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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.
S. Sunder, H. Christensen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 104 | Number 3 | December 1993 | Pages 403-417
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Waste Management / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34900
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The gamma radiolysis of water was investigated for conditions relevant to studies of the geological disposal of nuclear fuel waste. Chemical kinetic calculations were carried out for seven systems: argon-purged water; O2-purged water; N2O-purged water; O2-purged solution containing 0.01 mol/ℓ sodium formate; O2-purged solution containing 0.01 mol/ℓ t-butanol; N2O-purged solution containing 0.01 mol/ℓ Na2CO3; and argon-purged solution containing 0.169 mol/ℓ Cl− ions. The initial pH in all systems was set at 9.5. The concentrations of the important oxidants and reductants, both molecular and radical species, are presented as a function of the dose rate and the radiolysis time. In almost all cases, radical species are at steady state after 20 h of irradiation. In argon-saturated solutions, concentrations of all radiolysis products are low (<4 × 10−8 mol/ℓ). In oxygen-saturated solutions containing formate, an H2O2 concentration as high as 1.7 × 10−3 mol/ℓ was calculated after 20 h of irradiation at a dose rate of 280 Gy/h.
