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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.
Mark T. Robinson, William A. Brooksbank, Jr., Samuel A. Reynolds, Henry W. Wright, Thomas H. Handley
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 4 | Number 3 | September 1958 | Pages 288-296
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE58-A25529
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Observations are reported on the behavior of several fission product elements in molten NaF-ZrF4-UF4 fuels, irradiated in capsule experiments, forced-convection in-pile loop experiments, and in the Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE). The rare gases have been observed to escape readily from the fuels in dynamic tests, although in static tests the rate of escape is very low. Ruthenium and niobium deposit on the Inconel walls of the fuel container, probably as metals. Other fission products studied (Sr, Zr, La, Ce) appear to remain in the fuel. The results obtained are entirely consistent with theoretical predictions. It is suggested that the observed noble metal deposit may serve to reduce corrosion of metals by molten fluoride fuels. The unsatisfactory nature of Cs137 as a fission monitor in such fuels is reported and the use of Zr95 as a substitute is discussed.