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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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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Feinstein Institutes to research novel radiation countermeasure
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, home of the research institutes of New York’s Northwell Health, announced it has received a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the potential of human ghrelin, a naturally occurring hormone, as a medical countermeasure against radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome (GI-ARS).
Rob P. Rechard
Nuclear Technology | Volume 190 | Number 2 | May 2015 | Pages 127-160
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-41
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper, Part II of two companion papers, demonstrates the concepts for evaluating the criticality scenario class after closure of a geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste. As an example, the low-probability rationale used to exclude consideration of criticality in the performance assessment of the potential Yucca Mountain (YM) repository in southern Nevada is summarized. The Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) presented a quantitative rationale that the probability of criticality inside breached waste containers was <10−4 over 104 yr to show that criticality was not necessary to consider. The dominant probability occurred when neutron absorber material was inadvertently left out for a package disposing of SNF from experimental reactors owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, this paper develops a quantitative estimate of the low probability of criticality outside the package in either the engineered or geologic barrier to complement the qualitative rationale developed by YMP. Because consequence may also be used as the basis of screening, consequences of criticality at the potential YM repository are roughly estimated, based on results from the literature. The consequences are then combined with the low-probability estimates as a complementary cumulative distribution function to place the corresponding estimated consequences in context and, thereby, provide further perspective on excluding the criticality scenario class.