ETC research at Soreq NRC, Israel
An overview of the electro-thermal-chemical launcher (ETC) research program at the Propulsion Physics Laboratory, Soreq NRC, Israel is presented. The main avenue explored is a detailed study of solid propellant ETC (SPETC) performance and optimization. A better knowledge of the physical phenomena taking place inside the device and in parallel efforts to tackle the engineering aspects of specific weapon systems based on the SPETC concept. Theoretical and experimental tools have been developed. Permanent efforts towards developing optimal and efficient components for such systems are invested. A second avenue is the design and the construction of a small caliber ETC demonstrator, as an answer for present military demands for urban combat conditions. All system options are dealt with including a novel inductive pulse power supply.
Hazardous waste treatment and valuable products recovery with a thermal pulsed-plasma technology
Material cracking, or decomposition, is a basic and essential process in chemical industries. This process is a major energy consumer and a cause of environmental pollution. A new, efficient and environmentally friendly technique and equipment that can be used in a closed-loop process for the treatment and recovery of materials is proposed. The idea is to decompose a material using a high-energy pulsed-plasma jet. The plasma specific features enable a most efficient radiative heat transfer to the treated material bed. Therefore, enhanced energy transfer to selected chemical bonds is achieved. The process can be defined as a highly efficient photolysis. Proof-of-concept tests were carried out on 1,2-Dichloroethane (DCE). The material was fed in batches of a few grams each. A total decomposition of the DCE was achieved with less than 60% of the energy consumption required in a conventional treatment. A modular transportable laboratory has been constructed in the framework of 4 European Brite Euram R and D program. It comprises a 30 kW pulsed power supply featuring an all-solid state switching system, confined plasma discharge injector, reactor and gas handling and monitoring systems. The expected treatment capacity is 5-10 kg/hour of fluid waste. The plasma injector is designed to operate in repetitive mode with expected lifetime of 10/sup 5/ pulses. Simulations and experimental characterization of major components are presented. It is expected that the proposed method will be the best available technology for many fluid wastes.
European Consumer Access to Justice Revisited
Part I. Setting the Stage: Access to Justice 2.0: 1. At the very outset 2. Access to justice 2.0: breaking it into pieces Part II. Procedural Law: The Traditional Pillar of Access to Justice 2.0: 3. A brief outline of the developments at the pan-EU level 4. Prime examples 5. Compensatory collective redress: the next step? 6. Where to go from here? Part III. Substantive Law: Complementing Access to Justice 2.0: 7. Widening the scope of the value-oriented justice discussion 8. Substantive consumer law-making in the course of time 9. Recent trends and developments 10. The common European sales law 11. Summarising comments on the defragmentation of substantive consumer laws in the context of the CRD and the CESL Part IV. Consumer Access to Justice 2.0: A Multidimensional Framework: 12. From the current state of consumer law to consumer access to justice 2.0 13. The justice debate and consumer legislation 14. (Responses to) counter-arguments to third-party intervention 15. Consumer empowerment 16. Lessons to be drawn.