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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.
AKM Saiful Islam Bhuian, Tomokazu Yamamoto, Hidehiro Yasuda, Norito Ishikawa, Kazuhiro Yasuda
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 200 | Number 3 | March 2026 | Pages 620-631
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2025.2494185
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The nucleation and growth process of extended defects in yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (8 mol % Y2O3-doped ZrO2) was observed in situ using an ultra-high-voltage electron microscope with varying electron energies (1.25 to 3.0 MeV) and irradiation temperatures (300 to 773 K). Because of differences in mass and threshold displacement energy Ed between anions and cations, two types of dislocation loops—oxygen-type nonstoichiometric dislocation loops and perfect-type dislocation loops—were formed depending on electron energy and irradiation temperature. The intensity distribution of electron flux in the typical electron beam used in this work was found to influence the migration of oxygen interstitials from the center to the peripheral region of the beam, leading to the formation of oxygen-type dislocation loops at the periphery. The role of irradiation temperatures in the nucleation, growth, stabilization, and recovery of defects, such as dislocation loops, is discussed. The threshold displacement energies Ed for Zr and O sublattices were estimated using a well-defined experimental technique and compared with previously reported values. Furthermore, microstructure changes in yttria-stabilized zirconia specimens with 200-MeV Xe ions were examined under electron irradiation. Microstructure change was analyzed in terms of the annihilation and nucleation of point defect clusters at the ion tracks induced by ion irradiation.