Atom Indonesia (E-Journal)
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Correlation between Expression of MVP, Index of p53 and AgNOR Value with Chemoradiotherapy Clinical Response of Cervical Cancer
Get PDFCervical cancer is the most frequent cancer found in Indonesia. The primary treatment of cervical cancer at the locally advanced stage is usually performed by using radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The combination of the two techniques is often called chemoradioherapy. The response to chemoradiotherapy is influenced by biological and physical factors. Major vault protein (MVP) is a ribonucleoprotein which contributes to drug resistance in some cancers. The purposes of this research were: (1) to determine the correlation between the expression of MVP and the index of p53, including AgNOR values and index of MIB-1; and (2) between MVP and chemoradiotherapy clinical response of cervical cancer. Twenty-one microscopic slides taken from biopsy tissues of cervical cancer patients before undergoing treatment were stained to identify MVP, p53, and MIB-1 by means of immunohistochemistry techniques and AgNORs staining. After undergoing chemoradiotherapy treatment, the patients’ clinical responses were observed by pelvic control method. Experimental results showed that there was a correlation between MVP and AgNOR value (P=0.05), but no correlation between MVP and index of p53 (P=0.729), including MIB-1 LI (P=0.63), in untreated cervical cancer. In addition, there was no association between MVP and chemoradioterapy response. In conclusion, MVP expression correlates with the process of cell proliferation before the G2 phase of cell cycle in untreated cancer cells. Those have no association with clinical responses after the completion of treatment.Received: 20 November 2013; Revised: 18 July 2014; Accepted: 28 September 201
Preliminary Study on Mass Flow Rate in Passive Cooling Experimental Simulation During Transient Using NC-Queen Apparatus
Get PDFThe research related to thermal management has been significantly inreased, especially for NPP safety. The use of passive cooling systems both during the accident and operation become reliable in the advanced reactor safety systems. Therefore it should be enhanced through experimental studies to investigate heat transfer phenomenon of the heat decay in transient cooling condition.An investigation has been performed through experiment using an NC-Queen apparatusconstructed with rectangular loop. Piping were consisting of tubes of SS316L with diameter, length, and width of 3/4 inch, 2.7 m, and 0.5 m respectively. The height between heater and cooler was 1.4 m. The experiment used initial water temperature at 70oC, 80oC, and 90oC in heater area. Transient temperature was used as experimental data to calculate water mass flow rate. The results showed that the temperature in heater area and cooler area were decreasing of about 90.6% and 95.7% at initial temperatur of 80oC, and of about 71.1% and 59.4% at initial temperature of 70oC. Those results were at higher initial temperature of 90oC compared with the initial temperature of 90oC. The average of water mass flow rate increased 81.03% from initial temperatur of 70oC. It was shown that the averages of removed heat in every second from water due to heat loss and cooler,were 3.51 watts, 5.06 watts and 6.85 watts respectively. The initial condition of heat stored in the water was quite different, but to the cooler heat removal capacity and heat loss was almost the same.Received: 10 November 2014; Revised: 23 December 2014: 24 December 201
Design and Development of Carborne Survey Equipment
Get PDFIn most nuclear and radiological emergencies involving the release of radioactive materials to environment, it is important that data on the geographic distribution of potentially hazardous radioactive materials be quickly presented to the authorities. The mobile radiation detection system makes it possible to measure radioactive materials in the environment at random places because of its easy mobility from place to place. The purpose of the work is to develop a mobile radiation detection system to measure gamma exposure rate, radioactive material on the ground and airborne radioactive particulate in the environment quickly. In this work, we have developed a carborne survey equipment system consisting of three gamma ray detectors, one airbome radioactive particulate sampler, a GPS (Global Positioning System), meteorological sensors, a data acquisition system and an operation software. Performance of the carborne survey equipment has been successfully demonstrated to measure iodine and argon release from medical isotope production facility on Serpong in western Java, Indonesia.Received: 04 October 2014; Revised:16 March 2015; Accepted: 23 March 2015
Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of 3 MW TRIGA Research Reactor of Bangladesh Considering Different Cycles of Burnup
Get PDFBurnup dependent steady state thermal hydraulic analysis of TRIGA Mark-II research reactor has been carried out utilizing coupled point kinetics, neutronics and thermal hydraulics code EUREKA-2/RR. From the previous calculations of neutronics parameters including percentage burnup of individual fuel elements performed so far for 700 MWD burnt core of TRIGA reactor showed that the fuel rod predicted as hottest at the beginning of cycle (fresh core) was found to remain as the hottest until 200 MWD of burn, but, with the progress of core burn, the hottest rod was found to be shifted and another rod in the core became the hottest. The present study intends to evaluate the thermal hydraulic parameters of these hottest fuel rods at different cycles of burnup, from beginning to 700 MWD core burnt considering reactor operates under steady state condition. Peak fuel centerline temperature, maximum cladding and coolant temperatures of the hottest channels were calculated. It revealed that maximum temperature reported for fuel clad and fuel centerline found to lie below their melting points which indicate that there is no chance of burnout on the fuel cladding surface and no blister in the fuel meat throughout the considered cycles of core burnt.Received: 09 September 2014; Revised: 21 December 2014; Accepted: 22 December 201
Feasibility of Thorium Fuel Cycles in a Very High Temperature Pebble-Bed Hybrid System
Get PDFNuclear energy presents key challenges to be successful as a sustainable energy source. Currently, the viability of the use thorium-based fuel cycles in an innovative nuclear energy generation system is being investigated in order to solve these key challenges. In this work, the feasibility of three thorium-based fuel cycles (232Th-233U, 232Th-239Pu, and 232Th-U) in a hybrid system formed by a Very High Temperature Pebble-Bed Reactor (VHTR) and two Pebble-Bed Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs) was evaluated using parameters related to the neutronic behavior such as nuclear fuel breeding, minor actinide stockpile, the energetic contribution of each fissile isotope, and the radiotoxicity of the long lived wastes. These parameters were used to compare the fuel cycles using the well-known MCNPX ver. 2.6e computational code. The results obtained confirm that the 232Th-233U fuel cycle is the best cycle for minimizing the production of plutonium isotopes and minor actinides. Moreover, the inclusion of the second stage in the ADSs demonstrated the possibility of extending the burnup cycle duration and reducing the radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel from the VHTR.Received: 09 February 2015; Revised: 12 May 2015; Accepted: 20 May 201
Bacterial Diversity in Buffalo Meat and Bowel from Traditional Market and the Sensitivity of Some Bacteria to Irradiation and Antibiotics
Get PDFThe population of buffaloes in Indonesia was 1.37 million in 2012, representing an increase of 5.5 % over its population the previous year. Buffaloes have been in Indonesia for such a long time, they have become a part of the lives of the majority of the Indonesian society. Research has been conducted to know the bacteria diversity in domestic buffalo meat and bowels from traditional markets in Pandeglang, Banten, in order to ascertain their safety based on their initial contamination and also to study the sensitivity of several of the bacteria to irradiation and antibiotics. The total bacterial was assessed by total plate count method as index of quality. The buffalo meat and bowel samples were taken from livers, intestines, lymph, lungs and tripe. Results showed that the contaminating bacteria were aerobic bacteria, coliform bacteria including Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Staphylococcus spp. in buffalo meat and bowel. The numbers of aerobic bacteria were in the 1.7×105- 2.3×106 CFU/g range, while the total coliform bacteria were in the 2.0×103- 6.8×104 CFU/g range. The total number of E. coli was in the 2.0×103- 6.0×104 CFU/g range, and Staphylococcus spp. was in the 2.0×104- 2.7×105 CFU/g range. No Salmonella was detected in any of the samples observed. The total coliform bacteria, E. coli, and Staphylococcus spp. in all buffalo meat and bowel samples exceeded the maximum numbers of microbes permitted by the Indonesian National Standard (SNI). The maximum of total coliform, E. coli, and Staphylococcus spp. permitted by SNI are 1.0×102, 1.0×10 and 1.0×102 CFU/g, respectively. The D10 values of S. aureus were in the 0.13 - 0.23 kGy range, while for E. coli they were in the 0.07 - 0.13 kGy range. The isolate of S. aureus from the lungs was the most resistant to cefoxitin, tetracycline, and amoxicillin antibiotics. The isolate of E. coli from buffalo bowels were almost sensitive to cefoxitin, tetracycline, and amoxicillin antibiotics. Received: 4 October 2014; Revised: 24 April 2015; Accepted: 11 May 201
A Paradigm Shift in Low Dose Radiation Biology
Get PDFWhen ionizing radiation traverses biological material, some energy depositions occur and ionize directly deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules, the critical target. A classical paradigm in radiobiology is that the deposition of energy in the cell nucleus and the resulting damage to DNA are responsible for the detrimental biological effects of radiation. It is presumed that no radiation effect would be expected in cells that receive no direct radiation exposure through nucleus. The risks of exposure to low dose ionizing radiation are estimated by extrapolating from data obtained after exposure to high dose radiation. However, the validity of using this dose-response model is controversial because evidence accumulated over the past decade has indicated that living organisms, including humans, respond differently to low dose radiation than they do to high dose radiation. Moreover, recent experimental evidences from many laboratories reveal the fact that radiation effects also occur in cells that were not exposed to radiation and in the progeny of irradiated cells at delayed times after radiation exposure where cells do not encounter direct DNA damage. Recently, the classical paradigm in radiobiology has been shifted from the nucleus, specifically the DNA, as the principal target for the biological effects of radiation to cells. The universality of target theory has been challenged by phenomena of radiation-induced genomic instability, bystander effect and adaptive response. The new radiation biology paradigm would cover both targeted and non-targeted effects of ionizing radiation. The mechanisms underlying these responses involve biochemical/molecular signals that respond to targeted and non-targeted events. These results brought in understanding that the biological response to low dose radiation at tissue or organism level is a complex process of integrated response of cellular targets as well as extra-cellular factors. Biological understanding of the effects of radiation can be used to improve the assessment of low dose radiation risk. In this article, the mechanisms of targeted and non-targeted responses, and interrelation between the phenomena on cellular injury after exposure to low doses of radiation as they relate to low dose radiation effects will be reviewed. Received:14 October 2014; Revised:1 April 2015; Accepted: 14 April 201
Preliminary Neutronic Design of High Burnup OTTO Cycle Pebble Bed Reactor
Get PDFThe pebble bed type High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) is among the interesting nuclear reactor designs in terms of safety and flexibility for co-generation applications. In addition, the strong inherent safety characteristics of the pebble bed reactor (PBR) which is based on natural mechanisms improve the simplicity of the PBR design, in particular for the Once-Through-Then-Out (OTTO) cycle PBR design. One of the important challenges of the OTTO cycle PBR design, and nuclear reactor design in general, is improving the nuclear fuel utilization which is shown by attaining a higher burnup value. This study performed a preliminary neutronic design study of a 200 MWt OTTO cycle PBR with high burnup while fulfilling the safety criteria of the PBR design.The safety criteria of the design was represented by the per-fuel-pebble maximum power generation of 4.5 kW/pebble. The maximum burnup value was also limited by the tested maximum burnup value which maintained the integrity of the pebble fuel. Parametric surveys were performed to obtain the optimized parameters used in this study, which are the fuel enrichment, per-pebble heavy metal (HM) loading, and the average axial speed of the fuel. An optimum design with burnup value of 131.1 MWd/Kg-HM was achieved in this study which is much higher compare to the burnup of the reference design HTR-MODUL and a previously proposed OTTO-cycle PBR design. This optimum design uses 17% U-235 enrichment with 4 g HM-loading per fuel pebble.Received: 04 October 2014; Revised: 26 February 2015; Accepted: 27 February 201
Development of TRIGA Fuel Fabrication by Powder Technique
Get PDFThe prospect of operation of the Indonesian TRIGA reactors may be jeopardizes in the future due to the lack of fuel and control rods. Both fuel and control rods may not longer be imported and should be developed domestically. The most specific technology to fabricate TRIGA fuel rod is the production of UZrH1.6 pellet. The steps include converting the massive U metal into powder in by hydriding-dehydriding technique and mixing the U and Zr powders. A research has been planned to conducted by the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) in Indonesia. Fixed amount of U-Zr mixed powders at the ratio of U/Zr = 10 wt% was pressed into a pellet with a diameter of 1.41 in and a thickness of 1 or 1.5 in, sintered at a temperature of 1200oC, followed by hydriding at 800oC to obtained UZrH1.6. The pellets, cladding, and other components were then fabricated into a fuel rod. A detailed discussion of the TRIGA fuel fabrication is presented in the paper. Received: 22 October 2014; Revised: 29 December 2014; Accepted: 31 December 201
Terrestrial Gamma Radiation Exposure in Bangka-Belitung Islands, Indonesia
Get PDFBangka-Belitung is known as tin producer and it geologically contains higher concentrations of natural radionuclides than most other areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of terrestrial gamma radiation in Bangka-Belitung Islands. The external gamma radiation dose rate from terrestrial gamma-rays have been measured at one meter above the ground by means of a portable gamma spectrometer at 66 survey points. The terrestrial gamma dose rates in Bangka island range from 43.67 to 511.54 nGy h-1 with a mean of 183.45 nGy h-1, while in Belitung island they range from 15.54 to 416.39 nGy h-1 with a mean of 132.60 nGy h-1. From this work, a strong correlation was found between dose rates found from in-situ radiation measurements and dose rates calculated theoretically from radioactivity contents of the soil at the same locations. Generally, Bangka-Belitung islands have higher outdoor natural gamma dose rates than the world average value of 0.058 μGy h-1 for the regions with normal background radiation specified by United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).Received: 27 August 2014; Revised: 05 March 2015; Accepted: 30 March 201