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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.
W. J. McCool, R. A. Robinson, E. W. Schrader, S. H. Weiss
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 9 | Number 1 | January 1961 | Pages 47-54
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A25864
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The cold, clean, steel-reflected, final, SM-2 mock-up containing 36.4 kg U235 and 61 g B10 maintained criticality after a seven rod bank withdrawal of 6.974 in. and has an “excess K” (ΔKE) of 1520 cents. An infinite steel-water laminated reflector is worth approximately +85 cents over the infinite water reflected core. The measured reactivity coefficient, @ 2000 psi, ranges from –1.15 cents/°F @ 150°F to –5.20 cents/°F @ 510°F. The integral reactivity effect of raising the SM-2 core water temperature from 103 to 510°F @ 2000 psi and the water in the reflector coolant graph from 103 to 477°F @ 2000 psi is –889.7 cents. The average measured material coefficients for U235 and B10 are 0.157 cents/g and 42.54 cents/g, respectively. Without the benefit of flux suppressors the maximum to average power ratio of 7.28 occurs at the top of the fuel section of control rod C (withdrawn to 7.14 in.), and a ratio of 5.28 occurs at the bottom of stationary element 43 and symmetric elements.