Category: 2017

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
New EU agreement mentions de-commissioning first block, not nuclear
plant – official
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The new agreement with the European
Union mentions not the closure of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant,
but rather de-commissioning the first block of the plant, Vahram
Petrosyan, Executive Secretary of the Nuclear Energy Safety Council
told reporters at the 15th session of the council.
“This information [closure of NPP and subsequent substitution with
more powerful one], which you possess, isn’t true, because it’s not
about shutting down the nuclear plant, but it’s about de-commissioning
the plant’s first block [commissioned in 1976], meaning it will not be
commissioned again, it will not be revitalized. On the contrary, works
are being done to expand the operational limit of the plant’s second
block [commissioned in 1980], meaning the project time has expired”,
Petrosyan said, adding that an international experience exists, based
on which works are being done to prolong the operational period of the
second block.
According to him, it is planned to extend the period of operation of
the second block for ten years, although international experience
shows that the extension period for similar blocks in Russia, Ukraine,
Hungary and Finland is 30 years.
Petrosyan says the developments of solar and alternative energy
sources in important for Armenia, but at the moment the nuclear power
plant remains the only source of ensuring Armenia’s energy security.

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Friday
President Sargsyan participates in session of Council for Nuclear Energy Safety
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan
on October 27 had a meeting with the newly-appointed chairman of the
Council for Nuclear Energy Safety, senior advisor of the International
Atomic Energy Safety (IAES) and World Association of Nuclear Operators
Miroslav Lipar who arrived in Armenia to take part in the 15th session
of the Council for Nuclear Energy Safety, press service of the
President’s Office told Armenpress.
The Armenian President congratulated Miroslav Lipar on his appointment
and wished him success and productive work, expressing hope that his
experience in nuclear energy field will contribute to the effective
work of the Council.
President Sargsyan and Miroslav Lipar discussed the program works
carried out for increasing the security level of the Armenian Nuclear
Power Plant, the events planned by the program of extending the
deadline for operation of the second energy bloc of NPP, as well as
the process of necessary works aimed at increasing the preparedness
level of the NPP staff.
Miroslav Lipar assured the President that the Council for Nuclear
Energy Safety consists of highly qualified specialists and can
continue providing significant assistance to the NPP. He informed that
the Council members visited the plant yesterday and noted that after
each visit new improvements and progress are being realized in the
NPP. The Council chairman said despite significant works have been
implemented, still a lot of actions are needed, and the Council with
full responsibility will continue keeping in spotlight the NPP’s safe
operation.
After the meeting President Sargsyan participated in the session of
the Council for Nuclear Energy Safety in the reception hall of the
government.
The President welcomed the Council members and the remaining
participants of the session. He said 20 years have passed since the
first session of the Council and thanked AdolfBerghoffer, unchanged
chairman of the Council, as well as the previous and current members
for professional assistance to the implementation of programs aimed at
increasing the NPP security. The President informed that
AdolfBerghoffer will no longer be able to continue his tenure, but
will remain in the Council staff. Serzh Sargsyan said the Council
highly appreciates AdolfBerghoffer’s achievements on implementation of
Armenian NPP security raising national program and awarded him with an
Honorary Order for the contribution and dedication on ensuring the
safe operation of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.
Thereafter, the President introduced newly-appointed chairman Miroslav
Lipar to the Council members. The President also introduced new member
of the Council Peter Kelm (Germany) who has worked in the nuclear
energy field for a long time and is well familiar with the ANPP and
the objects of Armenia’s energy infrastructure. The President wished
success and productive work to the newly-appointed members of the
Council.
In his remarks the President said the maintenance and development of
the nuclear energy remains a strategic direction for Armenia in
accordance with the program of ‘Long-term development trends (until
2036) of energy system of the Republic of Armenia’ approved by the
Armenian government in December, 2015.
“The program envisages to extend the operation of the current power
plant up to 2027, and later to implement phased installation of new
nuclear blocks. Armenia and Russia have signed agreements on providing
state export loan to the Armenian government for the implementation of
a program on extending the term of operation of the NPP’s second
energy bloc and providing grant for financing that program”, the
President said.
The President highlighted that they attach a special importance to
cadre policy in nuclear field. The preparation of specialists will
contribute to maintaining infrastructures in the country.
In his remarks the President specifically attached importance to the
agreed work of Armenia’s nuclear safety regulating body and the
Armenian NPP.
Thereafter, General Director of the ANPP CJSC Movses Vardanyan
presented to the Council members the activity of the ANPP. Then,
chairman of the State Committee for Nuclear Safety Regulation Ashot
Martirosyan presented the report of Armenia’s nuclear safety
regulating body for 2015-2017. The presentation of reports were
followed by discussions.

Tufts Daily: Tufts University
 Friday
Professors Boghosian, Duchin apply mathematics to social problems -
The Tufts Daily
by Constantinos Angelakis
Applied mathematics students at Tufts may have the opportunity to
cross over into social science. Two professors are pushing the
boundaries of interdisciplinary math by investigating problems in
social sciences through their research.
Professor Bruce Boghosian has been working on modeling wealth
inequality for about five years, beginning during his time as
president of the American University of Armenia. The country, which
became independent after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991,
underwent drastic liberalization and, like many other former Soviet
states, quickly became an oligarchy, according to Boghosian.
"Unfortunately, it's easier to create an oligarchy than it is to break
loose from it," Boghosian said. "It is an unfortunately stable form of
government."
Boghosian's work now sets out to model the inequality that results
from free markets over time. His model illustrates the increasing
trend of asymmetry in the economy as wealth becomes concentrated in
fewer and fewer hands.
"The accuracy with which we're able to match the wealth distributions
is remarkable," he said. "To my knowledge, no other first-principles
theory is able to achieve the same accuracy. That's what grounds it in
reality, somehow, and makes it more than just a mathematical model."
He explained that the belief that the current economic system will
result in equilibrium dates back to the Enlightenment, during which
freedom of transaction was embraced following a period of restricted
economy in Europe.
"You can understand why people regarded the opportunity to engage in
transactions of one's own free will as a sort of freedom from that,
but there's a bias that's hidden in it. There's an asymmetry, and it's
not the least bit obvious," Boghosian said. "I wish that it didn't
require so much mathematics to describe."
Boghosian noted that his work takes a different approach than
traditional economic models of equilibrium. However, economics
professors at Tufts have been generally receptive to his work.
"They've all been really encouraging, in fact, and supportive of it,"
he said. "I'm not sure they believe it, but they're welcoming to an
outsider who is really just learning about economic issues."
Boghosian has also taught two courses in the Department of Mathematics
regarding wealth inequality, which he said generated significant
levels of student interest.
Senior Chengli Li, an applied mathematics major, has worked with
Boghosian on his research, including as part of the summer scholars
program this year.
"I think it's really interesting to solve economic problems from a
math perspective," Li, who is also an economics major, said. "I think
from the math perspective it's a really interesting new way of looking
at it."
Li said that she enjoyed the opportunity to apply her knowledge of
mathematics across disciplines and toward issues which she has
observed in the world.
"I'm an international student, I'm from China, so the place where I
came [from] was a mixture of really poor people and really wealthy
people," she said. "So I know there's an issue, and this research is
really able to apply what I've learned to the things that I've heard
at school or the things that I've seen."
Ultimately, Boghosian said, there must be some outside intervention to
counter the continued concentration of wealth.
"One thing that we found clearly is that redistribution is the only
thing that keeps an economy stable," Boghosian said. "I mean, there
can be many mechanisms for redistribution, but a redistributive term
in the wealth distribution evolution equation is important."
Boghosian said this redistribution could be done through a variety of
mechanisms. He added that transparency was of critical importance
because many people hide their wealth.
"There's an advantage to taxing wealth directly, even if it's a tiny
tax, not enough to hurt anybody, but it would oblige people to declare
their wealth in the same way they declare their income," he said.
He hopes that by presenting his data, the political will of people may
be more easily impacted to make changes.
"In my opinion, one of the things that can influence political will is
the clear demonstration that the system we have now, even though it
may seem fair, isn't," he said. "It is inherent and endogenously
unfair and biased."
While Boghosian's work has vast implications on pragmatic economic
policy, he said he is focused primarily on using his model to analyze
current data from around the world.
"It would be wonderful in the future to be able to connect our models
with real public policy, but that will take years," he said. "That's
something that we are working on, and people are beginning to think
about, but it's not ready for implementation yet."
Elsewhere in the mathematics department, Associate Professor Moon
Duchin is also addressing social issues through her ongoing research
in gerrymandering. Her work uses geometry to look into the potential
unfair drawing of U.S. districts in order to benefit particular
political groups, also known as gerrymandering. Duchin said that she
is on sabbatical this semester while pursuing her gerrymandering
research full-time.
"Because [voting] is done by districts, it depends really heavily on
what those districts look like, and so the question is, 'What should
be the rules about the shapes of districts?'" she said. "If you have
some rules about what the [districts] can look like, that limits the
power of the map-drawer."
She said that, while members of the mathematics department do not
often do research into social issues, applied math does have a strong
presence in some more traditionally related fields.
"One thing that's cool about the mathematics department at Tufts is
that it has both pure and applied mathematicians in the same
department," she said.
However, Duchin herself does not have a background in applied
mathematics. She said that she became interested in the topic of
gerrymandering while preparing to teach the math of social choice
class at Tufts, after noticing that work on the geometry of districts
was out of date.
"For me, this is a turning point, because my background is in
theoretical, pure mathematics," Duchin said. "This is the first time
I've gotten into something so applied. And I didn't fully realize in
the past that cutting-edge math could be applied to politics instead
of the traditional crossover fields like physics, chemistry and
biology."
Duchin said that the type of mathematical work associated with social
sciences like economics and political science is often called
quantitative social science. Although Tufts does not have a program in
that field, Duchin pointed out the Science, Technology, and Society
major, of which she is the director, as an example of bridging the gap
between social science and humanities.
"For students who are interested in crossing over between STEM fields
and books and real life, that's exactly what niche STS is trying to
fill - to be a bridge between math and engineering and other technical
areas and the practical application in human culture," she said.
Duchin said that Tufts' encouragement of interdisciplinary and
civically engaged work has been a positive influence on her own
endeavors. For example, she has worked with professors in the
political science department as well as members of the Jonathan M.
Tisch College of Civic Life.
"As you see, Tufts is an amazing place to be," Duchin said. "It's
exciting to be here because there are really not that many places that
are as serious about interdisciplinarity as Tufts, and the Tisch
College focus on integrated civics is unique. So for me, it's been a
real treat to be here and work with people in so many other fields."