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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Robert B. Campbell, L. John Perkins
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 16 | Number 3 | November 1989 | Pages 383-387
Special Section Content | Cold Fusion Technical Notes | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A29130
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In response to the startling announcement of fusion reactions occurring at room temperature by Fleischmann and Pons (F-P), the possible role of high-current densities in producing neutrons and excess heat in deuterated titanium maintained near ambient temperatures and pressures is examined. The apparatus used consists of a balanced resistive circuit containing a deuterated “active” element and a hydrogenated “control” element. The use of a simple electrical circuit (no electrolysis) with elements made of chemically stable TiDx, X = 0.9, removes the complications involved in distinguishing between heat released by chemical versus nuclear processes in an electrolytic cell. This apparatus tests the possibility that the role of high-current density in the F-P experiments is to create such nonequilibrium states as strong pinching due to current microchanneling in the metallic lattice. This strong pinching, in turn, could reduce the deuteron-deuteron separation sufficiently to cause significant fusion. To detect neutrons, an NE-213 liquid organic scintillator spectrometer is used, with gamma counts eliminated by means of pulse-shape discrimination. Samples are subjected to current densities of ∼50 A /cm2 for time periods of 19 h. This current density is a factor of 100 greater than the largest value reported by Fleischmann and Pons. No significant neutron levels are detected above background. The temperature rise of the two samples during the application of the current can be explained by joule heating alone, with no other heat sources present. Based on these experiments, no excess heat is observed within the accuracy of the apparatus, which is estimated to be 10%. It is concluded that the large quantity of excess heat reported by Fleischmann and Pons is due to the presence of factors other than the current density.