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Chernobyl at 40 years: Looking back at Nuclear News
Sunday, April 26, at 1:23 a.m. local time will mark 40 years since the most severe nuclear accident in history: the meltdown of Unit 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
In the ensuing four decades, countless books, documentaries, articles, and conference sessions have examined Chernobyl’s history and impact from various angles. There is a similar abundance of outlooks in the archives of Nuclear News, where hundreds of scientists, advocates, critics, and politicians have shared their thoughts on Chernobyl over the years. Today, we will take a look at some highlights from the pages of NN to see how the story of Chernobyl evolved over the decades.
Tsuyoshi Misawa, Seiji Shiroya, Keiji Kanda
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 104 | Number 1 | January 1990 | Pages 53-65
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE104-53
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Feynman-α experiments were carried out using light-water-moderated and -reflected cores loaded with highly enriched uranium fuel at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly. An experimental technique using a multichannel scaler was developed to improve the accuracy of measurement and to shorten measuring time. Then, the βeff/l values of single and coupled cores with different neutron spectra were measured to demonstrate the capability of the present technique for measuring the prompt neutron decay constant α. Moreover, the Feynman-α method was applied to measuring large subcriticalities. Through these experiments, it is found that the present technique greatly improves the accuracy of a measurement, and the one-point reactor approximation is applicable to a tightly coupled core. It is also found that the subcriticality down to approximately -35 $ can be measured by this method if the position of the neutron detector is chosen carefully, and the present Feynman-α method can be applied to a subcriticality monitoring system.