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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.
Nimai C. Mukhopadhyay, Jörg Hadermann
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 80 | Number 1 | January 1982 | Pages 26-31
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE82-A21401
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transport of radioactive nuclides through a system of joints is discussed including a linear sorption isotherm. The expression for the effective retention factor is derived for (a) a single joint, (b) a system of identical joints separated by a given distance, and (c) a system of joints with arbitrary apertures and sorption characteristics. It is shown that the retention factors for cases a and b are the same. In the limit of dense fractures, the retention factor for the porous medium is recovered. Relevance to the one-dimensional geosphere transport problem in the heterogeneous geology is pointed out. An arbitrary number of joint sets can now be included in such a problem.