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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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2021 Student Conference
April 8–10, 2021
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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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Fukiushima Daiichi: 10 years on
The Fukushima Daiichi site before the accident. All images are provided courtesy of TEPCO unless noted otherwise.
It was a rather normal day back on March 11, 2011, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant before 2:45 p.m. That was the time when the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck, followed by a massive tsunami that caused three reactor meltdowns and forever changed the nuclear power industry in Japan and worldwide. Now, 10 years later, much has been learned and done to improve nuclear safety, and despite many challenges, significant progress is being made to decontaminate and defuel the extensively damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactor site. This is a summary of what happened, progress to date, current situation, and the outlook for the future there.
R. Gallix, P. Mijatovic
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 464-467
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Inertial Fusion Technology: Targets and Chambers | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1531
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a central building of the power plant, the DT fuel is formed into a very smooth and uniform layer of ice at ~18 K inside a beryllium shell; placed in a cryogenic target assembly that provides support, cooling, and thermal insulation; and put into an evacuated replaceable transfer line (RTL) at room temperature (RT). The RTL is transported and inserted into one of the reactor chambers at 923 K and shot, releasing 3 GJ of nuclear fusion energy. The DT ice layer must stay below ~19.7 K to keep its geometric integrity until shot time.Detailed transient thermal analyses of the cryogenic target assembly in the RTL were performed. They showed that, with the original design, the DT ice would reach 24.6 K by shot time. With an improved design providing better thermal insulation of the target, the ice temperature would reach only 19.1 K, meeting the requirement for successful shots.This paper compares the thermal analysis results for both designs, which included conduction and radiation effects with temperature-dependent material properties.