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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.
V. V. Verbinski
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 27 | Number 1 | January 1967 | Pages 51-66
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE67-A18042
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of the spectra of neutrons moderated in LiH were made in the energy range of about 0.01 to 600 eV, and the results were compared with calculated spectra obtained from a Monte Carlo calculation, a direct numerical integration of the Boltzmann equation (NIOBE code), a moments numerical calculation, and three infinite-medium thermalization calculations, each utilizing a different scattering kernel. The measurements were carried out by irradiating slabs of LiH with neutrons having a near-fission spectrum. The spectra of the leakage flux, of the forward-directed flux, and of the scalar flux within the slab were obtained at neutron penetrations of 2.5 to 10 cm. Below 30 eV, the leakage flux and scalar flux attained an asymptotic spectral shape at a penetration of 2.5 cm, and the forward-directed flux at about 5 cm. The shapes of the calculated spectra agree with the shapes of the measured spectra for all energy regions in which each calculation is valid. A large discrepancy between the NIOBE code predictions and the measurements below 0.08 eV is caused by upscattering and molecular binding effects, which are neglected by NIOBE. These effects were included in a neutron thermalization calculation for an infinite medium with a constant source density; however, good agreement with measurement was obtained only for the case in which the measurement had been made in a nearly gradient-free region. In a region of strong flux gradients, the spectrum of the forward-directed flux is shown to be related to that of the scalar flux with good accuracy by the Purohit expression, according to a NIOBE code calculation which yielded both spectra.