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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.
Hugo Van Dam, J. Eduard Hoogenboom
Nuclear Technology | Volume 63 | Number 3 | December 1983 | Pages 359-368
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33265
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A specific type of gaseous core reactor consists of a UF4/CF4 fuel mixture in chemical equilibrium with a graphite reflector wall. Criticality calculations show that such a system requires a relatively small fuel investment. Temperature-dependent fuel redistribution at power is shown to give a minor positive reactivity effect, which does not jeopardize safe reactor operation. Analysis of heat transport demonstrates that very high temperatures in the core center can be realized at moderate gas pressures, which opens a way to improve the efficiency of fission energy conversion processes.