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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.
R. T. Santoro, R. G. Alsmiller, Jr., J. M. Barnes, G. T. Chapman, J. S. Tang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 80 | Number 4 | April 1982 | Pages 586-602
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE82-A18972
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Integral experiments that measure the streaming of ∼14-MeV neutrons through a 0.30-m-diam iron duct (length-to-diameter ratio ∼ 3) imbedded in a concrete shield have been carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Calculated and measured neutron and gamma-ray energy spectra are compared at 16 detector locations on and off the cylindrical axis of the duct. The measured spectra were obtained using an NE-213 liquid scintillator detector with pulse-shape discrimination to simultaneously resolve neutron and gamma-ray events. The calculated spectra were obtained using a computer code network that incorporates two radiation transport methods: discrete ordinates (with P3 multigroup cross sections) and Monte Carlo (with continuous point cross sections). The two radiation transport methodologies are required to properly account for neutrons that single scatter from the duct to the detector. The calculated and measured outgoing neutron energy spectra above 850 keV agree within 5 to 50% depending on detector location and neutron energy. The calculated and measured gamma-ray spectra above 750 ke V are also in favorable agreement, ∼5 to 50%, depending on detector location and gamma-ray energy.