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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 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.
Tatsutoshi Inagaki, Hiroyuki Kuga, Masao Suzuki, Tsugio Yokoyama, Mitsuaki Yamaoka, Kunikazu Kaneto, Masahisa Ohashi, Kunitoshi Kurihara
Nuclear Technology | Volume 88 | Number 3 | December 1989 | Pages 262-282
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34309
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Design studies are performed for a commercial liquid-metal fast breeder reactor core that can achieve a burnup of 200 GWd/t. A plutonium-type asymmetric parfait core with two different plutonium-enriched zones in the axial direction as well as in the radial direction is studied. This core concept solves core design problems related to high burnup, and it is possible to achieve a burnup of 200 GWd/t with this concept. A core with ductless fuel assemblies suitable for high burnup is also studied. An axially heterogeneous core was selected from among various concepts. It is possible to realize a core with a burnup of 200 GWd/t, a compact size, and a lower core pressure drop than the demonstration reactor design.
