Abstract
The vast majority of the manpower and funding involved in the Manhattan Project were devoted to producing fissile material. Uranium-235 had to be separated from natural uranium, and plutonium had to be synthesized in nuclear reactors. In this chapter we examine some of the physics behind these processes. Historically, the first major step along these lines occurred when Enrico Fermi and his collaborators achieved the first operation of a self-sustaining chain-reaction on December 2, 1942, with their CP-1 (“Critical Pile 1” or “Chicago Pile 1”) reactor. This proved that a chain-reaction could be created and controlled, and opened the door to the design and development of large-scale plutonium-production reactors located at Hanford, WA. We thus look first at issues of reactor criticality (Sects. 3.1 and 3.2), and then examine plutonium production (Sect. 3.3). Sections 3.4 and 3.5 are devoted to analyzing techniques for enriching uranium.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Compere, A.L., Griffith, W.L.: The U.S. calutron program for uranium enrichment: history, technology, operations, and production. Oak Ridge National Laboratory report ORNL-5928 (1991)
Fermi, E.: Experimental production of a divergent chain reaction. Am. J. Phys. 20, 536–558 (1952)
Garwin, R.L., Charpak, G.: Megawatts and megatons: a turning point in the nuclear age? Alfred A. Knopf, New York (2001)
Global Fissile Material Report. International Panel on Fissile Materials (2011). http://fissilematerials.org/library/gfmr11.pdf
Hewlett, R.G., Anderson, O.E.: The New World 1939/1946: Volume I Of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA (1962)
Historic American Engineering Record: B Reactor (105-B) Building, HAER No. WA-164. DOE/RL-2001-16. United States Department of Energy, Richland, WA (2001). http://wcpeace.org/history/Hanford/HAER_WA-164_B-Reactor.pdf
Jones, R.C., Furry, W.H.: The separation of isotopes by thermal diffusion. Rev. Mod. Phys. 18, 151–224 (1946)
Parkins, W.E.: The uranium bomb, the calutron, and the space-charge problem. Phys. Today 58(5), 45–51 (2005)
Reed, B.C.: Understanding plutonium production in nuclear reactors. Phys. Teach. 43, 222–224 (2005)
Reed, B.C.: Bullion to B-fields: the silver program of the Manhattan Project. Michigan Academician XXXIX(3), 205–212 (2009)
Reed, B.C.: Liquid thermal diffusion during the Manhattan Project. Phys. Perspect. 13(2), 161–188 (2011)
Reed, B.C.: Rousing the dragon: polonium production for neutron generators in the Manhattan Project. Am. J. Phys. 87(5), 377–383 (2019)
Weinberg, A.M.: Eugene Wigner, nuclear engineer. Phys. Today 55(10), 42–46 (2002)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reed, B.C. (2021). Producing Fissile Material. In: The Physics of the Manhattan Project. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61373-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61373-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-61372-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-61373-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)