Nuclear Energy

Eugene Wigner is one of the very few scientists that may safely be describedas creators of 20th-century physics. This volume of his Collected Works is devoted to his contributions to nuclear energy. In his Introduction and Annotations A.M. Weinberg surveys Wigner's contributions to nuclear-reaction physics and nuclear engineering, at the same time giving a glimpse of the early history of nuclear-reactor technology. Wigner himself gave a lively and critical account, which is published in this volume for the first time. Furthermore the book contains forty-two reports and memoranda from 1941 to 1945 and twelve of Wigner's many patents relating to nuclear energy. Front Matter....Pages I-XIV Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction: Eugene Wigner and Nuclear Energy....Pages 3-19 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 Memoir of the Uranium Project....Pages 23-130 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 For Discussion of the Homogeneous and Lattice Arrangements for Power Plants....Pages 135-141 Approximation for Radius of Sphere Sufficient for Chain Reaction in Light Isotope....Pages 142-148 Diffusion of Slow Neutrons in Absorbing Materials....Pages 149-153 Solution of Boltzmann’s Equation for Monoenergetic Neutrons in an Infinite Homogeneous Medium....Pages 154-164 Review of the Measurements of the Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Uranium in Bulk....Pages 165-167 Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Spheres....Pages 168-178 Effect of Geometry on Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Uranium....Pages 179-183 Effect of Temperature on Total Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Spheres of Uranium Oxide....Pages 184-187 Absorption of Thermal Neutrons in Uranium....Pages 188-218 Density of Neutrons in Carbon Block with and Without Absorbing Material....Pages 219-238 Report of the Committee for the Examination of the Moore-Leverett Design of a He-Cooled Plant....Pages 244-253 General Considerations Concerning the Lattice Structure....Pages 254-256 Survey of the Power Plant Problem....Pages 257-261 A Plant with Water Cooling....Pages 262-263 On a Plant with Water Cooling....Pages 264-296 Preliminary Process Design of Liquid Cooled Power Plant Producing 5 x 10 5 kW....Pages 297-359 Memorandum from P-9 Committee....Pages 360-375 Breeders and Converters: Minutes of Lecture on April 7, 1945....Pages 376-380 Back Matter....Pages 621-621 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 Preliminary Calculations on a Breeder with Circulating Uranium....Pages 381-399 New Ideas for Nuclear Reactors....Pages 400-412 Project Hope: A Chemical Reprocessing Plant for a Nuclear Power Economy....Pages 413-415 Protection Against Radiations....Pages 416-420 Penetration of Fission Neutrons Through Water....Pages 421-424 On the Available Information Concerning the Interaction of Neutrinos with Matter....Pages 425-427 The Rate of Decay of Fission Products....Pages 428-440 The Effects of Radiation on Solids....Pages 441-448 Theoretical Physics in the Metallurgical Laboratory of Chicago....Pages 452-458 Mathematical Problems of Nuclear Reactor Theory....Pages 459-474 Resonance Escape Probability in Lattices....Pages 475-486 On the Utilization of Thermal Neutrons — I....Pages 487-498 Effect of the Temperature of the Moderator on the Velocity Distribution of Neutrons with Numerical Calculations for H as Moderator....Pages 499-508 Approximate Boundary Conditions for Diffusion Equation at Interface Between Two Media....Pages 509-512 On the Boundary Condition Between Two Multiplying Media....Pages 513-519 On Variations of the Power Output in a Running Pile....Pages 520-528 Use of the Pile Oscillator for the Measurement of Pile Constants....Pages 529-539 Effect of Small Perturbations on Pile Period....Pages 540-552 Efficiency of Control Rods Which Absorb Only Thermal Neutrons....Pages 553-567 Atomic Energy....Pages 570-574 Back Matter....Pages 621-621 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 Impact of the Developments in Atomic Energy on the Sciences....Pages 575-582 Ziele und Probleme von Reaktoren....Pages 583-594 Longer Range View of Nuclear Energy....Pages 595-598 Our Needs for Energy and Ways to Satisfy Them....Pages 599-620 Back Matter....Pages 621-621 Front Matter....Pages 623-623 The Wigner Patents....Pages 625-808