Misplaced Pages

#993006

53-584: SCK may refer to: Institutions [ edit ] SCK•CEN : The Belgian nuclear research institute Supreme Court of Korea : Highest ordinary court in South Korea IATA airport code for the Stockton Metropolitan Airport Others [ edit ] Seeclub Kuesnacht Serial Clock of a digital electronics device, see Clock signal Topics referred to by

106-429: A 121.1 metres tall guyed mast. Throughout its more than 60 years of research experience in the field of peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology, SCK CEN has also conducted education and training ( ACA ). The ACA activities at SCK CEN cover a. o. reactor physics, reactor operation, reactor engineering, radiation protection, decommissioning, and waste management. Next to courses, SCK CEN also offers students

159-452: A company, or can be out-sourced to a contract research organization, universities , or state agencies. In the context of commerce , "research and development" normally refers to future-oriented, longer-term activities in science or technology , using similar techniques to scientific research but directed toward desired outcomes and with broad forecasts of commercial yield. Statistics on organizations devoted to "R&D" may express

212-424: A number that would remain about the same over the next decades. In 1970 SCK CEN widened its field of activities outside the nuclear sector, but the emphasis remained on nuclear research. In 1991 SCK CEN was split and a new institute, VITO (Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek; Flemish institute for technological research), took over the non-nuclear activities. SCK CEN currently has about 850 employees. In

265-454: A prototype for the reactors in Doel and Tihange . It was taken into service in 1962 and permanently shut down in 1987. Decommissioning started in 2002. The European Commission selected BR3 as a pilot project to show the technical and economic feasibility of the dismantling of a reactor under real conditions. The research reactor VENUS, which stands for Vulcan Experimental Nuclear Study

318-453: A similar incident had already occurred at SCK CEN in 2019. These two incidents were related to a lack of safety culture from the licensee leading to inappropriate operations. The Centres research activities are concentrated into the following main tracks. In 1980, SCK CEN started the construction of an Underground Research Laboratory (URL) at 223 m below the ground level to study the feasibility of geological disposal in deep clay layers in

371-548: A very small volume (~ 1m ). One reports that its very compact core architecture was quickly drawn on a beer mat during a discussion between nuclear physicists in a bar in New York during a very creative night at the end of the 1950s, or beginning 1960. At the demand of the US authorities, its nuclear fuel is presently based on low-enriched uranium (LEU) to minimize the risk of nuclear proliferation . Its thermal power (100 MW)

424-445: A way of amortizing the high overhead. They often reuse advanced manufacturing processes, expensive safety certifications, specialized embedded software, computer-aided design software, electronic designs and mechanical subsystems. Research from 2000 has shown that firms with a persistent R&D strategy outperform those with an irregular or no R&D investment program. Research and development are very difficult to manage, since

477-400: Is a materials testing reactor . It is a high-flux reactor (~ 10 neutron・cm ・s ) in which neutrons are moderated by a beryllium matrix and cooled by light water pumped at low pressure (12-15 bar). Its core is very compact due to the particular shape of its beryllium matrix ( paraboloid of revolution) allowing to install the fuel rods , the control rods , and the experiments in

530-406: Is a " zero power reactor": it has a power consumption of only 500 Watt. MYRRHA is a design of a Multi-purpose HYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications . MYRRHA is the world's first research reactor driven by a particle accelerator. After a leak in the hot cell of BR2 reactor, selenium-75 was released in the atmosphere on 15 May 2019. The event was classified by FANC at the level 1 of

583-544: Is almost negligible. The effective dose of all atmospheric discharges and all exposure routes of the SCK CEN installations amounts to a maximum of 2 micro Sv (μSv) per year. This is therefore 1/50 of the limit of 100 micro Sv per year for the whole nuclear site and 500 times less than the effective dose of natural exposure in the Kempen. Research and development Although R&D activities may differ across businesses,

SECTION 10

#1732794594994

636-660: Is appealing to bidders because they could gain technologies from acquisition targets. Therefore, firms may gain R&;D profit that co-moves with takeover waves, causing risks to the company which engages in R&D activity. Global R&D management is the discipline of designing and leading R&D processes globally, across cultural and lingual settings, and the transfer of knowledge across international corporate networks. Former President Barack Obama requested $ 147.696 billion for research and development in FY 2012, 21% of which

689-810: Is called " R&D intensity ". A high technology company, such as a computer manufacturer, might spend 7% or a pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co. 14.1% or Novartis 15.1%. Anything over 15% is remarkable, and usually gains a reputation for being a high technology company such as engineering company Ericsson 24.9%, or biotech company Allergan , which tops the spending table with 43.4% investment. Such companies are often seen as credit risks because their spending ratios are so unusual. Generally such firms prosper only in markets whose customers have extreme high technology needs, like certain prescription drugs or special chemicals, scientific instruments , and safety-critical systems in medicine, aeronautics or military weapons . The extreme needs justify

742-684: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages SCK%E2%80%A2CEN SCK CEN (the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre ), until 2020 shortened as SCK•CEN , is the Belgian nuclear research centre located in Mol, Belgium . SCK CEN is a global leader in the field of nuclear research, services, and education. SCK CEN was founded in 1952 and originally named Studiecentrum voor de Toepassingen van de Kernenergie ( Research Centre for

795-472: Is dissipated in the environment by water heated at modest temperature (40-48 °C). This research reactor is also used for the production of medical radio-isotopes . The BR2 research reactor produces on an annual basis more than 25% of the worldwide demand for molybdenum-99 and in peak periods even up to 65%. The Belgian Reactor 3 was the first pressurised water reactor (PWR) in Europe. The reactor served as

848-483: Is followed by textiles (19%), digital (18%), and aerospace (15%). Other sectors allocate less than 10% of their total investment to R&D. While 17% of the world’s top R&D investors are based in the European Union, they accounted for only 1% of acquisitions involving EU-based companies between 2013 and 2023. In 2015, research and development constituted an average 2.2% of the global GDP according to

901-641: Is lower than the EU average of 18%. In 2022, 67% of enterprises in the same region deployed at least one sophisticated digital technology, and 69% EU firms did the same. As of 2023, European enterprises account for 18% of the world's top 2 500 R&D corporations, but just 10% of new entrants, compared to 45% in the United States and 32% in China. As of 2024, the electronics sector leads in R&D investment, with 28% of its total investment dedicated to it. This

954-447: Is often a crucial factor in the survival of a company. In a global industrial landscape that is changing fast, firms must continually revise their design and range of products. This is necessary as well due to the fierce competition and the evolving preferences of consumers. Without an R&D program, a firm must rely on strategic alliances , acquisitions , and networks to tap into the innovations of others. A system driven by marketing

1007-440: Is on average exposed to a dose of 4 millisieverts. Almost half of this comes from medical applications. This - like the exposure from natural background radiation - has not been taken into account. However, this represents a much larger dose burden for most critical members of the surrounding population. The doses from discharges from nuclear installations are so small that the dose burden - compared to natural and medical exposure -

1060-435: Is one that puts the customer needs first, and produces goods that are known to sell. Market research is carried out, which establishes the needs of consumers and the potential niche market of a new product. If the development is technology driven, R&D is directed toward developing products to meet the unmet needs. In general, research and development activities are conducted by specialized units or centers belonging to

1113-473: Is the first research reactor to have been built and commissioned in Belgium . This natural uranium air-cooled graphite - moderated reactor was commissioned in 1956. Its maximal thermal power is 4 MW, but it is presently only operated at 700 kW. Its natural uranium inventory could allow the reactor to run without refueling during several centuries (~ 300 years). At first, this research reactor

SECTION 20

#1732794594994

1166-572: The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine in 2020. Research is performed to improve the knowledge, understanding, and numerical simulation of the behaviour of materials under irradiation, and from there on predicting their performance. The aim is to develop, assess and validate new materials such as nuclear fuel, construction materials, and radioisotopes to be used in nuclear applications. Extensive contributions are made to extend

1219-451: The Europe 2020 strategy which will run from 2014 to 2020, a multidisciplinary effort to provide safe, economically feasible, environmentally sound and socially acceptable solutions along the entire value chain of human activities. Firms that have embraced advanced digital technology devote a greater proportion of their investment efforts to R&D. Firms who engaged in digitisation during

1272-628: The Office of Chief Scientist In the 1980s to 1992, the Chief scientist of Israel significantly expanded R&D subsidies in the Israeli industrial sector. Israel invested in the creation of clusters of startups in the high-tech sector as well as venture capital investments. In 1993, Israel initiated the Yozma program , which led to the doubling of value of Israel's 10 new venture capital funds in 3 years. In

1325-626: The UNESCO Institute for Statistics . By 2018, research and development constituted an average 1.79% of the global GDP according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics . Countries agreed in 2015 to monitor their progress in raising research intensity (SDG 9.5.1), as well as researcher density (SDG 9.5.2), as part of their commitment to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, this undertaking has not spurred an increase in reporting of data. On

1378-855: The 1980s, SCK CEN employees were bribed to receive and store high-level nuclear waste from the West German firm Transnuklear . In 2017, the International Atomic Energy Agency designated SCK CEN as one of the four International Centres based on Research Reactor (ICERR) . SCK CEN is a foundation of public utility with a legal status according to private law, under the guidance of the Belgian Federal Ministry in charge of energy. SCK CEN has more than 800 employees and an annual budget of €180 million. The organization receives 25% of its funding directly from government grants, 5% indirectly via activities for

1431-534: The Applications of Nuclear Energy ), abbreviated to STK . Land was bought in the municipality of Mol , and over the next years many technical, administrative, medical, and residential buildings were constructed on the site. From 1956 to 1964 four nuclear research reactors became operational: the BR 1, BR 2, BR 3, the first pressurized water reactor in Europe, and VENUS. In 1963 SCK CEN already employed 1600 people,

1484-559: The BR2 reactor was insufficiently measured on January 27, 2021, because two of the three measuring chains were not functioning in accordance with the regulations and the third was defective. Since the installation had two independent sets of three measuring chains, any power variations could still be detected. FANC has classified this incident at level 2 on the INES scale , not only because the operating conditions were not respected, but also because

1537-576: The Boom Clay Formation at the Mol site. The underground laboratory was given the name HADES , god of the underworld in the Greek mythology . HADES is an acronym meaning: High Activity Disposal Experimental Site. Here, for more than 45 years, scientists perform research on the geomechanical, geochemical, mineralogical and microbiological characteristics of Boom Clay and on the interactions between

1590-577: The Sciensano researchers also indicate - cannot establish a causal link between the occurrence of cancer cases and the proximity of the Mol-Dessel site. Additional information on the Nucabel 2 study: The Sciensano study was a descriptive epidemiological study in which no attention was paid to: After further questioning SCK CEN on points 1 and 2, the following emerged: Every year, a Belgian

1643-467: The clay and the candidate materials for the waste packages. The underground laboratory HADES is now operated by the ESV EURIDICE, an economic partnership between SCK CEN and NIRAS . Since 2018, SCK CEN has commissioned a Snow White (JL-900) Early Warning System . This installation aspirates 900 m of air per hour across filters. These filters are replaced and analysed on a weekly basis. Because

SCK - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-411: The defining feature of research is that the researchers do not know in advance exactly how to accomplish the desired result. As a result, "higher R&D spending does not guarantee more creativity, higher profit or a greater market share". Research is the most risky financing area because both the development of an invention and its successful realization carries uncertainty including the profitability of

1749-471: The dismantling of declassified installations and 70% from contract work and services. Since 1991, the organization's statutory mission gives priority to research on problems of societal concern: To these domains, SCK CEN contributes with research and development , training, communication, and services. This is done with a view to sustainable development, and hence taking into account environmental, economical and social factors. The Belgian Reactor 1 (BR1)

1802-489: The field of a.o. radiobiology and -ecology, environmental chemistry, decommissioning, radioactive waste management and disposal, SCK CEN also delivers high-quality measurement services such as radiation dosimetry, calibration, and spectrometry. Policy support, decision making, and research on the integration of social aspects into nuclear research contribute to meet complex problems related to radiation protection and energy policy. The facility has for meteorological measurements

1855-445: The high risk of failure and consequently high gross margins from 60% to 90% of revenues. That is, gross profits will be as much as 90% of the sales cost, with manufacturing costing only 10% of the product price, because so many individual projects yield no exploitable product. Most industrial companies get 40% revenues only. On a technical level, high tech organizations explore ways to re-purpose and repackage advanced technologies as

1908-640: The international nuclear and radiological events scale ( INES scale ). Se (half-life = 119.8 days) was detected at low concentrations on aerosol filters from several air monitoring stations belonging to IRSN (Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, France), in the Lille area and in the northwestern part of France . IRSN also performed an atmospheric dispersion modeling analysis. The dose assessment showed very low exposure levels (< 1 microsievert) without concern for public health in France. The power of

1961-782: The invention. One way entrepreneurs can reduce these uncertainties is to buy the licence for a franchise, so that the know-how is already incorporated in the licence. In general, it has been found that there is a positive correlation between the research and development and firm productivity across all sectors, but that this positive correlation is much stronger in high-tech firms than in low-tech firms. In research done by Francesco Crespi and Cristiano Antonelli, high-tech firms were found to have "virtuous" Matthew effects while low-tech firms experienced "vicious" Matthew effects, meaning that high-tech firms were awarded subsidies on merit while low-tech firms most often were given subsidies based on name recognition, even if not put to good use. While

2014-507: The late 1990s, Israel was second only to the US in private equity as a share of the general economy. The high tech sector in Israel, known as Silicon Wadi , which earned Israel the nickname - Start-up Nation , was ranked the 4th leading startup ecosystem in the world by Startup genome with a value of $ 253billion in 2023. Europe is lagging behind in R&D investments from the past two decades. The target of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP)

2067-478: The pandemic report spending a big portion of their expenditure in 2020 on software, data, IT infrastructure, and website operations. A 2021/2022 survey found that one in every seven enterprises in the Central, Eastern and South Eastern regions (14%) may be classed as active innovators — that is, firms that spent heavily in research and development and developed a new product, process, or service — however this figure

2120-403: The possibility to perform their research work at our laboratories and research reactors. Final-year students and Ph.D. candidates can enter a programme outlined together with a SCK CEN mentor and in close collaboration with a university promotor. Post-docs are mainly recruited in specialised research domains that reflect the priority programmes and R&D topics of our institute. The Atoomwijk

2173-405: The possible health risks, mainly cancer, for people living in the vicinity of Belgian nuclear sites. The results of Nucabel 2 state that the incidence in the close vicinity (< 5 km) of the Mol - Dessel nuclear site is 3 times higher than the rest of Belgium. The results are statistically significant. Nevertheless, the number of observed cases remains low. However, the results of this study - as

SCK - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-456: The present Belgian expertise in the field of developments related to GEN IV reactor systems and ITER . In co-operation with the industry and international research teams, R&D efforts are made to develop and test innovative reactor technologies and instrumentation. This will contribute to the construction of an experimental fast spectrum installation (MYRRHA), allowing a.o. transmutation processes to be performed. Next to specialised R&D in

2279-457: The primary goal of an R&D department is to develop new products and services. R&D differs from the vast majority of corporate activities in that it is not intended to yield immediate profit, and generally carries greater risk and an uncertain return on investment . R&D is crucial for acquiring larger shares of the market through new products. R&D&I represents R&D with innovation. New product design and development

2332-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title SCK . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SCK&oldid=1189321498 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

2385-433: The state of an industry , the degree of competition or the lure of progress . Some common measures include: budgets , numbers of patents or on rates of peer-reviewed publications . Bank ratios are one of the best measures, because they are continuously maintained, public and reflect risk. In the United States, a typical ratio of research and development for an industrial company is about 3.5% of revenues; this measure

2438-490: The strength of the correlation between R&D spending and productivity in low-tech industries is less than in high-tech industries, studies have been done showing non-trivial carryover effects to other parts of the marketplace by low-tech R&D. Business R&D is risky for at least two reasons. The first source of risks comes from R&D nature, where R&D project could fail without residual values. The second source of risks comes from takeover risks, which means R&D

2491-425: The system sucks up large quantities of air, SCK CEN can detect very low concentrations of radioactivity in the airborne dust. In this way, radioactive emissions, even when originating from abroad, do not remain unnoticed. Detection of low concentrations may indicate an abnormal emission, such as a hidden leak, or signal a nuclear incident. Snow White successfully detected airborne Cs-137 released during forest fires in

2544-683: Was built to accommodate the employees. When the Flemish Institute for Technological Research was set up, a number of apartments were transferred, but the majority of the district is still owned by the study center. In addition to housing, the district also consists of sports infrastructure. On behalf of the Belgian Ministry of Social Affairs and Public Health, Sciensano conducted the Nucabel 2 study from 9 January 2017 to 30 June 2020. This national epidemiological study focuses on

2597-533: Was commissioned in 1964. VENUS is used as an experimental installation for nuclear reactor physics studies of new reactor systems and for testing reactor calculations. The installation was re-built and modernised several times. As part of the GUINEVERE project, SCK CEN decided to re-build the VENUS reactor into a scale model of Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS). The particle accelerator was first connected in 2011. VENUS

2650-477: Was destined to fund basic research. According to National Science Foundation in U.S., in 2015, R&D expenditures performed by federal government and local governments are 54 and 0.6 billions of dollars. The federal research and development budget for fiscal year 2020 was $ 156 billion, 41.4% of which was for the Department of Defense ( DOD ). DOD's total research, development, test, and evaluation budget

2703-475: Was meant to be reached by 2020, but the current amount is below this target. This also causes a digital divide among countries since only a few EU Member States have R&D spending. Research and innovation in Europe are financially supported by the programme Horizon 2020 , which is open to participation worldwide. A notable example is the European environmental research and innovation policy , based on

SECTION 50

#1732794594994

2756-508: Was roughly $ 108.5 billion. Israel is the world leader in spending on R&D as a percentage of GDP as of 2022, spending 6.02%. According to CSIS, During the 1970s and 1980s Israel initially built up Israel's research infrastructure through various programs, often in the defence industry. In 1984, a law for Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry encouraged the commercial sector to invest in R&D in Israel as well as empowered

2809-439: Was used primarily for research into reactor and neutron physics, for neutron activation analysis , and for a minor production of radionuclides . Now, it is being used for the irradiation of components, the calibration of measuring instruments, and for performing analyses and training nuclear students. BR1 operates by order of other research centres, universities and the industry. Commissioned in 1962 , The Belgian Reactor 2 (BR2)

#993006