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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.
G. Romeo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 63 | Number 1 | October 1983 | Pages 110-120
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33307
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The buildup of radioactivity was measured on Type 304 stainless steel and carbon steel coupons exposed to reactor water in a test loop, which operated for ∼3 yr in a commercial boiling water reactor. Most of the activity buildup could be ascribed to 60Co. After an initial rapid increase, the activity buildup slowed down and kept increasing linearly up to 10 000 h of effective exposure to reactor water. No correlation was found between the 60Co activity in reactor water and the 60Co activity on the coupons. Preoxidation of Type 304 stainless steel coupons reduced the initial activity buildup. Carbon steel picked up much less activity than stainless steel during the tests. Measurements of the activity buildup after filtration of the primary coolant indicated that soluble impurities rather than particulates are primarily responsible for the radiation buildup phenomena. Increasing the coolant velocity also resulted in a reduction of the initial activity buildup on the coupons.
