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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.
Meir Segev, A. Galperin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 125 | Number 1 | January 1997 | Pages 84-92
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A24256
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Interest in generating energy with thorium fuel has increased lately as a result of the activation of subcritical ThO2 lattices by accelerated protons. A tight, ThO2 water-cooled lattice has been proposed to generate 200 MW(thermal) with 1.5-GeV protons in a current of ∼ 7mA. A tight-latticed core, consisting of a ThO2/233UO2 seed embedded in a large ThO2 blanket, has been proposed to generate 2400 MW(thermal) with 1.0-GeV protons in a current of 20 mA. A consistent detailed analysis of these two energy amplifiers, carried out with the HERMES, MCNP, KORIGEN, WIMS, and BOXER codes, results in performances inferior to those claimed. The net power generated will be one-fourth of that claimed for the former and 1/2.5 of that claimed for the latter.