ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Lawrence R. Steele, Sheffield Gordon, Charles E. Dryden
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 15 | Number 4 | April 1963 | Pages 458-467
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A26463
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of the rate of decomposition of water as a function of particle size and concentration of a slurry of fissionable and fertile fuel were made on 10 cc samples of slurry, kept in suspension by a mechanical stirrer, in a nuclear reactor. By passing nitrogen through the slurry during the irradiation, the radiolytic gases were stripped from the slurry before they could recombine. The average particle size of the solids, which contained 10% natural uranium, was varied from 6 to 50 μ in diameter. Concentrations between 300 and 1000 gm/liter were studied. In order to correlate the experimental results, use was made of calculations of the fraction of fission recoil energy that escapes to the fluid in a slurry reactor. The results indicate that the value of G(H2)f, the number of hydrogen molecules measured for every 100 ev of fission recoil energy absorbed by the water is about 2.1. This is also the value for G(—H2O)f , the number of molecules of water decomposed by every 100 ev of fission recoil energy under steady-state conditions in a slurry reactor.