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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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Joseph A. Angelo, Jr., Roy G. Post
Nuclear Technology | Volume 24 | Number 3 | December 1974 | Pages 323-330
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT74-A31494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The heat generated by spent fuel elements and typical processing waste from both a 1000 MW(e) reference design pressurized water reactor (PWR) and 1160 MW(e) reference design high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) were calculated for times up to 1000 years. To compensate for differences in exposure, the heat generated was expressed in terms of watts of heat generated per megawatt day of exposure. Examination of both tabular data and graphical presentations of these normalized heat generation data indicates noticeable differences in the contribution of different isotopes for each system. As anticipated, the heat generation for each fuel was greatly influenced by the transmuted isotopes 233Pa and 238Pu for the HTGR with 137Cs and 90Sr for the PWR. Data provide quantitative detailed information on the thermal power output of typical processing waste for both reactor systems for the first millennium of cooling.
