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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.
J. Sanz, M. Garcia, F. Ogando, A. Mayoral, D. López, P. Sauvan, B. Brañas
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 273-280
Fusion Materials | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8914
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preliminary beam dump cartridge design has been proposed recently for the IFMIF-EVEDA accelerator. Copper was the material chosen for the beam stop. In this paper we investigate the possibility of designing a practical shielding for the proposed cartridge so that it can offer an acceptable radioprotection response during both beam-on and beam-off phases. The radioprotection analysis is performed for the whole beam dump component located inside the already designed accelerator vault. A comprehensive methodology has been proposed to deal with the problem. Special attention has been paid to the treatment of the neutron source and a significant effort has been devoted to validation purposes. It is justified that prompt and residual dose rates can be provided with a reasonably conservative margin.A base line shielding consisting of a 1 m water tank and a concrete shield of 1 m thickness in front of the tank can be a good approach to fulfill the radioprotection requirement assigned to the beam-on phase. This approach will not be acceptable for the beam-off but it is seen that a feasible solution can be reached by adding a plug at the entrance of the beam dump.