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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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.
Adrián E. Méndez Torres, Mark Antonio Prelas, Louis M. Ross, Jr., Tushar K. Ghosh
Nuclear Technology | Volume 169 | Number 3 | March 2010 | Pages 271-278
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A9379
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experimental results of the diffusion of chromium(II) in natural diamond powder (Cr:NDP) of 60 to 80 m using modified field enhanced diffusion with optical activation (MOD:FEDOA) are presented. MOD:FEDOA is a promising technique for incorporation of impurities into wide band gap powders in the nanometer-to-micrometer range. MOD:FEDOA uses a combination of thermal diffusion with electrical potential, thermal ionization, and optical ionization combined in one setup, developed as a primary tool for the diffusion of various impurities into diamond. The effect of the diffusion process was studied with micro-Raman and a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). Raman analysis shows an increase in disorder in the treated sample. The main Raman peak in diamond was identified at 1332 cm-1 , indicating that the sample maintained the diamond crystal structure after the incorporation of chromium (Cr). Secondary electron images show an increase in surface roughness, rounding of crystalline faces by oxidation, and microfractures in the treated diamond powder. Backscattered electron images revealed deposition of impurities on the surfaces of diamonds after doping. EDS and Raman shift confirmed the presence of Cr in diamond particles after treatment. Other impurities, Si and O, were also identified by EDS and micro-Raman. This work presents strong evidence that Cr can be incorporated into natural diamond. It also suggests that Cr:NDP is suitable for applications in nuclear industries such as radiation shield and cladding material. Further, this work offers the possibility to develop novel diamond-based materials that can be used in the nuclear field.
