ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Mark J. Harper
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 114 | Number 2 | June 1993 | Pages 118-123
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE93-A24023
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A theoretical model was developed to predict the amount of nucleation that occurs as a result of neutron interactions in superheated liquids. The model utilizes nuclear cross-section data, charged-particle linear energy transfer information, and computations of critical bubble nucleation energy to generate the number of bubbles formed in superheated liquid droplet (“bubble”) neutron detectors exposed to neutron fluxes of specified intensity and energy. Previous experimental attempts to relate effective (energy-depositing) ion track length L to critical bubble radius rc using a dimension-less coefficient were unsuccessful. The formulation of a new coefficient b, equal to the ratio of effective ion track length L to the seed bubble radius ro is now proposed. By parameterizing the value of b within the model, the least-squares best value of b was determined to be 4.3 for both high- and low-energy 252Cf neutrons. Thus, the effective recoil ion track length in radiation-induced nucleation can be determined if the seed bubble radius is known.