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Lectures on the many-body problem
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Nuclear Physics 46 (1963) 528; ~ North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam
BOOK REVIEWS G. MATZ, Fabrication of fuel elements (I.A.E.A., Vienna, 1962. 80 p. 21 Sch.) This publication on fuel element technology surveys (a) the fabrication and canning of uranium metal and uranium alloys, (b) of uranium dioxide and carbide, (c) the dispersion of cermet type fuel. This introductory chapters are most commendable, giving a concise account of the basic fissile and canning materials and how their chemical and physical characteristics, together with their corrosion and irradiation behaviour, influence the choice of fabrication methods and the form in which fuel elements are normally used in various reactor systems. Concerning the section on canning which concentrates on conventional can closure techniques and the use of helium, liquid metal, mechanical and metallurgical bonding to improve heat transfer, the utilization of alternative non destructive testing techniques to assess can components prior to canning and proving the bond integrity, merited more attention. The production of uranium and uranium dioxide fuel elements, with a few pages on dispersion type plate elements thereafter, occupies most of the book. Various methods for fabricating uranium are discussed and a fairly detailed description of the classical cold pressing and sintering process for uranium dioxide pellets is presented. Although mentioned, it was disappointing to find that vibro compaction of uranium dioxide was not expanded on in view of the versatility of this technique. The chapter on uranium carbide preparation and bulk fabrication by alternative routes briefly describes the current "state of the art". However, no mention is made of composition control, grain size and machining aspects. The outlook for fuel element production in a closed fuel cycle and the use of breeder processes is also discussed, highlighting the difficulties of chemical reprocessing and remote refabrication. In such a survey it is inevitable to note a tendency to over-simplication on numerous topics; nevertheless, from the mass of data now available on these subjects the author has successfully presented the information in a suitably condensed form for practicing and potential fuel element fabricators, and is sufficiently explanatory for those associated with nuclear industry requiring general background information on fuel elements and their manufacture, and therefore the purpose of this book is fulfilled. H. Lloyd E.R. CAIANmLLO (Editor), Lectures on the many-body problem (Academic Press Inc., New York, 1962. x11-344 p. ~ 10.50) Collections of lectures on the many-body problem evoke, at any rate for Frenchmen, what they call "le cortege de la Juive" (the pageant in the opera of that name which in provincial theatres is given substance by sending round the same actors again and again across the scene): always the same old friends meeting in congenial places (sunny or snowclad according to the season) and repeating (one hopes to different audiences) the same old tales of quasi-particles and quasiconvergent summations of graphs. Against this background it is something of a praise to say that the present book, fruit of Neapolitan spring, is distinguished from the others by a sustained high level of presentation. It is also excellently printed. L.R.
Encyclopedia of Physics, Volume 42/1: Beta decay (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1962. 117 p. DM 49) This volume consists of a single article entitled "Experiments on fl-decay", by Professor Kofoed-Hansen and C.J. Christensen. It deals in a masterly way with all modern aspects of the subject, including such questions of principle as the identity of fl-particles and electrons, and, needless to say, the polarization effects related to the violation of parity invariance. In the introduction, no less than six different volumes of the Encyclopedia are referred to as containing articles related to fl-decay; in particular, the theory is supposed to be treated in a volume V/2 not yet published. It is a great pity that such a clear-cut and self-contained branch of physics should thus be dismembered. Through no fault of the authors, this dispersion seriously detracts from the value of their article, in which they have not been able to present the problem of the determination of the lepton interaction in its full scope. This is doubly to be deplored since Prof. Kofoed-Hansen is one of the very few physicists who can speak with equal authority of the theoretical and experimental aspects. L.R. 528
Nuclear Physics 46 (1963) 528; ~ North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam
BOOK REVIEWS G. MATZ, Fabrication of fuel elements (I.A.E.A., Vienna, 1962. 80 p. 21 Sch.) This publication on fuel element technology surveys (a) the fabrication and canning of uranium metal and uranium alloys, (b) of uranium dioxide and carbide, (c) the dispersion of cermet type fuel. This introductory chapters are most commendable, giving a concise account of the basic fissile and canning materials and how their chemical and physical characteristics, together with their corrosion and irradiation behaviour, influence the choice of fabrication methods and the form in which fuel elements are normally used in various reactor systems. Concerning the section on canning which concentrates on conventional can closure techniques and the use of helium, liquid metal, mechanical and metallurgical bonding to improve heat transfer, the utilization of alternative non destructive testing techniques to assess can components prior to canning and proving the bond integrity, merited more attention. The production of uranium and uranium dioxide fuel elements, with a few pages on dispersion type plate elements thereafter, occupies most of the book. Various methods for fabricating uranium are discussed and a fairly detailed description of the classical cold pressing and sintering process for uranium dioxide pellets is presented. Although mentioned, it was disappointing to find that vibro compaction of uranium dioxide was not expanded on in view of the versatility of this technique. The chapter on uranium carbide preparation and bulk fabrication by alternative routes briefly describes the current "state of the art". However, no mention is made of composition control, grain size and machining aspects. The outlook for fuel element production in a closed fuel cycle and the use of breeder processes is also discussed, highlighting the difficulties of chemical reprocessing and remote refabrication. In such a survey it is inevitable to note a tendency to over-simplication on numerous topics; nevertheless, from the mass of data now available on these subjects the author has successfully presented the information in a suitably condensed form for practicing and potential fuel element fabricators, and is sufficiently explanatory for those associated with nuclear industry requiring general background information on fuel elements and their manufacture, and therefore the purpose of this book is fulfilled. H. Lloyd E.R. CAIANmLLO (Editor), Lectures on the many-body problem (Academic Press Inc., New York, 1962. x11-344 p. ~ 10.50) Collections of lectures on the many-body problem evoke, at any rate for Frenchmen, what they call "le cortege de la Juive" (the pageant in the opera of that name which in provincial theatres is given substance by sending round the same actors again and again across the scene): always the same old friends meeting in congenial places (sunny or snowclad according to the season) and repeating (one hopes to different audiences) the same old tales of quasi-particles and quasiconvergent summations of graphs. Against this background it is something of a praise to say that the present book, fruit of Neapolitan spring, is distinguished from the others by a sustained high level of presentation. It is also excellently printed. L.R.
Encyclopedia of Physics, Volume 42/1: Beta decay (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1962. 117 p. DM 49) This volume consists of a single article entitled "Experiments on fl-decay", by Professor Kofoed-Hansen and C.J. Christensen. It deals in a masterly way with all modern aspects of the subject, including such questions of principle as the identity of fl-particles and electrons, and, needless to say, the polarization effects related to the violation of parity invariance. In the introduction, no less than six different volumes of the Encyclopedia are referred to as containing articles related to fl-decay; in particular, the theory is supposed to be treated in a volume V/2 not yet published. It is a great pity that such a clear-cut and self-contained branch of physics should thus be dismembered. Through no fault of the authors, this dispersion seriously detracts from the value of their article, in which they have not been able to present the problem of the determination of the lepton interaction in its full scope. This is doubly to be deplored since Prof. Kofoed-Hansen is one of the very few physicists who can speak with equal authority of the theoretical and experimental aspects. L.R. 528