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Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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
The U.S. Million Person Study of Low-Dose-Rate Health Effects
There is a critical knowledge gap regarding the health consequences of exposure to radiation received gradually over time. While there is a plethora of studies on the risks of adverse outcomes from both acute and high-dose exposures, including the landmark study of atomic bomb survivors, these are not characteristic of the chronic exposure to low-dose radiation encountered in occupational and public settings. In addition, smaller cohorts have limited numbers leading to reduced statistical power.
Kathryn A. McCarthy, David A. Petti, Hesham Y. Khater
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 951-955
Safety and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963363
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High temperature refractory alloys of tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum are under evaluation for use as structural materials in the Advanced Power Extraction Program (APEX) because of their ability to accommodate high wall loading and high temperature coolant. However, such materials tend to have undesirable safety and environmental characteristics relative to conventional reduced-activation fusion materials. These alloys have high decay heat and in some cases their activation results in the production of long-lived isotopes that would disqualify the material from being disposed of as low level waste. In addition, some of the alloys have oxides that are very volatile, which could be mobilized in accident scenarios in which air ingress is a concern. In this paper we compare the safety and environmental characteristics of these alloys with their low activation cousin (vanadium) in terms of decay heat, oxidation driven mobilization in air, and waste management.