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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Anatoly Bushuev, Alexander Kozhin, Viktor Zubarev, Tatiana Aleeva, Ekaterina Petrova, Anatoly Myrzin, Alexey Syrosev, Genadiy Vlaskin, Timur Ragimov, Valentin Timoshin, Andrey Samoilov
Nuclear Technology | Volume 170 | Number 2 | May 2010 | Pages 353-359
Technical Paper | Human Factors | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A9488
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a nondestructive methodology for the determination of mass and isotopic composition of large plutonium samples. The methodology is based on experimental data from measurements of gamma radiation emitted by plutonium samples under assay. Both plutonium mass and plutonium isotopic composition are derived from one experimental gamma spectrum in two energy ranges. Gamma spectrum in the middle-energy range is used for the determination of plutonium isotopic composition from experimental intensities of photo peaks belonging to different plutonium isotopes. Gamma spectrum in the high-energy range contains photo peaks of spontaneous fission products, and these data can be used for the determination of plutonium mass. The calibration curve for dependence of the count rates in photo peaks of spontaneous fission products on effective 240Pu mass was plotted based on experimental data for the enterprise-level reference plutonium samples. When processing experimental data, some corrections were introduced to account for self-absorption of gamma radiation in the plutonium samples and for neutron-induced fission reactions. The correction factors were calculated with the application of Monte Carlo methodology. The final relative errors in the determination of plutonium dioxide mass were within the range of (4 to 10)% (1) for nuclear material containers with different cooling times and different isotopic compositions of plutonium.