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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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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Countering the nuclear workforce shortage narrative
James Chamberlain, director of the Nuclear, Utilities, and Energy Sector at Rullion, has declared that the nuclear industry will not have workforce challenges going forward. “It’s time to challenge the scarcity narrative,” he wrote in a recent online article. “Nuclear isn't short of talent; it’s short of imagination in how it attracts, trains, and supports the workforce of the future.”
J. K. Dickens, J. W. McConnell, K. J. Northcutt
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 77 | Number 2 | February 1981 | Pages 146-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A21348
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The absolute yields of 28 fission products representing 23 different mass chains produced by thermal-neutron fission of 239Pu and having half-lives between 30 and 1100 s have been determined using Ge(Li) spectroscopy methods. Spectra of 30 gamma rays emitted in the decay of the fission products between 35 and 1950 s after a 5-s irradiation were obtained. Gamma rays were assigned to the responsible fission products by matching gamma-ray energies and half-lives. Fission-product yields were then obtained from the data by first determining the appropriate gamma-ray activity as of the end of the irradiation, correcting for detector efficiency and gamma-ray branching ratio, and, finally, dividing by the number of fissions created in the sample. The number of fissions was determined by direct comparison of gamma rays emanating from fission products created during a careful irradiation of a well-calibrated 239Pu-loaded fission chamber. The resulting fission-product yields are compared with previous measurements and with recommended yields given in two recent (and independent) evaluations. Uncertainties assigned to the present results range between 6 and 45%, and are smaller than or comparable to uncertainties assigned to previous experimental or evaluated yields for six mass chains.