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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
P. Jean-Baptiste, E. Fourré, D. Baumier, A. Dapoigny
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 4 | November 2011 | Pages 1248-1251
Environmental and Organically Bound Tritium | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12656
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Most published results concerning deuterium-hydrogen fractionation in plants are in the range 0.8-1, indicating no bioaccumulation of the heavy isotope. In spite this, an updated compilation of litterature data show that 77% of OBT/TFWT ratios measured in terrestrial plants and food items are greater than one, with a mean value of 1.92. On the other hand, OBT/TFWT ratios for aquatic samples do not show such a tritium anomaly, with 81% of the published ratios being less than 1. This strongly suggests that the cause for excess tritium in terrestrial organic matter has to be found in the atmosphere. We have developed a simple model of tritium incorporation during plant growth, forced by the annual cycle of tritium in precipitation taken from the IAEA/ISOHIS database. The simulated distribution of the OBT/TFWT ratios for terrestrial samples shows many similarities with the observed one. Although other processes such as soil moisture with lower tritium content than atmospheric water vapour can be invoked, our results suggest that the annual tritium maximum which occurs in spring, during the growing season, is capable of creating substantial OBT/TFWT enrichments and has to be considered as well.