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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.
W. M. Stacey, J. P. Aldridge, R. L. Beilke, L. G. Bryson, E. P. Davidson, T. A. Deterding, J. G. Evans, E. M. Fort, R. D. Jeffcoat, S. Klima, M. T. McLain, A. D. Nielsen, M. J. O'Neill, G. Y. Poe, H. U. Rehman, B. H. Rose, G. M. Roach, A. O. Rodriguez, R. T. Still, D. D. Thomas, M. P. Valenzano
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 4 | July 1998 | Pages 443-455
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A43
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A design concept for a fusion neutron source-based tritium production reactor has been developed, where liquid Li is used as the coolant and tritium breeder and V-4 Cr-4 Ti is used as the structural material. The fusion neutron source is predicated on the physics and technology that will be demonstrated in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The present design can produce 2 kg/yr excess tritium for weapons replenishment operating at fusion power levels of 300 to 750 MW and with corresponding plant availability factors of 25 to 10%. No structural component should fail as a result of radiation damage during the 40-yr lifetime of the reactor, and it should be possible to dispose of the radioactive waste created upon decommissioning as low-level waste that qualifies for shallow land burial. A fusion tritium production reactor based on ITER physics and technology would seem to be a realistic option for satisfying the nation's tritium production needs.