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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.”
M. M. Günther, J. Schütrumpf, A. Britz, K. Vogt, K. Sonnabend, M. Roth
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 231-236
Fusion-Fission Hybrids and Transmutation | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13425
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We present a novel nuclear activation-based method for the investigation of high-energy photons and electron dynamics within the laser-plasma interaction zone. This method is based on high density activation targets which are a pseudoalloy of several selected isotopes with different photo-neutron disintegration reaction thresholds. The gamma decay spectrum emitted by the activated target is used for the reconstruction of the bremsstrahlung spectrum generated by the electrons. This allows for the reconstruction of the spectrum of bremsstrahlung photons without any anticipated fit procedures. Furthermore, the characterization of the electrons in the interaction zone is accessible immediately.The consolidated findings about the interaction mechanisms could be used to realize, control and characterize laser driven particle generation, such as a pulsed neutron source for nuclear and material sciences using special target designs and materials in a pseudoalloic compound of isotopes. An additional application is the laser assisted nuclear transmutation to produce short-lived isotopes with activities suitable for medical diagnostics and therapy.