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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
S. Kitsos, A. Assad, C. M. Diop, J. C. Nimal, P. Ridoux
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 117 | Number 1 | May 1994 | Pages 47-66
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE94-A13568
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Exposure and energy absorption buildup factors for aluminum, iron, lead, and water are calculated by the SN1D discrete ordinates code for an isotropic point source in a homogeneous medium. The calculation of the buildup factors takes into account the effects of both bound-electron Compton (incoherent) and coherent (Rayleigh) scattering. A comparison with buildup factors from the literature shows that these two effects greatly increase the buildup factors for energies below a few hundred kilo-electron-volts, and thus the new results are improved relative to the experiment. This greater accuracy is due to the increase in the linear attenuation coefficient, which leads to the calculation of the buildup factors for a mean free path with a smaller shield thickness. On the other hand, for the same shield thickness, exposure increases when only incoherent scattering is included and decreases when only coherent scattering is included, so that the exposure finally decreases when both effects are included. Great care must also be taken when checking the approximations for gamma-ray deep-penetration transport calculations, as well as for the cross-section treatment and origin.