ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Godzilla is helping ITER prepare for tokamak assembly
ITER employees stand by Godzilla, the most powerful commercially available industrial robot available. (Photo: ITER)
Many people are familiar with Godzilla as a giant reptilian monster that emerged from the sea off the coast of Japan, the product of radioactive contamination. These days, there is a new Godzilla, but it has a positive—and entirely fact-based—association with nuclear energy. This one has emerged inside the Tokamak Assembly Preparation Building of ITER in southern France.
A. P. Mills, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 110 | Number 2 | February 1992 | Pages 165-167
Technical Papers | doi.org/10.13182/NSE92-A23885
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is argued that 79Kr is uniquely suited for an intense positron source. It can be produced by neutron activation of a rare, but available, stable isotope 78Kr; it has a convenient 35-h half-life; as a nonreactive gas, it can be transported and recycled in a closed system using automated valves without exposure of personnel; and it can be vapor deposited easily on a large area cold surface using a solid neon moderator to make a slow positron source with intensity (∼1011 s−1) limited only by the availability of neutrons and cryogenic refrigeration.