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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.
A. A. Chilenskas, K. S. Turner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 4 | Number 1 | January 1968 | Pages 6-16
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT68-A26345
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In six experiments using fluidized-bed fluoride volatility techniques to process irradiated uranium-Zircaloy and uranium-aluminum alloy fuels, less than 1% of the uranium was retained in the reactor and filter beds. Decontamination factors for Ce, Sr, Cs, Ru, Sb, Zr, and Nb ranged from 3.5 × 105 to 1 × 108 but were 5.9 × 104, 44.6, 3.5, and 2.9 for Te, Mo, Np, and Tc, respectively. Principal volatile fission-product chlorides are Zr, Nb, Kr, and I; partially (<10%) volatile chlorides are Sb, Te, Mo, and Tc; nonvolatile chlorides are Ce, Cs, Sr, and Ru, The fluorides of Sb, Mo, Tc, Np, Nb, and Te are highly volatile but those of Ce, Cs, Sr, Zr, and Ru are nonvolatile. Iodine and krypton volatilized completely during the hydrochlorination step, and the iodine was removed completely from the process off-gas by a caustic scrubber. Tellurium was removed completely from the process off-gas with activated alumina.