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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
J. Mark Mintz, Thomas C. Reitz, Michael T. Tobin
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 1003-1008
Tritium Technology, Safety, Environment, and Remote Maintenance | Proceedings of the Eleventh Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy New Orleans, Louisiana June 19-23, 1994 | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A40286
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The conceptual design of Environmental Protection Systems (EPS) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is described. These systems encompass tritium and activated debris handling, chamber, debris shield and general decontamination, neutron and gamma monitoring, and radioactive, hazardous and mixed waste handling. Key performance specifications met by EPS designs include limiting the tritium inventory to 300 Ci and total tritium release from NIF facilities to less than 10 Ci/yr. Total radiation doses attributable to NIF shall remain below 10 mrem/yr for any member of the general public and 500 mrem/yr for NIF staff. ALARA-based design features and operational procedures will, in most cases, result in much lower measured exposures. Waste minimization, improved cycle time and reduced exposures all result from the proposed CO2 robotic arm cleaning and decontamination system, while effective tritium control is achieved through a modern system design based on double containment and the proven detritiation technology.