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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.
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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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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How to talk about nuclear
In your career as a professional in the nuclear community, chances are you will, at some point, be asked (or volunteer) to talk to at least one layperson about the technology you know and love. You might even be asked to present to a whole group of nonnuclear folks, perhaps as a pitch to some company tangential to your company’s business. So, without further ado, let me give you some pointers on the best way to approach this important and surprisingly complicated task.
R. S. Reynolds
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 51 | Number 2 | June 1973 | Pages 102-112
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE73-A26585
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments have been performed which give further insight into the so-called “in-and-down” scattering problem. Experimental ceiling attenuation factors have been developed and compared with previously published results of radiation attenuation in basement ceilings.The experiments were performed on a full-scale structure with basement ceiling mass thicknesses of 12 and 0 psf at several solid angle fractions. Additional experiments were performed for several ceiling mass thicknesses at a solid angle fraction near unity. Generally, the experiments showed that previously published ceiling attenuation factors appear inadequate for large solid angle fractions and large overhead mass thicknesses. For small mass thicknesses and solid angle fractions below ≈0.8, the agreement between experiment and previously published results is reasonable. It is clear that ceiling attenuation factors should demonstrate a solid angle fraction dependence as well as a mass thickness dependence. However, these experiments show that there is no reason to believe that in the limit as the solid angle fraction approaches unity, the ceiling attenuation factor should approach old formulations which had no solid angle fraction dependence.It has also been shown in this work that ceiling attenuation factors may be experimentally determined solely from finite field data. There is no need to estimate far-field contributions or skyshine contributions in the determination of ceiling attenuation factors.