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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
P. A. Davis, M. Balonov, A. Venter
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 423-430
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Containment, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A958
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new model evaluation program, Environmental Modeling for Radiation Safety (EMRAS), was initiated by the International Atomic Energy Agency in September 2003. EMRAS includes a working group (WG) on modeling tritium and C-14 transfer through the environment to biota and man. The main objective of this WG is to develop and test models of the uptake, formation and translocation of organically bound tritium (OBT) in food crops, animals and aquatic systems. To the extent possible, the WG is carrying out its work by comparing model predictions with experimental data to identify the modeling approaches and assumptions that lead to the best agreement between predictions and observations. Results for scenarios involving a chronically contaminated aquatic ecosystem and short-term exposure of soybeans are presently being analyzed. In addition, calculations for scenarios involving chronically contaminated terrestrial food chains and hypothetical short-term releases are currently underway, and a pinetree scenario is being developed. The preparation of datasets on tritium dynamics in large animals and fish is being encouraged, since these are the areas of greatest uncertainty in OBT modeling. These activities will be discussed in this paper.