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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.
D. Ilberg, D. Saphier, S. Yiftah
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 58 | Number 4 | December 1975 | Pages 445-449
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE75-A26800
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The extent to which the use of different fission-product cross sections (FPCS) affects the neutron multiplication factor keff in high burnup cores of fast reactors is evaluated. It is found that discrepancies of the order of 2.5% exist when different FPCS are used to calculate keff in the same core. These discrepancies are due to the absence of data on a number of fission-product isotopes present in some of the nuclear data libraries on the one hand, and large differences in the capture cross sections of some of the isotopes on the other. A list of fission-product isotopes is proposed that, when used, reduces discrepancies in keff to < 1%. The important isotopes for fast-reactor burnup and keff calculations in which large discrepancies exist are identified, and it is suggested that they be subjected to further evaluation to close the discrepancy gap.