Substantial progress has been made in improving the safe operational performance of nuclear installations. However, a number of issues continue to be of concern. The objective of this conference was to foster the exchange of information on topical issues in nuclear safety. An international consensus was developed on the basic approaches for dealing with a number of issues, and recommendations were proposed concerning their present status, priorities for future work and the need to strengthen international cooperation. These proceedings include the welcoming addresses, overview presentations, rapporteur reports, invited keynote papers, session summaries, conclusions by the President of the Conference and the discussions. The contributed papers are included on an attached CD-ROM.

Radioactive sources are used extensively around the world in medical, industrial, agricultural and research applications. However, their safety and security remain a matter of concern. Loss of control, sometimes as a result of inadequate regulatory oversight, has resulted in ‘orphan’ sources. Such sources have led, in some cases, to serious injuries, even death. In recent years, additional concerns have emerged related to the possibility that sources might be used for malicious purposes. These concerns reinforce the importance of ensuring that proper control of radioactive sources is established and maintained throughout the world. This conference was held with the aim of generating an exchange of information on these issues. These proceedings contain the addresses and the invited papers presented, as well as records of the discussions and the findings of the conference. The contributed papers are available on a CD-ROM that is included with this volume.

The conference, of which this publication is the proceedings, is the latest in the series organized by the IAEA on the subject of radioactive waste safety. Demonstrating the safety of radioactive waste disposal remains a challenging issue, from both technical and sociopolitical perspectives, and is receiving increasing scrutiny throughout the world. This conference discussed the emerging global nuclear safety regime and its implications for radioactive waste management — in particular the impact of the "Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management", the international safety standards and national waste management policies. High on the agenda was the concept of the safety case and its use, together with supporting safety assessments. The whole range of disposal concepts were discussed, as was the regulatory review and approval process, and stakeholder involvement. The conference proceedings reports the various sessions and includes the presentations together with concluding summaries from the Session Chairs and the Conference President.

This publication is set within the context of current trends whereby nuclear power plants (NPPs) are extending their operation beyond their original licence period. Complexities, including the fact that older NPPs may now be in a better technological condition than when they first went into operation, are considered. This publication addresses material degradation, in particular flow accelerated corrosion, with details of past incidents. The main results and lessons learned from incidents or accidents associated with material degradation are identified wherever weaknesses in the associated management processes of NPP operation have been involved. The aim of this publication is to highlight what operators, owners and regulators should do to prevent or decrease the risk of occurrences and to enhance maintenance and inspection activities in the future.

This CD contains the presentations made and reports submitted at the 9th IAEA Technical Meeting on Energetic Particles on Magnetic Confinement Systems. A summary of the meeting is also included. Energetic particles externally injected by, for instance, the heating beams or internally generated, such as the alpha particles from the fusion reactions, can trigger major instabilities leading to loss of plasma energy and mass. These physical processes are of major importance for a fusion nuclear reactor, where external heating by neutral beams and positive feedback by alpha particle heating are important mechanisms to assure realization of fusion in an economic way.

Particle accelerators, originally developed for basic research in nuclear and particle physics, have matured into versatile tools for applications in other branches of science as well as in industry and medicine. This symposium brought together experts in the field to exchange information and review the status of current developments and applications, to discuss new trends and technologies, and to promote research collaboration between laboratories in IAEA Member States. Topical sessions included applications of accelerators in materials and life sciences, industry, safety and security of people, biomedicine, and accelerator driven systems and technology. This CD-ROM proceedings contains the work presented at the symposium.

Renewed global interest in the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation, increased threats to the security of nuclear installations, increased use of radioactive materials and the challenges posed by existing nuclear facilities will require new strategies and approaches to safety and security. The aim of this conference, of which this publication is the proceedings, was to enhance international cooperation in the continuous improvement of the regulatory regime for global safety and security and thereby develop a global vision and facilitate future commitments that would lead to fulfilment of this goal.

Thin films and multilayers have applications in the development of sensors, neutron guides and beam deflectors. Adsorption of surfactants and polymers is important in technological and industrial applications, and characterization of these thin films is essential for their use in appliances. The special features of neutron interaction with matter make neutron reflectometry a powerful tool for probing these surfaces and multilayers. It is also useful in surface studies of corrosion of metals. The additional advantage of the method is that it can also be effectively used with medium flux reactors. This publication gives an introduction into the theory underlying this method, its potential applications and a description of existing facilities. It will be useful as a guide to the neutron beam user groups interested in developing a neutron reflectometer and enhance reactor utilization.

The IAEA periodically organizes technical meetings and international symposia on all areas of the uranium production cycle. This publication contains the papers and associated material presented at the 2005 international symposium on “Uranium Production and Raw Materials for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle — Supply and Demand, Economics, the Environment and Energy Security”. The topic areas include uranium supply and demand; uranium geology and deposits; uranium exploration; uranium mining and milling; waste management; and environment and regulation.

This publication is the proceedings of a meeting, initiated under recommendation of the International Fusion Research Council for the IAEA, aiming to pinpoint the physics and technological requirements that ITER and a materials supporting programme will have to address to make it possible to build a DEMO fusion power plant prototype demonstrating viable economics.

This publication contains the proceedings of the second technical meeting on the theory of plasma instabilities, initiated by the IAEA. It presents the latest work of the 49 participants. Many different types of plasma instabilities have been found in plasma devices. These have been partially explained by theoretical models, but knowledge is still incomplete and has to be supplemented by further theoretical and experimental efforts. Plasma turbulence results in cross-field transport of one or two orders of magnitude larger than the transport arising from neoclassical transport due to binary collisions. The consequent reduction in plasma performance has implications for the development of fusion energy as an economic alternative power source. Thus a comprehensive understanding of plasma turbulence remains an important scientific objective.

This CD presents the proceedings of a meeting which provided a forum for open discussion of the issues in physics and technology of neutral particle injection into magnetic fusion devices. The specific requirements associated with the injector construction and steady state operation of ITER and new fusion experiments have been addressed. The technical meeting included invited and contributed papers. Topics covered included: status reports and programmes on negative ion beam production, long-pulse operation, negative ion sources, acceleration and neutralization of negative ions, beam optics, injector diagnostics, and new concepts.