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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.
K. Siddappa, N. Govinda Nayak, K. M. Balakrishna, N. Lingappa
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 93 | Number 1 | May 1986 | Pages 57-61
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE83-A17416
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The total attenuation coefficients are measured for seven alloys at 84 and 145 keV by the transmission method using a good geometry setup employing a NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer. The scattering contributions are deduced using the theoretical cross sections taken from the recent literature and are subtracted from the measured total cross sections to get the photoelectric cross sections. Finally, the effective atomic numbers are obtained from the graph of cross section versus the atomic number. Results are compared with semiempirical estimates and are found to be in good agreement. Results are also compared with the available experimental values, some of which are reported at 412 keV and some at 52.5 keV and a good agreement is noted.