ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Yoshiko Harima, Hideo Hirayama
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 113 | Number 4 | April 1993 | Pages 367-378
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE92-52
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Exposure buildup factors, energy spectra, and angular flux distributions for plane-normal incident and point isotropic source gamma rays of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 3, 6, and 10 MeV penetrating two-layer water-lead and lead-water shields are calculated with the point Monte Carlo code EGS4 The effects of bremsstrahlung and fluorescent radiation are included. The value of the buildup factor in the second layer lies between those for infinite media of both materials in two source geometries in the 0.5- to 3-MeV energy range. However, this behavior varies remarkably and is enhanced with a bremsstrahlung contribution, when the source energy is higher than that corresponding to the minimum in the attenuation coefficient of lead. This varies equally with the fluorescent contribution when the source energy is close to the K edge of lead.