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Reimagining nuclear materials for the future of medicine
Nuclear medicine has come a long way since Henri Becquerel first observed the penetrating energy of radioactive materials in 1896. Today, technetium-99m alone is used in more than 40 million diagnostic procedures every year—from cardiovascular imaging and bone scans to cancer detection—making it the undisputed workhorse of nuclear medicine. That single statistic tells you something important: An enormous portion of modern diagnostic medicine rests on a surprisingly narrow foundation, one built around a small number of aging research reactors that were never originally designed for continuous isotope production.
J.K. Garner, C.F. Carson, J.D. Gordon, R.H. Whitley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 615-618
Blanket Design and Evaluation | Proceedings of the Seveth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 1986) | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24811
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes a concept for a high performance, inherently safe fusion reactor blanket using helium coolant, beryllium multiplier, lithium breeder and a vanadium alloy structure. The goals of the design were to explore the possibility of inherent tolerance to loss of coolant and flow accidents while minimizing the cost of electricity. Results indicate high net thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency (45.5%), good energy multiplication (1.64) and excellent afterheat tolerance, with a maximum blanket temperature of 760°C after one year with no cooling. However, the calculated COE (0.0405$/kWe.h) is slightly higher than other blankets costed on a similar basis by the MINIMARS1 program because of the projected high cost of vanadium.