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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, S. R. Bierman, E. D. Clayton, B. M. Durst
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 78 | Number 2 | June 1981 | Pages 121-125
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A20098
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of experiments was performed to determine the effect of gadolinium as a soluble neutron absorber on the criticality of fuel rod assemblies in uranyl nitrate solution. The gadolinium in the form of Gd(NO3)s was mixed with uranyl nitrate solution. The lattice assemblies were composed of 4.3 wt% 235U-enriched UO2 pellets contained in stainless steel tubes immersed in the uranyl nitrate solution of the same 235U enrichment. Lattice assemblies with center-to-center fuel rod separations of 22.9, 27.9, and 33.0 mm were utilized in this study. In each case, a preset number of fuel rods was positioned in the assembly vessel and uranyl nitrate subsequently added, with the measurement then being of the depth of solution required for criticality. The uranyl nitrate was limited to the fuel-rod-bearing region of the lattice assemblies that were, in turn, reflected with water. Data on integral critical experiments are provided against which calculational techniques can be checked.