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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. Leibowitz, L. Baker, Jr., J. G. Schnizlein, L. W. Mishler, J. D. Bingle
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 15 | Number 4 | April 1963 | Pages 395-403
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A26456
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements have been made of the maximum burning temperatures and the propagation velocities along strips of uranium and zirconium foils and wires burning in air. Measurements were made using either a high-speed motion picture camera or a specially constructed two-slit electronic pyrometer. Burning temperatures and propagation velocities were measured as a funcion of both sample width and sample thickness. It was found that burning propagation velocities could be reasonably well described by a thermal propagation theory similar to one applied to flame propagation in gases. Variation of propagation rates with thickness and width of foil were correctly described by the theory. The results of the study are applicable to the combustion of isolated pieces of uranium and zirconium scrap but not directly to the more complicated case of the combustion of large aggregates. Some of the additional factors involved in large aggregate fires are discussed.