ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
K. Shure, J. A. O'Brien, D. M. Rothberg
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 35 | Number 3 | March 1969 | Pages 371-375
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE69-A20016
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Effective removal cross sections for iron and lead that can be applied to fast-neutron dose rate calculations have been determined from calculated spatial-spectral neutron distributions as a function of succeeding polyethylene thickness. These cross sections increase with polyethylene thickness, and for large polyethylene thicknesses, they are in agreement with those derived from experiment. From the spatial-spectral neutron distributions, relative contributions of various neutron energy ranges to the neutron dose rate have been calculated as a function of succeeding polyethylene thickness. For polyethylene thicknesses > 30 cm, fast (E > 302 keV), epithermal (302 keV > E > 0.625 eV), and thermal (E < 0.625 eV) neutrons contribute 83, 6, and 11%, respectively, to the neutron dose rate.