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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
R. A. Van Konynenburg, M. W. Guinan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 60 | Number 2 | February 1983 | Pages 206-217
Technical Paper | Radiation Effects and Their Relationship to Geological Repository / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33075
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
SYNROC-D is a ceramic material proposed as a waste form for defense high-level nuclear waste. During the first million years of storage, it would be subjected to ∼8 × 1024 alpha decay/m3 of SYNROC-D and a total ionization dose of ∼1 × 1011 rad. There are several methods of simulating the resulting radiation effects, including external bombardment using gamma rays, electrons, light ions, heavy ions, or neutrons, and internal bombardment using short half-life actinide doping to bring about internal alpha decay, or doping with uranium, boron, or lithium, coupled with neutron irradiation, to induce internal fissions or (n, α) reactions. Previous work by others using several of these methods as well as data from natural minerals has been compared on a displacements per atom basis. The results show that dose rate effects are not important in determining the swelling and metamictization of the perovskite and zirconolite phases over a wide range of dose rate for low temperatures and doses of 2 to 3 × 1025 alpha/m3 of each phase, corresponding to expected million year doses in SYNROC-D. Based on this observation and a consideration of the basic processes involved, we argue that the million-year radiation damage expected in SYNROC-D can be adequately simulated in a few months by doping samples with 238Pu, and simultaneously carrying out external gamma-ray bombardment. The 238Pu will undergo alpha decay, producing the same type of damage in the same phases as would long-term actinide decay in actual waste. The gamma irradiation will simulate the ionization dose, which would result primarily from fission product decay in actual waste. SYNROC-D samples have been fabricated and characterized using cerium and uranium, respectively, as stand-ins for plutonium. These samples show good properties, and 239Pu doping experiments are expected to take place soon to determine if plutonium will dissolve properly in SYNROC-D.