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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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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.
Aaron Barkatt, Barbara C. Gibson, Pedro B. Macedo, Charles J. Montrose, William Sousanpour, Alisa Barkatt, Morad-Ali Boroomand, Victor Rogers, Miguel Penafiel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 73 | Number 2 | May 1986 | Pages 140-164
Technical Paper | Performance of Borosilicate Glass High-Level Waste Forms in Disposal System / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT86-A33780
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The mechanisms that control the release of components of nuclear waste glasses into aqueous environments and the rates of such release depend to a large extent on the contact time between the glass and a particular volume of water. At short contact times the release of leach products does not significantly affect the reactivity of the water toward the glass, while at long contact times, such as those expected in repository environments, saturation of the aqueous medium and the formation of new solid phases are very important. The development of a methodology based on the analysis of flow test data to identify controlling leach mechanisms under slow-flow as well as rapid-flow conditions is described. Not only are the leach mechanisms and leach rates strongly dependent on contact time, but the effects of glass composition, leachant composition, and temperature on the leaching process are as well. Accordingly, test data and models obtained for long contact times are most useful for developing predictions of glass durability under repository conditions, while the applicability of short-term test data is limited.