JRC at AAAS 2010

At the AAAS Annual meeting 2010, the JRC is organising the following nine scientific sessions:

• Working together for the public: challenges for verification of nuclear activities
• Smart and secure transmission grids to realise the US and EU renewable potentials
• Scientific rationality and policymaking: making their marriage work
• Food allergies: the enemy within
• Nuclear waste management: from public perception to industrial reality
• Applying biogenomics to ecology: from the molecular to the ecosystem level
• Privacy in a new global context: trapped between culture, laws and technology
• Protecting the consumer - can 'omics keep the promise?
• Progress in the use of Earth observation for fighting hunger

Working together for the public: challenges for verification of nuclear activities

The role of nuclear safeguards has evolved from the simple verification of the correctness of a state’s declaration, to the more complex challenge of ensuring that non proliferation controls are respected. The advanced safeguards system plays a central role in areas of technology transfer for peaceful purposes. What technology transfers and expertise have taken place? What cutting-edge scientific techniques have been developed? And how have they actually enhanced international safeguards?

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Press release

• Nuclear verification: helping to find a needle in a hay stack

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• The Role of the Nuclear Watchdog: A Responsibility for Monitoring Nuclear Safeguards – Diane M. Fischer, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
• How To Find the Needle in a Hay Stack: Tracing the History of a Nuclear Installation – Klaus Lützenkirchen, JRC Institute for Transuranium Elements, Karlsruhe, Germany

Related links:

• Nuclear Safeguards R&D at JRC-ITU
• Nuclear security at JRC-IPSC

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Smart and secure transmission grids to realise the US and EU renewable potentials

Today, the attention on electricity transmission grids – the backbones of the United States’ and European Union’s economies – is higher than ever. These networks are getting older, are confronted with complex market liberalization processes and have to host increasing amounts of renewable energy sources. How much can power grids be stretched to integrate larger proportions of renewable energy? What really is a “smart” transmission grid? To what extent do the electricity systems require upgrade and restructuring to move towards smartgrid concepts? Which new technologies are available to revamp the power grid?

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Press release

• Smart electricity transmission systems needed to achieve the full potential of renewable energies

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• A Smart U.S. Power Grid for a Reliable and Sustainable Service – Pei Zhang, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA
• Climate Change Drivers for a Single and Smart E.U. Grid – Keith Bell, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
• U.S. and E.U. Power Grids: Comparable Challenges and Solutions – Michele de Nigris, IEA Implementing Agreement on networks (ENARD), Milan, Italy
• Smart and Secure Transmission Grids To Realize US and EU Renewable Energy Potentials – Fulli Gianluca, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy

Related links:

• REALISEGRID Report on methods for transmission planning and for grid connection of wind power plants in Europe
• European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan)
• Information about the EPRI research program on grid code requirements and wind plant Interconnection issues

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Scientific rationality and policymaking: making their marriage work

The way scientific analytical approaches inform policy-making may affect the depth and scope of policies, their design, and implications. A clearer understanding of this relationship can help explain what science can and what it cannot be expected to do. Overall, a closer, more mature rapport between scientific rationality and policy-making, though desirable, is not automatically obtainable, and like any relationship, it takes a lot of work.

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• Growth-Driving Science and Technology as a Deus-Ex-Machina for Policymaking – David Ulph, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom

Related links:

• High-level American and European delegations meet at JRC Ispra at science for policy workshop
• JRC annual lecture 2009 about science cooperation

Food allergies: The enemy within

Incidences of food allergies appear to be increasing, and some argue that consumer fear and avoidance of certain foodstuffs may actually contribute to this increase. The symposium’s scope will range from suitable analytical methodology for the detection of allergen traces to policy requirements, health issues, and communication.

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Press release

• Food allergies: the enemy within

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• Protecting the Consumer: Allergen Exposure Risks and the Food Label – Stefano Luccioli, FDA, Office of Food Additive Safety, CFSAN, College Park, MD
• Taking on Food Allergies: A Cure Within Our Grasp? – Andrew Clark, National Health Service Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Detecting Food Allergens: The Best Analytical Tools for the Job – Krzysztof Maruszewski, JRC Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements

Related links:

• Food allergies
• Allergy research

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Nuclear waste management: from public perception to industrial reality

Each year the world’s nuclear power reactors create enough spent fuel to fill a football field to a depth of 1.5 meters, with a weight of about 10,500 tons. The spent fuel is thermally hot and can stay radioactive for thousands of years. After irradiation in the power reactors, the fuel assemblies are typically stored in water pools or in dry casks on site at the nuclear reactors for many years. High level waste disposal is viewed by many as nuclear power’s Achilles heel, and some people are even convinced it constitutes an insoluble problem.

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Press release

• Strategic cooperation sets the scene for geological disposal of nuclear waste in Europe

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• Waste Management Options in Europe – Roland Schenkel, European Commission, Joint Research Center, Brussels, Belgium
• Deep Geological Disposal of Nuclear Aaste in the Swedish Crystalline Bedrock – Claes Thegerström, Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB, Stockholm, Sweden
• The Way Forward in the US: Nuclear Waste Management – Allison Macfarlane, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Related links:

• Vision document of the IGD TP
• Sixth situation report on radioactive waste and spent fuel management in the EU
• IAEA's sitting of geological disposal facilities safety series No. 111-G4.1 (1994)
• IAEA's Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste Safety Requirements
  IAEA Safety Standards Series No. WS-R-4 (2006)
• European Commission's Joint Research Centre report on "Geological disposal of radioactive waste: moving towards implementation"

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Applying biogenomics to ecology: from the molecular to the ecosystem level

Over the past few years molecular biology techniques have revolutionized ecological research. The availability of simple and inexpensive ways to genetically characterize individuals and species has allowed us to quantify genetic diversity, track the movement of individuals, and characterize new species. The panel will meet the need in thoroughly explaining the role of molecular biology applied to environmental studies, and especially taking on board future perspectives in this field. The session will be divided into three parts: Molecular Biology and its Environmental Applications; Scientific Achievements in Molecular Ecotoxicology; and Looking into the Future.

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• Challenges and Successes of Molecular Biology over the Past 30 Years – Teresa Lettieri, JRC Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy

Related links:

• JRC-IHCP activity: Molecular Biology and Genomics Unit

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Privacy in a new global context: trapped between culture, laws and technology

The symposium will show European, US American and Chinese approaches and explain how privacy, information security and data control are linked from different cultural backgrounds, why and to what extent international laws have excavated privacy concepts already and what new risks are hidden in the globally interconnected information infrastructure. The symposium will also present results on interdependencies between the disciplines and point out areas with the most urgent need for research.

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• Socrates Was Wrong: How Far Is Privacy on the Decline? – Stephan Lechner, JRC Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, Ispra, Italy
• When Law Meets Technology: Interdisciplinary Privacy Aspects – Claudia Cevenini, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
• Breach Disclosure Laws Contribution to Data Protection and Security – Deirdre K. Mulligan, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
• Privacy in Real Life: Many Don't Care, Some Guess, and Only Few Know – Sead Muftic, Royal Technical University, Stockholm, Sweden

Protecting the consumer - can 'omics keep the promise?

The majority of current toxicological testing methods are decades old and rely almost exclusively on using animals. Recent breakthroughs in biological sciences and bio-analytical techniques have brought the promise of significantly improved product safety assessment without crossing ethical boundaries. This symposium will investigate how the latest scientific methods can be exploited to satisfy the zero-tolerance attitude consumers are adopting when it comes to product safety.

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• The Role of Genomics in Mode-of-Action Based Risk Assessment – Ivan Rusyn, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
• Mathematical Models for Analyzing Genomic Data Sets: From Equations to Diagnosis – Knut Reinert, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Getting More from Your Cell: High-Tech Approaches for In Vitro Testing – Maurice Whelan, JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, Ispra, Italy

Related links:

• See the JRC press release "International scientific agreement on validation of alternatives to animal testing"
• ECVAM

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Progress in the use of Earth observation for fighting hunger

The power of satellite imagery derived information for alleviating food insecurity is well known. However, while the remote sensing research community is one of the most prolific in producing high level scientific outputs, when it comes to implementing and running operational systems and providing decision makers with reliable and clear information only few organizations worldwide can provide continuous and standard services. For these reasons it appears of high interest to provide an overview of the systems which are daily faced with the challenge of translating science into action.

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Press release

• Where will the next food crisis strike and how to face it? Extended geographical monitoring and a common classification will facilitate the response

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• Crop Monitoring for Food Security from Space: Challenges, Progress, and Limitations – Felix Rembold, JRC Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, Ispra, Italy
• How Does Earth Observation Support Decision-Making for Food Security? – Luca Alinovi, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy
• Extended Satellite Crop Monitoring in Response to the Global Food Crisis – James Verdin, U.S. Geological Survey, Sioux Falls, SD

Related links:

• Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)
• Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)
• JRC activities in the area of food security

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