In this issue

The 6^th issue of ENS News will, unsurprisingly, be a reflection of the past three months. The main feature of this bulletin is the text of the lecture Bertrand Barré, president of the ENS, made at the International Conference “50 Years of Nuclear Power” organised by the IAEA held at Obninsk at the end of June/beginning of July 2004. The text is reproduced here with the kind permission of the IAEA. In a separate contribution, the ENS president also reflects on two important recent events: the notable increase of the price of the barrel of oil and the Mihama accident.

“Listening to others” follows its own pace and is therefore only loosely related to current affairs. In this issue, we’ll have a closer look at the tricks people can – and do actually – use to make unattractive data look better than they are.

News from the ENS members include this time a general presentation of SFEN, the French Nuclear Energy Society and a report on the international conference organised last September in Sofia by the Bulgarian Nuclear Society. From now on, we hope to be able to include in each issue of ENS NEWS at least one presentation of each of the Nuclear Societies member of the ENS.

Space permitting, this issue also features a fairly comprehensive compilation of NucNet News. Some of the pieces of information included are more than two months old but the compilation as a whole provides what we believe to be an interesting reminder of the more significant events of the past quarter.

We would also like to draw your attention to the fellowships to be awarded to a few young scientists in the framework of the World Nuclear University. Before turning to the relevant pages of this e-Bulletin, please note that the deadline for applying is 1^st December 2004.

Speech by ENS President Bertrand Barré

The Nuclear Reactors from a « Natural History » Perspective

The evolution of nuclear reactors since the 1942 Fermi experiment can be described along the lines of natural history, with an initial flourish of uninhibited creativity followed by a severe selection process leading to a handful of surviving species, with light water reactors occupying most of the biotope today. The criteria which drove this selection have evolved with time and might not all be relevant in the future. The recent interesting development of Generation IV and INPRO comes from a desire to rationalize and formalize the selection process for the future nuclear systems. Will these attempts be successful? Will “natural” selection still prevail? In any case, in the context of a growing demand for energy for the developing world and of the need to reduce GHG emission, the nuclear reactor “species” is here to stay.

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Listening to others: a personal view by Andrew Teller, ENS society manager

Creative Cost Comparisons

The use of the word “creative” in the title of this article is inspired from the well-established phrase “creative accounting”. According to Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopædia, creative accounting refers to accounting practices that deviate from the standard ones. In particular, it can be used to refer to systematic misrepresentation of the true income and assets of business organisations.

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