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Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Shanxue Xi, Haijun Li, Linxiang Li, Kun Wu, Guangwei Huang, Zungang Wang, Yiyun Zhang, Chunzhi Zhou
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 5 | May 2022 | Pages 922-934
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1982361
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fabrication and experimental research of a GaN-Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (GaN-PIN) betavoltaic nuclear battery driven by an 63Ni radioisotope source and an SiC-Schottky betavoltaic nuclear battery driven by an 147Pm radioisotope source are introduced. The self-absorption effects of radioisotope sources (63Ni, 147Pm) are explored and analyzed by Monte Carlo simulation. The SiC-Schottky and GaN-PIN betavoltaic cells were fabricated, where the GaN-PIN devices include different areas, absorption layer thicknesses, and electrode structures. And the measured I–V results show that the power density of the GaN-PIN nuclear battery can exceed 4.3 nW/cm2, the open-circuit voltage can reach 1.25 V, and the energy conversion efficiency can reach 2.3%. And for the SiC-Schottky betavoltaic battery, the maximum output power and energy conversion efficiency are 0.67 pW/cm2 and 0.024%, respectively.