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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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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.”
J. T. Birkholzer, N. Halecky, S. W. Webb, P. F. Peterson, G. S. Bodvarsson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 163 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 147-164
Technical Paper | High-Level Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3978
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In heated drifts such as those designated for emplacement of radioactive waste at the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, temperature gradients cause natural-convection processes that may significantly influence the moisture conditions in the drifts and in the surrounding fractured rock. Large-scale convection cells in the heated drifts would provide an effective mechanism for turbulent mixing and axial transport of vapor generated from evaporation of pore water in the nearby formation. As a result, vapor would be transported from the elevated-temperature sections of the drifts into cool end sections (where no waste is emplaced), would condense there, and subsequently would drain into underlying rock units. To study these processes, we have developed a new simulation method that couples existing tools for simulating thermal-hydrological conditions in the fractured formation with a module that approximates turbulent natural convection in heated emplacement drifts. The new method simultaneously handles (a) the flow and energy transport processes in the fractured rock, (b) the flow and energy transport processes in the cavity, and (c) the heat and mass exchange at the rock-cavity interface. An application is presented studying the future thermal-hydrological conditions within and near a representative waste emplacement drift at Yucca Mountain. Particular focus is on the potential for condensation along the emplacement section, a possible result of heat output differences between individual waste packages.