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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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
Four million nuclear jobs by 2050: Who will do them?
Industry leaders from around the globe met this month to discuss the talent development that will be necessary for the long-term success of the nuclear industry.
The International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management and Human Resources Development, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, was held in Vienna earlier this month. Discussed there was the agency’s forecast for nuclear capacity to more than double—or hopefully triple—by 2050 and the requirement of more than four million professionals to support the industry.
Eberhard Schuster, Kurt A. Pflugrad
Nuclear Technology | Volume 86 | Number 2 | August 1989 | Pages 192-196
Technical Paper | Decontamination and Decommissioning / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34270
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Metal waste from nuclear power plants is normally contaminated with beta and gamma emitters mainly due to corrosion product radionuclides. Metal waste originating from reprocessing and fuel fabrication plants is contaminated only with alpha emitters (uranium). So far, only radionuclides that can be measured by gamma spectrometry can be quantified. The behavior of alpha emitters is investigated using an artificially added radionuclide in melt experiments. During its 1984–1988 program on decommissioning of nuclear installations, the Commission of the European Communities concluded a 2-yr research contract with Siemens AG, UB Kraftwerk Union on the behavior of radionuclides that are difficult to measure in the melting of steel. Investigation of the radionuclides 55Fe, 63Ni, and 90Sr began with melt experiments on 55Fe (considered an epsilon emitter) at laboratory scale, which showed that this nuclide is probably as homogeneously distributed in the melt as 60Co; thus, 60Co can be used as an isotopic indicator for 55Fe. In another melt experiment, 241Am was artificially added to metal waste and melted, showing a decontamination factor of ∼100 even with a very small quantity added (4 × 10−7 g 241Am). As of mid-1988, four melt experiments, each with different melt parameters, have been carried out. The last experiment relates to the melting of carbon steel with metallic uranium additions; although this experiment is not yet completely evaluated, problems related to the direct alpha measuring technique may arise from the disturbance of the radiochemical equilibrium of the uranium decay chain in the melt process.