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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.
B. M. Rothleder
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 100 | Number 4 | December 1988 | Pages 479-489
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE88-A23581
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements made during cycle 1 operation of Commonwealth Edison Company’s Zion Unit 2 pressurized water reactor core were used to validate the Electric Power Research Institute Advanced Recycle Methodology Program. In addition to the usual reaction rate and axial trace measurements for determining power distributions, gamma scan measurements were available to provide additional data to validate the calculated power shapes. The parallel occurrence of gamma scan measurements and standard nuclear instrumentation measurements provided a unique opportunity to intercompare the results of these measurement methods. The calculated X-Y gamma scan behavior supported the behavior of the calculated X-Y reaction rates. The measured X-Y gamma scans were found to be more accurate than the measured X- Y reaction rates, with the latter showing significant differences among some symmetrically located assemblies. For both types of measurement, however, the modeling of the asymmetrically loaded assembly located furthest in the core periphery produced the poorest results. The axial gamma scan calculation proved very accurate except at the inlet and outlet regions.