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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.
T. A. Eastwood, R. D. Werner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 13 | Number 4 | August 1962 | Pages 385-390
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE62-A26181
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental study of neutron self-shielding in cobalt foils and wires has been made by an activation technique. Cobalt foils ranging in thickness from 0.0004 to 0.004 in. and 0.005 in. thick Co-Al alloy reference foils containing 1% Co were irradiated under cadmium in the NRX reactor. The Co60 specific activity in the pure foils was compared with that in the reference foils to give the gross self-shielding factors. Experimental resonance self-shielding factors were obtained by separating the 1/v part from the gross self-shielding factors, and agreement with calculated resonance self-shielding factors for foils was observed. Self-shielding factors for wire ranging in diameter from 0.001 to 0.025 in. and for 0.050 in. diam 1 % Co-Al alloy wire were also measured since they are of practical importance and have not been calculated. Measurements of self-shielding factors for thermal neutrons were made for cobalt wires and these agree with theory.