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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.
D. T. Shaw, N. Rajendran
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 70 | Number 2 | May 1979 | Pages 127-134
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A19645
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of acoustic agglomerators for the suppression of sodium-fire aerosols in the case of a hypothetical core disruptive accident of a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor is discussed. The basic principle for the enhancement of agglomeration of airborne particles under the influence of an acoustic field is first discussed, followed by theoretical predictions of the optimum operating conditions for such application. It is found that with an acoustic intensity of 160 dB (∼1 W/cm2), acoustic agglomeration is expected to be several hundred times more effective than gravitational agglomeration. For particles with a radius larger than ∼2 µm, hydrodynamic interaction becomes more important than the inertial capture. For radii between 0.5 and 2 µm, both mechanisms have to be included in the theoretical predictions of the acoustic agglomeration rate.