Module 01 History of Nuclear Fission

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1 Prof.Dr. Böck Vienna University of Technology Atominstitute Stadionallee 2 A-1020 Vienna, Austria ph: boeck@ati.ac.at Module 01 History of Nuclear Fission

Prewar Uranium Before 1939 radium was more used than uranium in medical applications Uranium mostly used in ceramic industry, total world consumption less than 100 tons 80% coming from Belgian Congo

2 Prewar Uranium Before 1939 radium was more used than uranium in medical applications Uranium mostly used in ceramic industry, total world consumption less than 100 tons 80% coming from Belgian Congo mainly from Kantanga mines In 1942 USA bought 1200 tons of high grade ore from African Metal Corporation In 1943 USA bought all available uranium to be used in the Manhatten project but also during post war weapons development As a return Belgium was supported after the war by the USA and UK in developing the major nuclear research centre in Mol Further a research reactor was donated to the former Belgian Congo at the University of Leopoldville now Kinshasa/Dem.Rep. of Congo after First Geneva Conf. 1955

3 Working Desk of Otto Hahn 1938 December: Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann and Lise Meitner discover nuclear fission by irradiating uranium with neutrons

1939 Lise Meitner Born 7.11.1878 in Vienna 1906 PhD at the University of Vienna Since 1907 cooperation with O.

4 1939 Lise Meitner Born in Vienna 1906 PhD at the University of Vienna Since 1907 cooperation with O.Hahn in Berlin 1922 Professor at the University of Berlin 1933 lost her job 1938 emigration to Sweden Employed at the Nobel Institut in Stockholm until her retirement in 1960 Died in Cambridge/England

5 1939 Albert Einstein Albert Einstein urged fellow scientist Leo Szilard to write President Franklin D. Roosevelt to warn that the U.S. must not fall behind Germany in atomic bomb research

1941 Glenn Seaborg Born in Ishpeming, Michigan on 19 th of April, 1912 1934 graduated at University of California, completed his Ph.D. at Berkeley, helped to develop plutonium in uranium reactors.

6 1941 Glenn Seaborg Born in Ishpeming, Michigan on 19 th of April, graduated at University of California, completed his Ph.D. at Berkeley, helped to develop plutonium in uranium reactors. Discovered 10 new elements 1946 Seaborg was appointed as Professor of Chemistry at the University of California and five years later was awarded the Nobel prize for his discovery of plutonium Died Feb. 25 th, 1999

7 1942 Edward Teller 1908 Born in Budapest, Hungary 1930 University training in Germany and completed his Ph.D. in physics under Werner Heisenberg University of Leipzig 1935 Teller came to the US until 1941, a professorship at George Washington University U.S. citizen Joined the Manhattan Project 1946 professor of physics at the University of Chicago 1954 to 1958 Associate Director at the new Lawrence Livermore Laboratory 1975 professor of physics at the University of California September 9, 2003 died at age of 95

8 1942 December 2: Chicago Pile (CP) 1 A team led by Enrico Fermi achieves the first controlled, selfsustaining nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago.

9 CP 1 Pile

10 CP 1 Pile

11 1945 July 16: Trinity Test Trinity Site, Alamogordo Test Range Jornada del Muerto desert Yield: Kilotons Detonation time: 5:29:45 a.m. (Mountain War Time) Pu-implosion bomb

12 1945 July 11: Jumbo Pu-Implosion Bomb Jumbo weighed 214 tons, 10 m long, 4 m large, walls35 cm thick. Jumbo was raised up on a tower 30 m from Ground Zero to be exposed to the effects from the Trinity Test. 5h29min45s: 32 detonation fired simultaneously - shock waves

13 Aerial View of the Trinity Test Site 28 hours after detonation

14 1945 September: Oppenheimer and Groves at Trinity Site In September 1945, many participants returned to the Trinity Test site for news crews. Here Oppenheimer and Groves examine the remains of one the bases of the steel test tower. Cost of the Manhatten project about US$

15 1945 August 6: Little Boy Hiroshima (U Gun-type bomb)

1945 August 9: Fat Man Nagasaki (Pu-Implosion bomb) The rapid spontaneous fission rate of plutonium 239 necessitated that a different type of bomb be designed.

16 1945 August 9: Fat Man Nagasaki (Pu-Implosion bomb) The rapid spontaneous fission rate of plutonium 239 necessitated that a different type of bomb be designed. A gun-type bomb would not be fast enough to work. Before the bomb could be assembled, a few stray neutrons would have been emitted, and these would start a premature chain reaction leading to a great reduction in the energy released.

17 German Nuclear Bomb Program during WW II Two reactor models bulit, one at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (Virus House, one at Heisenberg in Leipzig), uranium from Joachimstal Walther Bothe measured C cross section to be 6.4x10-27 cm 2 more than twice the value of Fermi, German conclusion: C is not possible as neutron moderator, this was the end of German graphite reactor Germany had no cyclotron while US had 9 in operation and 27 under construction Germans confiscated in ton uranium ore in Belgium Summer 1941: German efforts depend on U nat and Norsk Hydro heavy water, only about 130 lt available in Leipzig German bomb race ended on with sabotage on a ship-ferry at Lake Tinnsjö/Norway sunk, with 26 persons drowned and D 2 O barrels lost into the lake April 45 material captured by US Army near Stassfurt/G

18 German Nuclear Bomb Program during WW II Heisenberg ruled U-235 separation impossible, Gustav Hertz who developed gaseous diffusion was dismissed as non-aryan, his method was used in the Manhattan project Manfred von Ardenne and Houtermans worked in German Postverein and favoured Pu as bomb material, but Pu was never produced in Germany Further German efforts to build a reactor with U nat and D 2 0, invasion to Norway Sowjet soldiers found 250 kg U nat, 3 tons of UO 2 and 20 lt D 2 O in Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm Institut

19 Experiments in Leipzig Heisenberg et al tried to measure subcritical multiplication at Uni Leipzig Several concentric spheres (diameter 75 cm), the spaces in between where alternatively filled with 750 kg U-powder and 140 lt D2O The sphere was suspended in a water tank Axial tube to insert a neutron source, an increase of neutrons was detected After some month the water temperatur increased to the boiling point and the sphere exploded Water has penetrated into the U and a hydrogen explosion destroyed the system

1945: Haigerloch Experiment (South of Stuttgart) 23.4.1945 US Army entered Haigerloch 664 U nat

20 1945: Haigerloch Experiment (South of Stuttgart) US Army entered Haigerloch 664 U nat cubes on 78 chains submersed into a tank with 3m diameter filled with D 2 O Criticality never achieved

21 Critical Masses of some metallic spheres without and with a reflector of 10cm U nat Isotope (phase*) unreflected reflected U kg 5.7 kg U kg 15.7 kg Pu-239 (α) 11 kg 4.5 kg Pu-240 (α) 40 kg 19.6 kg Pu-240 (δ) 60 kg 35 kg Pu-242 (α) 95 kg 48 kg Pu-242 (δ) 146 kg 73 kg *The phase represents different densities of the metal

22 Energy Distibution released from a typical Bomb Pressure: 50% Thermal radiation, heat: 35% Prompt radiation (gammas, neutrons): 5% Delayed radiation (fission products): 10%

23 Nuclear Weapons in Europe 240 D-Büchel : B-Kleine Brogel NE-Volkel I-Aviano TR-Incirlik FR-350 UK-160

24 EBR 1 :First Reactor Generating Electricity At that time little was known how to build reactors to produce useable quantities of electricity. Because of the post-war shortage of available uranium, the Atomic Energy Commission wanted to test whether a reactor could "breed" more fuel than it consumed while still serving as a source of power. This objective led to many "firsts" in the development of the EBR-I. Built in Arco/Idaho

25 EBR 1: First Reactor Generating Electricity Construction started 1949, December 20, 1951 EBR-1: First atomic reactor in the world to generate usable amounts of electricity (four light bulbs) located 18 miles southeast of Arco, Idaho, it used Pu as fuel and liquid sodium as coolant

26 First Reactors in USSR and UK USSR: First NPP 1954 in Obninsk, 5 MW, 110 km SW of Moskawa UK: 1955 Calder Hall UK, 2 blocks each 50 MW e, in Sellafield North Cumbria, 2004 shut down

27 December 8, 1953: Atoms for Peace" President Eisenhower addressed the United Nations General Assembly with his now famous speech. He urged that nuclear nations begin making joint contributions of nuclear material to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be established under the United Nations.

28 Foundation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) October 1956: The IAEA formally was established to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and promote the broadest use of nuclear electric power.

29 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) Vienna

30 References Richard Rhodes The Making of the Atomic Bomb Simon&Schuster Paperbacks ISBN John Cornwell Hitler s Scientists Viking Publ. ISBN Rainer Karlsch: Hitler s Bombe

Module 01 Basics of Nuclear Fission

Prof.Dr. Böck Technical University Vienna Atominstitut Stadionallee 2 A-1020 Vienna, Austria ph: ++43-1-58801 141368 boeck@ati.ac.at Module 01 Basics of Nuclear Fission 1.3.2016 Structure of an Atom Fission