Intensity Fluctuations Of A Neutron Chain Reactor

Consists of AECD 1-2023 (no. 1-1779 called MDDC).

The present review volume not only covers a wide range of topics pertinent to nuclear science and technology, but has attracted a distinguished international authorship, for which the editors are grateful. The opening review by Drs. Janet Tawn and Richard Wakeford addresses the difficult matter of questioning sci- tific hypotheses in a court of law. The United Kingdom experienced a substantial nuclear accident in the 1950s in the form of the Windscale Pile fire. This in itself had both good and bad consequences; the setting up of a licensing authority to ensure nuclear safety was one, the understandable public sentiment concerning nuclear power (despite the fire occurring in a weapons pile) the other. Windscale today is subsumed in the reprocessing plant at Sellafield operated by British Nuclear Fuels plc and it was inevitable perhaps that when an excess cluster of childhood leukaemia was observed in the nearby village of Seascale that public concern should be promoted by the media, leading to the hearing of a claim of compensation brought on behalf of two of the families of BNFLs workers who had suffered that loss. The review article demonstrates the complexity of und- standing such a claim against the statistical fluctuations inherent and shows how the courts were persuaded of the need to propose a biological mechanism if responsibility were to be held. The Company were undoubtedly relieved by the finding.

The present volume in our annual review series reviews a wide range of developments, giving a broad interpretation to the "technology" of our title. Starting at the beginning, Science, we have the review of basic nuclear physics data of Walker and Weaver for reactor kinetics, particularly, there fore, delayed neutron data. In the search for better and better accuracy, it is being realized that this involves the closest scrutiny of fundamental data, given to us here from the Birmingham school. Associated with this review of data is the review from Italy by Professor Pacilio and his co workers of the theory of reactor kinetics in the stochastic form, and a valuable compilation of the theory underlying a wide range of practical techniques. Tending more to technology come the papers by Jervis, reviewing the application of digital computers to the control of large nuclear power stations as developed in both the united Kingdom and Canada, Pickman's review of the design of fuels for heavy water reactors, and the account by Ishi kawa and Inabe of the new Japanese Research Reactor Program, itself initially directed largely to fuel element studies. The balance of the volume is made up of more philoso phical contributions to the practicalities of nuclear power.

February issue includes Appendix entitled Directory of United States Government periodicals and subscription publications; September issue includes List of depository libraries; June and December issues include semiannual index.