Nuclear science and engineering

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND DESIGN 6 (1967) 100-102. NORTH-HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMP., AMSTERDAM

BOOK REVIEWS Dixon Callihan and J e s s G r e e n b o r g (Editors):

Nuclear Science and Engineering, Vol. 27, No. 2, F e b r u a r y 1967 (Everitt P. B l i z a r d M e m o r i a l I s sue). Copies available f r o m A m e r i c a n N u c l e a r Society (Attn: Mrs. J u l i a Orloff), 244-A East Ogden Avenue, Hinsdale, Illinois 60521, USA; 347 pages, $15.

Everitt P. Blizard This i s s u e of N u c l e a r Science and E n g i n e e r i n g is dedicated to the m e m o r y of E v e r i t t P. Blizard, who died in 1966 in the p r i m e of his life. Dr. B l i z a r d was for many y e a r s the editor of N u c l e a r Science and E n g i n e e r i n g , but his p r i m a r y p o s i tion was as the D i r e c t o r of the Neutron P h y s i c s Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As s c i e n t i s t , e n g i n e e r , and a d m i n i s t r a t o r , he was a leader in n u c l e a r technology, e s p e c i a l l y in the a r e a of r a d i a t i o n shielding. As a t r i b u t e to this aspect of his work, the F e b r u a r y i s s u e of NS&E was devoted e n t i r e l y to the subject of r a -

diation shielding; and as such it gives in a r a t h e r unique way an indication of c u r r e n t l i n e s of shielding r e s e a r c h in the USA. The i s s u e is made up of 26 "technical p a p e r s " and 9 "technical n o t e s " , in g e n e r a l s e p a r a t e l y w r i t t e n and contributed. Such a p o t p o u r r i is not a well i n t e g r a t e d s u m m a r y of the complete "state of the art" in shielding, although many of the i n dividual p a p e r s do provide excellent s u m m a r i e s for p a r t i c u l a r p a r t s of the field. Lacking space to give each contribution the attention it d e s e r v e s , this r e v i e w e r will try only to give a g e n e r a l i n dication of the contents of the whole i s s u e and to point out some of the highlights. All c o n t r i b u t i o n s , including "notes" will be called "papers" in this review. T h e r e a r e four p a p e r s on space shielding, which s e r v e in g e n e r a l to s u m m a r i z e much of the latest thinking in this a r e a . One r e l a t e s to p r o tons, one to e l e c t r o n s , and two to all types of nucleons, both p r i m a r y and s e c o n d a r y . T h e r e a r e two p a p e r s r e l a t e d specifically to the theory of Monte Carlo calculations (there a r e others which give r e s u l t s of calculations u s i n g this method). The subject m a t t e r of these r e l a t e to methods of reduction of v a r i a n c e in Monte Carlo e s t i m a t e s . T h r e e p a p e r s involve d i r e c t l y the study of fallout shielding by s t r u c t u r e s , with p a r t i c u l a r e m p h a s i s on d i s c r e p a n c i e s which exist between e x p e r i m e n t a l r e s u l t s and p r e d i c tions u s i n g the s t a n d a r d method of e n g i n e e r i n g e s t i m a t i o n p r o m u l g a t e d by the U.S. Office of Civil Defense. T h e r e a r e eight c o n t r i b u t i o n s r e l a t e d to penet r a t i o n of r a d i a t i o n through ducts or the better d e t e r m i n a t i o n of albedo i n f o r m a t i o n useful for duct p e n e t r a t i o n a n a l y s i s , both for g a m m a r a y s and for n e u t r o n s . T h e r e is one p a p e r on shield heating by g a m m a r a y s , and two r e l a t e d to the g a m m a ray field f r o m radioisotopes in the v i c i n ity of the e a r t h - a i r i n t e r f a c e . T h e r e are s e v e r a l t h e o r e t i c a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s on g a m m a ray t r a n s p o r t , including two on point s o u r c e s in infinite media and one on l a m i n a t e d shield optimization. In addition, t h e r e a r e a v a r i e t y of p a p e r s on v a r i o u s t h e o r e t i c a l techniques, mostly r e l a t e d to n e u t r o n p e n e t r a t i o n of or fluxes within s l a b s . These involve advances in or t e s t s of such v a r y i n g a n a l y t i c a l techniques

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as: i n v a r i a n t imbedding, t r a n s f e r m a t r i x , M a r kov m a t r i x , as well as the t i m e - h o n o r e d m u l t i group methods. The n e w e r methods tend to conc e n t r a t e on the s i m p l e r types of p r o b l e m s (single velocity, i s o t r o p i c s c a t t e r i n g , o n e - d i m e n s i o n a l , etc.), but it is to be hoped that their use will someday be extended to a wider v a r i e t y of m o r e p r a c t i c a l p r o b l e m s . Monte Carlo was also used to d e t e r m i n e a i r p e n e t r a t i o n of n e u t r o n s in one paper. In addition, there are six p a p e r s r e l a t e d to e x p e r i m e n t a l studies of n e u t r o n p e n e t r a t i o n , n e u t r o n fields within shielding media, or the s e c o n d a r y g a m m a r a y s produced by n e u t r o n s . It is of i n t e r e s t to b r e a k down the c o n t r i b u t i o n s in r e g a r d to o r i g i n . Seven come f r o m g o v e r n m e n t l a b o r a t o r i e s ; eleven f r o m s o - c a l l e d "national l a b o r a t o r i e s " and others u n d e r d i r e c t c o n t r o l of the U.S. Atomic E n e r g y C o m m i s s i o n ; six f r o m u n i v e r s i t i e s ; and nine from p r i v a t e i n d u s t r i a l or r e s e a r c h l a b o r a t o r i e s . The g r e a t e s t single cont r i b u t o r is, a p p r o p r i a t e l y enough, the Neutron P h y s i c s Division of the Oak Ridge National Labor a t o r y , of which E v e r i t t B l i z a r d was the f o r m e r

d i r e c t o r . Although most of the p a p e r s came f r o m the U.S., there were two f r o m Japan and one each f r o m Italy, Sweden, and Canada. The subject m a t t e r r a n g e s widely over all possible applications: power r e a c t o r s ; a c c e l e r a t o r s ; ship p r o p u l s i o n r e a c t o r s ; n u c l e a r weapons and fallout; and r a d i o i s o t o p e s . It is m o s t e n c o u r aging to see the mixing of the t h e o r e t i c a l and the e x p e r i m e n t a l , the s c i e n t i f i c and the e n g i n e e r i n g , the fundamental and the applied. Such i n t e r a c t i o n of v a r i o u s points of view, typified by publication of these p a p e r s in a single j o u r n a l i s s u e , is i n dicative of the healthy position of shielding technology today. It is to be hoped that this condition will continue and that s t i m u l a t i o n and support for n u c l e a r shielding will continue for many y e a r s to come.

Roy G. Post and Robert L. Scale (Editors): Water Production using Nuclear Energy. The U n i v e r -

a s s e m b l e the state of knowledge before taking off into the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n stage. The i n t r o d u c t o r y p a p e r s d e a l t p r i m a r i l y in e s t a b l i s h i n g the r e a s o n s - social, economic, and political for d e s a l i n a t i o n . C o m m i s s i o n e r J a m e s Ramey of the US AEC and the late Nabor C a r i l l o F l o r e s of the Mexican N u c l e a r Energy C o m m i s s i o n gave concise accounts and j u s t i f i c a tions for their r e s p e c t i v e o r g a n i z a t i o n ' s i n t e r e s t in d e s a l i n a t i o n . These were followed by a documentation paper giving s t a t i s t i c s on North A m e r ican continent water supplies, a d e s c r i p t i o n of the grandiose NAWAPA p r o j e c t for water management of Canada, USA, and Mexico, and a v e r y excellent a r t i c l e by Dean T r e l e a s e of the U n i v e r sity of Wyoming on W a t e r Laws in the US. Following these i n t r o d u c t o r y p a p e r s , the r e c u r r i n g theme in the bulk of the p a p e r s in the book was e c o n o m i c s . P r o f e s s o r M i l l m a n of Indiana U n i v e r s i t y p r e s e n t e d some devastating a r g u m e n t s against the n u m b e r s game that people a r e u s i n g to justify d e s a l i n a t i o n and, in p a r t i c u l a r , the MWD P r o j e c t . He rightfully pointed out that many of the s o - c a l l e d "water c r i s e s " that s e r v e as a b a s i s for d e s a l i n a t i o n a r e g e n e r a l l y a r e s u l t of poor water m a n a g e m e n t r a t h e r than true water s h o r t a g e s . This p a p e r made an exc e l l e n t backdrop for some of the other p a p e r s on

sity of A r i z o n a P r e s s , T u c s o n , A r i z o n a , 1966; 392 pages, $7.50. This book is a compilation of p a p e r s p r e s e n t e d at a s y m p o s i u m in A r i z o n a l a s t March 1966, u n d e r the s p o n s o r s h i p of the U n i v e r s i t y of A r i z o n a , A r i z o n a AEC, the US AEC and the A m e r i c a n Nuc l e a r Society. The t i m i n g of the s y m p o s i u m came at a high point of e n t h u s i a s m for the p r o s p e c t s of e c o n o m i c d e s a l i n a t i o n and the A r i z o n a location was ideal, not only for the weather, but the app r e c i a b l e i n t e r e s t of the region including Mexico and C a l i f o r n i a in the water p r o b l e m s . Although the s p o n s o r s h i p of this s y m p o s i u m was by the n u c l e a r i n t e r e s t e d groups, the p r o g r a m actually dealt with the total water p r o b l e m with n u c l e a r energy c o n s i d e r e d only as a potential s o u r c e of low cost heat for d e s a l i n a t i o n . Since the a u t h o r s of the p a p e r s for this sympos i u m a r e e x p e r t s on t h e i r subject, the book s e r v e s to give an excellent s u m m a r y of the state of knowledge of the d e s a l i n a t i o n development. More i m p o r t a n t , 1966 may be c o n s i d e r e d as the y e a r that d e s a l i n a t i o n shifted f r o m the study phase to the design and c o n s t r u c t i o n phase so that the s y m p o s i u m offered a good opportunity to

A. B. Chilton Nuclear Engineering Program U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois U r b a n a , Illinois