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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
W. Breitung, K. O. Reil
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 105 | Number 3 | July 1990 | Pages 205-217
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE90-A19186
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A sample of (U,Pu)-mixed oxide was fission heated along the saturation line and into the compressed liquid regime. The density of the sample at temperatures around 7000 K was determined from the onset of the liquid-phase pressure signal. Values for the compressibility of the (U,Pu)-mixed oxide were determined from the slope of the measured pressure/time signal. Based on these results and earlier measurements, new relations are proposed for the following properties: the density/enthalpy, density/temperature, thermal expansion/temperature, and isothermal compressibility/temperature relations. The ranges of validity are 1400 to 3600 kJ/kg and 3120 to 7600 K, respectively. The property relations are recommended for both liquid UO2 and (U,Pu)O2 with yPu ≤ 0.25. The measured data strongly suggest that the critical temperature of (U,Pu)O2 is well above 8000 K.