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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
State legislation: Delaware delving into nuclear energy possibilities
A bill that would create a nuclear energy task force in Delaware has passed the state Senate and is now being considered in the House of Representatives.
Phongsan Meekunnasombat, Mark H. Anderson, Michael L. Corradini
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 4 | December 2003 | Pages 803-810
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A417
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The SnxLiy and PbxLiy, alloys are being considered as liquid breeding materials for fusion reactor applications. Thus, it is important to understand the safety implications associated with inadvertent contact with water used in an indirect cycle. In an effort to study this interaction, experiments have been conducted with these molten alloys when impacted with a vertical 2.4-m-tall column of water at 30 and 60°C. The qualitative behavior of Sn75Li25 was compared under similar conditions with other candidate molten metals, specifically tin, lead, and a lead-lithium alloy, Pb83Li17. Multiple pressure spikes were produced with Sn and Pb, while essentially only one initial pressurization followed by a few strongly damped minor peaks was observed with the different alloys containing lithium. Results with tin-lithium are quite similar to pure tin and lead behavior. Dynamic pressure traces from the physical and chemical reactions are discussed and used to compare the energetics associated with the two different alloys. The pressure traces were used to calculate experimental impulses, which represent the energetics of the reactions. The impulse ratio of the experimental and the theoretical values increased in the tests of alloys containing lithium. (Hydrogen production from lithium-water reactions was quite rapid and copious.) In contrast, hydrogen production with tin-lithium was modest and quite similar to the lead-lithium alloy. It was found that the metal-water interactions of Pb83Li17 and Sn75Li25 are quite similar and have significantly reduced energetics from those of pure lithium and other reactive metals being considered.