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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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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.”
T. D. Bohm, M. E. Sawan, P. P. H. Wilson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 587-591
Nuclear Systems: Analysis and Experiments | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 2) Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A19156
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
ITER blanket modules (BMs) are arranged around the plasma to provide thermal and nuclear shielding for the vacuum vessel, magnets and other external components. Detailed mapping of nuclear heating, radiation damage, and helium production is an essential input to the design process. During initial investigation of a BM design, some simplifications of the BM may be needed. Nuclear heating was determined for four CAD based models of the BM04 region (located at the inboard mid-plane) including 1) a detailed 3-D geometry with a detailed 3-D source, 2) a detailed 3-D geometry with a uniformly distributed source, 3) a homogenized 3-D geometry with a detailed 3-D source, and, 4) a homogenized 3-D geometry with a uniformly distributed source. The results show that the impact of using homogenized models is larger than that of using a uniformly distributed source. These results are being incorporated into the BM design process by using more detail in homogenized models when detailed CAD based models are not available.