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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.
V. Rajagopal
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 12 | Number 2 | February 1962 | Pages 218-224
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE62-A26060
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental investigation has been made of the self-fluctuations in neutron density in a nuclear reactor, and the response in neutron density for random reactivity inputs, using analog correlation techniques. The analysis of self-fluctuations was based on ion chamber measurements of the fluctuations of neutron intensity at various points. Autocorrelation analysis was then used to find the power spectrum of the fluctuations, which has the shape of square modulus of transfer function. A random reactivity input was realized by using an electromechanical system to convert the white noise of a radioactive source into linear motion of a small neutron absorber. Analysis of the response was made by autocorrelating the reactivity input and cross-correlating the reactivity input and the response in neutron density, and determining their spectra. The amplitude and phase of the reactor transfer function were determined from these spectra. Results are presented on some measurements made on a small reactor at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The measured transfer function agrees with the calculated transfer function.