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Fermi and Atoms for Peace ·
Understanding the Atom · Seaborg · Teller 
Atoms for Peace + 50 – Conference, October 22, 2003
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of President
Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech to the UN General Assembly Sharing Scientific Knowledge, Then and Now (video 12:00 Minutes) Atoms for Peace
Address given by Dwight D. Eisenhower before the General Assembly of the United Nations, New York City, December 8, 1953 Documents:
Atomic Power in Space: A History
A history of the Space Isotope Power Program of the
United States from the mid-1950s through 1982; interplanetary space
exploration successes and achievements have been made possible by this
technology.
Establishing Site X: Letter, Arthur H. Compton to Enrico Fermi, September 14, 1942 Includes the decision to locate, in the Tennessee
Valley, the pilot plan buildings for production power plants. Converting Energy to Medical Progress [Nuclear Medicine] The DOE Office of Biological and Environmental
Research (BER) Medical Sciences program fosters research that develops
beneficial applications of nuclear technologies for medical diagnosis
and treatment of many diseases. The First Weighing of Plutonium; Seaborg, G. The story of plutonium and its first weighing. Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy; Seaborg, G. A collection of speeches by Glenn T. Seaborg, then
Chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Peaceful Uses of Fusion; Teller, E. Applications of thermonuclear energy for peaceful and constructive purposes are surveyed, with a review of developments and problems in the release and control of fusion energy. The Birth of Nuclear-Generated Electricity Brief story of the Experimental Breeder Reactor-1
(EBR-1). Plowshare; Teller, E. The main characteristic feature of Plowshare is its exceedingly wide applicability throughout fields of economic or scientific interest. Contributions and Future of Radioisotopes in Medical, Industrial and Space Applications There are 333 isotopes that have a half-life
between 1 day and 100,000 years that have a wide variety of
applications including public health, medicine, industrial technology,
food technology and packaging, agriculture, energy supply, and
national security. Production of Medical Radioisotopes in the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) for Cancer Treatment and Arterial Restenosis Therapy after PTCA The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been an important resource for
the production of a wide variety of medical radioisotopes.
Excerpts from the Understanding the Atom Series: "A team of scientists led by Fermi achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction on December 2, 1942, under the grandstand at the University of Chicago's athletic field. This date is often referred to as the beginning of the Nuclear Age."
From Our Atomic World by C. Jackson Craven, 1964, p 22.
"Fermi's achievement in setting off the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
from his design of an atomic pile led to a new Age of the Atom. The
controlled release of nuclear energy was now a reality."
From Atomic Pioneers, Book 3: From
the Late 19th to the Mid-20th Century by Ray and Roselyn Hiebert, 1973, p
86. "Nuclear reactors designed for the
controlled production of useful energy multiplied in number and in efficiency
since Fermi's first "pile". ... In
1954 the first nuclear submarine the USS Nautilus was launched by the United
States. Its power was obtained entirely from a nuclear reactor, and it
was not necessary for it to rise to the surface at short intervals in order to
recharge its batteries. ...[As of 1972, using nuclear power,] 130 ships,
95 submarines, one deep submergence research vehicle, and 4 surface ships
[were] operating and [had] steamed over 19,000,000 miles. Nuclear
submarines [had] crossed the Arctic Ocean under the ice cover, and [had]
circumnavigated the globe without surfacing. ...
In
the 1950s nuclear reactors began to be used as the source of power for the
production of electricity for civilian use. ... The first American
nuclear reactor for civilian use began operation at Shippingport,
Pennsylvania, in 1958. It was the first really full-scale civilian
nuclear power plant in the world."
From Worlds Within Worlds: The Story
of Nuclear Energy, Volume 3, Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Fusion, Beyond Fusion
by Isaac Asimov, 1972, pp 141 – 142. "In 1945 Enrico Fermi said, 'The country
which first develops a breeder reactor will have a great competitive advantage
in atomic energy.' During the quarter century [after] Fermi's statement,
there [were] significant developments in the technology of breeder reactors
and a coordinated effort for future breeder development [was] underway.
A major part of this effort [was] defined and ... carried out under the
direction of the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration through
its Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Program."
From Worlds Within Worlds: The
Story of Nuclear Energy, Volume 3, Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Fusion, Beyond
Fusion by Isaac Asimov, 1972, p 144.
Plutonium has the "peaceful potential as the fuel for the
'breeder' type nuclear power reactor."
From The First Weighing of Plutonium, 1967,
Introduction. "One of the great assists we [the Plutonium Project] got
was with a nonchemical procedure devised by Fermi. This was the
so-called 'shotgun' method wherein a kilogram of uranium was extracted and the
impurities were collected and measured in aggregate. ... This was an
extremely elegant method which Fermi improvised in one day, it seemed, just
out of discussion of this problem of control analyses for the purity of
uranium. The problem of purity of uranium was solved. ... The
chain reaction did run, and the plutonium [was] made in very large
quantities."
From The First Weighing of Plutonium,
1967, pp 14–15.
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