Measurement of double differential cross-section of light water at high temperature and pressure to generate S(α,β)
A series of double differential inelastic scattering cross-section measurements were performed on light water at several temperatures and pressures using high resolution time-of-flight inelastic spectrometers, namely the IN4c and the IN6 at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble, France to investigate the impact of temperature and pressure on S( q ,ω) and thus on the S(α, β) thermal scattering kernel. The present work aims at extending previous measurements with light water at room temperature and pressure to more realistic operating conditions in connection with nuclear power reactors.
New thermal neutron scattering files for ENDF/B-VI release 2
At thermal neutron energies, the binding of the scattering nucleus in a solid, liquid, or gas affects the cross section and the distribution of secondary neutrons. These effects are described in the thermal sub-library of Version VI of the Evaluated Nuclear Data Files (ENDF/B-VI) using the File 7 format. In the original release of the ENDF/B-VI library, the data in File 7 were obtained by converting the thermal scattering evaluations of ENDF/B-III to the ENDF-6 format. These original evaluations were prepared at General Atomics (GA) in the late sixties, and they suffer from accuracy limitations imposed by the computers of the day. This report describes new evaluations for six of the thermal moderator materials and six new cold moderator materials. The calculations were made with the LEAPR module of NJOY, which uses methods based on the British code LEAP, together with the original GA physics models, to obtain new ENDF files that are accurate over a wider range of energy and momentum transfer than the existing files. The new materials are H in H{sub 2}O, Be metal, Be in BeO, C in graphite, H in ZrH, Zr in ZrH, liquid ortho-hydrogen, liquid para-hydrogen, liquid ortho-deuterium, liquid para-deuterium liquid methane, andmore » solid methane.« less
The Impact of EU Unfair Contract Terms Law on U.S. Business-to-Consumer Internet Merchants
When the Court of Appeals for Versailles issued its decision in AOL France v. UFC Que Choisir2 in September 2005, it sent the message to U.S. Internet businesses that even contractual boilerplate localized for European markets may be invalid in European consumer transactions. In that case, a French consumer advocacy group challenged the terms AOL offered its French customers after AOL had made extensive revisions to its standard form contracts to respond to the concerns regarding those terms expressed in an advisory opinion by a French consumer protection agency. In 2004, a trial court invalidated nearly every term in the revised agreement; the appeals court affirmed on all counts. Subsequently, in July 2006 following concerns raised by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”), a United Kingdom government agency charged with “making sure markets work well for consumers,”3 Dell Corporation Limited changed its online terms and conditions to make them fairer to consumers.4 European consumer contract law had an impact in both cases. At issue for AOL France and Dell Corporation Limited was the application of France’s and the UK’s consumer contract law which is based on the Unfair Contract Terms Directive of 19945 and calls into question the validity of many of the terms that U.S. courts routinely enforce in transactions involving American consumers and merchants.