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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. R. Bunney, D. Sam
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 39 | Number 1 | January 1970 | Pages 81-91
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE70-A21173
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experimental measurements of the gamma-ray spectra emitted by the products of thermal-neutron fission of 235U have been made at nine selected times (¼, ½, 1, 2, 5, 10, 24, 48, and 72 h) after fission. A calibrated and highly collimated 5- × 5-in. NaI(T1) detector was used. The 100-energy-bin γ-ray spectra were unfolded from the pulse-height distributions by means of an iterative method. Extensive use was made of machine computation. The number of fissions in each sample was determined radiochemically. Significant differences between this work and calculated spectra were found. At the earlier times the experimental photon emission rate is higher than the calculated rate by as much as 40%. At later times the experimental rate is 20% lower than the calculated rate. Surprisingly large differences (as much as 33%) were found between the photon emission rates of products of fission by slow neutrons and by fast neutrons.