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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.
R. M. Harbour, K. W. MacMurdo, F. J. McCrosson
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 50 | Number 4 | April 1973 | Pages 364-369
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE73-A26571
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The partial 2200-m/sec equivalent neutron capture cross sections (σ2200) and neutron capture resonance integrals (Ic) of 432.7-yr 241 Am to produce 152-yr 242mAm and 16.01-h 242gAm were measured relative to 59Co standards. The number of 242mAm atoms produced per 241 Am target atom was determined by high precision mass spectrometry after chemical purification of americium. The number of 242gAm atoms produced per 241Am target atom was determined by measuring the alpha activity of its 164.4-day 242 Cm daughter. The measured values for 241 Am are as follows: σ2200 (to 242mAm) = 83.8 ± 2.6 b, Ic (to 242mAm) = 208 ± 18 b (0.369-eV cutoff), σ2200 (to 242gAm) = 748 ± 20 b, and Ic(to 242gAm) = 1330 ± 117 b (0.369-eV cutoff). Measured values are compared with those calculated from the ENDF/B-III neutron cross-section library.
