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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
BWXT will scout potential TRISO fuel production sites in Wyoming
BWX Technologies Inc. announced today that its Advanced Technologies subsidiary has signed a cooperation agreement with the state of Wyoming to evaluate locations and requirements for siting a potential new TRISO nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the state.
John W. McKlveen, W. J. McDowell
Nuclear Technology | Volume 28 | Number 1 | January 1976 | Pages 159-164
Technical Paper | Fuels for Pulsed Reactor / Instrument | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31549
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Various sample sizes, reflector sizes and shapes, and reflector materials were examined to determine their effect on pulse-height and pulse-shape resolution in alpha liquid-scintillation spectrometry. A section of a metal sphere coated with a diffuse-white reflective material was found to have the best characteristics for both pulse-height and pulse-shape resolution. Although sample volumes as large as 10 ml could be tolerated when used with reflectors to accommodate them, the best results were obtained with 1-ml samples and smaller reflectors. Comparison of two types of pulse-shape discrimination circuitry for separating alpha and beta-gamma pulses indicated that a zero-crossover method was superior to a constant fraction timing method. The combination of these improved detectors with solvent extraction methods of incorporating the sample in the scintillator and pulse-shape discrimination allows alpha spectrometry with a background as low as 0.01 count/min and an energy resolution as high as 5.5%.