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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.
K. Matsubara, R. Oguma, M. Kitamura
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 65 | Number 1 | January 1978 | Pages 1-16
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE78-A27121
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An autoregressive (AR) model with pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) test signals was applied to the dynamics of the Japan Power Demonstration Reactor, a boiling water reactor (BWR). The decision of the order of the AR model was based on the Akaike criterion. Multi-input test signals of the PRBS were applied to the steam-flow control valve and the forced circulation pump speed control terminal. Seventeen variables including the instrumented fuel assemblies were observed. The AR model identification facilitated building the BWR dynamics model as a multivariable system. The experiment indicated that the BWR dynamics with rather intensive nonwhite noise interference was effectively represented by the AR model, which was compared with a linear theoretical dynamics model. The results suggested that the identified AR model plays an important role in verifying, modifying, and improving the theoretical dynamics model.