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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
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The Frisch-Peierls memorandum: A seminal document of nuclear history
The Manhattan Project is usually considered to have been initiated with Albert Einstein’s letter to President Franklin Roosevelt in October 1939. However, a lesser-known document that was just as impactful on wartime nuclear history was the so-called Frisch-Peierls memorandum. Prepared by two refugee physicists at the University of Birmingham in Britain in early 1940, this manuscript was the first technical description of nuclear weapons and their military, strategic, and ethical implications to reach high-level government officials on either side of the Atlantic. The memorandum triggered the initiation of the British wartime nuclear program, which later merged with the Manhattan Engineer District.
Yasuhiro Iwamura, Takehiko Itoh, Nobuaki Gotoh, Ichiro Toyoda
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 4 | July 1998 | Pages 476-492
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A47
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new type of experimental apparatus is developed to induce continuous diffusion of deuterium, in which an electrochemical cell for calorimetry and a vacuum chamber for nuclear measurement are divided by a Pd sheet. Continuous X rays ranging from 10 to 100 keV and neutron and excess heat production are observed using the apparatus. Titanium atoms are detected on the surface where deuterium atoms pass through on Pd cathodes after electrolysis. Quantitative discussion shows that the detected Ti atoms cannot be explained by contamination. An electron-induced nuclear reaction (EINR) model for explaining the obtained experimental results is introduced. Experimental support of the EINR model is demonstrated by using multilayer cathodes, in which a layer containing Ca is placed at the near surface of Pd, based on the EINR model.