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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.
R. C. Lloyd, C. R. Richey, E. D. Clayton, D. R. Skeen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 25 | Number 2 | June 1966 | Pages 165-173
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE66-A17733
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of criticality experiments were performed with plutonium (4.6% 240Pu) nitrate solution in stainless steel spheres of 11.5-, 14-, and 15.2-in. diam. Reflectors of water, concrete, paraffin, and stainless steel were used; experiments were also performed on the 15.2-in. sphere unreflected. The spheres were made critical with plutonium concentrations varying from 24 to 435 g Pu/liter and molarity varying from 0.2 to 7.7. The minimum critical volumes for Pu(NO3)4 in water containing 4.6% 240Pu were determined to be about 22 and 11 liters, respectively, for bare and reflected spheres at a concentration of 175 g Pu/liter. The effect of a 0.030-in. cadmium shell or a 4-in. air gap between the reflector and the vessel reduced the reflector worth to that of a nominal reflector (1-in. of water or less) for the concentrations of plutonium measured. Comparisons were made between experimental and theoretical results using multigroup diffusion theory.