Nuclear Energy

815 Pages·1992·42.76 MB·English

by  Alvin M. Weinberg (auth.)

The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner
Part A . Volume V
Eugene Paul Wigner
The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner
Part A
The Scientific Papers
Editor: Arthur Wightman
Annotated by
Nandor Balazs Herman Feshbach Brian Judd Walter Kohn
George Mackey Jagdish Mehra Abner Shimony Alvin Weinberg
Arthur Wightman
PartB
Historical, Philosophical, and
Socio-Political Papers
Editor: Jagdish Mehra
Annotated by
Conrad Chester Gerard Emch Jagdish Mehra
The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner
Part A
The Scientific Papers
Volume I
Eugene Paul Wigner: A Biographical Sketch
Applied Group Theory
Mathematical Papers
Volume II
Nuclear Physics
Volume III
Part I: Particles and Fields
Part II: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
Volume IV
Part I: Physical Chemistry
Part II: Solid State Physics
Volume V
Nuclear Energy:
Part I: Eugene Wigner and Nuclear Energy
Part II: Memoir of the Uranium Project
Part III: Articles, Reports, and Memoranda on Nuclear Energy
Part IV: The Wigner Patents
PartB
Historical, Philosophical, and Socio-Political Papers
Volume VI
Philosophical Reflections and Syntheses
Volume VII
Historical and Biographical Reflections and Syntheses
Volume VIII
Socio-Political Reflections and Civil Defense
The Collected Works of
Eugene Paul Wigner
Part A
The Scientific Papers
Volume V
Nuclear Energy
Edited and Annotated by Alvin M. Weinberg
with the Assistance of Alfred M. Perry
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York
London Paris Tokyo
Hong Kong Barcelona
Budapest
Arthur S.Wightman
Department of Physics, Princeton University
Joseph Henry Laboratories, Jadwin Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Alvin M. Weinberg
Oak Ridge Institute for
Science and Education
Medical Sciences Division
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0117, USA
Alfred M. Perry
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Retired)
Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
ISBN-13:978-3-642-77427-0 e-ISBN-13:978-3-642-77425-6
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-77425-6
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part ofthe material is concerned, specifi·
cally the rights oft ranslation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992
The use ofg eneral descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this pUblication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and
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Typesetting: Springer TEX in-house system
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Editors' Preface
The papers have been divided, necessarily somewhat arbitrarily, into two parts
Part A: The Scientific Papers
Part B: Historical, Philosophical, and Socio-Political Papers.
Within each part, the papers have been divided by subject, and within each
subject printed chronologically. With some exceptions, every scientific paper is
reprinted in its original form. One class of exceptions consists of papers that are
simply translations into Hungarian from German or English; they are omitted,
but listed in the bibliographies. Scientific papers originally in Hungarian have
been translated into English. The papers of Volume V3, Uranium Project Re
ports, have been reset and the figures redrawn. The originals were declassified
reports, some in nearly illegible shape. Some reports and patents in Volumes
V3 and V 4 are listed by title only. In contrast to the scientific papers where
the coverage is essentially complete, in Part B, a selection has been made. We
believe it is representative of Wigner's far ranging concerns.
The preparation of Volume V, Nuclear Energy, required a more extensive
effort than that for Volumes I-IV. Alvin Weinberg undertook the considerable
labor of locating the declassified reports of the Metallurgical Laboratory in
Chicago and the patents, of selecting those to be reproduced here and of in
terpreting them. The retyped manuscript was proofread with the assistance of
Alfred M. Perry of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Editors wish to thank
Drs. Weinberg and Perry for their indispensable effort.
Publication in its present degree of completeness has been made possible
by a grant from the Lounsbery Foundation and by support from the American
Nuclear Society. Weinberg and Perry join the undersigned in thanks for this
generosity which has made it possible to do full justice to the «ontributions of
Eugene Wigner as the founder of nuclear engineering.
Arthur S., Wightman
Jagdish Mehra
Preface
This collection of Eugene Wigner's contributions to nuclear energy consists of
four parts:
1. A summary and appreciation of Wigner's contributions to nuclear engi
neering.
II. Wigner's memoirs, written between 1941 and 1948.
III. A selected list of 42 reports, articles and memoranda, mainly written be
tween 1941 and 1945.
IV. Twelve of Wigner's 37 patents relating to nuclear energy.
I have chosen those reports and patents that I consider to be most important
for reproduction in their entirety. The less important items are listed by title.
This collection, in its full completeness, has been made possible by a grant
from the Lounsbery Foundation; additional support has been provided by the
American Nuclear Society. I am most grateful to the Foundation and the ANS
for their generosity, which makes it possible to do full justice to the major
contributions of Eugene Wigner, the founder of nuclear engineering. I also wish
to thank Dr. Alfred M. Perry for assisting me in the arduous task of checking for
accuracy the transcription and reformatting of Wigner's original, often barely
legible, Metallurgical Laboratory Reports.
Oak Ridge, Tennessee Alvin M. Weinberg
August, 1992
Contents
PART I
Introduction: Eugene Wigner and Nuclear Energy
By Alvin M. Weinberg ............................................. 3
PART II
Memoir of the Uranium Project ....................................... 23
PART III
Articles, Reports, and Memoranda on Nuclear Energy
The Pre-Chicago Days
Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg..................................... 133
1. For Discussion of the Homogeneous and Lattice Arrangements
for Power Plants .................................................. 135
2. Approximation for Radius of Sphere Sufficient for Chain Reaction
in Light Isotope ................................................... 142
3. Diffusion of Slow Neutrons in Absorbing Materials................. 149
4. Solution of Boltzmann's Equation for Monoenergetic Neutrons
in an Infinite Homogeneous Medium............................... 154
5. Review of the Measurements of the Resonance Absorption
of Neutrons by Uranium in Bulk .................................. 165
6. Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Spheres..................... 168
7. Effect of Geometry on Resonance Absorption of Neutrons
by Uranium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 179
8. Effect of Temperature on Total Resonance Absorption of Neutrons
by Spheres of Uranium Oxide ..................................... 184
9. Absorption of Thermal Neutrons in Uranium ...................... 188
10. Density of Neutrons in Carbon Block with and Without
Absorbing Material ............................................... 219
XII Contents
Reactor Engineering at Chicago, 1942-1945,
and at Clinton, 1946-1947
Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg ..................................... 239
Plutonium-Producing Reactors
11. Report of the Committee for the Examination
of the Moore-Leverett Design of a He-Cooled Plant................ 244
12. General Considerations Concerning the Lattice Structure .......... 254
13. Survey of the Power Plant Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 257
14. A Plant with Water Cooling ....................................... 262
15. On a Plant with Water Cooling ................................... 264
16. Preliminary Process Design of Liquid Cooled Power Plant
Producing 5 X 105 kW ............................................. 297
17. Memorandum from P-9 Committee............. ....... . ....... .... 360
Breeders
18. Breeders and Converters: Minutes of Lecture on April 7, 1945 ...... 376
19. Preliminary Calculations on a Breeder with Circulating Uranium.. 381
20. New Ideas for Nuclear Reactors ................................... 400
21. Project Hope: A Chemical Reprocessing Plant for
a Nuclear Power Economy ......................................... 413
Reactor Shielding
22. Protection Against Radiations ..................................... 416
23. Penetration of Fission Neutrons Through Water ................... 421
24. On the Available Information Concerning the Interaction
of Neutrinos with Matter .......................................... 425
Fission Products
25. The Rate of Decay of Fission Products ............................ 428
Wigner Effect
26. The Effects of Radiation on Solids ................................. 441
Reactor Theory
Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg ..................................... 449
27. Theoretical Physics in the Metallurgical Laboratory of Chicago .•.. 452
28. Mathematical Problems of Nuclear Reactor Theory ................ 459
Microscopic Reactor Theory
29. Resonance Escape Probability in Lattices .......................... 475
30. On the Utilization of Thermal Neutrons........................... 487