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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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Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Bin Han, Bryan Bednarz, Yaron Danon, Robert Block, X. George Xu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 168 | Number 2 | November 2009 | Pages 576-579
Shielding Materials | Special Issue on the 11th International Conference on Radiation Shielding and the 15th Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (Part 2) / Radiation Measurements and Instrumentation | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9246
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-energy photons from medical accelerators are used to treat tumors in cancer patients. One consequence is the production of neutrons from photonuclear interactions in the high-Z accelerator components. The release and capture of neutrons produce radioactive nuclei that can irradiate patients and medical personnel. The goal of this study is to develop a method for quantifying the activation of accelerator components using MCNPX. To benchmark this method, we took activation measurements from the irradiation of a series of zinc plates using a 55-MeV electron beam and compared them with MCNPX calculations. The measured cumulative photon-induced activity from 68Zn(,p)67Cu interactions in all of the plates was 10.8 MBq, which is in 5.4% agreement with the calculated value of 10.2 ± 1.1 MBq. Based on these results, a series of simulations were performed in order to optimize the photon- and neutron-induced activity in tungsten for subsequent experiments. The radioactivity from activated short-lived isotopes and subsequent buildup can be significant from repeated accelerator operations during a day. The approach described in this paper is useful in quantifying the origin and the amount of nuclear activation and the buildup of radioactivity.