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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.”
Gerald L. Kulcinski, John F. Santarius
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 365-372
Alternate Concepts/Applications | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18104
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Electrical energy is not the only commercial product that can be produced by the fusion of light elements. The reaction products from many fusion fuels can be used to provide products that can be of a near-term benefit to society well before practical fusion power plants are a reality. The use of fusion products (neutrons and protons) in Homeland Security applications to detect clandestine materials or the production of short half life Positron Emission Tomography isotopes for medical diagnostics of abnormalities (e.g. cancers) in the human body are but a few of the near term examples of the near term use of fusion energy. This paper shows how one of the many ways to promote fusion, namely the use of the Inertial Electrostatic Confinement concept, is uniquely suited to this task worldwide.