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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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How to talk about nuclear
In your career as a professional in the nuclear community, chances are you will, at some point, be asked (or volunteer) to talk to at least one layperson about the technology you know and love. You might even be asked to present to a whole group of nonnuclear folks, perhaps as a pitch to some company tangential to your company’s business. So, without further ado, let me give you some pointers on the best way to approach this important and surprisingly complicated task.
Janet Seltzer, W. K. Firk
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 53 | Number 4 | April 1974 | Pages 415-419
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23372
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The total neutron cross section of sodium has been measured in the vicinity of the 2.8-keV resonance with the high-resolution time-of-flight spectrometer associated with the Yale University 70-MeV Electron Linear Accelerator. The spin of the resonance is unambiguously identified to be J = 1 . A least-squares analysis of the cross section has been carried out up to an energy of 50 keV using a model that takes into account the effects of local and distant levels. The observed total cross section is well described throughout the entire range with a spin-independent interaction radius of 5.8 fm and with reasonable values of the R functions (distant level effects) for both spin states. The resonance energy, the neutron width, and the effective nuclear radii derived from the analysis are, respectively, ER = 2805 ± 30 eV, ΓnR = 376 ± 15 eV, aJ =1 = 5.3 fm, and aJ=2(E) = 5.7 + [2 × 108/(E + 18500)2] fm.