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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.
J. B. Dragt, J. W. M. Dekker, H. Gruppelaar, A. J. Janssen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 62 | Number 1 | January 1977 | Pages 117-129
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the analysis of fission product reactivity worths, measured in the fast reactor spectra of the STEK critical-experiments facility, extensive use is made of a statistical method of cross-section adjustment. The principle is that adjustments are applied to the evaluated cross sections, as much as possible within their error limits and taking into account the existing correlations, in such a way that a better agreement between calculated and measured integral data is obtained. The method is briefly summarized in general terms, with some special applications needed for the STEK project. Then, a description is given of the practical realization for capture cross-section adjustment on the basis of reactivity worths of samples of fission product mixtures in different thicknesses measured in several fast reactor spectra. Details are given on the way the various contributions to the covariance matrix of group cross sections, including resonance selfshielding, are calculated for the fission product nuclides and for the mixtures. The paper only outlines the methods used; examples of applications can be found elsewhere. Finally, some limitations of the method and possible extensions in connection with standard nuclear data error files are discussed.