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Reimagining nuclear materials for the future of medicine
Nuclear medicine has come a long way since Henri Becquerel first observed the penetrating energy of radioactive materials in 1896. Today, technetium-99m alone is used in more than 40 million diagnostic procedures every year—from cardiovascular imaging and bone scans to cancer detection—making it the undisputed workhorse of nuclear medicine. That single statistic tells you something important: An enormous portion of modern diagnostic medicine rests on a surprisingly narrow foundation, one built around a small number of aging research reactors that were never originally designed for continuous isotope production.
Cristian Contescu, Ann Campbell, Timothy Burchell, Nidia Gallego, A. L. Qualls (ORNL)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1168-1175
Since the successful completion of Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, nuclear and material scientists continue to expand their knowledge on materials and conditions that would ensure safe and efficient operation of high temperature reactors with molten salt coolant. Carbon materials will be present in the reactor core as graphite moderators and reflectors in liquid-fuel molten salt reactor, MSR, and also as fuel matrix carbons in the fuel pebbles of thermal fluoride high temperature reactors (FHR). This paper summarizes the knowledge progress on carbon and graphite materials for molten-salt reactors starting from the lessons learned after the MSRE up to the newly revived interest for MSR in the last decade. Some unsolved items and knowledge gaps which require more research are emphasized.