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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.
G. Cicognani, A. M. Broomfield, R. Lallement, W. Marth
Nuclear Technology | Volume 88 | Number 2 | November 1989 | Pages 175-182
Technical Paper | NSF Workshop on the Research Needs of the Next Generation Nuclear Power Technology / Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34325
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In order to share the effort of fast reactor development, a series of relevant agreements has been established among European countries involving research and development (R&D) and design organizations, utilities, and fuel cycle management. In particular, the R&D activities are divided among 11 working groups, which organize and share the technical work to be carried out. The European collaboration aimed at the best exploitation of resources and avoiding duplication of efforts seems to be the most powerful means of managing the transition to commercialization of fast breeder reactors.