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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2023)
February 6–9, 2023
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2023
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2023
Latest News
Nuclear energy: enabling production of food, fiber, hydrocarbon biofuels, and negative carbon emissions
In the 1960s, Alvin Weinberg at Oak Ridge National Laboratory initiated a series of studies on nuclear agro-industrial complexes1 to address the needs of the world’s growing population. Agriculture was a central component of these studies, as it must be. Much of the emphasis was on desalination of seawater to provide fresh water for irrigation of crops. Remarkable advances have lowered the cost of desalination to make that option viable in countries like Israel. Later studies2 asked the question, are there sufficient minerals (potassium, phosphorous, copper, nickel, etc.) to enable a prosperous global society assuming sufficient nuclear energy? The answer was a qualified “yes,” with the caveat that mineral resources will limit some technological options. These studies were defined by the characteristic of looking across agricultural and industrial sectors to address multiple challenges using nuclear energy.
Yang Hong Jung, Seung Je Baik, Young Gwan Jin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 1 | January 2021 | Pages 94-102
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1738795
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A radioactive corrosion product, Chalk River unidentified deposit (crud) was sampled and analyzed using an electron probe micro-analyzer with zinc-injected spent nuclear fuel rods (HU Unit 1, actual burnup 49 655 MWd/tonne U). Hot-cell facilities, a space for handling highly radioactive materials, were used as a way to collect crud deposited in the fuel rod cladding tube at a specific location of the spent fuel rod. A soft collection method for collecting crud using rubbings or adhesive tape was used to collect a sample, and a sample was collected with hard collection using a steel knife from the cladding tube of the fuel rod. The spent fuel rods were used for two cycles burned after zinc was injected into the primary coolant, which is known to inhibit the generation of crud. To compare the analysis results of the soft and hard collection methods for sampling crud, the results of the crud collected using an ultrasonic wave system were analyzed. The crud used in this study used burned fuel rods for two cycles after zinc ions were injected into the primary coolant. Based on the results, the Ni/Fe ratio can be estimated to be about 1.18. The Ni/Fe ratio value of 1.18 derived from this study is not much different from the Ni/Fe ratio values derived from nuclear power plants operating around the world.
