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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
P. Leconte, C. Vaglio-Gaudard, R. Eschbach, M. Antony, J. Di-Salvo, A. Pépino
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 175 | Number 3 | November 2013 | Pages 308-317
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-56
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ALIX experimental program relies on the experimental validation of the spent fuel inventory, by chemical analysis of samples irradiated in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) between five and seven cycles, and also on the experimental validation of the spent fuel reactivity loss with burnup, obtained by pile-oscillation measurements in the MINERVE reactor. These latter experiments provide an overall validation of both the fuel inventory and the nuclear data responsible for the reactivity loss. This program also offers unique experimental data for fuels with a burnup reaching 85 GWd/tonne, as spent fuels in French PWRs have never exceeded 70 GWd/tonne up to now.The analysis of these experiments is done in two steps with the APOLLO2/SHEM-MOC/CEA2005v4 package. In the first step, the fuel inventory of each sample is obtained by assembly calculations. The calculation route consists of the self-shielding of cross sections on the 281-energy-group SHEM mesh, followed by flux calculation by the method of characteristics in a two-dimensional exact heterogeneous geometry of the assembly, and finally a depletion calculation by an iterative resolution of the Bateman equations. In the second step, the fuel inventory is used in the analysis of pile-oscillation experiments in which the reactivity of the ALIX spent fuel samples is compared to the reactivity of fresh fuel samples. The comparison between experiment and calculation shows satisfactory results with the JEFF3.1.1 library, which predicts the reactivity loss within 2% for burnup of ~75 GWd/tonne and within 4% for burnup of ~85 GWd/tonne.
