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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
David Bernard, Olivier Fabbris, Romain Gardet
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 179 | Number 3 | March 2015 | Pages 302-312
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE13-104
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three similar experiments performed in the 8-MW(thermal) MELUSINE experimental power pool reactor aimed at analyzing 1 GWd/tonne HM spent fuel pellets doped with several actinides and fission products. The goal was to measure the energy-integrated neutron-induced capture cross section in three different neutron spectra (from pressurized water reactor–like to undermoderated ones). This paper summarizes the combined deterministic APOLLO2 and stochastic TRIPOLI4 analysis using the JEFF-3.1.1 European nuclear data library. Very good agreement is observed for most neutron-induced capture cross sections of actinides except for a clear underestimation of 241Am(n,γ). An accurate value of its associated isomeric branching ratio is also suggested. A resonant fluctuation (factor of 2.7 between the two available excited levels regarding the l = 0 total orbital momenta) is suggested for this isomeric branching capture ratio. Finally, a precise value (more accurate than the reported JEFF-3.1.1 one) of the decay branching ratio of 242gAm(β+/ε) is deduced: 0.171 ± 0.001.
