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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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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Latest News
Dragonfly, a Pu-fueled drone heading to Titan, gets key NASA approval
Curiosity landed on Mars sporting a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in 2012, and a second NASA rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. Both are still rolling across the red planet in the name of science. Another exploratory craft with a similar plutonium-238–fueled RTG but a very different mission—to fly between multiple test sites on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon—recently got one step closer to deployment.
On April 25, NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) announced that the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s icy moon passed its critical design review. “Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly’s mission design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself,” according to NASA.
J. T. Gill, R. E. Ellefson, R. P. Paulick, C. M. Colvin, R. L. Yauger, E. E. Johns, R. L. Anderson, E. L. Lewis, P. H. Lamberger, R. E. Vallee
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 14 | Number 2 | September 1988 | Pages 876-883
Tritium Properties and Interactions with Material | Proceedings of the Third Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology in Fission, Fusion and Isotopic Applications (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 1-6, 1988) | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25245
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A recent tritium inventory imbalance at Mound required an investigation into its causes. Much tritium was found as HTO in unsuspected zeolite traps of a T-purification system. Isotopic exchange from ammonia was postulated as a mechanism for entry of T into the zeolitic water. Gases from a T-processing system which had experienced air in-leakage were shown, by trapping of condensibles, to contain substantial H-isotopic waters and ammonias. Further evidence for tritiated ammonia was inferred from changes in pressure and T purity in otherwise unperturbed tanks of N2 and (H/D/T)2. From two such tanks which held N2 and T2 at equilibrium, ammonia was trapped and decomposed; a preliminary equilibrium constant for N2 + 3T2 ⇔ 2NT3 was determined. Controlled experiments by laser Raman spectrometry are in progress to investigate N2/T2 equilibria and kinetics. Results for gas mixtures in the 60–130 kPa (500–1000 torr) range (per reactant) suggest that the forward rate and the equlibrium attained are α [T2]2 . G-values for NT3 production were ≈1–2 molecules atm-1 (T2) (100eV)-1. Self-decomposition of NT3 proceded in an exponential decay with a G = 15–30. A lower value was observed at pressures where β--absorption in the gas was poor.