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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.
W. Jaschik, L W. Seifritz
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 53 | Number 1 | January 1974 | Pages 61-78
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23330
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A sophisticated model is presented for the calculation of prompt-response self-powered neutron (SPN) detectors used for stationary as well as nonstationary neutron flux measurements in nuclear reactor cores. The technique recommended for calculating the unit sensitivity in terms of A/(cm) per unit flux takes the following into account:, neutron self-shielding factor of the emitter, flux depression correction, Compton and photoelectron production rate due to self-absorption of the gamma-ray cascade emitted immediately after neutron capture, electron escape probability from the emitterm, loss of electron energy within the emitter, range of the electrons in the insulator which contains a space-charge electric field., Calculated thermal and fast unit sensitivities in a typical light-water-reactor neutron spectrum for four potential prompt-response SPN detectors, whose emitters consist of cobalt, cadmium, erbium, and hafnium, are compared with experimental data and are found to be in satisfactory agreement.