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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.
N. N. Ponomarev-Stepnoi, V. G. Bubelev, Ye. S. Glushkov, G. V. Kompaniets, V. I. Nosov
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 119 | Number 2 | February 1995 | Pages 108-115
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24075
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hydrogen content of zirconium hydride blocks used as the moderator in Topaz-2-type space reactors is estimated according to correlation-regression analysis procedures of mathematical statistics and is based on the results of the definition of the reactivity of the blocks in a research critical assembly. A linear mathematical model for a variable response is formulated within the framework of the first-order perturbation theory applied to the estimation of reactivity effects in reactors. A PASPORT computer code is written based on the developed algorithm. The statistical analysis of the available data performed by using PASPORT shows that the developed approach allows determination of the insignificance of the contribution of the impurities to the reactivity of the blocks, verification of the manufacturer’s data on the hydrogen content in zirconium hydride blocks, and estimation of the reactivity shift in a standard block.