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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
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Jin Beak Park, Yong Soo Hwang, Chul Hyung Kang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 142 | Number 2 | October 2002 | Pages 165-176
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE02-A2297
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Matrix diffusion into a rock matrix has been regarded to retard radionuclide migration in a fracture. Recent field findings on a fractured system indicate that only a small portion of the rock in a fractured porous medium contributes to holding a radionuclide by matrix diffusion. To understand this effect, radionuclide migration in a fracture and diffusion from a finite rock matrix to a fracture are discussed with limited matrix diffusion under solubility-limited boundary conditions of a target radionuclide for the band-type release. Numerical inversion of the Laplace transform method is applied to estimate concentrations in a fracture and a finite rock matrix and fluxes at the fracture surface. Matrix diffusion into a finite rock matrix shows enhanced radionuclide migration and a higher concentration profile in a fracture. Diffusive flux from a finite rock matrix into a fracture after the end of leaching time shows higher peak values than flux from an infinite rock matrix because of (a) higher saturation of a radionuclide in a finite rock matrix and (b) increase of a radionuclide concentration in a fracture. Therefore, it is more realistic and conservative to apply the finite matrix diffusion for the overall assessment in a potential repository embedded in a fractured porous medium.
