use-nuclear

Small nuclear physics helpers for RustUse.

Install

[dependencies]
use-nuclear = "0.0.1"

Foundation

use-nuclear provides small scalar helpers for radioactive decay, activity, mass defect, binding energy, and simple nuclide number relationships.

Inputs are numeric SI-style values unless a function name explicitly refers to MeV or atomic mass units. The crate stays dependency-free and does not define a full unit system.

Example

use use_nuclear::{
    activity, binding_energy_mev_from_mass_defect_u, DecayLaw, NuclideNumbers,
    ATOMIC_MASS_UNIT_MEV_C2,
};

# fn main() -> Result<(), &'static str> {
let decay_law = DecayLaw::from_half_life(10.0).ok_or("expected valid half-life")?;
let remaining = decay_law
  .remaining_quantity(100.0, 10.0)
  .ok_or("expected valid remaining quantity")?;
let helium = NuclideNumbers::new(4, 2).ok_or("expected valid nuclide numbers")?;

assert!((remaining - 50.0).abs() < 1.0e-12);
assert_eq!(activity(2.0, 10.0), Some(20.0));
assert_eq!(helium.neutron_count(), 2);
assert_eq!(
    binding_energy_mev_from_mass_defect_u(1.0),
    Some(ATOMIC_MASS_UNIT_MEV_C2),
);
# Ok(())
# }

When to use directly

Choose use-nuclear when you need reusable scalar formulas for decay, activity, or nuclear energy relationships without pulling in a larger chemistry or units model.

Scope

• Small scalar helpers for radioactive decay, activity, mass-energy equivalence, and simple nuclide-number relationships.
• General constants belong in the top-level use-constants set.
• Unit abstractions belong in the top-level use-units set.
• Element symbols, atomic masses, and periodic-table concepts belong in use-chemistry.
• Isotope databases, reactor simulation, radiation transport, dosimetry, and radiation safety tooling are out of scope.

Status

use-nuclear is a pre-1.0 crate with a deliberately small API.