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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.
L. Lebaron-Jacobs, R. Fottorino, F. Barbry, P. Berard, F. Briot, P. Boisson, D. Cavadore, C. Challeton-de Vathaire, S. Distinguin, L. Exmelin, A. Flury-Herard, E. Gaillard-Lecanu, M. Gonin, J.-P. Le Goff, G. Lecoix, G. Lemaire, R. Medioni, M. H. Persico, Y. Racine, C. Riasse, E. Rongier, P. Voisin, A. Miele
Nuclear Technology | Volume 161 | Number 1 | January 2008 | Pages 27-34
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3910
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A working group from health occupational and clinical biochemistry services on French sites has issued essential data sheets on the guidelines to follow in managing the victims of a criticality accident. Since the priority of the medical management after a criticality accident is to assess the dose and the distribution of dose, some dosimetric investigations have been selected in order to provide a prompt response and to anticipate the final dose reconstruction. Comparison exercises between clinical biochemistry laboratories on French sites were carried out to confirm that each laboratory maintained the required operational methods for hair treatment and the appropriate equipment for 32P activity in hair and 24Na activity in blood measurements, and to demonstrate its ability to rapidly provide neutron dose estimates after a criticality accident. As a result, a relation has been assessed to estimate the dose and the distribution of dose according to the neutron spectrum following a criticality accident.