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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Georgeta Radulescu, Kaushik Banerjee, Robert A. Lefebvre, L. Paul Miller, John M. Scaglione
Nuclear Technology | Volume 199 | Number 3 | September 2017 | Pages 276-288
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1307643
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Used Nuclear Fuel Storage, Transportation and Disposal Analysis Resource and Data System (UNF-ST&DARDS) is used to perform dose rate calculations for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) transportation packages based on the actual physical and nuclear characteristics (i.e., assembly design, burnup, initial enrichment, and cooling time) of the as-loaded SNF. Nuclear fuel data, transportation package model templates, and SNF canister loading map information residing within the tool facilitate automated generation of SCALE input files for radiation source term and dose rate calculations. Transportation package specific models developed for UNF-ST&DARDS dose rate analyses are described in detail. UNF-ST&DARDS dose rate analyses were performed for over 400 SNF canisters from 16 sites in their designated transportation casks. For simplicity, representative dose rate calculation results are presented as a function of time (i.e., selected calendar years between 2020 and 2100) for 73 SNF canisters in dry storage at four sites. For these canisters, the projected maximum dose rate values at 2 m from the lateral surfaces of the vehicle under normal conditions of transport (NCT) would vary between 1.9 and 11.5 mrem/h in 2020. Five SNF canisters will exceed the regulatory dose rate limit of 10 mrem/h at 2 m in 2020, and the analyzed SNF canisters will comply with regulatory dose rate limits by 2030. An analysis of the impact on the dose rate of fuel failure and reconfiguration during transportation indicated that the maximum dose rate for hypothetical accident conditions will be unaffected, and the NCT maximum dose rate at 2 m would have a maximum increase by a factor of 1.7 for a representative pressurized water reactor package and by a factor of 2.6 for a representative boiling water reactor package relative to intact fuel. Analysis of the actual heat loading and the dose rate at 2 m from the lateral surface of the vehicle for the five SNF canisters exceeding the NCT regulatory dose rate limit of 10 mrem/h in 2020 showed that the dose rate could be more limiting with respect to regulatory requirements than the heat loading; i.e., the canister transportability date may be evaluated based on the transportation package’s external dose rate.