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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. T. Thomas
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 62 | Number 3 | March 1977 | Pages 424-437
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A26982
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A surface density model based on experimental and calculated criticality data is developed for finite water-reflected arrays and results in semiempirical analytic expressions describing criticality. The relations provide information on the reactivity associated with such perturbations to arrays as changes in unit shapes, cell volumes, array shapes, and array reflectors. Equivalence between different fissile materials in a critical array is defined. The surface density and density analog models are shown to be in correspondence when applied to the same data. The density analog model is expressible as f(N) = g(m)p-2. The functions f(N) and g(m) are explicitly given, and the constant exponent has general applicability.