CEA News Dismantling

France in ActionThe Power is on between Alstom and INES

Science in MotionHESS-II, the Worlds Largest Gamma Telescope

People and eventsFlashback to ATALANTE 2012

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the Dismantling of nuclear facilities

Embedded Systems for Cars Innovation

ceanews from research to industry / Winter 2012

news #23

2ceanews n 23 / winter 2012

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France in Action - A New Industrial Partner for CEA-CCRT- High-Tech for Cell Characterization- The Power is on between Alstom

and INES

Embedded Systems for Cars InnovationCalling on Players at the National and International Levels

Clusters to Foster InnovationCEA-List at the ForefrontToward a New Range of Embedded Applications?

Spotlight on

Science in motion

CEA News is edited by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission - Communication Division - Headquarters - 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex France - www.cea.fr - [email protected] CEA News is a synthesis of articles and press releases published by CEA - Publication Director: Xavier Clment.Contributors to this edition: Patrick Cappe de Baillon, Xavier Clment, Aude Ganier, Daniel Iracane, Florence Klotz, Elisabeth de Lavergne, Lucia Le Clech, Frdric Mondoloni, Jean-Franois Mousseigne, Brigitte Raffray, Annabelle Rondaud.Translation: Audrey Navon-GrossCover : Dome of the Silo experimental reactor on the CEA Grenoble center, which walls have been cleaned-up and controlled by CEA teams and Nuclear Safety Authorities.Credits: P.Avavian: p.4 bas p.23 - P.Dumas p.9 p.17 - JP. Ebran p.18 - D.Gmignani: p.10 bas - L.Godart: p.3 p.21 - A.Gonin: p.12 - PF.Grosjean: p.5 - G.Lesnchal: p.30 - P.Stroppa: p.4 haut et milieu p.13 p.15 - F.Vigouroux: p.11 p.24

The Dismantling of Nuclear Facilities Research Comes out in Support Passage Project A Dismantling Success Story in GrenobleDealing with the past, preparing the future at the Fontenay-aux-Roses center

- HESS-II, the Worlds Largest Gamma Telescope, Sees First Light

- CEA Grenoble at the Heart of Star Observation

- The Atomic Nucleus: Fissile Liquid or Molecule of Life?

- Something New Under the Sun- Spin Current Magnetizes Germanium- 3D Architecture: From Image

to Information

- Ultra-High Speed Connection for Self-Testing and Self-Powering Device

- Autofocus for Smartphones A Well-Oiled Device

- JHR: Construction of a Nuclear Reactor

- En Route for a New Generation of Elecrtric Vehicles

- The Fight against Pan-Resistant Bacteria Has Begun

- Immediate Detection of Bacteria Lurking in Your Fridge

- Hydrating Polymers- The Banana Genome Finally

Sequenced- The Cerebral Stigma of Converted

Left-Handers- A Well-Measured Pregnancy- Micro-Needles for Painless Injections

Personal fulfillment- An Award and a Book for Denis

Le Bihan, Director of NeuroSpin- A Booklet on Education and Training

in France- Institute for Fuel Studies

People and events - Flashback to ATALANTE 2012- European Nuclear Conference 2012- International Sci-Fi Festival

Les Utopiales

International Cooperation - High Level Forum GIANT 2012- CEA in the three KICs of EIT- G8 Global Partnership (G8GP): CEA at the Core of the Fight

Against WMD Proliferation- CEA at IAEA Annual Conference- Mission: the Simultaneous Detection of Biothreat Agents- Weighing Molecules, One at a Time


Inthewordsof

/Frederic Mondoloni CEA Director of International Affairs and Governor for France to IAEA

Like all countries generating part of their power from nuclear reactors, France is seeking to optimize its energy mix. The French Government in place since May 2012 reaffirms Frances faith in its nuclear technology and industry.

Our country will continue to develop and modernize its nuclear power plants on its soil and nuclear power will maintain a major position in France's energy mix. The two oldest French reactors in Fessenheim will be shut down in late 2016 just as the EPR reactor of the Flamanville power plant in Normandy, on the French shore of the Channel, will be commissioned. France also reaffirms its strategy for the reprocessing of spent fuels and the recycling in French reactors of fissile materials extracted in the form of MOX fuel. France demands that recommendations with regards to nuclear safety produced by international workgroups set up after the accident in Fukushima, be implemented. It will continue to campaign, at international level, for the strengthening of international agreements on nuclear safety. Today, more than ever, we are convinced that with strengthened, concerted, coordinated and consistent policies on nuclear safety, nuclear energy will remain a viable solution in the long run. Because of their responsibilities towards their people and the international community, all countries that produce and use nuclear power as an energy source should be committed to this cause.

France decided to take up the challenge of reaching environmental excellence with an energy mix that produces few greenhouse gas emissions. A public consultation on energy transition will begin in February 2013 accross the whole country. Each citizen will be invited to contribute to the talks on how to optimize the French energy mix and to meet targeted objectives in terms of energy independence and security, environment and employment. At the heart of the debate: energy conservation and the rise of renewable energies. CEA is very involved in the development of new energy technologies. It is convinced of the strong potential of renewable energies. It is convinced that they will eventually become a viable and necessary alternative to fossil fuels and complement nuclear power. The public consultation in France will be followed by a review and, in autumn 2013, by promulgation of the law on energy transition.

At international level, Japan has announced it is considering giving up nuclear power by 2040. In the meantime, it confirmed the reprocessing of spent fuels and the resumption of the construction of three reactors. Of the fifty reactors gradually shutdown since the Fukushima accident, two have been restarted. The development of the third-generation reactor Atmea-1 within the framework of a French-Japanese partnership is also to continue. In China, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced shortly before the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China and the change in government, on October 24th 2012, the resumption of the construction of nuclear power plants. The program had been suspended after the nuclear accident in Fukushima. The resumption of works on the construction sites, at moderate speed for the five years to come, only applies to third-generation nuclear power plants.

France will continue the development of third-generation nuclear power plants for export. At the IAEA 56th General Conference last September, France reaffirmed its support to the development of nuclear trade with the highest levels of safety in nuclear installations. I trust and believe that France has a worldwide role to play in ensuring and promoting the development of a responsible and sustainable civilian nuclear industry.

France ReaffirmsitsFaith in the Future of Nuclear Power and its Commitment to Nuclear Energy

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france inaction

High-Tech for Cell CharacterizationResearch on infectious diseases, vaccines, and antiviral antibiotics can now count on a new, very high-tech instrument. The CyTOF Mass Cytometer, the first of its kind in Europe, was inaugurated on June 5th 2012 at the CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses center. The outcome of a partnership1 between CEA, Paris University and Bertin Pharma, the instrument combines mass spectrometry with flow cytometry.How is this revolutionary? The CyTOF Mass Cytometer will enable researchers to characterize cellular samples with ultra-fine precision (i.e., measurement of up to a hundred cell parameters as opposed to eighteen with traditional flow cytometers) and should enable the identification of new pathological biomarkers and treatments. A true breakthrough for researchers, CyTOF will be at the disposal of the national and international scientific and industrial community as a service offered by PharmImmune, a joint venture formed between CEA and Bertin Pharma.

1 The CyTOF project has been selected as an Equipex (High-level scientific equipment) project and was awarded 2.3 million in the framework of the French program on Investments for the Future.

A New Industrial Partner for CEA-CCRTValeo has joined the circle of industrial partners of the Research and Technology Computing Center (CCRT) at CEA Bruyres-le-Chtel, in the greater Paris area. Valeo will conduct computer simulations on CCRTs supercomputers. These simulations should contribute to the improvement of the performance, reliability and life expectancy of components for automotive thermal management systems.

The Power is on between Alstom and INESCEA-INES1 teams and Alstom pursue the same goal: "Developing advanced solutions for energy storage and for the integration of renewable energy parks into electric power transmission and distribution smart grids." From this common vision was recently born a joint R&D center in Chambry, France. The laboratory will directly benefit from the expertise of CEA-Liten2 in terms of solar applications and energy storage, and from the expertise of Alstom when it comes to power electronics, electric power conversion and the integration of control rooms into smart grids. The teams will also work on the possible use of direct-current applications for the development of smart cities projects.

1 INES: French National Institute for Solar Energy.2 Liten: Laboratory for Innovation of New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials.

ceanews n 23 / winter 2012

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international cooperation

The first High Level Forum was held on July 9th and 10th 2012 in Grenoble, southeastern France. By gathering the representatives of great international Science and Technology Centers, including organizer GIANT1, CEA has initiated a global reflection on world innovation. Genevive Fioraso, the French Minister of Research and Higher Education, opened the discussions.

Leading Innovation Ecosystems was the theme of the first High Level Forum focusing on the study of mechanisms to trigger global innovation. Discussions were organized around four topics: governance of innovation ecosystems, critical success factors of global innovation, industrial perspectives and economic policies in R&D. The interest of bringing together representatives from international Science and Technology Centers lies in their common vision: not only do the Centers all specialize in new information and communication technologies (NICT), renewable energies, and biotechnologies but they are also all in pursuit of the same goal: creating strong ties between science, technology and society. The forum was also the occasion to initiate regular multilateral discussions between the key players in innovation. The High Level Forum is to become an annual event and Caltech has offered to organize the second edition in California in 2013. This new

international roundtable on technological innovation will surely foster the development of fruitful partnerships and the mobility of researchers on all five continents.Science and Technology Centers represented at GIANT 2012 were: Brasilia Brazil Chicago/Argonne United States Dresden Germany Grenoble France Haifa/Technion Israel Harwell/Oxford United Kingdom Hsinchu Taiwan Karlsruhe Germany Lausanne Switzerland Montral Canada Pasadena United States Singapore

1GIANT: Grenoble Innovation for Advanced New Technologies. The Innovation campus for new information and communi-cation technologies, renewable energy, and biotechnologies gathers three universities and five research institutions, including CEA and industrial partners in Grenoble.

High Level Forum GIANT 2012


CEA in the three KICs of EITCEA contributes to the development of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) which aims at bringing together research, innovation and education. Three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the EIT are now operational: sustainable energy, climate, and communication technologies. These KICs gather universities, research organizations, public and private companies, financial institutions and local governments in sixteen locations. CEA, leading player in the set-up of the Energy and Climate KICs, is now a major player in the three KICs. It also contributes to France's reflection on the set-up of a Raw Material KIC in the framework of the next European Framework Program for Research and Development, Horizon 2020.

internationalG8 Global Partnership (G8GP): CEA at the Core of the Fight against WMD Proliferation

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internatonalcooperation

The 26th Plenary Meeting of the IAEA Contact Expert Group (CEG) for International Radioactive Waste Projects in the Russian Federation was held on 18-19 October 2012 in Paris, France. 75 participants from 12 countries, the NEA1 and the EBRD2 attended the meeting.

The Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (GP) has been launched 10 years ago at the G8 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada. The CEG members were gathered in Paris to review and evaluate the achievements of the G8GP and start planning its future. The GP aims at minimizing the risks of misuse of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical materials and technologies. At the Deauville Summit in 2011, G8 Leaders extended the Partnership beyond 2012, to a large-scale collaborative international initiative. The Partnership now encompasses more than 20 members.This major and complex challenge was dealt with in a particularly professional way, says Michael Washer, President of the CEG and Director of the Canadian Program.The GP has undertaken concrete actions, which the partners successively presented at the meeting: dismantling of nuclear submarines, safe and secure transportation of nuclear materials, upgrading of physical protection and security at nuclear facilities (most of which have been abandoned for almost 15 years),

preventing illicit nuclear trafficking, destructing chemical weapons stockpile, and last but not least, training of Russian personnel and redirection of former weapon scientists. The French contribution (nuclear and radiological security related programs), very successful in terms of efficiency and results, was welcomed by all partners.CEA is in charge of the French GPG8 Program on behalf of the French government. Our expertise in complex dismantling and global security has been widely-recognized. We have also called on the know-how of other French industrials and institutions such as AREVA or IRSN3.At some former naval bases in Russian Federation the initial situation was so bad that the relevant remediation projects can be considered as a case study in terms of dismantling and the radioactive waste management. The partnership is carried along by positive momentum, but a lot remains to be done because the environmental risk and the threat of misuse of some dangerous materials exist until those materials were eliminated or securely stored says Alexandre Gorbatchev, Director of the French G8GP.

1 NEA: OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.2 EBRD: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.3 IRSN: French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety.


/Initial state of the spent nuclear fuel storage at Gremikha the former

soviet naval base.

/The same storage area after the spent nuclear fuel has been removed

from Gremikha and reprocessed.

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international cooperation

Weighing Molecules, One at a TimeA team of researchers from Caltech1 and CEA-Leti2 has created the first-ever mechanical device capable of measuring the mass of a single molecule. The measurement is made thanks to nanodevices called NEMS (NanoElectroMechanical Systems) and enables the identification of particles or molecules in real time.In the more distant future, the new instrument could give biologists a view into the molecular machinery of a cell. The mass spectrometers traditionally used to identify particles and molecules do not enable the study of more massive particles like proteins or viruses. This new technology will eventually help doctors diagnose diseases and enable biologists to study viruses and bacteria and probe the molecular machinery of cells. "With the use of microelectronics processes, we are well on our way to creating such instruments," says Hughes Metras from CEA-Leti, transferred to Caltech in the framework of the collaboration. "This result demonstrates how the Alliance between CEA-Leti and Caltech, initiated in 2006, creates a favorable environment to carry out state-of-the-art experiments

with mass-produced devices," says Laurent Malier, Director of CEA-Leti. These devices, he says, "will enable commercial and industrial applications thanks to their low unit cost and process repeatability."

1 Caltech: California Institute of Technology. 2 Leti: Laboratory for Electronics and Information Technologies.

Mission: the Simultaneous Detection of Biothreat AgentsAn agreement on the French-German project Gefrease1 was signed in June 2012 between CEA, the Robert Koch Institute, Bertin Technologies and Bruker Daltonik.Gefrease, funded by ANR2 and coordinated by CEA-iBEB3, aims to develop a system capable of simultaneously detecting the three types of biothreat agents toxins, viruses and bacteria; currently these biothreat agents each require a different detection technology. The project will combine an on-site detection system and a confirmation from a laboratory using mass spectrometry, a technology that enables the analysis of all types of agents from a single sample.

1 Gefrease: GErman FRench Equipment for Analysis and Surveillance of biothreats in the Environment.2 ANR: French National Research Agency.3 iBEB: Institute of Environmental Biology and Biotechnology.


CEA at IAEA Annual ConferenceThe 56th IAEA General Conference convened in Vienna, Austria, in September 2012. The French Delegation, led by CEA Chairman Bernard Bigot, reminded the French commitments for responsible development of nuclear power and for the respect of the best safety, security and non-proliferation conditions. It also made a point of expressing its support to IAEA activities in terms of promotion of nuclear applications for development.Bernard Bigot and Yukiya Amano, IAEA's Director General, inaugurated the French stand, which presented its exhaustive offer in nuclear technology. The ceremony took place in the presence of the France's Governor to IAEA and Director of International Affairs at CEA, Frdric Mondoloni.

1 IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency.2 Team made out of eight partners: Afni (France International Nuclear Agency), Andra (French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management), AREVA, Assystem, CEA, EDF, I2EN (International Nuclear Energy Institute) and IRSN (Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety).

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Nuclear Energy

BioActif n 8 September 2011 Vah Ter Minassian Les Dfis du CEA n 165 November 2011 Michel Queruel Mensuel de Grenoble n 153 October 2011 and Mensuel de Grenoble n 154 November 2011Priscille Valentin Talents du CEA n 123 December 2010 and Talents du CEA n 131 March-April 2012 Web Actuality

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The Dismantling of Nuclear Facilities

Cleanup, dismantling, decommissioning

These three words mark the final stage of the life of a

nuclear facility. Once the objective is

attained, the name of the facility is forever removed

from the list of nuclear facilities regulated by

nuclear safety authorities. As a nuclear operator,

CEA is responsible for the dismantling of its own

nuclear facilities. It is a major player in

research and development of nuclear dismantling

technique and technology.


/The dismantled Laboratory for Analysis of Active Materials (Lama) at CEA Grenoble.

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When a nuclear facility comes to the end of its life, it is dismantled and cleaned-up. Dismantlement operations consist in disassembling the equipment and the auxiliary systems and removing all traces of radioactivity. Cleanup operations consist in removing most of residual radioactivity from the facilities by scrubbing, scabbling, or partially disassembling the building. The waste stored and produced by cleanup and dismantling operations must be conditioned and disposed of in special-purpose spent fuel repositories.

According to Philippe Guiberteau, director of Cleanup and Dismantling Operations at CEAs Nuclear Energy Division, Mastering all these operations is one of the biggest challenges for the nuclear industry. Each successful decommissioning is proof that we know how to manage the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle.As a nuclear operator, CEA is responsible for the dismantling of its facilities and its waste management. This responsibility is enshrined in French law under the Act on Nuclear Safety and Transparency of June 13th 2006 and the Act on Sustainable Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste of June 28th 2006. The acts are complemented by a number of specific regulations (e.g., on public enquiries), dismantling decrees, and the National Program on Radioactive Materials and Waste Management. CEAs specificity resides in the great variety of the facilities it operates hot laboratories, radioactive effluent and solid waste treatment stations, experimental reactors, critical mockups. For the last fifty years, research has been conducted and processes developed in these facilities, continuously contributing to the improvement of nuclear safety and energy production from civilian nuclear activities. Each cleanup and dismantling operation is a different scenario.CEAs strategy is in line with the recommendations of ASN1 and DSND2 the two safety authorities dedicated, respectively, to civilian and military nuclear activities. They recommend proceeding to the dismantling of facilities right after the end of their operational life in order to minimize the risks and to benefit from the expertise of the facilitys teams before they are scattered across other sites. Today, 21 of CEAs 43 civilian nuclear facilities are being dismantled. CEA identified 3 priorities: complete the dismantling of CEA Grenoble facilities in 2012, continue the fast-paced dismantling operations on the Fontenay-aux-Roses center, and dismantle the UP1 Fuel Reprocessing Plant in Marcoule. For the Grenoble and Fontenay-aux-Roses centers, the goal is to clear the space and make room for the development of CEA activities other than nuclear activities. Other projects have been added to this list, such as the dismantling of the Phnix reactor in Marcoule (which will start in 2013) and other dismantling projects in Cadarache and Saclay for which the decommissioning deadline set by the safety authorities and the government will have to be met. The cost of these operations amounts to several billion euros and is financed by dedicated funds set in an agreement signed between the French government and CEA.

1 ASN: French Nuclear Safety Authority.2 DSND: Nuclear Safety Delegation.

/ Tests of the Maestro robot on the remote-control platform.

Research Comes out in SupportCEA is also a major player in research on techniques and technologies for dismantling operations.Research conducted at CEA aims at improving working conditions, improving safety, and optimizing processes in order to keep the costs within set limits and to reduce waste. How can we improve dismantling? How can we make dismantling operations safer for workers? How can we optimize dismantling in order to produce as little waste as possible? All these questions are at the heart of the research conducted at the Nuclear Energy Division and with CEAs industrial partners.Concrete results so far: a foam that cleans up contaminated steel and considerably reduces waste radioactivity. A gamma-camera which maps out a room in all its detail and spots even the smallest traces of radioactivity. Robotized systems such as the Maestro arm that can work in extreme environments and be remote controlled. The Aspilaser, developed from pulse laser technology, dedicated to radioactive paint removal. And all the progress made in waste conditioning.

The feedback on these technologies and the outcome of CEAs R&D arouse the interest of industrial nuclear operators (EDF and Areva) who also call on CEA laboratories to meet their specific needs in the dismantling of nuclear reactors and fuel processing plants.


Mastering all these operations is one of the biggest challenges for the nuclear industry. Each successful decommissioning is proof that we know how to manage the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

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In the last ten years, many training courses and dedicated curricula have been set up in response to the challenge of mastering this sector. The National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology has been a major player in this new development. The training courses further prepare employees who work on dismantling sites or those who want to join CEAs dismantling teams.

Passage Project A Dismantling Success Story in GrenobleTwelve years have been necessary to complete the Passage project. The decommissioning of the last facility will mark the end of this precursory and extremely technical project of cleanup and dismantling of CEA Grenoble nuclear facilities.

A huge, empty, 35-meter-high hall with, from floor to ceiling, thousands of numbers written in blue and orange paint on grey concrete... That is all that is left of the inside of the Silo experimental reactor, says Frdric Tournebize. Originally trained as an engineer, Frdric Tournebize manages the Passage project since its set-up. The goal is to clear the way to install facilities for micro- and nanotechnologies, new energy technologies, and biotechnologies. The dismantling, which cost about 300 million Euros, was launched in 2001; dismantling operations for all the facilities should be completed in 2012, within deadline. The operations are taking place in the framework of the restructuring of research at CEA, summoning up the energy and the skills of CEA personnel and of specialized private companies. The administrative decommissioning process of the last of the six Grenoble nuclear facilities will be completed in 2014 and monitored by ASN.

Founded in 1956 by Physics Nobel Prize Louis Nel, the CEA Grenoble research center was at first only dedicated to research on the atom. Three experimental reactors (Silotte,

Mlusine and Silo), the Laboratory for Analysis of Active Materials (Lama), and radioactive effluent and solid waste treatment stations were built in the 1950s and 1960s.In 2001, it was decided to gather the bulk of CEA civilian nuclear activities on the Saclay, Cadarache and Marcoule centers. The definitive shutdown of the Grenoble facilities was signed, paving the way to their dismantling. This operation was not a first for CEA the last twenty years have seen the dismantling of six small research reactors and eleven plants. It was not the only operation of the kind in progress either; about twenty facilities are currently being dismantled and the surface cleared out used for other research activities. The reactor building for Silotte reactor (decommissioned in 2007) was demolished in 2012. Mlusines decommissioning was officially announced in late 2011 and the facility has now been demolished. The dismantling of Lama nears completion, with the last checks scheduled for the first term of 2013. The ten buildings that constituted the radioactive effluent and solid waste treatment stations have already disappeared and the site is covered with plastic sheets and ready for the final radiological controls.

// Construction and civil engineering works for the nuclear industryOne thing is sure: decommissioning facilities that have contained nuclear materials for dozens of years takes some time. The whole process goes through several technical and administrative steps, says Frdric Tournebize.First step: shutdown. For a reactor like Silo, this step comes before emptying the pool. The fuel of the core is removed, the control-command systems are taken apart, and the experimental systems are disassembled so that they can be disposed of via one of the nuclear waste management methods. This step requires excellent knowledge of the facility as well as the knowledge to manipule short-lived low and intermediate level waste (LILW SL) and high-level waste (HLW). The operation was performed by CEA staff within a safety reference framework. This step lasts four or five years and is the prerequisite for dismantling itself. Dismantling operations are subjected to an interdepartmental decree and aim at removing all traces of artificial radioactivity from the facility. They begin with the dismantling of the reactors various elements. The use of remote-controlled devices is sometimes necessary, as in the removal of the stainless-steel pool liner of the Silo reactor. In a pool reactor, splatters sometimes contaminate the surface over a few millimeters thickness for example, or neutron flux can have activated the mass of the concrete structures of the pool. The equipment then has to be cleaned-up so as to remove radioactivity either by scabbling the concrete (in the case of contamination), or by grinding it (in the case of activation). This step in dismantling resembles civil engineering works, requiring construction site equipment such as hydraulic hammers, hydraulic shears, concrete chisels, or jackhammers adapted to the nuclear environment. Dismantling lasts from four to six years and is performed by specialized and certified private companies. Even though these operations are difficult to put in place in these, often confined, environments, they are less risky in terms of radioactivity than we might think. When you reach this step, the radioactivity of the facility is already extremely reduced: almost all waste is then very-low-level

spotlight on...

/Conditioning of contaminated waste.


/In-service training course "Waste and effluent management applied to dismantlement.

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waste (VLLW). However, all operators are equipped with individual protections to avoid all risk of contamination. Once these operations are finished, there remains no radioactivity in the building and the radiological targets defined in the decrees are attained. During this long cleanup procedure, ASN and its technical support organization, IRSN3, continuously inspect the facility to make sure that operations happen in accordance with authorizations.

// A large number of checksSeries of checks are organized to guarantee that the radiological results correspond to regulation. First, CEA teams twice measure the levels of residual radioactive material over the whole floor surface and on thousands of randomly chosen and identified spots on the walls and ceiling. IRSN teams then carry out independent measures. In the end, a file with all the information is constituted in order to start the administrative process. If all goes well, the process ends with the decommissioning of the facility, that is, its removal from the list of nuclear facilities. If the results of the controls are unsatisfactory, complementary works might be necessary to remove the leftover traces of contamination.

// Assessment time has comeWith the forthcoming completion of the Passage project, it is time to assess and review the work. The project generated a little bit more than 25,000m3 of radioactive waste of which 22,000m3 of very-low-level waste, 3,000m3 of low-level waste, about 100m3 of intermediate-level waste and about

20m3 of high-level waste. The waste was continuously removed and transported to Andra4 centers. Only high-level waste is still stored at other CEA centers waiting for the opening of the Andra center designed to manage it. In terms of environmental impact, the analysis of air, water and the surrounding wildlife show levels of rejected radioactivity much lower than the minimum authorized standards, and natural radioactivity.

3 IRSN: French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety.4 Andra: French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management.

Dealing with the past, preparing the future at the Fontenay-aux-Roses centerElise, Eole, Gascogne, Prolixe, Irne, Guyenne, Antina, Petrus... These are the names of the specific equipment glove boxes and shielded process lines that the researchers of the CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses center used to write the first chapter of French nuclear research. Fuel studies, studies on the behavior of irradiated materials, waste management and characterization between 1982 and 1995 all these activities were progressively stopped and transferred to other CEA centers or to industry leader Areva. In order to continue the conversion of the center into a research center for life sciences, these old research facilities are being cleaned up (through the disposal of nuclear waste and materials still on site) and dismantled.

/Certain hot cells of Lama have been used for the conditioning of waste from other facilities of the CEA Grenoble center.


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The priority is set on people and environmental protection. This cleanup project at Fontenay-aux-Roses, called Aladin, is challenging for CEA: how to safely denuclearize within the cost limit and time constraints a research center that is located in an urban environment close to Paris, while leaving room for the development of research activities. Denuclearizing the Fontenay-aux-Roses center means cleaning-up and dismantling about ten buildings attached to two nuclear facilities, with a floor surface of about 24,000m (258,333ft).

The considerable challenges are closely linked to the history of the Fontenay-aux-Roses center. Founded in 1946, it played an essential role in the development of the French nuclear electricity sector. Zoe, the first French atomic reactor, was built there, starting up in 1948 and running up to 1976 before twice being upgraded to new-generation nuclear facilities. Two buildings especially have left their mark on history Building 18, the radiochemistry and transuranic elements generation laboratory, and Building 52.2, the laboratory for radiometallurgy. These buildings account for about 60% of the total surface to be dismantled. They also contain most of the source terms of the site and their activity level makes their dismantling specific together, they concentrate a large part of the technical difficulties to be faced. Buildings 18 and 52.2 used to house more than 18 hot cells and 134 glove boxes as well as all the casks filled with high-activity effluents. In late 2011, 8 hot cells and 113 glove boxes had been dismantled, 9 hot cells and 4 casks cleaned-up.

The dismantling techniques are extremely complex and mobilize significant financial resources and highly skilled personnel. Dismantling operations are planned to last beyond 2020. Major steps to clear out some of the areas are expected to start in 2017 to enable the development of other research activities in life sciences.

// Petrus, a real technical challengeThe Petrus complex is the sticking point in the dismantling of Building 18. This research facility was built in the late 1960s as a platform for transuranic elements production and study. It is composed of a shielded process line built over a number of underground interim storage vaults for holding treated solutions and liquid wastes. In 1974, Petrus was sealed shut to site staff after a leak was detected in one of the underground casks. It took years of intensive research and development work to (safely) identify exactly what type of liquid was being held in one of the casks and to finalize a procedure for treating it liter by liter. The Petrus complex cleanup step was completed in autumn 2009. To prepare for dismantling operations, a series of technical engineering studies have been carried out. To minimize the need for human intervention, the engineering effort is set on remote dismantling, using two robots developed by CEAs R&D teams together with scaled-down remote-controlled construction equipment. Another challenge faced by the Aladin project lies in the safe evacuation of casks of old radioactive waste. Currently stored in Building 58, they need to be safely evacuated out to special-purpose spent fuel repositories.

// Sharing the expertiseThe Aladin project draws on the experience gained with the other Nuclear Energy Division cleanup and dismantling projects currently in progress at the Marcoule, Cadarache or Grenoble center. The experience and know-how of technical, regulatory and project management aspects are shared via the skills unit and the Operational Steering Group for cleanup and dismantling projects of CEAs Nuclear Energy Division, reuniting the project managers working on the different sites. The experience gained at Fontenay-aux-Roses over this first generation of facilities now also enriches the skills and the tools for capitalizing and sharing experience and know-how.

/Scabbling of the tiled floor of the pool of the Triton reactor

on the CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses center.


To dismantling: 18 hot cells

and 134 glove boxes.

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Technological Research

Press Feature - September 2012

Embedded Systems for Cars: Forging Dynamic New Links to Foster Innovation

/Interactive simulation in virtual reality.


"Fostering innovation constitutes a real challenge for the players of this sector since the integration of new technologies into vehicles or into the design and development stages inevitably generates an increase in complexity and design cost of the vehicles."

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spotlight on...

Today, embedded systems and electronics account for more than 20% of the value of a car and this percentage is likely to reach 30-35% by 2015. Electronics is one of the main innovation factors in the automotive industry where it constitutes the basis of more than one innovation out of two. In future cars, especially in electric and hybrid vehicles, the need for efficient and innovative electronic systems to enhance driver assistance, smart power management, and safety will continue to grow. But the players of the electronics and automotive industry face many challenges when designing embedded systems: connectivity, complexity, operating safety, reliability, and competitiveness.The increasingly significant share of material and embedded software increases complexity and design costs of the vehicles. The development of these systems has become a major competitiveness challenge, making it critical for the automotive industry to change and accelerate its innovation processes.

Calling on Players at the National and International LevelsIn order to take up the technological and economic challenges associated with embedded systems, the efforts of the automotive electronics industry have been converging in recent years. At an international level, the AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) standard has provided all industrial actors with the same technical specifications so as to reduce development cost and time. The increasing complexity of car applications has also made necessary the development of a standard guaranteeing the functional safety of embedded systems: the ISO 26262 Functional Safety Standard. At the French level, automotive industry players ranging from large companies to SMEs have established innovation projects many of them within the framework of competitiveness clusters in order to foster innovation and technological development.

Although the automotive market accounts for only 13% of the global electronics market, it has the industrys highest growth rate, increasing 15.5% per year. By 2015, the global market for complex embedded systems will amount to


automobile

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more than 200 billion dollars. The development of these technologies represents many challenges for all industries - connectivity, complexity, criticality and competitiveness are so many challenges that will have to be taken up. With this in mind, the automotive industry will have to face an investment problem in R&D for embedded software. In 2002, 22% of R&D expenditures (17 billion dollars) were dedicated to software. By 2015, this figure will rise to 35% or 45 billion dollars.

Clusters to Foster InnovationIn order to take up the technological challenges associated with the development and integration of innovative embedded systems, automobile manufacturers and their tool suppliers are strengthening R&D in order to stimulate the automotive electronics industry (see box on the French Automotive Cluster). This new dynamics encourages cooperation between large companies, SMEs, start-ups and CEA, and aims at fostering innovation.This one constitutes a real challenge for the players of this sector since the integration of new technologies into vehicles or into the design and development stages inevitably generates an increase in competitiveness, complexity and design cost of the vehicles.At the French level, industry players have set up competitiveness clusters in order to coordinate their actions. The three main clusters are Systematic, Moveo and ID4car. Projects for public-private partnerships have also been set up in the automotive electronics sector. These projects are proof of French expertise; embedded systems now constitute a well-mastered technology.

CEA-List at the ForefrontIn the framework of these competitiveness clusters, the main French players of the automotive electronics sector are encouraging new dynamics to foster innovation. Thanks to its expertise in the field of design tools (virtual reality, software engineering, robotics, non-destructive control) and components (embedded electronics, sensors, communication, human-machine interfaces), CEA-List1 has made the automotive sector one of its principal areas of innovation. CEA-List conducts its technological research projects within the framework of collaborative R&D projects with industrials partners the world over: Renault, PSA, Valeo, Continental, Delphi, Visteon, Freescale and STMicroelectronics, as well as the SMEs See4sys (Sherpa Group), Krono-Safe, Scaleo chip and Esterel Technologies. Because the technical challenges of embedded electronics demand both the mastery of complexity and the control of design cost and time, CEA-List has focused its research on two major areas: The development of tools to guarantee the functional

safety of embedded electronics; The simplification and mastery of the development

process of embedded systems through the development of software engineering tools.

1 List: Laboratory for Embedded Systems and Technologies. More informations: www-list.cea.fr.

// Functional safety Software.In order to reconcile efficiency and functional safety, CEA-List developed a new operating system called PharOS. PharOS is adapted to multicore embedded systems. This technology guarantees functional safety and allows the integration of critical and not-critical tasks on a same ECU (Engine Control Unit). It constitutes a major breakthrough in the field: by decreasing the total number of ECUs, PharOS reduces the cost of embedded electronics in vehicles.The development of this technology gave birth to the Krono-Safe start-up, provider of the PharOS safety operating system and its associated tools. See4sys will integrate the PharOS technology and offer embedded electronic systems compatible with the AUTOSAR standards. Thanks to these industrial projects, tool suppliers (i.e., Delphi) and automotive manufacturers (i.e., Renault) will soon be able to commercialize the first PharOS automotive safety systems.

Material. In partnership with Scaleo chip and Continental, CEA-List is contributing to the development of the OLEA microcontroller unit. OLEA aims to bring innovative solutions for engine energy efficiency, for the increasing complexity of electronic systems, and for the extension of the in-vehicle computer networks. It will integrate, among other things, technologies for advanced motor events control, protection against the malfunctioning of electronics (system integrity) and deterministic Ethernet communication.

// Software tools for designing, testing and validatingFor industrial applications; these tools and methodologies guarantee better software quality and performance as well as a reduction in development cost and time. They partly automate the validation process and decrease testing costs, estimated today to represent 75% of the total cost of a critical system. This technology was built on Papyrus, the CEA-List tool using the SysML/UML modeling language. SysML is an OMG standard based on UML that is becoming more and more common in the fields of aeronautics, railroad, defense, but also in mecatronics-derived fields. This technological building block developed in the framework of many collaborative projects (Usine Logicielle, Lambda and EDONA of the Systematic cluster) has aroused strong

/Embedded systems architecture.

/Software engineering development for cars.


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interest among players of the automotive industry.Thanks to these multi-partnership projects, CEA-List has set up a strong and lasting collaboration through joint laboratories with Renault, Sherpa and Esterel Technologies.

Toward a New Range of EmbeddedApplications?CEA-List is also working on improvement in three areas driver assistance systems, wire diagnosis systems and vehicle design tools in order to develop new embedded applications for in-vehicle functionalities and services.

// Driver assistance systemsIntelligent embedded vision systems provide passive and active driving assistance thanks to an optimized pairing between material architecture and image processing algorithms. They localize vehicles in their environment in real time and with a high level of precision, and detect obstacles (pedestrians, bicycle riders) crossing the vehicle trajectory both day and night.New human-machine interfaces developed at CEA-List combine many technologies such as haptic interfaces with or without haptic feedback and augmented reality. Researchers are offering automotive manufacturers new technologies for enhanced intuitive communication between the driver and the vehicle, while taking into account the constraints linked to the interior design of the passenger compartment. In addition, CEA-List has developed technologies for reliable IP (Internet Protocol) communication between vehicles or between a vehicle and an infrastructure. The first applications foreseen for these technologies are tools for increasing road safety (Unmanned Vehicle Supervision), communication in public transportation, and infotainment on board.

// Wire diagnosis systemCEA-List has also developed an embedded wire diagnosis technology based on reflectrometry, which precisely locates wire cuts and bad contacts in the electronic network of a car. WIN-MS, a start-up set up in 2012, is working on the technology transfer to industry of this new technology.

// Design tools for the automotive industryCEA-List is also developing vehicle design tools (software for computer-aided design, CAD) and industrial testing tools (nondestructive testing, NDT) for the automotive industry. Automotive companies can now conduct nondestructive testing with computer simulation software and innovative sensors during the design and manufacturing stages.Because checking the assembly of components directly on the digital mockup also constitutes a major industrial challenge, researchers are developing technologies for realistic and interactive simulations of physical phenomena for virtual reality and augmented reality applications.

More information on the OMG standard: www.omg.org.

spotlight on...

THE FRENCH AuTOMOTIvE CLuSTER

The French Automotive Cluster (named PFA) was set up in April 2009 as a permanent cooperation and consultative organization that groups all the players of the automotive industry. It aims to prepare for the successful industrial mutation of the automotive industry and its trades. The Cluster reunites the main players of the industry such as the French Automotive Manufacturers Committee (Comit des Constructeurs Franais dAutomobiles, CCFA), the largest supplier federa-tion (Fdration des Industries des Equipements pour Vhicules, FIEV), subcontractor federations, gathered within the Committee for Relations between automotive suppliers industries (Comit de Liaison des Industries Fournisseurs de lAutomobile, CLIFA).

ThePFAidentifiedseveralimprovementareas to strengthen the automotive indus-try. It included the automotive electronics area that will foster innovation and economic growth it this sector for the years to come. In order to maintain the many opportunities that the automotive industry has to offer it is strategic to strengthen its different sectors. From the small SME that manufactures components and innovative technologies, to the manufacturer who integrates the components and technologies in systems. It is extremely important to think about the different eco-systems in order to take up the challenges of the future a strategic improvement area for the PFA.

The PFA is active in the following fields through dedicated work groups:- Research, innovation, technologies and standards- Trades, skills and training- Industrial excellence- Industrial strategies and mutations

More information on the PFA at www.pfa-auto.fr.


/ Prototype of on-wire diagnostics.

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science in motion


HESS-II, the Worlds Largest Gamma Telescope, Sees First Light

In the Universe, supermassive black holes, galaxy groups and clusters, supernovae, double stars, and pulsars play the role of natural cosmic particle accelerators (electrons, ions...). These particles gather lots of energy and emit gamma rays. When cosmic rays enter the Earths atmosphere, they break down into a cascade of secondary particles called an air shower. The particles emit a widespread flash of faint blue light, called Cerenkov light. It is this light that gamma telescopes like HESS-II can detect.

// How HESS-II worksThe electronic camera on the new telescope can detect Cerenkov light with an exposure time of a few billionth seconds a speed almost a million times faster than that of a normal camera. It weighs three tons and hangs thirty-six meters above the telescopes main mirror pointed vertically, this installation is as high as a twenty-story

building. Despite its height and its 600 tons, HESS-II can pivot twice as fast as the other HESS telescopes in order to respond immediately to the alerts for Gamma-ray bursts events or the signs of sudden explosions at any point in the sky.Frances main contribution to HESS-II consists in the design and manufacturing of the camera and its integrated electronic system, a project managed by the IN2P3 institute from CNRS. CEA is, among other things, in charge of developing a chip for the telescope, a key component of the electronic system.Over one hundred cosmic sources of very high energy gamma rays are known to this day, mostly thanks to the HESS observatory. The HESS-II telescope will enable researchers to study in greater detail the processes in these elements of the cosmos. It will also enable astrophysicists to discover new sources, or even sources whose nature

we still ignore, by detecting gamma rays in a lower, still unexplored, energy range.HESS-II also paves the way for the Cerenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The CTA will detect a wider range of energy bands and obtain higher-resolution results by networking several telescopes.

// International cooperationLeader in Europe and in the world, the HESS cooperation currently encompasses 180 researchers from 28 laboratories and 12 countries. The cooperation has produced a significant number of scientific results that have received international recognition: it received the 2006 Descartes Research Prize and the 2010 Bruno Rossi Prize, awarded respectively by the European Commission and the American Astronomical Society.

Press release - August 2012.

The HESS-II telescope was commissioned on July 26th 2012 at 12:43 a.m. in Namibia. Equipped with a 28-meter-diameter mirror, HESS-II is the largest gamma telescope ever built. It adds on to the other instruments of the HESS observatory, which both CEA and CNRS continuously enhance with new equipment. Since 2004 and until now up to the commissioning of the new giant, the HESS observatory was made up of four 12-meter-diameter telescopes. The HESS-II telescope will enable the discovery of new high-energy cosmic sources and the observation of the most violent phenomena of the Universe.

ASTROPHySICS/

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science in motion


A new view of the nucleus that unifies its liquid and molecule-like aspects has been put forward by a team from the Orsay Nuclear Physics Institute and from CEA, in collaboration with the University of Zagreb, Croatia. By making an analogy with neutron stars1, the researchers have for the first time demonstrated one of the necessary conditions for the formation of molecule-like behavior within the atomic nucleus. Such molecule-like behavior makes it possible to understand the synthesis of elements that are key to the appearance of life.

The atomic nucleus is generally described as a drop of quantum liquid with a diameter of around a million billionth of a meter. In particular, such liquid-like behavior explains nuclear fission, and applies especially to heavy nuclei, i.e., nuclei that contain a large number of

nucleons (neutrons and protons). On the other hand, light nuclei2 can behave like tiny molecules, or clusters, made up of neutrons and protons within the nucleus. This molecular aspect makes it possible to understand the stellar synthesis of carbon-12 and other heavier elements necessary for the appearance of life3.Until now, both the molecule-nucleus and the liquid-nucleus views coexisted. By solving quantum physics equations on the scale of the nucleus (in particular the Schrdinger equation), the researchers have demonstrated that, although a light nucleus can show molecule-like behavior (tending towards the crystalline state), heavier nuclei take on a liquid-like behavior. To establish this new theory, the physicists took inspiration from neutron stars. The deeper you go inside a neutron star, the more you pass from a crystalline medium to a liquid medium. When the interactions between neutrons and protons are not strong enough to fix them within the nucleus, the latter is in a quantum-liquid type

state where protons and neutrons are delocalized. Conversely, in a crystalline state, neutrons and protons are fixed at regular intervals within the nucleus. The nuclear molecule is interpreted as being an intermediate state between a quantum liquid and a crystal. In the long term, the aim is to attain a unified understanding of the various states of the nucleus.

Press release July 2012.

The work is published in Nature dated July 19th 2012.

1 The core of a massive star that collapses during a supernova explosion becomes so dense that protons and neutrons combine, forming neutrons. The resulting body becomes a kind of giant atomic nucleus made up mostly of neutrons, which is what gives it its name.2 Such as oxygen-16, which contains eight neutrons and eight protons.3 For instance, the Hoyle state of carbon-12, key to nucleosynthesis, is described as a nuclear molecule made up of three alpha particles. An alpha particle is a cluster of two neutrons and two protons.

NUCLEAR PHYSIC

The Atomic Nucleus: Fissile Liquid or Molecule of Life?

ASTROPHYSICS

CEA Grenoble at the Heart of Star Observation

The Herschel space telescope was launched in May 2009 and is currently in orbit 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) away from Earth. Its mission? Observing the infrared radiation of galaxies. The technologies developed at CEA for Herschel are now used in ArTMiS, a video camera that is to join the 12-meter-diameter dish of the Apex Chilean radio telescope in June 2013.

Llano de Chajnantor Astronomical Observatory, Chilean Andes, altitude 5,104 meters. The atmospheric pressure is only half that at sea level, the air is much drier, oxygen is scarce, the sky is dark. The location is inhospitable but perfectly adapted for submillimeter astronomy. The international scientific community has chosen this location to install many astronomical projects, including the Apex radio telescope.ArTMiS is a submillimeter camera that will meet the needs of astronomy for the years to come and more specifically the study of embedded star formation at all scales in the Universe. "This instrument is based on silicon technologies and especially on the use of grid bolometer arrays. Weve known and mastered these technologies for many years now," says Patrick Agnese, project manager of Herschel-Pacs for CEA-Leti1. Herschels Spire and Pacs cameras are already the witnesses of star formation in interstellar clouds."Because of their extremely low temperature (-260C), the clouds are dark and absolutely unobservable on pictures taken with visible spectrum," says Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud, astrophysicist at CEA-Irfu2, the institute that coordinates scientific programs in astrophysics. "However, interstellar clouds become very bright on the pictures obtained with Herschel at far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths." The instruments were fixed to a large "thermos" filled with 2,500 liters of superfluid helium before boarding the space telescope. Thanks to this cold resource, the flight cryocoolers provide even lower temperatures (around - 272.9C), that enable the extra-sensitive detectors to observe extremely cold interstellar objects. These requirements also apply to ground-based telescopes in hostile environments such as the Chilean plateau and Antarctica where such systems are already running. A team recently developed driver boards with embedded intelligence for the automatic operation of these systems. CEA Grenoble researchers just delivered ArTMiS to the Saclay Astrophysics Laboratory. The camera is expected to join the huge dish of the Chilean Andes telescope in 2013.

Marc Jary Le Mensuel de Grenoble n160 June 2012.

1 Leti: Laboratory for Electronics and Information Technologies.2 Irfu: Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe.

/Study of nucleon density in neon-20.

science in motion


SPINTRONIC

Spin Current Magnetizes GermaniumResearchers from CEA, CNRS, Thales, Crocus Technology and Joseph Fourier University (Grenoble, France) have succeeded in magnetizing a thin layer of germanium1 by inducing a "spin current."

Spin current, like electric current, can carry a signal at room temperature and over distances compatible with microelectronic circuits. The spin, a magnetic characteristic of electrons, could become a new data carrier in microelectronic devices, just like the electric charge in electric current.The experiment makes it possible to consider the design of germanium-made "spintronic" chips. These would be capable of storing information under the guise of both electric charge and spin direction and of storing more in the same amount of material.Current spintronic chips that are used, among other things, in the read heads of hard drives or certain portable media players are made up of two layers: the first layer is made up of semiconducting

layers (usually silicon) and processes and forwards data in the form of electric charge (+ or -);

the second layer is magnetic and made up of alloys (nickel, cobalt...) and serves as the memory.

The characteristics of electrons are that they have an electric charge, a magnetic field, and can be polarized to orient in particular

directions. This orientation is referred to as spin either spin up or spin down. Spintronics translates the spin direction ( or ) into a binary code of ones and zeros. Electronics enable the translation and manipulation of electric charges (+ or -). Germanium could enable the encoding of more data, in both electric and magnetic form.

// Magnetizing germaniumUntil now, magnetizing a semiconductor consisted in inducing an electric current with a material that has a magnetic field. The research team has succeeded in optimizing this process by creating a spin current directly in the germanium layer. This process enables us to consider carrying data in the form of spin and in experimental conditions repeatable at industrial scale. In addition to this demonstration, researchers have succeeded in developing two new processes on the same device, feasible in standard conditions: spin pumping: by approaching a strongly

magnetic material in which the magnetic field oscillates very quickly, the material transfers its magnetic field to germanium

and creates a spin current, as a water pump generates current in a liquid;

temperature difference: by warming up only one area of the material, the modulation of electric charges generates electric tension. Researchers have proven that this modulation could also be applied to spins in germanium which, in turn, generates a spin current.

With the latter method, researchers have not only succeeded in generating spin current without using electric power, but they have also demonstrated that this type of material can recycle the heat from thermal loss of traditional electronic systems.

Web News October 2012.

A. Jain et al., "Crossover from spin accumulation into interface states to spin injection in the germanium conduction band", Physical Review Letters 109, 106603 (2012) .

1 The germanium atom is already used in microelectronics for its semiconducting features almost similar to these of silicon. Less abundant on earth than silicon (14), the atomic number of germanium is much larger (32). This explains why we can consider electric manipulation of spin.

How about being able to forecast exceptional heat waves several months in advance? And anticipating extreme weather events such as the ones Europe was subjected to in 2003 and 2010? A new challenge for a French-Swiss research team of LSCE1 and from the Zurich Polytechnic School, in partnership with ARIA technologies.

A team of scientists studied winter and spring temperature and rainfall data from more than 200 European meteorological stations over 64 years. Why study winter rainfall data to understand summer phenomena? "Because soil moisture has long-term memory and depends on winter rainfall. Rain between January and May can remain in the soil through the summer," says Benjamin Quesada, researcher at LSCE. The conclusions of this year-long study are unprecedented...

// If it rains during winter and spring, summer will be colderIt turns out that a rainy winter and spring in southern Europe inhibit a scorching European summer: "Even if the following summer is really sunny, moisture in the soil acts as a buffer. Heat makes water evaporate instead of heating up the soil," says the researcher. But a dry winter and spring are not enough to conclude that the next summer will be scorching for that, there would have to be anticyclonic weather conditions from June to August. Researchers have compared the data with forecasts from temperature simulations using fourteen global climate models. The results leave no room for doubt: "Of all these models, those which correspond better to our observations are the ones which forecast high temperatures and a pluviometric deficit

in Europe by the end of the century. We want to develop an instrument that would couple simulation modeling with statistical modeling in order to confirm our observations with real-time updates." And thus be able to communicate important forecasts to farmers and companies whose activities are weather-dependent...

Amlie Lorec Les Dfis du CEA n173 September 2012.

Results published in Nature Climate Change 2012.

1 LSCE: The Laboratory for Climate and Environment Sciences, (Joint Research Unit, CEA/CNRS/Versailles-Saint-Quentin University) employs more than 300 researchers, including 150 with permanent contracts. Located on the CEA Saclay and CNRS Gif-sur-Yvette Centers, it is part of the Pierre Simon Laplace Institute.

CLIMATOLOGY

Something New under the Sun

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science in motion

Just like the eye, an imager captures light and converts it into an electrical signal, which is in turn converted into an image. The imager that CEA-List1 and CEA-Leti2 teams are working on is also capable of extracting useful information from the image, allowing it to accomplish various tasks with unrivaled performance thanks to its 3D architecture.

Detecting a motion or the presence of objects, controlling the lighting or air conditioning of a room, identifying a movement of the hand to activate commands... these are the new functions of the imager. "The image is analyzed as soon as it is captured on the imagers sensor layer. Processors perform the analysis and extract the information," says Stphane Chevobbe from CEA-List. Most imagers used to be made with 2D integration technologies, where sensor arrays and processor arrays were embedded in each other on the same chip. This technique implied making technological compromises between the array

of pixels that constituted the sensor and the components of the system (processors, memories and interconnects) that determined the computing power.

// Stacking chipsTo overcome this obstacle, researchers have developed a new architecture using CEA-Letis 3D-integration technology. It consists in stacking several silicon chips together, some dedicated to sensing and others to processing. There are numerous connects between these two elements and their length is reduced, enabling better performance of the system especially of the computing power for image processing and the decrease of its energy consumption. These technologies, such as the technologies developed for electronic circuits, have already been patented.

Charlotte Samson Les Dfis du CEA n 172 - August 2012.

1 List: Laboratory for Embedded Systems and Technologies.2 Leti: Laboratory for Electronics and Information Technology.

3D Architecture: From Image to Information

TELECOMMUNICATION

ultra-High Speed Connection for Self-Testing and Self-Powering DeviceTwo years ago, the Explore and Share technology invented at CEA-Leti and developed with the Nokia Research Center for use in the UMETAG chip started revolutionizing the NICT sector. Thanks to recent innovations, this system is about to be integrated into smartphones. Michal Pelissier, the engineer who developed it, was awarded the Grand prix de llectronique Gnral Ferri1 2011.

Downloading an album on your MP3 player in less than ten seconds from a memory tag when you are out of battery? This is now possible thanks to the Explore and Share concept whose technology was invented at CEA-Leti. Thanks to the UMETAG chip, developed with the Nokia Research Center, an Ultra-Wideband2 (UWB) and bi-directional radio connection of more than 100Mb/s can be established between a cell phone and a passive memory tag capable of powering itself.

// Self-testing paves the way to industrializationThe marketing of such a device supposes that it can be tested in cheap standard industrial conditions. Considering the specificities of the UWB radio, nothing suggested this possibility at first. But that was without anticipating the major progress made by CEA-Leti in this field: We have integrated the test of the UWB connection directly into the chip, which now contains a small part dedicated to its own testing, says Michal Pelissier, inventor of this self-testing system. We were able to check the validity of the system on our industrial tester by reducing testing time by a factor of twenty. This innovation foretells the imminent marketing of the UMETAG chip, which will soon give birth to a start-up dedicated to these technologies.

Aude Ganier Les Dfis du CEA n 173 September 2012 .

1 Grand prix de llectronique Gnral Ferri: The Gnral Ferri Prize rewards scientists whose works have contributed in a major way to the progress of radioelectricity. It was created in tribute to General Gustave Ferri who enabled major progress in the fields of radioelectricity, electronics and their applications.2 Ultra-Wideband: A technology for transmitting information by electromagnetic short pulses that uses a wide part of the radio spectrum. It is different from Hertzian systems where the signal is only broadcast on a narrow part of the spectrum to limit interferences.

/The 3D-integration architecture of new

imagers enables the conversion of an image

into information with unrivaled performance.


INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGy/

/ Verigy 93000 tester ready for the ultra-wide band tests of the chip.

science in motion


8 patents were filed.

Just as Smartphones are positioned to take over digital cameras, a researcher from CEA-Leti offers miniature camera manufacturers a new technology to integrate the autofocus function. An innovation that gave birth to the Wavelens start-up.

Smartphones camera modules makers are looking for innovative technologies in order to integrate optical functions such as autofocus, zoom and optical image stabilization. Wavelens proposes competitive optical solutions in order to help them to integrate these complex optical functions easily, says Sebastien Bolis, an expert in cameras and optical integration. Eight patents were filed for his discoveries in the field of microsystems technology and for the device he developed a new type of optical component with variable focal length. It is made up of translucent oil encapsulated between a glass plate and a soft membrane around which microactuators are embedded. The microactuators push the

optical oil to the center of the component, thus changing the curve radius of the membrane and causing focal length variation. This new optical technology is particularly compact and energy efficient, it works with low-voltage power, and it can be mass-produced by e-beam lithography1. Advantages that make it very easily integrated into Smartphone cameras at low cost.The positive feedback from many manufacturers as well as many innovation prizes encouraged the researcher to set up his own start-up. Wavelens is to be launched by the end of 2012 and will start its business operations on the Smartphone market by the end of 2013. Sebastien Bolis has also decided to work at the same time on niche markets, such as infrared optics.

Patrick Philipon Les Dfis du CEA n 173 September 2012.

1 E-beam lithography: A technique used to make microsystems that consists in using an electron beam to etch a surface.

OPTICS

Autofocus for Smartphones A Well-Oiled Device

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science in motion

The JHR, with 100 MW of thermal power, will be dedicated to research on materials and fuels and to the production of radioisotopes for medical use. Construction started in 2007; following the facilitys commissioning end-2016, for fifty years the JHR will support the development of current and future nuclear applications while ensuring, for the long term, 25% of the European demand in radionuclides for medical use and up to 50% in the case of disruptions in the supply chain and global supply shortage.Four of the twelve slots of the reactor building are already in place and the fifth is being poured. In the center of the reactor building stands the spectacular cylindrical pool into which the pressure vessel housing the reactor core will be immersed.While concrete and steel are currently drawing the outline of the JHR, the project is progressing in another not less impressive aspect of the project is in progress: the scientific capacity of the reactor and the organization of its management. In 2011, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) joined the JHR

consortium1, bringing to three the number of non-European research institutes participating in the project. "What Israel is interested in," says Gilles Bignan, user-facility interface manager, "is to join a modern research project, which will be considered as reference in the field for the fifty to sixty years to come." The IAEC will design an experimental loop called Lorelei for the JHR, dedicated to safety studies relative to loss-of-coolant accidents in Light Water Reactors. Lorelei should be ready to join the JHR by 2018 and will be placed in the reflector that surrounds the core. In addition to Lorelei, the experimental system of the JHR will comprise two fuel test loops. The first one, Madison, engineered by the Norwegian Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), is dedicated to the irradiation of fuel samples for Pressurized Water Reactors and Boiling Water Reactors under nominal conditions. The second, Adeline, for which a call for proposal was recently launched, will explore the behavior of the same fuels under off-normal conditions and beyond fuel failure.Other systems will enable the study of

material ageing in irradiation conditions and within physico-chemical constraints similar to these of present and future reactors. Thanks to the particularly intense neutron flux it will generate, the core of the JHR will accelerate time: material will age up to eight times faster than in real reactor conditions. In total, the JHR will host within and close to its core about twenty experimental rooms. Not all of them will be occupied right away the reactor will start its long career with minimal capacity by hosting at first only around half a dozen experiments (preparations are already in progress). As annual seminars gather the members of the consortium and potential partners, the JHR experimental program becomes better defined.

Atout Cadarache n 30 July 2012.

1 Launched by CEA in partnership with the French energy companies EDF and Areva, the JHR brings together, within a consortium, the Belgian, Czech, Spanish, Finnish, Indian, Israeli and Japanese (as associated partners) nuclear research insti-tutes, as well as the Swedish electricity company Vattenfall.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

JHR: Construction of a Nuclear Reactor

/The JHR construction site in mid-September 2012.

Constructing the buildings, building scientific capacity The latest addition to CEAs research reactor family, the Jules Horowitz reactor (JHR) is on the right track. As the project advances, international partners are showing more and more interest...


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RENEWABLE ENERGIES

En Route for a New Generation of Electric vehiclesOne of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities is from burning fossil fuels for transportation. To reduce human impact on the environment, we need to drastically decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Our mission? Putting 400,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2015 and 2 million by 2020.

A new generation of personal transportation is emerging. From electric-drive vehicles (EDVs)1 to extended range electric vehicles (EREVs)2 and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles (PHEVs)3, each one of these technologies is adapted to the power and energy needs of drivers. On average, French people drive 15,500km per year (9,600 miles); some 92% of daily trajectories cover distances shorter than 100 km (62 miles) well within the standard range of future electric vehicles. The rest 8% represents 37% of total mileage in France, with an average daily distance of 235 km. This last category requires transportation that can offer a greater range such as traditional gasoline-powered cars or fuel cell vehicles. Committed to the development of diversified vehicle propulsion systems, researchers from CEA-Liten4 are working towards the industrial optimization of these technologies.

// An integrated approach to optimizing batteriesIf the cost and safety of batteries are major challenges for electric vehicle development, the choice of the component' materials is the solution to the problem. Of all the rechargeable energy storage systems, scientists have proven that lithium-ion batteries offer the best performance in terms of range and battery life. CEA-Liten has filed many patents on lithium-ion batteries on their materials, on the design of the cells, and on the battery pack assembly. "This integrated approach was developed with demonstrators. Were currently studying the processability of batteries in order to master and test the technology, reduce cost and accelerate technology transfer," says Florence Lambert from CEA-Liten. In 2009, researchers acquired a 3,000m R&D platform a true meeting point for researchers and industrial partners that will enable the control of the whole production chain and the selection of the most successful technologies in terms of quality, cost and performance.

// Improving the cost-efficiency and service life of fuel cellsThe development of electric vehicles also depends on the development of fuel cells. Teams from CEA-Liten and from CEAs Military Applications Division are working together on the whole hydrogen sector, from production to storage of hydrogen, to the conversion of hydrogen into electricity. In order to decrease the cost and increase the service life of these technologies, laboratories have invested heavily in equipment in order to be able to characterize, develop and test the components. Fuel cell integration is then tested on niche markets such as large volume transportation, trucks, tractors, and sailboats for which fuel cells are more cost-effective. Scientists have entered a new phase of the development of their technology and are developing a pilot line to demonstrate the processability of fuel cells before marketing the product. In the long run, CEA wishes to acquire another platform open to both scientists and industrial partners.


1 Electric-drive vehicle: An electric-drive vehicle operates with a rechargeable battery that can be plugged in an outlet and/or a hydrogen fuel cell.2 Extended range electric vehicles: An extended range electric vehicle operates with a battery that can be continuously charged thanks to an internal combustion engine that powers an electric generator, or a fuel cell connected to a hydrogen tank.3 Plug-in electric hybrid vehicles: A plug-in electric hybrid vehicle operates with two propulsion systems: a rechargeable battery connected to an electric engine and a traditional combustion engine.4 Liten: Laboratory for Innovation and New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials .

/Charging unit of the filler on the assembly line of Li-Ion batteries.


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BACTERIOLOGy/

The Fight against Pan-Resistant Bacteria Has Begun


/Characterization of non-toxic fragments

of toxins for research on inhibitors.

Infections with pan-resistant1 bacteria have become a major public health issue. Researchers have developed a strategy to fight one of these bacteria not by killing it, but by targeting the mechanisms by which it colonizes a target cell. These mechanisms are based on a curious, molecular needle-like structure: the injectisome2.

A joint research unit from CEA-IRTSV3, Inserm and the Joseph Fourier University (Grenoble, France) has focused its research on the infection mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium responsible for many nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections. Its needle-like structure, or injectisome, enables it to inject its toxins into cells. We discovered that only two blood stem cells lines can block this mode of infection: after the sting, they activate inhibitors that block the entry of toxins, says Franois Cretin, biologist at CEA. With a team from IBS4, they then uncovered the structure-activity relationships of ExoU, the most toxic and destructive toxin produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These results enabled researchers to model the action of the toxin and to envisage strategies of inhibition for this type of infectious mechanism.


1 Pan-resistant: The characteristic of an organism that is resistant to most antibiotics.2 Injectisome: An appendage of about twenty proteins in a needle-like structure, with, at its extremity, a translocon tip made up of three proteins that allows the passage of toxins into a cell.3 IRTSV: Institute for Research and Technology for Life Sciences, it coordinates the programs of joint research laboratories CEA/ Joseph Fourier University/CNRS/ INSERM and INRA. 4 IBS: Institute for Structural Biology.

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No life without water? This dogma of biology is questioned by the observation of active proteins enclosed in certain polymers. An international team1 just disclosed the characteristics that allow these polymers to keep proteins performing their biological role, in a way similar to water.

Necessary to the life of cells, active proteins are true molecular machines. They speed up chemical reactions, support cellular tissues, store and transport essential substances, establish communication between cells, and defend the organism against foreign bodies. Most proteins have a well-defined three-dimensional structure and intrinsic appropriate motions necessary to their biological functions. Certain factors such as cellular dehydration or a sudden change in temperature can lead to their inactivation inactivation that makes the protein no longer functional and that can lead, in the long run, to its cellular death.

Until 2010, it was generally agreed upon that a protein could not be functional without water in its environment. In 2010, a team from Bristol University successfully created a nano-hybrid, made up of a protein, myoglobin2, enclosed in polymers. The latter created a water-free sheath around the protein whilst keeping it functional. However, the reason why the polymers were able to keep

the biological function of the protein intact remained a mystery. The research team then decided to study the dynamics of this nano-hybrid by scattering neutrons produced in a research nuclear reactor3. So as to study separately myoglobin and the sheath of polymers without altering the integrity of the system, the team found a trick: they marked the protein with deuterium (a hydrogen isotope)4. Once marked, myoglobin becomes invisible5 to neutrons, enabling the observation of the dynamics of the polymer sheath alone. Conversely, the use of deuterium-marked polymers enables the observation of the dynamics of myoglobin alone.

Thanks to the combined use of isotope labeling and neutron scattering, researchers have been able to demonstrate for the first time that these polymers have dynamics similar to those of water molecules surrounding proteins. They have also shown that the myoglobin present in the nano-hybrid has dynamics similar to that of a normally hydrated protein. Within this system, myoglobin remains functional despite the absence of water polymers play the role of lubricant for the proteins motions, a role usually filled by water molecules in a physiological environment.

Making proteins functional in a water-free environment could open the way to many more projects in diverse industrial sectors. The presence of

water remains an issue in many situations, such as the preservation of protein solutions (degradation) and the design of drugs at a high concentration of active components (aggregation). In the long run, it may be possible to easily manipulate a very large number of proteins necessary to the development of applications in industry, pharmacology and medicine.

Press Release - August 2012.

A Polymer Surfactant Corona Dynamically Replaces Water in Solvent-Free Protein Liquids and Ensures Macromolecular Flexibility and Activity. Franois-Xavier Gallat, Alex P. S. Brogan, Yann Fichou, Nina McGrath, Martine Moulin, Michael Hrtlein, Jrme Combet, Joachim Wuttke, Stephen Mann, Giuseppe Zaccai, Colin J. Jackson, Adam W. Perriman, and Martin Weik. Journal of the American Chemical Society, August/02/2012.

1 The team is composed of researchers from the Institute for Structural Biology (CEA/CNRS/Joseph Fournier University, France), the Laue-Langevin Institute (France), Bristol University (United Kingdom), Australia National University (Australia) and Forschungszentrum Jlich [Jlich Research Center, Germany).2 Protein that stores oxygen in muscles.3 Two reactors were used here: The high flux research reactor of the Laue-Langevin Institute (ILL) in Grenoble, France and the FRM II research reactor in Garching, Germany.4 Preparation made at the Deuteration Laboratory of the Laue-Langevin Institute.5 Thanks to its specific properties, deuterium weakens the signal to measure when it replaces hydrogen, and even conceals it.

PROTEOMIC

Hydrating Polymers

"In the long run, it may be possible to easily manipulate a very large number of proteins necessary to the development of applications in industry, pharmacology and medicine."


BIOCHIPS

Immediate Detection of Bacteria Lurking in your FridgeDetecting pathogenic bacteria in food used to take many days of analysis. Thanks to a team from CEA-Inac1, it is now possible in only a few hours. A scientific breakthrough which gave birth to the PrestoDiag Company.

"Our technology is based on a biochip made of a prism whose top side is coated with a 50nm-thin gold film," says CEA-Inacs Yoann Roupioz. Antibodies of the bacteria to be detected are grafted onto the chip surface and the sample is placed onto the film. If bacteria are present, they bind to the antibodies.A beam of polarized light shines onto the bottom side of the prism and is reflected back by the layer of gold. This technique called surface plasmon resonance imaging2 enables the routing of

optical signals. "This enables us to examine the surface and allows for real-time fluorophore-free3 and label-free monitoring of bacteria as they are bound to antibodies during the enrichment phase, without having to grow the bacteria." With this biochip, researchers can now detect the presence of Salmonella and bacillus coli in broth or UHT fat-free milk at very low levels of contamination and in about ten hours. They are now developing their technology for complex food substrates such as ground beef and ready-made meals.

Jocelyne Rajnchapel Messa Les Dfis du CEA n172 August 2012.

www.prestodiag.com/en/

1 Inac: Institute for Nanoscience and Cryogenics. Technology developed in partnership with IBS (Institute for Strucural Biology) researchers and with the support of CEA cross-disciplinary program for health technologies.2 Surface plasmon resonance imaging: An optical technique that enables to measure changes in the local refractive index of metal films.3 Fluorophore: A fluorescent molecule that can absorb luminous energy and re-emit it rapidly in the form of fluorescent light.

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GENOMIC/

The Banana Genome Finally Sequenced


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The banana tree just revealed the se

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