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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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INL makes a case for eliminating ALARA and setting higher dose limits
A report just released by Idaho National Laboratory reviews decades of radiation protection standards and research on the health effects of low-dose radiation and recommends that the current U.S. annual occupational dose limit of 5,000 mrem be maintained without applying ALARA—the “as low as reasonably achievable” regulatory concept first introduced in 1971—below that threshold.
Noting that epidemiological studies “have consistently failed to demonstrate statistically significant health effects at doses below 10,000 mrem delivered at low dose rates,” the report also recommends “future consideration of increasing this limit to 10,000 mrem/year with appropriate cumulative-dose constraints.”
Thursday, November 21, 2024|8:00AM–12:00PM EST
Canaveral 2
Cost: $49
Organizers: Cihangir Celik and Mathieu Dupont, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
This 4-hour workshop explores best practices in shielding analyses with the SCALE code system, for neutron and photon particle transport, material activation, and source term generation. Participants will learn how to simulate activation of materials, generate fission sources, and use a variance reduction method (CADIS or FW-CADIS) to estimate a dose rate calculation for a microreactor. They will also learn how to utilize SCALE’s graphical user interface to design and visualize the geometry of the model, investigate simulation results, and overlay mesh tally results onto the geometry.
Agenda:
No prior SCALE experience is required for this workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops with SCALE 6.3.1 installed. SCALE 6.3.1 can be requested from RSICC (rsicc.ornl.gov/Default.aspx). Participants without a SCALE 6.3.1 license or without a laptop may still attend the demonstration. The workshop material (presentations, input and output files for the demos) will be made available to all participants. Information about SCALE can be found here: www.ornl.gov/scale