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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.
Anthony Birri, Christian M. Petrie, Thomas E. Blue
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 12 | December 2021 | Pages 1865-1872
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1844532
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes the parametric analysis of an optical fiber–based gamma thermometer (OFBGT) that is intended to be used to infer the power distribution in the Ohio State University Research Reactor (OSURR). The OFBGT measures the radial temperature difference between an optical fiber that is within the thermal mass and an optical fiber that is within the capillary tube that is attached to the exterior of the outer sheath of the OFBGT. This gas gap acts as a thermal resistance to volumetric gamma heating of the OFBGT thermal mass. Of the six that are analyzed, one is deemed most appropriate for operation in the OSURR Central Irradiation Facility. This design produces a maximum of ~50°C at full reactor power (450 kW). A comparison of the six OFBGT designs generally shows how modifications of the design that increase suffer from decreased spatial resolution.