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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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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Latest News
Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal
Matt Bowen
With a new administration and Congress, it is time once again to ponder what will happen—if anything—on U.S. spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management policy over the next few years. One element of the forthcoming discussion seems clear: The executive and legislative branches are eager to talk about recycling commercial SNF. Whatever the merits of doing so, it does not obviate the need for one or more facilities for disposal of remaining long-lived radionuclides. For that reason, making progress on U.S. disposal capabilities remains urgent, lest the associated radionuclide inventories simply be left for future generations to deal with.
In March, Rick Perry, who was secretary of energy during President Trump’s first administration, observed that during his tenure at the Department of Energy it became clear to him that any plan to move SNF “required some practical consent of the receiving state and local community.”1
E. Schonfeld
Nuclear Technology | Volume 3 | Number 10 | October 1967 | Pages 635-636
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT67-A27923
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several problems in detector design, operation, and data evaluation have been encountered in the analysis by gamma-ray spectroscopy of samples containing very low levels of radioactivity. Some of these problems are: the compensation for variations in the background intensity during counting, the determination of how large the anticoincidence mantle and/or shield should be to reduce the background, the determination of the optimum counting times of the sample and background, and the compensation for spectral shifts occurring during the long counting times required for these samples. This work describes possible methods for satisfactorily solving these problems. A spectrum-resolution program, written in FORTRAN 62, 63, II, or IV, which can be used to analyze these low-activity samples for isotopic constituents, is available from the author.
