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.
D. P. Brown, W. G. Spear
Nuclear Technology | Volume 23 | Number 1 | July 1974 | Pages 87-93
Technical Paper | Instrument | doi.org/10.13182/NT74-A31436
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A detector using a gas-flow technique to measure the in-core fast neutron flux was designed, developed, and experimentally tested. Based on the 9Be(n,α)6He reaction of neutrons with beryllium, the method uses a flowing gas (helium) to bring the 6He beta emitter to an ex-vessel beta detector to achieve measurements independent of the gamma irradiation of the in-vessel neutron detector. In tests at the TRIGA reactor of Washington State University, the system demonstrated a fast neutron sensitivity of 3.7 × 10−10 counts/sec per n/(cm2 sec). Thus, using appropriate counting techniques, the technique could have an operational range of 109 to 1016n/(cm2 sec).