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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Chris Wagner: The role of Eden Radioisotopes in the future of nuclear medicine
Chris Wagner has more than 40 years of experience in nuclear medicine, beginning as a clinical practitioner before moving into leadership roles at companies like Mallinckrodt (now Curium) and Nordion. His knowledge of both the clinical and the manufacturing sides of nuclear medicine laid the groundwork for helping to found Eden Radioisotopes, a start-up venture that intends to make diagnostic and therapeutic raw material medical isotopes like molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177.
Alexander G. Parlos, Fetiye O. Onbasioglu, John D. Metzger
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 136 | Number 2 | October 2000 | Pages 227-246
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE00-A2154
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The reliability of static space nuclear power systems (SNPSs) could be improved through the use of backup devices in addition to shunt regulators, as currently proposed for load following. Shunt regulator failure leading to reactor shutdown is possible, as is the possible need to deliver somewhat higher power level to the load than originally expected. A backup system is proposed in SNPSs to eliminate the possibility of a single-point failure in the shunt regulators and to increase the overall system power delivery capability despite changing mission needs and component characteristics. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of such a backup device for voltage regulation in static SNPSs that is capable of overcoming system variations resulting from operation at different power levels. A dynamic compensator is designed using the Linear Quadratic Gaussian with Loop Transfer Recovery method. The resulting compensators are gain scheduled using the SNPS electric power as the scheduling variable, resulting in a nonlinear compensator. The performance of the gain-scheduled compensator is investigated extensively using an SNPS simulator. The simulations demonstrate the effects of the fuel temperature reactivity coefficient variations on the load-following capabilities of the SNPS. Robustness analysis results demonstrate that the proposed controller exhibits significant operational flexibility, and it can be considered for long-term space mission requiring significant levels of autonomy.