title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: After Russia's defeat of French Napoleonic forces in the 1812 war, Tsar Alexander I turned his attentions once more to the North Caucasus, assigning one of his most celebrated generals, Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, to the conquest of the region. In 1817, Russian forces under Yermolov's command embarked upon the conquest of the Caucasus. Yermolov's brutal tactics, which included economic warfare, collective punishment and forcible deportations, were initially successful, but have been described as counterproductive since they effectively ended Russian influence on Chechen society and culture and ensured the Chechens' enduring enmity. Yermolov was not relieved of command until 1827.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: A turning point in the conflict was marked in 1828 when the Muridism movement emerged. It was led by Imam Shamil, a Dagestani Avar. In 1834 he united the Northeast Caucasus nations under Islam and declared "holy war" on Russia. In 1845 Shamil's forces surrounded and killed thousands of Russian soldiers and several generals in Dargo, forcing them to retreat.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: During the Crimean War of 1853–1856, the Chechens supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia.However, internal tribal conflicts weakened Shamil and he was captured in 1859. The war formally ended in 1862 when Russia promised autonomy for Chechnya and other Caucasian ethnic groups. However, Chechnya and the surrounding region, including northern Dagestan, were incorporated into the Russian Empire as the Terek Oblast. Some Chechens have perceived Shamil's surrender as a betrayal, thus creating friction between Dagestanis and Chechens in this conflict, with the Dagestanis being frequently accused by Chechens as Russian collaborators.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: After the Russian Revolution, the peoples of the North Caucasus came to establish the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. It existed until 1921, when they were forced to accept Soviet rule. Joseph Stalin personally held negotiations with the Caucasian leaders in 1921 and promised a wide autonomy inside the Soviet state. The Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created that year, but only lasted until 1924 when it was abolished and six republics were created. The Checheno–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established in 1934. Confrontations between the Chechens and the Soviet government arose in the late 1920s during collectivization. It declined by the mid-1930s after local leaders were arrested or killed. The broke out in early 1932 and was defeated in March.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Soviet historiography falsely accuses Chechens of joining the Wehrmacht en masse, although this notion is not accepted in any other academic instances. Modern Russian historiography itself also admits that there is little merit to these accusations. By January 1943, the German retreat started, while the Soviet government began discussing the deportation of Chechen and Ingush people far from the North Caucasus, this was despite the fact Chechens and Ingush served in the Red Army like any other of the nations in the Soviet Union. In February 1944, under the direct command of Lavrentiy Beria, almost half a million Chechens and Ingush were removed from their homes and forcibly settled in Central Asia in an act of ethnic cleansing. They were put in forced labor camps in Kazakhstan and Kirghizia. Estimates on casualties range from 170,000 up to 200,000, with some evidence also indicating that 400,000 people perished. The victims perished mostly due to hypothermia (freezing to death) and starvation, although massacres were not uncommon. The most notable of the massacres during the deportation was the Khaibakh massacre, in which an estimated 700 Chechen children, elderly and women were locked in a barn and burned alive, reportedly due to problems with their transportation. Mikhail Gvishiani, the officer responsible for the massacre was praised and promised a medal by Lavrentiy Beria himself. A 2004 European Parliament resolution states that the deportation was a genocide.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: In 1957, Chechens were allowed to return to their homes. The Checheno–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was reestablished. The violence began in 1958, upon a conflict between a Russian sailor and an Ingush youngster over a girl, in which the Russian was fatally injured. The incident quickly deteriorated into mass ethnic riots, as Slavic mobs attacked Chechens and Ingushes and looted their property throughout the region for four days. Ethnic clashes continued through 1960s, and in 1965 some 16 clashes were reported, with 185 severe injuries, 19 of them fatal. By late 1960, the region calmed down and the Chechen–Russian conflict came to its lowest point until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the eruption of Chechen Wars in 1990.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: In 1991, Chechnya declared independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. According to some sources, from 1991 to 1994, tens of thousands of people of non-Chechen ethnicity (mostly Russians, Ukrainians and Armenians) left the republic amidst reports of violence and discrimination against the non-Chechen population. Other sources do not identify displacement as a significant factor in the events of the period, instead focusing on the deteriorating domestic situation within Chechnya, the aggressive politics of the Chechen President, Dzhokhar Dudayev, and the domestic political ambitions of Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Russian Army forces were commanded into Grozny in 1994 but, after two years of intense fighting, the Russian troops eventually withdrew from Chechnya under the Khasavyurt Accord. Chechnya preserved its "de facto" independence until the second war broke out in 1999.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: In 1999, the Russian government forces started an anti-terrorist campaign in Chechnya, in response to the invasion of Dagestan by Chechen-based Islamic forces. By early 2000 Russia almost completely destroyed the city of Grozny and succeeded in putting Chechnya under direct control of Moscow by late April.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: Since the end of the Second Chechen War in May 2000, low-level insurgency has continued, particularly in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. Russian security forces have succeeded in eliminating some of their leaders, such as Shamil Basayev, who was killed on July 10, 2006. After Basayev's death, Dokka Umarov took the leadership of the rebel forces in North Caucasus until his death, owing to poisoning, in 2013.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: Islamists from Chechnya and other North Caucasian republics have been blamed for a number of terrorist attacks throughout Russia, most notably the Russian apartment bombings in 1999, the Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002, the Beslan school hostage crisis in 2004, the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings and the Domodedovo International Airport bombing in 2011.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: Currently, Chechnya is now under the rule of its Russian-appointed leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Though the oil-rich region has maintained relative stability under Kadyrov, he has been accused by critics and citizens of suppressing freedom of the press and violating other political and human rights. Because of this continued Russian rule, there were minor guerilla attacks by separatist groups in the area. Further adding to the tension, jihadist groups aligned with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda existed in the region.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: Although insurgency between the Russian government and the Chechen militants ended in 2017, elimination of militants continued afterwards.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: The conflict between Chechens and Russians is also seen outside the Russian border. During the Syrian Civil War, Chechen fighters that remain loyal to the collapsed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and radical Chechen Islamists had also fought against Russian Army and its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, with desire to overthrow the Assad Government and replace it by a more Chechen-sympathized government.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: In 2014, many anti-Russian Chechens volunteered to fight in the War in Donbas against Russia and the Russian separatist forces in Donbas as part of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions, forming the Sheikh Mansur and Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalions. The pro-Ukrainian Chechens see the Russo-Ukrainian War as a contribution to the larger anti-Russian struggle. While Chechen forces under Kadyrov have been present both during the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the subsequent War in Donbas.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: Chechnya had significant involvement with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, pro-Russian Kadyrovites from Chechnya were deployed in Ukraine as a boost to the Russian forces. Western sources described the deployment of Chechen Kadyrovites as "leveraging the very presence of Chechen soldiers in Ukraine as a psychological weapon against Ukrainians". While the Ukrainian Chechen volunteer battalions resumed their fight against the Russian forces.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: On 23 August 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former military commander for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during the Second Chechen War, was assassinated in a Berlin park, by an alleged Russian GRU operative. Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov is suspected of ordering the assassination of Khangoshvili.


title: Chechen–Russian conflict

text: The exact number of Chechen casualties of this conflict are difficult to ascertain due to lack of records and the long time period of the clashes. One source indicates that at least 60,000 Chechens were killed in the First and Second Chechen War in the 1990s and 2000s alone. High estimates of these two wars range of up to 150,000 or 160,000 killed, as put by Taus Djabrailov, the head of Chechnya's interim Parliament.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: Haunted Mansion is an upcoming American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Justin Simien from a screenplay by Katie Dippold and stars Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, Jared Leto, Danny DeVito, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film is the second theatrical film adaptation of Walt Disney's theme park attraction of the same name, following the 2003 film.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: A single mom named Gabbie and her 9-year-old son, who are looking to start a new life, move into a strangely affordable mansion in New Orleans, only to discover that the place is much more than they bargained for. Desperate for help, they contact a priest, who, in turn, enlists the aid of a widowed scientist-turned-failed-paranormal expert, a French Quarter psychic, and a crotchety historian to help exorcise the mansion.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: In July 2010, it was announced that a reboot adaptation based on The Haunted Mansion was in development for Walt Disney Pictures, with Guillermo del Toro as writer and producer. Del Toro stated the project would not take place in a real-world setting, but in a heightened reality. He revealed that the Hatbox Ghost would be one of the main characters, and said the movie would be "scary and fun at the same time, but the scary will be scary." In June 2011, Walt Disney World Imagineer Jason Surrell was brought onto the project as a creative consultant. In August 2012, del Toro submitted the final draft of his script to Walt Disney Studios, intended for a PG-13 rating. By July 2013, del Toro announced he was no longer the project's director, but remained as co-writer and executive producer. In April 2015, Ryan Gosling was in early negotiations to star, while D.V. DeVincentis was hired to rewrite the script. In September 2016, Brigham Taylor was hired as producer.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: In August 2020, it was announced that Katie Dippold signed on to write a new screenplay for the film, after it was decided that del Toro's script was too scary for family audiences. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich were hired as producers. The project will be a joint-venture production between Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback. By April 2021, Justin Simien entered early-negotiations to direct the film, and was officially confirmed as director by July 2021.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: Tiffany Haddish, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito were each cast to appear in the film. In July 2022, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto were revealed to have been cast. During the 2022 D23 Expo presentation, it was revealed that Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, and Hasan Minhaj were cast.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: Principal photography ran from mid-October 2021 to late February 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia. On January 14, 2022, Haddish got into legal trouble after being arrested on a DUI charge as filming for the movie was still taking place in Georgia.


title: Haunted Mansion (2023 film)

text: The film is scheduled for release on August 11, 2023. It was previously scheduled for March 10, 2023.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. It also announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetised banknotes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the action would curtail the shadow economy, increase cashless transactions and reduce the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The announcement of demonetisation was followed by prolonged cash shortages in the weeks that followed, which created significant disruption throughout the economy. People seeking to exchange their banknotes had to stand in lengthy queues, and several deaths were linked to the rush to exchange cash.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: According to a 2018 report from the Reserve Bank of India ₹15.3 trillion of the ₹15.41 trillion in demonetised bank notes, or approximately 99.3%, were deposited in banks, leading analysts to state that the effort had failed to remove black money from the economy. The BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 stock indices fell over 6 percent on the day after the announcement. The move reduced the country's industrial production and its GDP growth rate. It is estimated that 1.5 million jobs were lost. The move also saw a significant increase in digital and cashless transactions throughout the country.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Initially, the move received support from some central bankers as well as from some international commentators. The move was also criticised as poorly planned and unfair, and was met with protests, litigation, and strikes against the government in several places across India. Debates also took place concerning the move in both houses of Parliament.<section end="Lead"/>


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The Indian government had demonetised banknotes on two prior occasions—once in 1946 and once in 1978—and in both cases, the goal was to combat tax evasion via "black money" held outside the formal economic system. In 1978, the Janata Party coalition government demonetised banknotes of , and , again in the hopes of curbing counterfeit money and black money.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: In 2012, the Central Board of Direct Taxes recommended against demonetisation, saying in a report that "demonetisation may not be a solution for tackling black money or shadow economy, which is largely held in the form of benami properties, bullion and jewelry." According to data from income tax probes, black money holders kept only 6% or less of their wealth as cash, suggesting that targeting this cash would not be a successful strategy.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The plan to demonetise the and banknotes was initiated between six and ten months before it was a report by the State Bank of India (SBI) analysed possible strategies and effects of demonetisation. In May 2016, the Reserve Bank of India had started preparing for new banknotes and confirmed the design of banknotes in August 2016. The printing of new banknotes started in October when the news stories of forthcoming new banknotes appeared in the media. On 27 October 2016, the Hindi daily "Dainik Jagran" published a report quoting RBI sources speaking of the forthcoming of banknotes alongside withdrawal of and banknotes. On 21 October 2016, "The Hindu Business Line" had also published a report on the forthcoming banknote.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The Board of the Reserve Bank of India met on Nov 8th, 2016, 5:30 PM to consider a letter from the Ministry of Finance regarding demonetization. "Two key reasons for the proposal cited in the government letter were:


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: inclusion and to incentivize greater digitization of the economy. The board approved the proposal, but not before making a few trenchant comments. It noted that the measure may not have the desired effect on black


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The Union cabinet was informed about the plan on 8 November 2016 in a meeting in the evening called by Prime Minister Modi. Soon after the meeting, Modi announced the demonetisation in an unscheduled live national televised address at 20:15 IST. He declared circulation of all and banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series as invalid effective from the midnight of the same day, and announced the issuance of new and banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series in exchange for the demonetised banknotes.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: In an interview of prominent businessmen 'allegedly' claimed after the announcement of demonetisation that they had received prior tip-offs and rumours warning of the move and after seeing leaked photos of new notes "knew what was coming", allowing them to preserve their money by converting it into smaller denominations. A BJP MLA from Rajasthan, Bhawani Singh Rajawat, casually claimed in a video that wealthy businessmen were informed about the demonetisation before it occurred. He later denied making the comments.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The Reserve Bank of India stipulated that the demonetised banknotes could be deposited with banks over a period of fifty days until 30 December 2016. The banknotes could also be exchanged for legal tender over the counter at all banks. The limit for such exchange was per person from 8 to 13 November, was increased to from 14 to 17 November, and reduced to from 18 to 25 November. The exchange of banknotes was stopped completely on 25 November, although the government had previously stated that the volume of exchange would be increased after that date. International airports also facilitated an exchange of banknotes for foreign tourists and out-bound travellers, amounting to a total value of per person. Fuel pumps, government hospitals, railway and airline booking counters, state-government recognised dairies and ration stores, and crematoriums were allowed to accept the demonetised banknotes until 2 December 2016.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Cash withdrawals from bank accounts were restricted to ₹10,000 per day and per week per account from 10 to 13 November. This limit was increased to per week from 14 November 2016. Limits on cash withdrawals from Current accounts/ Cash credit accounts/ Overdraft accounts were withdrawn later. RBI increased the withdrawal limit from Savings Bank account to from the earlier on 20 February 2017 and then on 13 March 2017, it removed all withdrawal limits from savings bank accounts.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: A daily limit on withdrawals from ATMs was also imposed varying from per day until 14 November, and per day until 31 December. This limit was increased to per day from 1 January, and again to from 16 January 2017. From 17 November, families were allowed to withdraw for wedding expenses. Farmers were permitted to withdraw per week against crop loans.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016 was issued on 28 December 2016, ending the liability of the government for the demonetised banknotes. The ordinance also imposed fines on people found carrying out transactions with them after 8 November 2016, or holding more than ten of them after 30 December 2016. It provided for the exchange of the banknotes after 30 December for people who had been outside India between 9 November and 30 December. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017 was notified on 1 March 2017, replacing the ordinance.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The government said that the main objective of the exercise was curbing black money, which included income which had not been reported and thus was untaxed; money gained through corruption, illegal goods sales and illegal activities such as human trafficking; and counterfeit currency. Other stated objectives included expanding the tax base and increasing the number of taxpayers; reducing the number of transactions carried out by cash; reducing the finances available to terrorists and radical groups such as the Naxalite Maoists; and integrating the formal and informal economies.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The government was described as 'shifting the goalposts' with respect to the goals of the demonetisation exercise. The initial stated goal was to curb black money, corruption, and terrorism, but as it became apparent that almost all the cash was being exchanged, the goals were expanded to include making India a cashless economy, neutralisation of money held by Maoists, terrorists and human traffickers, among others.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The government estimated that ₹5 trillion, or approximately 20%, of the demonetised banknotes would be permanently removed from circulation. However, according to a 2018 report from the RBI, 99.3% of the demonetised banknotes, or ₹15.3 trillion of the ₹15.41 trillion that had been demonetised, were deposited with the banking system. The banknotes that were not deposited were worth ₹107.2 billion. Commentators concluded that the government had failed in its aim of purging black money from the economy.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: There were reports of people circumventing the restrictions imposed on exchange transactions by conducting multiple transactions at different bank branches, and by sending hired people, employees, and followers in groups to exchange large amounts of demonetised banknotes at banks. In Gujarat, Delhi and many other major cities, sales of gold increased post-demonetisation, surging the price as much as from the ruling price of per . The Enforcement Directorate raided several forex establishments making backdated entries. Money laundering using backdated accounting was carried out by co-operative banks, jewellers, sellers of mobile phones, and several other businesses.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The cash deposited into "hundis" (cash collection boxes in temples and gurudwaras) are exempted from inquiry by the tax department; this is sometimes to launder money. After the demonetisation, there was a spike in donations in the form of the demonetised banknotes in temples. People booked large numbers of railway tickets to dispose of unaccounted cash. This came to the notice of the Indian Railways authorities, who imposed restrictions to check evasion.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: After demonetisation, there was an increase in the number of counterfeit and banknotes. The number of counterfeit and (demonetised version) banknotes saw an increase in 2016–17 and subsequently a decline in 2017–18. But in 2017–18, there was an increase in counterfeit and (new version) banknotes than the previous year. There has been no significant change in the number of counterfeit banknotes detected. In 2017–18, the number of detected counterfeit banknotes was close to the number before demonetisation. Additionally, after demonetisation, only 0.0035% of the banknotes were found to be counterfeit.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The number of income tax returns filing increased from 43.3 million to 52.9 million between the financial year of 2016 and 2017, which was not a significant increase compared to the increase between 2015 and 2016. The tax compliance had increased with a number of income tax returns filing increased but the majority of them were from salaried and non-business class. The income tax collections increased in the financial year of 2017 due to Income Disclosure Scheme 2016. If adjusted for it, the increase in tax collection was modest. The tax-to-GDP ratio has increased due to expanding tax base. An analysis of the economic data shows that there has been no substantial increase in the number of new tax payers or direct tax collection due to demonetisation. Indirect tax/GDP ratio also remained on the trend path and had no visible impact.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The use of demonetised banknotes was allowed for the payment of municipal and local civic body taxes, leading to a jump in their revenue collections. For example, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation reported collecting about ₹1.6 billion in cash payments of outstanding and advance taxes within the first four days of demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The push for digital payments was one of the stated intentions of demonetisation. There was an immediate and sharp jump in digital payments in November–December 2016 owing to shortages of cash. The debit card point of sales transactions was twice the size of value suggested by trends before demonetisation. The value of credit cards increased but no sharp growth was seen. The mobile wallet transactions picked up immediately after demonetisation, followed by a dip in mid-2017 due to easing cash shortages. There was again sharp rise thereafter. By April 2018, the volume of the digital payments had doubled. After return of the cash, the growth in digital payment had been modest.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The currency-to-GDP ratio was 12.1% in 2015–16. It declined to 8.8% in 2016–17 due to demonetisation but increased again to 10.9% in 2017–18. The currency-to-GDP ratio was only marginally lower compared to levels before demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: On 28 October 2016, the total banknotes in circulation in India were valued at ₹17.77 trillion; what proportion of this derived from and banknotes was unknown. In its annual report of March 2016, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that total banknotes in circulation valued ₹16.42 trillion, of which nearly 86% (around ₹14.18 trillion) derived from and banknotes. In terms of volume, the report stated that 24% (around 22.03 billion) of the total 90.26 billion (9026.6 crore) banknotes in circulation were and banknotes.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Before demonetisation (November 2016), there were banknotes worth ₹17.97 trillion in the market. The demonetised banknotes constituted 86.4% of it. The banknotes in circulation had reached to the level before demonetisation in March 2018. By March 2018, there were banknotes worth ₹18.03 trillion in the market; an


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: increase of 9.9%. New banknotes of and constitute 80.6% of it. Thus, small domination banknotes increased by only 5.8%. The volume of banknotes in the market increased by 2.1%. The banknotes in circulation had further increased to ₹19.5 trillion in September 2018 and ₹21.41 trillion in March 2019, 19.14% higher than the level before demonetisation. Five years after demonetisation, the currency in circulation was at a record high of ₹29.17 trillion on 29 October 2021.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Initially following demonetization, activities and attacks by the Maoist Naxalite radical groups decreased, which was attributed to lack of finance following demonetisation. The surrender rate had reached its highest. The activities returned within few months. There was a decrease in the terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The scarcity of cash due to demonetisation led to chaos, and people faced difficulties in depositing or exchanging the demonetised banknotes due to long queues outside banks and ATMs across India. The ATMs were short of cash for months after demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: During the demonetisation, police and tax officials across India seized ₹6.1 billion in unaccounted money, including ₹1.1 billion in new banknotes. Reports in the media noted that although the general public faced a severe cash shortage, some individuals were able to amass tens of millions of rupees in new banknotes; they thus described the demonetisation exercise as being futile.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The All India Motor Transport Congress claimed that about 800,000 truck drivers and conductors were affected with the shortage of cash, with around 400,000 trucks stranded on major highways across India. Major toll plazas in Gujarat and on the Delhi-Mumbai highways also saw long queues as toll plaza operators refused the demonetised banknotes. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways subsequently announced a suspension of toll collections on all national highways across the country until 2 December as well as acceptance of demonetised banknotes as a toll from 2 to 15 December.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: As a combined effect of demonetisation and the US presidential election, the stock market indices dropped to an around six-month low in the week following the announcement. The day after the demonetisation announcement, BSE SENSEX crashed nearly 1,689 points and NIFTY 50 plunged by over 541 points. By the end of the intraday trading section on 15 November 2016, the BSE SENSEX index was lower by 565 points and the NIFTY 50 index was below 8100 intraday. There were marginal effects on the stock market during November–December 2016. A data study (July 2016 – February 2017) of 54 companies across 13 sectors listed with the NSE showed that companies in cement, cotton and rubber sectors showed an increase in total trades while companies in automotive, clothing, foods, paper, real estate, retail, steel, sugar, tea and textiles sectors showed a decrease in total trades after demonetisation. Demonetisation had a negative impact on stock market returns evidenced from NIFTY 50 and other NIFTY sectoral indices.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: There was a reduction in industrial output as industries were hit by the cash shortage. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 46.7 in November 2016 from 54.5 in October 2016, recording its sharpest reduction in three years. A reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below shows contraction. This indicates a slowdown in both manufacturing and services industries. The PMI report also showed that the reduction in inflation in November 2016 was due to a shortage in money supply.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The growth in eight core sectors such as cement, steel and refinery products, which constitute 38% of the Index of industrial production (IIP), was only to 4.9 percent in November 2016, as compared with 6.6 percent a month prior.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Demonetisation adversely affected transactions in the agriculture sector, which are heavily dependent on cash. Due to scarcity of the new banknotes, many farmers had insufficient cash to purchase seeds, fertilisers and pesticides needed for the plantation of rabi crops usually sown around mid-November. Farmers and their unions conducted protest rallies in Gujarat, Amritsar and Muzaffarnagar against the demonetisation as well as against restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank of India on district cooperative central banks which were ordered not to accept or exchange the demonetised banknotes.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The shortage of cash led to plunge in demand which in turn led to a crash in the prices of crops. Farmers were unable to recover even the costs of transportation from their fields to the market from the low prices offered. Some farmers dumped their produce in protest against the government.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Demonetisation resulted in the relative erosion of agricultural wages and weak bargaining power of farmers for their produce.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Global analysts cut their forecasts of India's real GDP growth rate for the financial year 2016–17 by 0.5 to 3% due to demonetisation. India's GDP in 2016 is estimated to be US$2.25 trillion, hence, each 1 per cent reduction in growth rate represents a shortfall of US$22.5 billion (₹1.54 trillion) for the Indian economy. According to Societe Generale, quarterly GDP growth rates would drop below 7% for an entire year at a stretch for the first time since June 2011.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The Q4'16–17 rate was 6.1% as against a forecast of 7.1% by economists. The rate for the financial year 2016–17 was 7.1%, a reduction from the 8% in 2015–16. This drop was attributed to demonetisation by economists.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The GDP growth rate for Q1'17–18 dropped to 5.7%, compared to 7.9% a year prior, the lowest since March 2014. This drop was attributed to demonetisation as well as inventory drawdown by companies due to the forthcoming implementation of the Goods and Service Tax. The GDP started to recover from 2017–18 and clocked 8.2% growth in 2018–19. The "Hindustan Times" in November 2021 reviewed GDP trends in the years following the demonitisation, and concluded that due to unpredented GDP contraction amid the COVID-19 pandemic and strong base effects, “the waters are now far too muddied to make any scientific assessment about demonetisation’s impact” on GDP.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Demonetisation caused a loss of jobs and a decline in wages, particularly in the unorganised and informal sector and as well as in small enterprises. Migrant workers were adversely affected by demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: According to the report prepared by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the number of employed people was 401 million in January–April 2016, 403 million during May–August 2016, and 406.5 million in September–December 2016. After demonetisation in November 2016, the number fell to 405 million in January–April 2017. So there was fall of 1.5 million in number of people employed. CMIE also reported that the number of persons employed was 406.7 million in 2016–17 which fell by 0.1% to 406.2 million in 2017–18. So the employment had stagnated which resulted in employment rate decline. The employment rate fell from 42.59% in 2016–17 to 41.45% in 2016–17. The unemployment rate also declined from 7.51% in 2016–17 to 4.66% in 2017–18 because of the shrinking employed force. The number of the employed force fell from 439.7 million in 2016–17 to 426.1 million in 2017–18. CMIE attributed the impact to demonetisation as well as implementation of Goods and Services Tax in July 2017.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Before demonetisation, the RBI had spent ₹34.21 billion to print banknotes in 2015–2016 (July to June). The cost of printing new banknotes rose to ₹79.65 billion in 2016–17 and ₹49.12 billion in 2017–18. This resulted in a decline in the dividend paid to the government from ₹658.76 billion in 2015–16 to ₹306.59 billion in 2016–17 and ₹500 billion in 2017–18. It was estimated that this decrease in income for the government could cause the fiscal deficit for the financial year 2016–17 to increase from the targeted 3.2% to 3.4%. The Indian Air Force was paid ₹294.1 million to move banknotes after demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The banks incurred the cost in collection, storage, and movement of banknotes across the country, as well as the cost of re-calibrating ATMs for the new banknotes (as they differed in size from the old ones).


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Several people were reported to have died from standing in queues for hours to exchange their demonetised banknotes. Deaths were also attributed to lack of medical help due to refusal of demonetised banknotes by hospitals. By the end of December 2016, political opposition leaders claimed that over 100 people had died due to demonetisation. In March 2017, the government stated that they received no official report on deaths connected to demonetisation. Later in December 2018, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reported in parliament that four people, three bank personnel and one customer of the State Bank of India, died during demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: M. Seeni Ahamed, General Secretary of the Indian National League, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) to scrap the decision of demonetisation. The High Court dismissed the PIL, stating that it could not interfere in monetary policies of the government. Similar PILs were also filed in the Supreme Court of India. In November 2017, the Supreme Court of India referred all cases which have similarity to demonetisation to constitutional bench to review the legality of the demonetisation, implementation irregularities and violation of people's rights by limits on cash withdrawals.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The government had initially announced that any person who was unable to deposit the demonetised banknotes by 31 December 2016 would be given an opportunity to do so until a later date. However, the government allowed only Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to deposit demonetised banknotes after 31 December 2016. As a result, many people were left stranded with demonetised banknotes. People petitioned the courts to allow a deposit of the demonetised banknotes. In November 2017, the Supreme Court dismissed 14 petitions related to demonetisation, and asked petitioners to file pleas with a constitutional bench which would deal with cases related to demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Most economists across the ideological spectrum, except those considered partisan, were broadly critical of the demonetisation as an economic policy.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati praised the demonetisation, calling it “a courageous and substantive economic reform that, despite the significant transition costs, has the potential to generate large future benefits.” Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, on the other hand, called the demonitisation a "despotic action" and said that it "undermines notes, it undermines bank accounts, it undermines the entire economy of trust." Former senior vice-president and chief economist of the World Bank Kaushik Basu, called it a "major mistake" and said that the "damage" is likely to be much greater than any possible benefits. Pronab Sen, former Chief Statistician and Planning Commission of India member, called it a "hollow move" since it did not really address any of the purported goals of tackling black money or fake currency. Prabhat Patnaik, a former professor of economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi called the move 'witless' and 'anti-people'. He criticised the assumption that black money was "a hoard of cash", saying that it would have little effect in eliminating "black activities" and would "caus[e] much hardship to common people."


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Nobel laureate Richard Thaler praised the demonetisation as "a policy I have long supported", but didn't seem positive towards the introduction of Rs.2000 banknote. Economist and journalist T. N. Ninan wrote in the Business Standard that demonetisation 'looks like a bad idea, badly executed on the basis of some half-baked notions'. Steve Forbes described the move as "sickening and immoral." Forbes wrote that "[w]hat India has done is commit a massive theft of people's property without even the pretense of due process—a shocking move for a democratically elected government." Nobel laureate Paul Krugman opined that it was difficult to see gains from demonetisation, while there might be significant costs to it. Economic analyst Vivek Kaul stated in a BBC article that "demonetisation had been a failure of epic proportions."


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The decision met with mixed initial reactions. Several bankers like Arundhati Bhattacharya (Chairperson of State Bank of India) and Chanda Kochhar (MD & CEO of ICICI Bank) favored the demonitisation in order to curb black money. Businessmen Anand Mahindra (Mahindra Group), Sajjan Jindal (JSW Group), Kunal Bahl (Snapdeal and FreeCharge) also supported the move, adding that it would also accelerate e-commerce. Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy praised the move.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Deepak Parekh (Chairman of HDFC) had initially appreciated the decision of demonetisation, but later said that the move had derailed the economy, and expressed skepticism about its outcome. Industrialist Rajiv Bajaj criticised demonetisation, saying that not just the execution, but the concept of demonetisation was wrong in itself.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Indian National Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala welcomed the move but remained skeptical on the consequences that would follow. Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar supported the move. The demonetisation also got support from the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Nara Chandrababu Naidu. Former Chief Election Commissioner of India S. Y. Quraishi said demonetisation could lead to long term electoral reforms. Indian social activist Anna Hazare hailed demonetisation as a "revolutionary step". Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee welcomed the demonetisation move by calling it a "bold step". Chief Ministers of several Indian states like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan have criticised and led major protests against the decision in their states and in parliament. Initially, the move to demonetise and try to hinder black money was appreciated, but the manner in which it was carried out by causing hardships to common people was criticised.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: A Parliamentary panel report in April 2017 stated that rural households and "honest taxpayers" were the worst hit by demonetisation. It said that it was not just the poor that suffered, but the manufacturing sector was impacted too. According to the panel, demonetisation created significant disruption throughout economy, because it was carried out without prior study or research.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: An Indian National Congress led opposition which includes 13 political parties, opposed the government on the issue of demonetisation in the Winter Session of the Indian Parliament.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: On 16 November 2016, Mamata Banerjee led a delegation comprising political parties of Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, BJP ally Shiv Sena and National Conference to Rashtrapati Bhawan to protest against the demonetisation. A memorandum was submitted to the President of India Pranab Mukherjee demanding rollback of the decision.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Prem Chand Gupta, a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, questioned a statement of Modi from the unscheduled TV broadcast on 8 November, "If it was planned 10 months ago, how did RBI Governor Urjit Patel sign on new note?". Praful Patel, a member of the Nationalist Congress Party, stated that "the government was not even prepared to recalibrate the ATMs while announcing the move. People's suffering are unimaginable. Nobody is questioning the government's intention, but you are unprepared to execute the move". Later, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati called the situation "a financial emergency", saying, "It looks as if "Bharat" has shut down." Also, Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India, questioned the government on the demonetisation move by stating "only 6% of black money in India is in cash to drive his point that demonetisation won't curb illicit wealth."


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: On 17 November 2016, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee led a rally against demonetisation at Azadpur Mandi, the biggest vegetable and fruits wholesale market in New Delhi.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: On 24 November 2016, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said "this scheme will hurt small industries, the farming sector. The GDP can decline by about 3 percent due to this move". He called the demonetisation an "organised loot, legalised plunder of the common people".


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Strikes were organised across India. Opposition parties like the Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK, JD(U), AIADMK, Nationalist Congress Party, Left, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party decided to observe 'Akrosh Diwas' as, a protest campaign day on 28 November and launch protests in front of banks, demanding that money be returned to people. In the state of Bihar, 15 trains were blocked and stranded, while the states of West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh saw protest marches and rallies led by opposition parties. In the state of Kerala, shops and business establishments were shut, with schools and colleges closed throughout the state, while movements of private vehicles were also disrupted in Northern Kerala.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Former Indian Chief Election Commissioner, O. P. Rawat stated that 'the note ban had absolutely no impact on black money', and that record amounts of money had been seized in polls held after demonetisation.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: By and large, initial international response was positive which saw the move as a bold crackdown on corruption. The International Monetary Fund's spokesperson Gerry Rice told that it supported the efforts to fight corruption and illegal finances but cautioned about the disruptions.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Chinese state media "Global Times" praised the move as a "fierce fight against black money and corruption." Former Prime Minister of Finland and vice-president of European Commission Jyrki Katainen welcomed the demonetisation move stressing that bringing transparency will strengthen the Indian economy. BBC's South Asia Correspondent Justin Rowlatt in his article praised the move for its secrecy. Tim Worstall wrote in "Forbes" that demonetisation was having positive macroeconomic effects. Swedish Minister of Enterprise Mikael Damberg supported the move by calling it a bold decision.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The demonetisation also came in for sharp criticism from media outside India, with "The New York Times" saying that the demonetisation was "atrociously planned" and that it did not appear to have combatted black money, while an article in "The Guardian" stated that "Modi has brought havoc to India". The "Harvard Business Review" called it "a case study in poor policy and even poorer execution". The frequent change in the narrative on objectives of the demonetisation to its visible impact on the poorest of the poor made other critiques calling the government's narrative as spins in view of the "pointless suffering on India's poorest."


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: Akshay Mangala, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, called the move "the politics of visible disruption". He noted that the people might attribute the implementation shortcomings to institutional weakness while the government could take credit for its attempt to curb the black money. He also noted that it may result in the public opinion in favour of the government which is led by the BJP if the opposition parties, led by the INC, fail to form the countervailing narrative. Massachusetts Institute of Technology associated academics Abhijit Banerjee and Namrata Kala also opined the same.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: The BJP and its allies formed the government in six out of seven state legislative assemblies which went to the elections in 2017, including the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. BJP improved its performance in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. In Manipur and Goa, INC secured the plurality while BJP came second and formed the government with the help of its allies. In Gujarat, BJP worsened its performance but retained the majority. The BJP and its allies lost to the INC in Punjab.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: In 2019, India experienced an economic slowdown which was attributed to demonetisation and several other factors.


title: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation

text: In 2020, a large number of users switched to digital payments with ease following the increase in COVID-19 pandemic in India. The rise in digital payments and cashless transactions was attributed to the demonetisation. Although with the new data released by RBI in Nov 2021, it is evident that cash circulation in India has actually increased by multi fold since demonetization and demonetization has not necessarily transferred cash users to digital users.


title: Michael Emerson

text: Michael Emerson (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor who is best known for his roles as serial killer William Hinks on "The Practice", Benjamin Linus on "Lost", Zep Hindle in the first "Saw" film, Cayden James on "Arrow", and Harold Finch in the CBS series "Person of Interest". Emerson has also worked extensively in theater and narration. He has won two Primetime Emmy Awards and been nominated for three others, as well as receiving other awards and nominations. He currently stars as Dr. Leland Townsend in the Paramount+ thriller series "Evil".


title: Michael Emerson

text: Emerson was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Carol (née Hansen) and Ronald H. Emerson. He grew up in Toledo, Iowa, where he was a member of his high school marching band.


title: Michael Emerson

text: He graduated in 1976 from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he majored in theater and minored in art. He studied for a semester at the National Theater Institute at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, then moved to New York City. Unable to find acting work, he took retail jobs and worked as an illustrator. In 1986, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where (from 1986–93) he appeared in local productions at Theater Jacksonville and The Players by the Sea and worked as a director and teacher at Flagler College. After several years of work including illustration and teaching, Emerson earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Alabama in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival acting program.


title: Michael Emerson

text: Emerson landed a starring role in 1997 as Oscar Wilde in Moises Kaufman's critically acclaimed off-Broadway play "", and then followed up with several other notable stage performances. In 1998, he performed opposite Uma Thurman in an off-Broadway production of "Le Misanthrope". In 1999, he played Willie Oban in "The Iceman Cometh". He co-starred with Kate Burton in both "Give Me Your Answer, Do!" and "Hedda Gabler".


title: Michael Emerson

text: In September 2001, Emerson won an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing serial killer William Hinks in several episodes of "The Practice". In 2006, Emerson began a guest-star role as Benjamin Linus on the serial drama television series "Lost". Emerson was originally set to appear in a small number of episodes, then returned for Season 3 as a main cast member and eventually became a main antagonist of the program. He received an Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category in 2007 and 2008 for his work in the third and fourth seasons. He won the award in 2009 after being nominated for his role in the fifth season.


title: Michael Emerson

text: Emerson was nominated in 2009 for a Golden Globe Award in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role category. He was nominated for an Emmy for each season in which he was listed in the main cast.


title: Michael Emerson

text: On July 31, 2010, Emerson and Preston read A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters", which was a 1990 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, at the Charleston Stage as a fundraiser for the theater.


title: Michael Emerson

text: Emerson was set to reunite with former "Lost" cast member and friend Terry O'Quinn in a comedy-drama, tentatively titled "Odd Jobs", by J. J. Abrams. It was expected to start filming by the end of 2010, but further development of the show has been postponed. Emerson joined the cast of another Abrams series, "Person of Interest", that debuted in September 2011 on CBS. He played a billionaire who teams up with a supposedly dead CIA agent to fight crime in New York City.


title: Michael Emerson

text: Emerson married actress Carrie Preston in 1998 in her hometown of Macon, Georgia. They met while he was performing in a stage production of "Hamlet" in Alabama. It is his second marriage. The two later starred together in "Straight-Jacket" (2004). Preston portrayed Emily Linus (the mother of Emerson's character) on "Lost" in the flashback sequences of the episode "The Man Behind the Curtain". The two teamed up again, with Emerson portraying Preston's next-door neighbor, in the film "Ready? OK!" (2008). Preston also appeared in several episodes of "Person of Interest" as Grace Hendricks (the former fiancée of Emerson's character).


title: Michael Emerson

text: Emerson supports charities connected to the theater community, including the Actors Fund, Broadway Cares, and Off-Off Broadway, in addition to publicly supported radio stations and Habitat for Humanity.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Shaolin Kung Fu (), also called Shaolin Wushu (), or Shaolin quan (), is one of the oldest, largest, and most famous styles of wushu, or kung fu of Chan Buddhism. It combines Ch'an philosophy and martial arts and originated and was developed in the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, Greater China during its 1500-year history. Popular sayings in Chinese folklore related to this practice include "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin" and "Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven," indicating the influence of Shaolin kung fu among martial arts. The name "Shaolin" is also used as a brand for the so-called external styles of kung fu. Many styles in southern and northern China use the name Shaolin.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Chinese historical records, like "Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue", the "Bibliographies in the Book of the Han Dynasty," the "Records of the Grand Historian," and other sources document the existence of martial arts in China for thousands of years. For example, the Chinese martial art of wrestling, "Shuai Jiao", predates the establishment of Shaolin temple by several centuries. Since Chinese monasteries were large landed estates, sources of considerable regular income, monks required protection. Historical discoveries indicate that, even before the establishment of Shaolin temple, monks had arms and also practiced martial arts. In 1784 the "Boxing Classic: Essential Boxing Methods" made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing's place of origin. This is, however, a misconception, but shows the historical importance of Shaolin kung fu.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: In 495 AD, Shaolin temple was built among the Song mountains in Henan province. The first monk who preached Buddhism there was the Indian monk named Buddhabhadra (), simply called Batuo () by the Chinese. There are historical records that Batuo's first Chinese disciples, Huiguang () and Sengchou (), both had exceptional martial skills. For example, Sengchou's skill with the tin staff is even documented in the Chinese Buddhist canon. After Buddhabadra, the monk Bodhidharma (), described as either Central Asian or South Asian (Indian) and simply called Damo () by the Chinese, came to Shaolin in 527 AD. His Chinese disciple, Huike (), was also a highly trained martial arts expert. There are hints that these first three Chinese Shaolin monks, Huiguang, Sengchou, and Huike, may have been military men before entering the monastic life.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Bodhidharma is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. In Japan, he is known as Daruma.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: The idea that Bodhidharma founded martial arts at the Shaolin Temple was spread in the 20th century, however, this idea came from a debunked apocryphal 17th century legend that claimed Bodhidharma began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kung fu. The idea of Bodhidharma influencing Shaolin boxing is based on a qigong manual written during the 17th century. This is when a Taoist with the pen name 'Purple Coagulation Man of the Way' wrote the "Sinews Changing Classic" in 1624, but claimed to have discovered it. The first of two prefaces of the manual traces this succession from Bodhidharma to the Chinese general Li Jing via "a chain of Buddhist saints and martial heroes." The work itself is full of anachronistic mistakes and even includes a popular character from Chinese fiction, the 'Qiuran Ke' ('Bushy Bearded Hero') (), as a lineage master. Scholar-officials as far back as the Qing dynasty have taken note of these mistakes. The scholar Ling Tinkang (1757–1809) described the author as an "ignorant village master." Even then, the association of Bodhidharma with martial arts only became widespread as a result of the 1904–1907 serialization of the novel "The Travels of Lao Ts'an" in "Illustrated Fiction Magazine":


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: During the short period of the Sui dynasty (581–618), the building blocks of Shaolin kung fu took an official form, and Shaolin monks began to create fighting systems of their own. The 18 methods of Luohan with a strong Buddhist flavour were practiced by Shaolin monks since this time, which was later used to create more advanced Shaolin martial arts. Shaolin monks had developed very powerful martial skills, and this showed itself towards the end of the Sui dynasty.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Like most dynastic changes, the end of the Sui dynasty was a time of upheaval and contention for the throne. The oldest evidence of Shaolin participation in combat is a stele from 728 that attests to two occasions: a defense of the monastery from bandits around 610 and their role in the defeat of Wang Shichong at the Battle of Hulao in 621. Wang Shichong declared himself Emperor. He controlled the territory of Zheng and the ancient capital of Luoyang. Overlooking Luoyang on Mount Huanyuan was the Cypress Valley Estate, which had served as the site of a fort during the Jin and a commandery during the Southern Qi. Emperor Wen of Sui had bestowed the estate on a nearby monastery called Shaolin for its monks to farm, but Wang Shichong, realizing its strategic value, seized the estate and there placed troops and a signal tower, as well as establishing a prefecture called Yuanzhou. Furthermore, he had assembled an army at Luoyang to march on the Shaolin Temple itself.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: The monks of Shaolin allied with Wang's enemy, Li Shimin, and took back the Cypress Valley Estate, defeating Wang's troops and capturing his nephew Renze. Without the fort at Cypress Valley, there was nothing to keep Li Shimin from marching on Luoyang after his defeat of Wang's ally Dou Jiande at the Battle of Hulao, forcing Wang Shichong to surrender. Li Shimin's father was the first Tang Emperor and Shimin himself became its second. Thereafter Shaolin enjoyed the royal patronage of the Tang.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Though the Shaolin Monastery Stele of 728 attests to these incidents in 610 and 621 when the monks engaged in combat, it does not allude to martial training in the monastery, or to any fighting technique in which its monks specialized. Nor do any other sources from the Tang, Song and Yuan periods allude to military training at the temple. According to Meir Shahar, this is explained by a confluence of the late Ming fashion for military encyclopedias and, more importantly, the conscription of civilian irregulars, including monks, as a result of Ming military decline in the 16th century.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Stele and documentary evidence shows the monks historically worshiped the Bodhisattva Vajrapani's "Kinnara King" form as the progenitor of their staff and bare hand fighting styles.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: From the 8th to the 15th centuries, no extant source documents Shaolin participation in combat; then the 16th and 17th centuries see at least forty extant sources attest that, not only did monks of Shaolin practice martial arts, but martial practice had become such an integral element of Shaolin monastic life that the monks felt the need to justify it by creating new Buddhist lore. References to Shaolin martial arts appear in various literary genres of the late Ming:


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: the epitaphs of Shaolin warrior monks, martial-arts manuals, military encyclopedias, historical writings, travelogues, fiction, and even poetry.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: These sources, in contrast to those from the Tang dynasty period, refer to Shaolin methods of combat unarmed, with the spear, and with the weapon that was the forte of the Shaolin monks and for which they had become famous, the staff. By the mid-16th century military experts from all over Ming China were travelling to Shaolin to study its fighting techniques.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Around 1560 Yú Dàyóu travelled to Shaolin Monastery to see for himself its monks' fighting techniques, but found them disappointing. Yú returned to the south with two monks, Zongqing and Pucong, whom he taught the use of the staff over the next three years, after which Zongqing and Pucong returned to Shaolin Monastery and taught their brother monks what they had learned. Martial arts historian Tang Hao traced the Shaolin staff style Five Tigers Interception to Yú's teachings.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: The earliest extant manual on Shaolin kung fu, the "Exposition of the Original Shaolin Staff Method" was written in around 1610 and published in 1621 from what its author Chéng Zōngyóu learned during a more than ten-year stay at the monastery.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Conditions of lawlessness in Henan—where the Shaolin Monastery is located—and surrounding provinces during the late Ming dynasty and all of the Qing dynasty contributed to the development of martial arts.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Meir Shahar lists the martial arts T'ai chi ch'uan, Chang Family Boxing, Bāguàquán, Xíngyìquán and Bajiquan as originating from this region and this time period.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: From the 1540s to the 1560s, pirates known as "wokou" raided China's eastern and southeastern coasts on an unprecedented scale.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: The geographer Zheng Ruoceng provides the most detailed of the 16th-century sources which confirm that, in 1553, Wan Biao, Vice Commissioner in Chief of the Nanjing Chief Military Commission, initiated the conscription of monks—including some from Shaolin—against the pirates. Warrior monks participated in at least four battles: at the Gulf of Hangzhou in spring 1553 and in the Huangpu River delta at Wengjiagang in July 1553, Majiabang in spring 1554, and Taozhai in autumn 1555.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: The monks suffered their greatest defeat at Taozhai, where four of them fell in battle; their remains were buried under the Stūpa of the Four Heroic Monks ("Si yi seng ta") at Mount She near Shanghai.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: The monks won their greatest victory at Wengjiagang. On 21 July 1553, 120 warrior monks led by the Shaolin monk Tianyuan defeated a group of pirates and chased the survivors over ten days and twenty miles. The pirates suffered over one hundred casualties and the monks only four.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Not all of the monks who fought at Wengjiagang were from Shaolin, and rivalries developed among them. Zheng chronicles Tianyuan's defeat of eight rival monks from Hangzhou who challenged his command. Zheng ranked Shaolin first of the top three Buddhist centers of martial arts. Zheng ranked Funiu in Henan second and Mount Wutai in Shanxi third. The Funiu monks practiced staff techniques which they had learned at the Shaolin Monastery. The Wutai monks practiced Yang Family Spear (楊家槍; pinyin: Yángjiā qiāng).


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Shaolin temple has two main legacies: Chan (), which refers to Chan Buddhism, the religion of Shaolin, and Quan (), which refers to the martial arts of Shaolin. In Shaolin, these are not separate disciplines and monks have always pursued the philosophy of the unification of Chan and Quan (). In a deeper point of view, Quan is considered part of Chan. As late Shaolin monk Suxi said in the last moments of his life, "Shaolin is Chan, not Quan."


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: most all animals are studied and practiced throughout the Kung fu world. Albeit Shaolin might very well be the most effective you have so many styles of Kung fu. Wing Chun is widely popular partly due to the Chinese made and produced hit movie series IP Man. Named for Bruce Lee’s first teacher of Wing Chun (Yip Man) the most famous practitioner of the art.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Like the usual system of Chinese martial arts, Shaolin combat methods are taught via forms (). Forms that are technically closely related are coupled together and are considered of the same sub-style. These are usually called the small and the big forms, like the small and big hong quan, which altogether make the Shaolin hong quan style, and the small and big pao quan, etc. There are also some styles with one form, like taizu chang quan. Indeed, these styles are not complete or stand-alone, this is just a classification of different forms of Shaolin kung fu based on their technical contents.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Shaolin kung fu has more than hundreds of extant styles. There is recorded documentation of more than a thousand extant forms, which makes Shaolin the biggest school of martial art in the world. In the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Shaolin monks chose 100 of the best styles of Shaolin kung fu. Then they shortlisted the 18 most famous of them. However, every lineage of Shaolin monks have always chosen their own styles. Every style teaches unique methods for fighting () and keeping health via one or a few forms. To learn a complete system, Shaolin monks master a number of styles and weapons. The most famous styles of Shaolin kung fu are:


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Huang Zongxi described martial arts in terms of Shaolin or "external" arts versus Wudang or "internal" arts in 1669. It has been since then that Shaolin has been popularly synonymous for what are considered the external Chinese martial arts, regardless of whether or not the particular style in question has any connection to the Shaolin Monastery. Some say that there is no differentiation between the so-called internal and external systems of the Chinese martial arts, while other well-known teachers hold the opinion that they are different. For example, the Taijiquan teacher Wu Jianquan:


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Those who practice Shaolinquan leap about with strength and force; people not proficient at this kind of training soon lose their breath and are exhausted. Taijiquan is unlike this. Strive for quiescence of body, mind and intention.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Some lineages of karate have oral traditions that claim Shaolin origins. Martial arts traditions in Japan,


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Korea, Sri Lanka and certain Southeast Asian countries cite Chinese influence as transmitted by Buddhist monks.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Recent developments in the 20th century such as Shorinji Kempo () practised in Japan's "Sohonzan Shorinji" () still maintains close ties with China's Song Shan Shaolin Temple due to historic links. Japanese Shorinji Kempo Group received recognition in China in 2003 for their financial contributions to the maintenance of the historic edifice of the Song Shan Shaolin Temple.


title: Shaolin Kung Fu

text: Several films have been produced, particularly during the 70s and early 80s, about Shaolin kung fu. Films such as 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Shaolin Temple, and Shaolin Wooden Men. Modern films include Shaolin Soccer and Shaolin.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energy released by the fission of atoms. The heated, high pressure water then flows to a steam generator, where it transfers its thermal energy to lower pressure water of a secondary system where steam is generated. The steam then drives turbines, which spin an electric generator. In contrast to a boiling water reactor (BWR), pressure in the primary coolant loop prevents the water from boiling within the reactor. All light-water reactors use ordinary water as both coolant and neutron moderator. Most use anywhere from two to four vertically mounted steam generators; VVER reactors use horizontal steam generators.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWRs were originally designed to serve as nuclear marine propulsion for nuclear submarines and were used in the original design of the second commercial power plant at Shippingport Atomic Power Station.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWRs currently operating in the United States are considered Generation II reactors. Russia's VVER reactors are similar to US PWRs, but the VVER-1200 is not considered Generation II (see below). France operates many PWRs to generate the bulk of its electricity.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Several hundred PWRs are used for marine propulsion in aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and ice breakers. In the US, they were originally designed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for use as a nuclear submarine power plant with a fully operational submarine power plant located at the Idaho National Laboratory. Follow-on work was conducted by Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. The first purely commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport Atomic Power Station was originally designed as a pressurized water reactor (although the first power plant connected to the grid was at Obninsk, USSR), on insistence from Admiral Hyman G. Rickover that a viable commercial plant would include none of the "crazy thermodynamic cycles that everyone else wants to build".


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The United States Army Nuclear Power Program operated pressurized water reactors from 1954 to 1974. Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station initially operated two pressurized water reactor plants, TMI-1 and TMI-2. The partial meltdown of TMI-2 in 1979 essentially ended the growth in new construction of nuclear power plants in the United States for two decades. Watts Bar unit 2 (a Westinghouse 4-loop PWR) came online in 2016, becoming the first new nuclear reactor in the United States since 1996.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The pressurized water reactor has several new Generation III reactor evolutionary designs: the AP1000, VVER-1200, ACPR1000+, APR1400, Hualong One, IPWR-900 and EPR. The first AP1000 and EPR reactors were connected to the power grid in China in 2018. In 2020, NuScale Power became the first U.S. company to receive regulatory approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a small modular reactor with a modified PWR design. Also in 2020, the Energy Impact Center introduced the OPEN100 project, which published open-source blueprints for the construction of a 100 MW nuclear power plant with a PWR design.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Nuclear fuel in the reactor pressure vessel is engaged in a controlled fission chain reaction, which produces heat, heating the water in the primary coolant loop by thermal conduction through the fuel cladding. The hot primary coolant is pumped into a heat exchanger called the steam generator, where it flows through several thousand small tubes. Heat is transferred through the walls of these tubes to the lower pressure secondary coolant located on the sheet side of the exchanger where the secondary coolant evaporates to pressurized steam. This transfer of heat is accomplished without mixing the two fluids to prevent the secondary coolant from becoming radioactive. Some common steam generator arrangements are u-tubes or single pass heat exchangers.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: In a nuclear power station, the pressurized steam is fed through a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator connected to the electric grid for transmission. After passing through the turbine the secondary coolant (water-steam mixture) is cooled down and condensed in a condenser. The condenser converts the steam to a liquid so that it can be pumped back into the steam generator, and maintains a vacuum at the turbine outlet so that the pressure drop across the turbine, and hence the energy extracted from the steam, is maximized. Before being fed into the steam generator, the condensed steam (referred to as feedwater) is sometimes preheated in order to minimize thermal shock.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The steam generated has other uses besides power generation. In nuclear ships and submarines, the steam is fed through a steam turbine connected to a set of speed reduction gears to a shaft used for propulsion. Direct mechanical action by expansion of the steam can be used for a steam-powered aircraft catapult or similar applications. District heating by the steam is used in some countries and direct heating is applied to internal plant applications.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Two things are characteristic for the pressurized water reactor (PWR) when compared with other reactor types: coolant loop separation from the steam system and pressure inside the primary coolant loop. In a PWR, there are two separate coolant loops (primary and secondary), which are both filled with demineralized/deionized water. A boiling water reactor, by contrast, has only one coolant loop, while more exotic designs such as breeder reactors use substances other than water for coolant and moderator (e.g. sodium in its liquid state as coolant or graphite as a moderator). The pressure in the primary coolant loop is typically , which is notably higher than in other nuclear reactors, and nearly twice that of a boiling water reactor (BWR). As an effect of this, only localized boiling occurs and steam will recondense promptly in the bulk fluid. By contrast, in a boiling water reactor the primary coolant is designed to boil.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Light water is used as the primary coolant in a PWR. Water enters through the bottom of the reactor's core at about and is heated as it flows upwards through the reactor core to a temperature of about . The water remains liquid despite the high temperature due to the high pressure in the primary coolant loop, usually around 155 bar (15.0 MPa 153 atm, 2,250 psi).


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The water in a PWR cannot exceed a temperature of or a pressure of 22.064 MPa (3200 psi or 218 atm), because those are the critical point of water. Supercritical water reactors are (as of 2022) only a proposed concept in which the coolant would never leave the supercritical state. However, as this requires even higher pressures than a PWR and can cause issues of corrosion, so far no such reactor has been built.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Pressure in the primary circuit is maintained by a pressurizer, a separate vessel that is connected to the primary circuit and partially filled with water which is heated to the saturation temperature (boiling point) for the desired pressure by submerged electrical heaters. To achieve a pressure of , the pressurizer temperature is maintained at 345 °C (653 °F), which gives a subcooling margin (the difference between the pressurizer temperature and the highest temperature in the reactor core) of 30 °C (54 °F). As 345 °C is the boiling point of water at 155 bar, the liquid water is at the edge of a phase change. Thermal transients in the reactor coolant system result in large swings in pressurizer liquid/steam volume, and total pressurizer volume is designed around absorbing these transients without uncovering the heaters or emptying the pressurizer. Pressure transients in the primary coolant system manifest as temperature transients in the pressurizer and are controlled through the use of automatic heaters and water spray, which raise and lower pressurizer temperature, respectively.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The coolant is pumped around the primary circuit by powerful pumps. These pumps have a rate of ~100,000 gallons of coolant per minute. After picking up heat as it passes through the reactor core, the primary coolant transfers heat in a steam generator to water in a lower pressure secondary circuit, evaporating the secondary coolant to saturated steam — in most designs 6.2 MPa (60 atm, 900 psia), 275 °C (530 °F) — for use in the steam turbine. The cooled primary coolant is then returned to the reactor vessel to be heated again.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Pressurized water reactors, like all thermal reactor designs, require the fast fission neutrons to be slowed (a process called moderation or thermalizing) in order to interact with the nuclear fuel and sustain the chain reaction. In PWRs the coolant water is used as a moderator by letting the neutrons undergo multiple collisions with light hydrogen atoms in the water, losing speed in the process. This "moderating" of neutrons will happen more often when the water is more dense (more collisions will occur). The use of water as a moderator is an important safety feature of PWRs, as an increase in temperature may cause the water to expand, giving greater 'gaps' between the water molecules and reducing the probability of thermalization — thereby reducing the extent to which neutrons are slowed and hence reducing the reactivity in the reactor. Therefore, if reactivity increases beyond normal, the reduced moderation of neutrons will cause the chain reaction to slow down, producing less heat. This property, known as the negative temperature coefficient of reactivity, makes PWR reactors very stable. This process is referred to as 'Self-Regulating', i.e. the hotter the coolant becomes, the less reactive the plant becomes, shutting itself down slightly to compensate and vice versa. Thus the plant controls itself around a given temperature set by the position of the control rods.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: In contrast, the RBMK reactor design used at Chernobyl, which uses graphite instead of water as the moderator and uses boiling water as the coolant, has a large positive thermal coefficient of reactivity that increases heat generation when coolant water temperatures increase. This makes the RBMK design less stable than pressurized water reactors. In addition to its property of slowing down neutrons when serving as a moderator, water also has a property of absorbing neutrons, albeit to a lesser degree. When the coolant water temperature increases, the boiling increases, which creates voids. Thus there is less water to absorb thermal neutrons that have already been slowed by the graphite moderator, causing an increase in reactivity. This property is called the void coefficient of reactivity, and in an RBMK reactor like Chernobyl, the void coefficient is positive, and fairly large, causing rapid transients.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: This design characteristic of the RBMK reactor is generally seen as one of several causes of the Chernobyl disaster.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Heavy water has very low neutron absorption, so heavy water reactors tend to have a positive void coefficient, though the CANDU reactor design mitigates this issue by using unenriched, natural uranium; these reactors are also designed with a number of passive safety systems not found in the original RBMK design. In a case of total loss of the coolant/moderator (in a reactor where heavy water is both the coolant and the moderator) an automatic scram occurs, just as would happen in a light water reactor. Furthermore, no criticality occurs when a heavy water reactor is supplied with (ordinary) light water as an emergency coolant. Depending on burnup, boric acid or another neutron poison will have to be added to emergency coolant to avoid a criticality accident.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWRs are designed to be maintained in an undermoderated state, meaning that there is room for increased water volume or density to further increase moderation, because if moderation were near saturation, then a reduction in density of the moderator/coolant could reduce neutron absorption significantly while reducing moderation only slightly, making the void coefficient positive. Also, light water is actually a somewhat stronger moderator of neutrons than heavy water, though heavy water's neutron absorption is much lower. Because of these two facts, light water reactors have a relatively small moderator volume and therefore have compact cores. One next generation design, the supercritical water reactor, is even less moderated. A less moderated neutron energy spectrum does worsen the capture/fission ratio for U and especially Pu, meaning that more fissile nuclei fail to fission on neutron absorption and instead capture the neutron to become a heavier nonfissile isotope, wasting one or more neutrons and increasing accumulation of heavy transuranic actinides, some of which have long half-lives.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: After enrichment, the uranium dioxide () powder is fired in a high-temperature, sintering furnace to create hard, ceramic pellets of enriched uranium dioxide. The cylindrical pellets are then clad in a corrosion-resistant zirconium metal alloy Zircaloy which are backfilled with helium to aid heat conduction and detect leakages. Zircaloy is chosen because of its mechanical properties and its low absorption cross section. The finished fuel rods are grouped in fuel assemblies, called fuel bundles, that are then used to build the core of the reactor. A typical PWR has fuel assemblies of 200 to 300 rods each, and a large reactor would have about 150–250 such assemblies with 80–100 tons of uranium in all. Generally, the fuel bundles consist of fuel rods bundled 14 × 14 to 17 × 17. A PWR produces on the order of 900 to 1,600 MW. PWR fuel bundles are about 4 meters in length.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Refuelings for most commercial PWRs is on an 18–24 month cycle. Approximately one third of the core is replaced each refueling, though some more modern refueling schemes may reduce refuel time to a few days and allow refueling to occur on a shorter periodicity.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: In PWRs reactor power can be viewed as following steam (turbine) demand due to the reactivity feedback of the temperature change caused by increased or decreased steam flow. (See: Negative temperature coefficient.) Boron and cadmium control rods are used to maintain primary system temperature at the desired point. In order to decrease power, the operator throttles shut turbine inlet valves. This would result in less steam being drawn from the steam generators. This results in the primary loop increasing in temperature. The higher temperature causes the density of the primary reactor coolant water to decrease, allowing higher neutron speeds, thus less fission and decreased power output. This decrease of power will eventually result in primary system temperature returning to its previous steady-state value. The operator can control the steady state operating temperature by addition of boric acid and/or movement of control rods.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Reactivity adjustment to maintain 100% power as the fuel is burned up in most commercial PWRs is normally achieved by varying the concentration of boric acid dissolved in the primary reactor coolant. Boron readily absorbs neutrons and increasing or decreasing its concentration in the reactor coolant will therefore affect the neutron activity correspondingly. An entire control system involving high pressure pumps (usually called the charging and letdown system) is required to remove water from the high pressure primary loop and re-inject the water back in with differing concentrations of boric acid. The reactor control rods, inserted through the reactor vessel head directly into the fuel bundles, are moved for the following reasons:


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The control rods can also be used to compensate for nuclear poison inventory and to compensate for nuclear fuel depletion. However, these effects are more usually accommodated by altering the primary coolant boric acid concentration.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: In contrast, BWRs have no boron in the reactor coolant and control the reactor power by adjusting the reactor coolant flow rate.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWR reactors are very stable due to their tendency to produce less power as temperatures increase; this makes the reactor easier to operate from a stability standpoint.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWR turbine cycle loop is separate from the primary loop, so the water in the secondary loop is not contaminated by radioactive materials.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWRs can passively scram the reactor in case offsite power is lost to immediately stop the primary nuclear reaction. The control rods are held by electromagnets and fall by gravity when current is lost; full insertion safely shuts down the primary nuclear reaction.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWR technology is favoured by nations seeking to develop a nuclear navy; the compact reactors fit well in nuclear submarines and other nuclear ships.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWRs are the most deployed type of reactor globally, allowing for a wide range of suppliers of new plants and parts for existing plants. Due to long experience with their operation they are the closest thing to mature technology that exists in nuclear energy.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: PWRs - depending on type - can be fueled with MOX-fuel and/or the Russian Remix Fuel (which has a lower and a higher content than "regular" U/Pu MOX-fuel) allowing for a (partially) closed nuclear fuel cycle


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Water is a nontoxic, transparent, chemically unreactive (by comparison with e.g. NaK) coolant that is liquid at room temperature which makes visual inspection and maintenance easier. It is also easy and cheap to obtain unlike heavy water or even nuclear graphite


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Compared to reactors operating on natural uranium, PWRs can achieve a relatively high burnup. A typical PWR will exchange a quarter to a third of its fuel load every 18-24 months and have maintenance and inspection, that requires the reactor to be shut down, scheduled for this window. While more uranium ore is consumed per unit of electricity produced than in a natural uranium fueled reactor, the amount of spent fuel is less with the balance being depleted uranium whose radiological danger is lower than that of natural uranium.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The coolant water must be highly pressurized to remain liquid at high temperatures. This requires high strength piping and a heavy pressure vessel and hence increases construction costs. The higher pressure can increase the consequences of a loss-of-coolant accident. The reactor pressure vessel is manufactured from ductile steel but, as the plant is operated, neutron flux from the reactor causes this steel to become less ductile. Eventually the ductility of the steel will reach limits determined by the applicable boiler and pressure vessel standards, and the pressure vessel must be repaired or replaced. This might not be practical or economic, and so determines the life of the plant.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Additional high pressure components such as reactor coolant pumps, pressurizer, and steam generators are also needed. This also increases the capital cost and complexity of a PWR power plant.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: The high temperature water coolant with boric acid dissolved in it is corrosive to carbon steel (but not stainless steel); this can cause radioactive corrosion products to circulate in the primary coolant loop. This not only limits the lifetime of the reactor, but the systems that filter out the corrosion products and adjust the boric acid concentration add significantly to the overall cost of the reactor and to radiation exposure. In one instance, this has resulted in severe corrosion to control rod drive mechanisms when the boric acid solution leaked through the seal between the mechanism itself and the primary system.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Due to the requirement to load a pressurized water reactor's primary coolant loop with boron, undesirable radioactive secondary tritium production in the water is over 25 times greater than in boiling water reactors of similar power, owing to the latter's absence of the neutron moderating element in its coolant loop. The tritium is created by the absorption of a fast neutron in the nucleus of a boron-10 atom which subsequently splits into a lithium-7 and tritium atom. Pressurized water reactors annually emit several hundred curies of tritium to the environment as part of normal operation.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Natural uranium is only 0.7% uranium-235, the isotope necessary for thermal reactors. This makes it necessary to enrich the uranium fuel, which significantly increases the costs of fuel production. Compared to reactors operating on natural uranium, less energy is generated per unit of uranium ore even though a higher burnup can be achieved. Nuclear reprocessing can "stretch" the fuel supply of both natural uranium and enriched uranium reactors but is virtually only practiced for light water reactors operating with lightly enriched fuel as spent fuel from e.g. CANDU reactors is very low in fissile material.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Because water acts as a neutron moderator, it is not possible to build a fast-neutron reactor with a PWR design. A reduced moderation water reactor may however achieve a breeding ratio greater than unity, though this reactor design has disadvantages of its own.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Spent fuel from a PWR usually has a higher content of fissile material than natural uranium. Without nuclear reprocessing, this fissile material cannot be used as fuel in a PWR. It can, however, be used in a CANDU with only minimal reprocessing in a process called "DUPIC" - Direct Use of spent PWR fuel in CANDU.


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Thermal efficiency, while better than for boiling water reactors, cannot achieve the values of reactors with higher operating temperatures such as those cooled with high temperature gases, liquid metals or molten salts. Similarly process heat drawn from a PWR is not suitable for most industrial applications as those require temperatures in excess of .


title: Pressurized water reactor

text: Radiolysis and certain accident scenarios which involve interactions between hot steam and zircalloy cladding can produce hydrogen from the cooling water leading to hydrogen explosions as a potential accident scenario. During the Fukushima nuclear accident a hydrogen explosion damaging the containment building was a major concern. Some reactors contain catalytic recombiners which let the hydrogen react with ambient oxygen in a non-explosive fashion.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: The Open Era is the current era of professional tennis. It began in 1968 when the Grand Slam tournaments allowed professional players to compete with amateurs, ending the division that had persisted since the dawn of the sport in the 19th century. The first open tournament was the 1968 British Hard Court Championships held in April, followed by the inaugural open Grand Slam tournament, the 1968 French Open, a month later. Unless otherwise sourced, all records are based on data from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the official websites of the four Grand Slam tournaments. All rankings-related records are based on ATP rankings, which began in 1973. The names of active players appear in boldface.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: There have been three prominent Year-end Championships in the Open Era, each involving only the top performers for the given year. Those championships have been the most coveted titles after the four Grand Slams during the Open Era.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: (1970–present) This is a combination of the YECs for two separate tours: the ITF Grand Prix that ran until 1989 and the ATP Tour that replaced it. For record-keeping purposes, the ATP has incorporated the entire history of the ITF "Masters Grand Prix" alongside its ATP Finals tournament; thus they are both listed as "ATP" here. In total, these YECs have been held at numerous venues around the globe and played on several surfaces (indoor hard since 2006).


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: (1971–89) The WCT Finals, as the YEC for the World Championship Tennis tour, was held in Dallas, Texas and played on indoor carpet courts.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: (1990–99) The Grand Slam Cup (GSC) was an ITF tournament for the top performers in the year's Grand Slam tournaments. It was held in Munich, Germany and played on indoor carpet courts.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: Before the ATP took control of the men's professional tour in 1990, the Grand Prix Super Series was the highest class of events after the Grand Slams and the Year-end Championships but unlike the Masters series, the participation of the top players was not mandatory.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: The Masters is an annual series of nine top-level tournaments featuring the top professional men players. The Masters events along with the Grand Slam tournaments and Year-end Championships constitute the most coveted titles on the annual ATP Tour calendar.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: The Grand Slam tournaments, the Masters events and the ATP Finals are the Big Titles of the annual ATP Tour calendar since 1990, in addition to the Olympics. Between 1970 and 1989, the biggest titles were the Grand Slams and the Year-end Championships (ATP Finals, WCT Finals and Grand Slam Cup), in addition to the Grand Prix Super Series events.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: Tennis was reinstated as an official Olympic sport in 1988. There have been nine tournaments in the Open Era.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: ATP rankings began in 1973. These weekly rankings determine tournament eligibility and seedings. At the end of each year they also become the official ATP season rankings.


title: Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

text: Prize money has increased throughout the open era, in some cases greatly in a short time span. For example, the Australian Open winner received A$916,000 in 2004 and A$2,875,000 in 2022.


title: District attorney

text: In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties. The exact name and scope of the office varies by state. Alternative titles for the office include county attorney, solicitor, or county prosecutor.


title: District attorney

text: The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law, initiating and directing further criminal investigations, guiding and recommending the sentencing of offenders, and are the only attorneys allowed to participate in grand jury proceedings. The prosecutors decide what criminal charges to bring, and when and where a person will answer to those charges. In carrying out their duties, prosecutors have the authority to investigate persons, grant immunity to witnesses and accused criminals, and plea bargain with defendants.


title: District attorney

text: A district attorney leads a staff of prosecutors, who are most commonly known as deputy district attorneys (DDAs). The deputy who serves as the supervisor of the office is often called the assistant district attorney, or chief deputy. Most prosecutions will be delegated to DDAs, with the district attorney prosecuting the most important cases and having overall responsibility for their agency and its work. Depending upon the state's law, DAs may be appointed by the chief executive of the jurisdiction or elected by local voters. Most criminal matters in the United States are handled in state judicial systems, but a comparable office for the United States Federal government is the United States Attorney.