforcement agencies started investigating bike gangs in the late 90s, and started classifying them as organized criminal organizations. This was mainly due to the fact that they were able to get control of the prostitution market and the smuggling of stolen goods such as weapons, motorcycles, and car parts.

Notable arms dealers

Related Theories

In the international criminal scholarly community, rational choice theory is commonly referenced in explanations as to why individuals engage in and justify criminal activity. According to Jana Arsovska and Panos Kostakos, leading scholars on organized crime, the causes of arms trafficking are not solely based on rational choice theory but rather have been more closely linked to the intimacy of one's personal social networks as well as the "perception of risks, effort and rewards in violating criminal laws."

In popular culture

Film

  • Lord of War (2005), a fictional crime war film in which Nicolas Cage plays an illegal arms dealer similar to the post-Soviet arms dealer Viktor Bout; the film was endorsed by Amnesty International for highlighting the arms trafficking by the international arms industry
  • Making a Killing: Inside the International Arms Trade (2006), a 15-minute documentary included in the two-Disc Special Edition DVD of Lord of War (2005). Numerous other documentaries about arms trafficking are linked on this film's YouTube page.
  • Iron Man (2008), a superhero film in which based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, centering inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) discovers his company has been arms trafficking weapons of his own designs to criminals worldwide, and seeks to stop his corrupt executives and other employees by becoming the technologically advanced superhero Iron Man.
  • War Dogs (2016), a black comedy-drama biographical film based on the true story of two young men, David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan who later became involved in arms trafficking.
  • Shot Caller (2017), a crime thriller in which recently paroled felon Jacob "Money" Harlon, is forced by the shot caller of his prison gang to orchestrate a major arms deal with an allied Sureno gang.
  • The Chosen (1981), in one scene, Reuven, an Orthodox Jew in 1940's New York, and some classmates are seen smuggling into the docks at New York Harbor and placing crates full of rifles labeled "Farm Equipment" on a ship bound for Haifa for the Israeli guerrilla fighters in the Arab-Israeli War. This scene also occurs in the book on which the movie is based.

Television

  • Sons of Anarchy, a FX-TV series about a fictional outlaw motorcycle club whose main source of income is trafficking arms to a variety of criminal enterprises domestically and internationally.
  • Death in Paradise Series 3, Episode 5, features Simon Shepherd as Jacob Doran, Saint Marie's Minister for Commerce, who is later found out by Humphrey Goodman to be a gunrunner.
  • Jormungand, an anime television series based on the manga series by Keitarō Takahashi, produced by White Fox, which addresses the issue of arms trafficking in the Middle East and throughout the European continent.
  • The Night Manager, a BBC miniseries where a former British soldier who is currently a night manager in hotels infiltrates the inner circle of an arms dealer.

Video games

  • Grand Theft Auto V's multiplayer platform, GTA Online, has a downloadable content pack revolving around manufacturing and distributing illegal arms through smuggling operations and missions included in "Gunrunning".
  • Mafia III, one of Lincoln Clay's underbosses, Haitian crime lord Cassandra, runs gun rackets.
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Arms control

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the use of diplomacy which seeks to impose such limitations upon consenting participants through international treaties and agreements, although it may also comprise efforts by a nation or group of nations to enforce limitations upon a non-consenting country.

Enactment

Arms control treaties and agreements are often seen as a way to avoid costly arms races which could prove counter-productive to national aims and future peace. Some are used as ways to stop the spread of certain military technologies (such as nuclear weaponry or missile technology) in return for assurances to potential developers that they will not be victims of those technologies. Additionally, some arms control agreements are entered to limit the damage done by warfare, especially to civilians and the environment, which is seen as bad for all participants regardless of who wins a war. 

While arms control treaties are seen by many peace proponents as a key tool against war, by the participants, they are often seen as simply ways to limit the high costs of the development and building of weapons, and even reduce the costs associated with war itself. Arms control can even be a way of maintaining the viability of military action by limiting those weapons that would make war so costly and destructive as to make it no longer a viable tool for national policy.

Enforcement

Enforcement of arms control agreements has proven difficult over time. Most agreements rely on the continued desire of the participants to abide by the terms to remain effective. Usually, when a nation no longer desires to abide by the terms, they usually will seek to either covertly circumvent the terms or to simply end their participation in the treaty. This was seen in Washington Naval Treaty (and the subsequent London Naval Treaty), where most participants sought to work around the limitations, some more legitimately than others. The United States developed better technology to get better performance from their ships while still working within the weight limits, the United Kingdom exploited a loop-hole in the terms, the Italians misrepresented the weight of their vessels, and when up against the limits, Japan simply left the treaty. The nations which violated the terms of the treaty did not suffer great consequences for their actions. Within little more than a decade, the treaty was abandoned. The Geneva Protocol has lasted longer and been more successful at being respected, but still nations have violated it at will when they have felt the need. Enforcement has been haphazard, with measures more a matter of politics than adherence to the terms. This meant sanctions and other measures tended to be advocated against violators primarily by their natural political enemies, while violations have been ignored or given only token measures by their political allies.

More recent arms control treaties have included more stringent terms on enforcement of violations as well as verification. This last has been a major obstacle to effective enforcement, as violators often attempt to covertly circumvent the terms of the agreements. Verification is the process of determining whether or not a nation is complying with the terms of an agreement, and involves a combination of release of such information by participants as well as some way to allow participants to examine each other to verify that information. This often involves as much negotiation as the limits themselves, and in some cases questions of verification have led to the breakdown of treaty negotiations (for example, verification was cited as a major concern by opponents of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, ultimately not ratified by the United States).

Nations may remain in a treaty while seeking to break the limits of that treaty as opposed to simply withdrawing from it. This is for two major reasons. To openly defy an agreement, even if one withdraws from it, often is seen in a bad light politically and can carry diplomatic repercussions. Additionally, if one remains in an agreement, competitors who are also participatory may be held to the limitations of the terms, while withdrawal releases your opponents to make the same developments you are making, limiting the advantage of that development.

Theory of arms control

Scholars and practitioners such as John Steinbruner, Jonathan Dean or Stuart Croft worked extensively on the theoretical backing of arms control. Arms control is meant to break the security dilemma. It aims at mutual security between partners and overall stability (be it in a crisis situation, a grand strategy, or stability to put an end to an arms race). Other than stability, arms control comes with cost reduction and damage limitation. It is different from disarmament since the maintenance of stability might allow for mutually controlled armament and does not take a peace-without-weapons-stance. Nevertheless, arms control is a defensive strategy in principle, since transparency, equality, and stability do not fit into an offensive strategy.

History

Pre-19th century

One of the first recorded attempts in arms control was a set of rules laid down in ancient Greece by the Amphictyonic Leagues. Rulings specified how war could be waged, and breaches of this could be punished by fines or by war. 

There were few recorded attempts to control arms during the period between this and the rise of the Roman Catholic Church. In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, swords and chain mail armor manufactured in the Frankish empire were highly sought after for their quality, and Charlemagne (r. 768-814), made their sale or export to foreigners illegal, punishable by forfeiture of property or even death. This was an attempt to limit the possession and use of this equipment by the Franks' enemies, including the Moors, the Vikings and the Slavs. 

The church used its position as a trans-national organization to limit the means of warfare. The 989 Peace of God (extended in 1033) ruling protected noncombatants, agrarian and economic facilities, and the property of the church from war. The 1027 Truce of God also tried to prevent violence between Christians. The Second Lateran Council in 1139 prohibited the use of crossbows against other Christians, although it did not prevent its use against non-Christians. 

The development of firearms led to an increase in the devastation of war. The brutality of wars during this period led to efforts to formalize the rules of war, with humane treatment for prisoners of war or wounded, as well as rules to protect non-combatants and the pillaging of their property. However, during the period until the beginning of the 19th century few formal arms control agreements were recorded, except theoretical proposals and those imposed on defeated armies.

One treaty which was concluded was the Strasbourg Agreement of 1675. This is the first international agreement limiting the use of chemical weapons, in this case, poison bullets. The treaty was signed between France and The Holy Roman Empire

19th century

The 1817 Rush–Bagot Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom was the first arms control treaty of what can be considered the modern industrial era, leading to the demilitarization of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain region of North America. This was followed by the 1871 Treaty of Washington which led to total demilitarisation. 

The industrial revolution led to the increasing mechanisation of warfare, as well as rapid advances in the development of firearms; the increased potential of devastation (which was later seen in the battlefields of World War I) led to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia calling together the leaders of 26 nations for the First Hague Conference in 1899. The Conference led to the signing of the Hague Convention of 1899 that led to rules of declaring and conducting warfare as well as the use of modern weaponry, and also led to the setting up of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

1900 to 1945

A Second Hague Conference was called in 1907 leading to additions and amendments to the original 1899 agreement. A Third Hague Conference was called for 1915, but this was abandoned due to the First World War. 

After the World War I, the League of Nations was set up which attempted to limit and reduce arms. However the enforcement of this policy was not effective. Various naval conferences, such as the Washington Naval Conference, were held during the period between the First and Second World Wars to limit the number and size of major warships of the five great naval powers. 

The 1925 Geneva Conference led to the banning of chemical weapons (as toxic gases) during war as part of the Geneva Protocol. The 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, whilst ineffective, attempted for "providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy".

Since 1945

After World War II, the United Nations was set up as a body to promote and to maintain international peace and security. The United States proposed the Baruch Plan in 1946 as a way to impose stringent international control over the nuclear fuel cycle and thereby avert a global nuclear arms race, but the Soviet Union rejected the proposal and negotiations failed. Following President Eisenhower's 1953 Atoms for Peace speech to the UN General Assembly, the International Atomic Energy Agency was set up in 1957 to promote peaceful uses of nuclear technology and apply safeguards against the diversion of nuclear material from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons. The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed to prevent further spread of nuclear weapons technology to countries outside the five that already possessed them: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China.

The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the United States and Soviet Union in the late 1960s/early 1970s led to further weapons control agreements. The SALT I talks led to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an Interim Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement (see SALT I), both in 1972. The SALT II talks started in 1972 leading to agreement in 1979. Due to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the United States never ratified the treaty, but the agreement was honoured by both sides. 

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed between the United States and Soviet Union in 1987 and ratified in 1988, leading to an agreement to destroy all missiles with ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention was signed banning the manufacture and use of chemical weapons.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties were signed, as START I and START II, by the US and Soviet Union, further restricting weapons. This was further moved on by the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions, which was in turn superseded by the New START Treaty. 

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1996 banning all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes, but it has not entered into force due to the non-ratification of eight specific states.

In 1998 the United Nations founded the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs UNODA. Its goal is to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and the strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially landmines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts.

In addition to treaties focused primarily on stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, there has been a recent movement to regulate the sale and trading of conventional weapons. As of December 2014, the United Nations is preparing for entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty, which has been ratified by 89 nations. However, it is currently missing ratification by key arms producers such as Russia and China, and while the United States has signed the treaty it has not yet ratified it.

List of treaties and conventions related to arms control

Some of the more important international arms control agreements follow:

Nuclear weapon-free zone treaties

Other treaties also envision the creation of NWFZ, among other objectives. These are the following:

Treaties not entered into force

Proposed treaties

Export control regimes

Nonbinding declarations

Arms Control Organizations

The intergovernmental organizations for arms control include the following:
There are also numerous non-governmental organizations that promote a global reduction in nuclear arms and offer research and analysis about U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Pre-eminent among these organizations is the Arms Control Association, founded in 1971 to promote public understanding of and support for arms control. Others include:
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Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is a U.S. government research and development program. It is directed by the United States Department of Energy and is aimed at performing research and compiling data necessary to qualify for licenses to extend the life of America's current 104 electricity generating nuclear power plants beyond 60 years of life. Practically all of the commercial electric-generating nuclear power plants currently in the United States are light water reactor (LWR) plants, meaning they use ordinary (light) water as a moderator and coolant simultaneously. 

The basis for the project is founded on the facts that in the near future:
Nuclear power was the largest contributor of non-greenhouse-gas-emitting electric power generation in the United States in 2009, comprising nearly three-quarters of the non-emitting sources. Energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage technologies are expected to play increasing roles in providing clean and reliable energy.
 
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama stated, "Nuclear power represents more than 70% of our noncarbon generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power as an option." The LWRS Program operates on the premise that electricity from nuclear generating stations, as a zero-carbon source, can and must play a critical role as part of an overall solution to both of these needs. The LWRS Program focuses on four main areas: Materials Aging and Degradation, Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies, Advanced Light Water Reactor Nuclear Fuels, and finally, Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization.

Projected Increase in Demand

Domestic demand for electric energy is expected to grow by more than 30% from 2009 to 2035. At the same time, most of the currently operating nuclear power plants will begin reaching the end of their initial 20-year extension to their original 40-year operating license, for a total of 60 years of operation. According to one study, demand will increase by 30-40% by the year 2030. Other studies  suggest an even higher increase in the world in general: above 80% by 2035.

Goals to lower carbon dioxide emissions

President Obama made clear the U.S.'s national stance on carbon dioxide emissions on the White House's website which stated, "We must take immediate action to reduce the carbon pollution that threatens our climate and sustains our dependence on fossil fuels." The President has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050.

Where it is happening

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) near Idaho Falls, Idaho and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are the primary research facilities involved. Other labs and universities across the country are involved in specific parts of the research (see below).

Who is involved

Program Management

  • Trevor Cook, LWRS Program Federal Project Director
  • Bruce P. Hallbert, Director, LWRS Program Technical Integration Office
  • Donald L. Williams, Jr., Deputy Director, LWRS Program Technical Integration Office
  • Cathy J. Barnard, Operations Manager, LWRS Program Technical Integration Office
  • Keith J. Leonard, Pathway Lead, Materials Aging and Degradation
  • Bruce P. Hallbert, Pathway Lead, Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies
  • Curtis L. Smith, Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization
  • Mitchell T. Farmer, Reactor Safety Technologies

Government

National Laboratories

Related Department of Energy Research and Development Programs

Industry

Universities

International

Primary Technical Areas of Research and Development

Materials Aging and Degradation

The Materials Aging and Degradation Pathway conducts research to develop the scientific basis for understanding and predicting long-term environmental degradation behavior of materials in nuclear power plants. Provide data and methods to assess performance of systems, structures, and components essential to safe and sustained nuclear power plant operation, providing key input to both regulators and industry.

Background

Nuclear reactors present a very challenging service environment. Components within the containment of an operating reactor must tolerate high-temperature water, stress, vibration, and an intense neutron field. Degradation of materials in this environment can lead to reduced performance and, in some cases, sudden failure.

Clearly, the demanding environments of an operating nuclear reactor may impact the ability of a broad range of materials to perform their intended function over extended service periods. Routine surveillance and repair/replacement activities can mitigate the impact of this degradation; however, failures still occur. 

While all components potentially can be replaced, decisions to simply replace components may not be practical or the most economically favorable option. Therefore, understanding, controlling, and mitigating materials degradation processes and establishing a sound technical basis for long-range planning of necessary replacements are key priorities for extended nuclear power plants operations and power uprate considerations.

Purpose and Goals

The Materials Aging and Degradation Pathway provides research in many areas of materials science and technology, all supporting multiple Department of Energy missions and providing unique input to the evaluation of nuclear power plant life extension while complementing research and development efforts of the nuclear industry and regulators. The strategic goals of the pathway are to develop the scientific basis for understanding and predicting long-term environmental degradation behavior of materials in nuclear power plants and to provide data and methods to assess performance of systems, structures, and components essential to safe and sustained nuclear power plant operations. 

The Department of Energy (through the Materials Aging and Degradation Pathway) is involved in this research and development activity to provide improved mechanistic understanding of key degradation modes and sufficient experimental data to provide and validate operational limits; provide new methods of monitoring degradation; and develop advanced mitigation techniques to provide improved performance, reliability, and economics.

Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies

The Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies Pathway conducts research to develop, demonstrate, and deploy new digital technologies for instrumentation and control architectures and provide monitoring capabilities to ensure the continued safe, reliable, and economic operation of the nation's operating nuclear power plants.

Background

Reliable instrumentation, information, and control systems technologies are essential to ensuring safe and efficient operation of the U.S. LWR fleet. These technologies affect every aspect of nuclear power plant and balance-of-plant operations. Current instrumentation and human-machine interfaces employ analog systems in the nuclear power sector. These systems, though generally considered by other industries to be obsolete, continue to function reliably, but do not enable utilities to take full advantage of digital technologies to achieve performance gains. Beyond control systems, new technologies are needed to monitor and characterize the effects of aging and degradation in critical areas of key systems, structures, and components. The objective of these efforts is to develop, demonstrate, and deploy new digital technologies for instrumentation information and control architectures and provide monitoring capabilities to ensure the continued safe, reliable, and economic operation of the nation's 104 nuclear power plants.

Purpose and Goals

The purpose of the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies Pathway is to enable the modernization of the legacy instrumentation information and control systems in a manner that creates a seamless digital environment encompassing all aspects of plant operations and support – building a three-dimensional information architecture that integrates plant systems, plant processes, and plant workers in an array of interconnected technologies.

Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization

The Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization Pathway conducts research to develop and deploy approaches to support the management of uncertainty in safety margins quantification to improve decision making for nuclear power plants. This pathway will (1) develop and demonstrate a risk-assessment method tied to safety margins quantification and (2) create advanced tools for safety assessment that enable more accurate representation of a nuclear power plant safety margin.

Background

Safety is central to the design, licensing, operation, and economics of nuclear power plants. As the current LWR nuclear power plants age beyond 60 years, there are possibilities for increased frequency of system, structures, and components failures that initiate safety-significant events, reduce existing accident mitigation capabilities, or create new failure modes. Plant designers commonly "over-design" portions of nuclear power plants and provide robustness in the form of redundant and diverse engineered safety features to ensure that, even in the case of well-beyond design basis scenarios, public health and safety will be protected with a very high degree of assurance.

The ability to better characterize and quantify safety margin holds the key to improved decision making about LWR design, operation, and plant life extension. A systematic approach to characterization of safety margins represents a vital input to the licensee and regulatory analysis and decision making that will be involved. In addition, as research and development in the LWRS Program and other collaborative efforts yield new data and improved scientific understanding of physical processes that govern the aging and degradation of plant systems, structures, and components (and concurrently support technological advances in nuclear reactor fuel and plant instrumentation, information, and control systems) needs and opportunities to better optimize plant safety and performance will become known.

Purpose

The purpose of the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization Pathway is to develop and deploy approaches to support the management of uncertainty in safety margins quantification to improve decision making for nuclear power plants. Management of uncertainty implies the ability to (a) understand and (b) control risks related to safety. Consequently, the RISMC Pathway is dedicated to improving both aspects of safety management.

Advanced Light Water Reactor Nuclear Fuels

Conventional nuclear fuel pellet
 
The Advanced Nuclear Fuels Pathway conducts research to improve scientific knowledge basis for understanding and predicting fundamental nuclear fuel and cladding performance in nuclear power plants. Apply this information to development of high-performance, high burn-up fuels with improved safety, cladding integrity, and improved nuclear fuel cycle economics.

Background

Nuclear fuel performance is a significant driver of nuclear power plant operational performance, safety, operating economics, and waste disposal requirements (Over the past two decades, the nuclear power industry has improved plant capacity factors with incremental improvements achieved in fuel reliability and use or burnup). However, these upgrades are reaching their maximum achievable impact to achieve significant safety margin improvements while improving operating margins and economics, significant steps beyond incremental improvements in the current generation of nuclear fuel are required. Fundamental changes are required in the areas of nuclear fuel composition, cladding integrity, and the fuel/cladding interaction to reach the next levels of fuel performance. The technological improvements being developed in the Advanced LWR Nuclear Fuels Pathway center on development of revolutionary cladding materials supported by enhanced fuel mechanical designs and alternate fuel compositions. If realized, the changes would have substantial beneficial improvements in nuclear power plant economics, operation, and safety.

Purpose and Goals

The Advanced LWR Nuclear Fuels Pathway performs research on improving reactor safety, increasing fuel economics, producing advanced cladding designs, and developing enhanced computational models to predict fuel performance. Strategic research and development goals are directed at improving the scientific knowledge basis for understanding and predicting fundamental nuclear fuel and cladding performance in nuclear power plants, and applying the information to development of high-performance, high-burnup fuels with improved safety, cladding, integrity, and nuclear fuel cycle economics. This research is further designed to demonstrate each of the technology advancements while satisfying all safety and regulatory limits through rigorous testing and analysis.
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