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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.
L. P. Geraldo, L. A. Vinhas, M. T. F. Cesar
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 89 | Number 2 | February 1985 | Pages 150-158
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE85-A18189
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The photodisintegration of 237Np has been studied using monochromatic photons produced by thermal neutron capture in several materials. The partial cross sections σγ, f and σγ, n were measured in the energy interval from 5.43 to 10.83 MeV. Analyzing the photofission data according to the liquid drop model, the height (Ef) and the curvature (ℏω) of the simple fission barrier were determined: Ef = (5.9 ± 0.2) MeV and ℏ;ω = (0.8 ± 0.4) MeV. For the competition between photoneutron emission and fission (Γn/Γf), a constant value was found (1.28 ± 0.15) in the 6.73- to 10.83-MeV energy range. From this result the following nuclear temperatures for 237Np were extracted on bases of some models of level density: T = 0.84 ± 0.06 MeV (Fujimoto-Yamaguchi model) and T = 0.60 ± 0.04 MeV (constant nuclear temperature model).