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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Latest News
Dragonfly, a Pu-fueled drone heading to Titan, gets key NASA approval
Curiosity landed on Mars sporting a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in 2012, and a second NASA rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. Both are still rolling across the red planet in the name of science. Another exploratory craft with a similar plutonium-238–fueled RTG but a very different mission—to fly between multiple test sites on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon—recently got one step closer to deployment.
On April 25, NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) announced that the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s icy moon passed its critical design review. “Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly’s mission design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself,” according to NASA.
H. W. Bonin, J. R. Van Tine, V. T. Bui
Nuclear Technology | Volume 169 | Number 2 | February 2010 | Pages 150-179
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A9360
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating containers for the ultimate disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste using polymer-based composite materials. The study has identified three engineering polymers suitable for this demanding application: polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyetherimide (PEI), and polysulfone (PSU). PEEK and PEI are used as composite materials components, with 30% carbon and glass fiber, respectively, whereas PSU is used as a virgin (nonreinforced) material. The rationale for the choice of polymer composites comes from their superior physical, mechanical, and chemical performance, in addition to their economical advantage. In particular, they display better resistance to corrosion and to structural weakening from irradiation.Scaled-down containers were fabricated using these materials. They were subjected to a battery of tests under conditions similar to those expected for the disposal environment of actual radioactive waste-filled containers. In particular, the container models were irradiated in the pool of a SLOWPOKE-2 nuclear research reactor, accumulating doses from a mixed-radiation field that were comparable to total doses accumulated over 500 yr at a deep underground waste repository site. Mechanical compression tests mimicked the large hydrostatic pressures incurred from granite rock at depths of some 1000 m within the Canadian Shield.Several composite materials were tested, and for the three engineering materials listed above, some of the results are as follows:1. variation in elastic modulus following a 28.9-kGy radiation dose - PEEK, -6.66% ± 0.47%; PEI, +5.63% ± 0.23%; PSU, +3.16% ± 0.13%2. compression results for the irradiated container models and load at break and strain - PEEK, 2.152 MPa and 1178 mm-1; PEI, 1.236 MPa and 1171 mm-1; PSU, 1.190 MPa and 2576 mm-1 , respectively3. cost analysis - costs for the fabrication of the prototype containers based on PEEK, $273610; PEI, $145920; PSU, $257460.The work also provided insight into potential problems in the fabrication of full-sized containers and into the best fabrication methods to adopt. The method of filament winding would be more appropriate for the PEEK- and the PEI-based composite materials, while blow forming would be the preferred method for the PSU material. In particular, this research could determine the best way to design the container lids.
