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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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No impact from Savannah River radioactive wasps
The news is abuzz with recent news stories about four radioactive wasp nests found at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The site has been undergoing cleanup operations since the 1990s related to the production of plutonium and tritium for defense purposes during the Cold War. Cleanup activities are expected to continue into the 2060s.
Marshall Berman
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 96 | Number 3 | July 1987 | Pages 173-191
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE87-A16380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At least three distinct approaches have been employed for estimating the conditional probability of containment failure due to steam explosions within the pressure vessel of a water-cooled nuclear reactor. These approaches, which involve varying degrees of subjectivity and objectivity, are reviewed. It is concluded that, given the current state of knowledge, all approaches involve significant uncertainties; no method is currently capable of credibly defending any given value of failure probability or a narrow uncertainty range.