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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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ARG-US Remote Monitoring Systems: Use Cases and Applications in Nuclear Facilities and During Transportation
As highlighted in the Spring 2024 issue of Radwaste Solutions, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are developing and deploying ARG-US—meaning “Watchful Guardian”—remote monitoring systems technologies to enhance the safety, security, and safeguards (3S) of packages of nuclear and other radioactive material during storage, transportation, and disposal.
F. Jorion, X. Deschanels, T. Advocat, F. Desmouliere, J. N. Cachia, S. Peuget, D. Roudil, G. Leturcq
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 153 | Number 3 | July 2006 | Pages 262-271
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE06-A2612
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Zirconolite is a potential matrix for the immobilization of the minor actinides: neptunium, curium, americium, and small quantities of unrecyclable plutonium, produced by the reprocessing of the spent fuel.In order to check the incorporation of actinides into the structure, zirconolite ceramic pellets doped with 10 wt% of 239PuO2 were sintered. Characterization by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy have been done on this material. The microstructure of the pellets is homogeneous, and their relative density is higher than 90% of the theoretical density. XANES spectroscopy shows that Pu is at oxidation state (IV) in this material.To investigate the effects of radiation damage on zirconolite structure, pellets doped with 10 wt% of 238PuO2 were fabricated. 238Pu accelerates the radiation damage relative to the 239Pu because of its much higher specific activity (632 × 109 Bq/g for 238Pu versus 2.2 × 109 Bq/g for 239Pu). Some pellets are stored at ambient, 250 and 500°C. Up to 2.2 × 1018 g-1, macroscopic swelling of the samples stored at ambient is ~2.2%/1018 g-1, and the microscopic one near 1.3%/1018 g-1. Some microcracks are observed on these pellets. The samples started to become amorphous at 2.2 × 1018 g-1. The swelling strongly decreases with the storage temperature of the samples.Swelling results are interpreted in terms of alpha radiation damage on the structure; at this time helium accumulation does not appear to have a major role in this process.