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Last of Cs-137 irradiators removed from South Carolina
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced that it has successfully removed all cesium-137 irradiators from South Carolina, as the agency seeks to eliminate radiological threats and protect communities.
Cs-137 sources are commonly used to irradiate cellular blood cells prior to transfusion to prevent graft-versus-host disease, where the donated cells view the recipient’s cells as an unfamiliar threat. If stolen from a less-secure facility, however, the cesium inside the irradiators could be used to create a radiological dispersal device, commonly referred to as a dirty bomb.
J. Jung, H. Y. Kim, S. M. An
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 2 | February 2022 | Pages 268-283
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1929769
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For analysis of an ex-vessel severe accident, the corium melt conditions inside the reactor vessel are important at the time of the reactor vessel failure together with the reactor vessel failure mode. To determine penetration tube failure in the lower head of the reactor vessel during a severe accident, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute developed the PENetration Tube Analysis Program 2.0 (PENTAP 2.0) and carried out validation work based on experimental data that can simulate penetration tube heatup, rupture, penetration weld failure, and penetration tube ejection failure. A numerical simulation was undertaken to investigate the effect of the presence of melt in a tube, the expansion direction of the reactor vessel hole, and wall ablation on tube failure using PENTAP 2.0. The simulation results showed that the presence of melt inside the tube helps prevent tube ejection. When melt is not in the penetration tube, tube ejection is strongly dependent on the expansion direction of the reactor vessel hole.