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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.
Ely M. Gelbard
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 54 | Number 3 | July 1974 | Pages 327-340
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23423
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Diffusion coefficients are computed for a typical lattice cell of the zero-power plutonium reactor experiments using the methods of Benoist and Bonalumi. It is noted that the diffusion coefficients, Dx, for leakage normal to the plates, as defined by Benoist and by Bonalumi, are both double valued. The spread between Benoist’s x-diffusion coefficient is, in the lattice cell, over half as large as the difference between Dx and Dy. Bonalumi’s x-diffusion coefficients are much farther apart, the interval between them being considerably larger than the difference between Dx and Dy. Neither the Benoist nor the Bonalumi method yields homogenized diffusion coefficients that preserve fluxes, reaction rates, or eigenvalues. Using an approach similar to that of Deniz, the diffusion coefficient is redefined and constructed in such a way as to guarantee that eigenvalues will be preserved in the homogenization process. The relation between the new diffusion coefficients and the Benoist coefficients is discussed.