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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.
L. F. Kendall, R. G. Wheeler, S. H. Bush
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 3 | Number 2 | February 1958 | Pages 171-185
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE58-A25459
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Corrosion rates of sponge zirconium and Zircaloy-2 in dry air were measured at 500, 600, and 700°C (930, 1110, and 1290°F). The reaction proceeds in two stages: initially the rate decreases with exposure time, approximating a cubic relationship; after sufficient exposure, the rate becomes a linear function of time. The rate constants calculated from the data and expressed by the Arrhenius equation, k = A exp (—Q/RT), are: . Extrapolation of these data to lower temperatures shows that the service life of structures fabricated from these metals amounts to several years at temperatures below 400°C (750°F).