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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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.
Robert J. Wolfgang, Rayford L. Patterson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 87 | Number 3 | November 1989 | Pages 616-623
Technical Paper | TMI-2: Remote Technology and Engineering / Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A27713
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The 1979 Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident caused fuel particles (fines) and debris to be transported throughout the reactor coolant system (RCS). Estimates of the fuel quantities in the RCS outside the reactor vessel boundary (defined as ex-vessel areas) have been developed. These estimates, in conjunction with as-low-as-reasonably-achievable considerations, were used to determine which ex-vessel areas required defueling.
