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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
K. Katayama, K. Imaoka, M. Tokitani, M. Miyamoto, M. Nishikawa, S. Fukada, N. Yoshida
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 2 | August 2008 | Pages 549-552
Technical Paper | Materials Interactions | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1875
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is important to evaluate tritium behavior in tungsten deposition layers considering a long-term plasma operation. In this study, tungsten deposition layers were formed by deuterium or helium RF plasma sputtering. The release behavior of deuterium or helium from the layers were observed by a thermal desorption method. When a tungsten deposition layer does not contain oxygen, the retained deuterium is mainly released as D2. When oxygen exists in the layer, the majority of deuterium is released as water vapor. Tungsten deposition layers have an amorphous structure and consist of fine grain with size of 2-3 nm. Numerous bubbles are observed in the layers. A formation of tungsten deposition layer in a fusion reactor may make tritium control more difficult.