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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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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.
George Emanuel*
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 2 | December 1980 | Pages 238-243
Technical Paper | Argonne National Laboratory Specialists’ Workshop on Basic Research Needs for Nuclear Waste Management / Isotopes Separation | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32605
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The performance of small isotope enrichment cascades that have large separation factors is examined. A quantity called the separative work gain is derived under the assumption of a small inlet assay. This concept simplifies the determination of optimum separation factors, and verifies the common practice of using the same values for these factors for each stage in a cascade. Simple relations are provided for a non-ideal, counter-current cascade of arbitrary size. They are utilized to determine a pricing strategy and to estimate a value for the U.S. stockpile of diffusion plant UF6 tailings. The value depends on the separation factors and cost of separative work, but may well be several billion dollars.