The Birth of Nuclear Power

A. Radical change in theories of the structure of matter
B. Fabuluous possibilities for the liberation of energy
1. Fission of 1 lb. of U-235 can yield the energy of combustion of 3000 tonnes of coal
C. Technical Difficulties of Practical Application
1. Fissile component of uranium makes up only 0.7% by weight. Needs to be separated
2. Scepticism of Rutherford, Einstein, Bohr

A. Annus Mirabilis 1932
1. Machine Physics
2. Discovery of the neutron by Chadwick
B. Hahn and Strassmann
1. December 1938 confirmation of nuclear fission
C. Joliot-Curie and the Patents for Nuclear Power
1. 18 March 1939 Joliot-Curie publishes an article in Nature showing its theoretical possibility of the chain reaction. 2 days earlier Hitler had gobbled up Czechoslovakia in violation of the Munich accords of September 1938
2. Takes out secret patents for a bomb, submarine, and power plant
D. The Manhattan Engineer District
1. British conclude in summer of 1941 that an atomic bomb is possible within three years
From Rhodes 356, quoting Chadwick interview in 1969:

"I remember the spring of 1941 to this day. I realized then that a nuclear bomb was not only possible - it was inevitable. Sooner or later these ideas could not be peculiar to us. Everybody would think about them before long, and some country would put them into action. And I had nobody to talk to. You see, the chief people in the laboratory were Frisch and [Polish experimental physicist] Rothblat. However highly my opinion of them was, they were not citizens of this country, and the others were quite young boys. And there was nobody to talk to about it. I had many sleepless nights. But I did realize how very very serious it could be. And I had then to start taking sleeping pills. It was the only remedy. I've never stopped since then. It's 28 years, and I don't think I've missed a single night in all those 28 years."
2. Sense of urgency that Germans may be working on the bomb
3. Set up by the US Army in 1942
a) Oak Ridge
b) Hanford
c) Chicago
d) Los Alamos
4. $2B expense and indirectly employs 150,000
5. Attacking on five fronts at once for preparation of plutonium and uranium-235
a) Gaseous diffusion
b) Plutonium reactors
c) Electromagnetic separation
d) Centrifuging
e) Thermal Diffusion
6. Two fronts for the bomb
a) Uranium Little Boy
b) Plutonium Fat Man
E. Aftermath
1. Hiroshima
"In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin, and this is a knowledge which they cannot extinguish"
2. First Attempts at Arms Control and the Arms Race

A. The Unwilling Admiral
1. Background and Character
a) Hard-working, smart, and obsessive, goes to Naval Academy and specializes in engineering (Master's degree at Columbia)
b) An engineer's engineer
c) A talented infighter in bureaucratic struggles
2. Early Exposure to Nuclear Energy
a) Navy had minimal role in Manhattan project
b) Rickover sent to Oak Ridge after war to study potential of reactors and develops expertise and a cadre of experts which he comes to dominate
B. The Nautilus Program
1. The USN and Nuclear Power
a) Navy wants "balanced fleet" and its interests in nuclear power are initially turned more to ordnance than propulsion
b) Rickover stresses the submarine
2. Nuclear submarines are the first true submarines
3. Rickover's approach
a) Sets up a naval reactors program in the Navy that is both part of the Navy and the AEC
b) Strong believer in individual responsibility and the need for management to be up on technical details
c) Has no use for generalist managers with "people skills".
d) Had little use for scientists as well
4. Nuclear Reactors
a) PWR and the others
5. The final triumph
C. Effects on the US Navy
1. Nautilus operational in 1955
2. USN becomes increasingly nuclear above and below the waterline
3. Capacity for extended cruising and intervention
a) Makes the Navy the main instrument of American intervention abroad
4. Extension of the nuclear threat
a) Politically
b) Environmentally
D. Effects on the American industry
1. Building a nuclear industry
a) Nuclear industry had been created in WW2 as part of the Manhattan project
b) But no capacity for power reactors, only ordnance
c) Rickover's contract system and his rigorous methods of inspection and training create such an industry that was capable of taking on the even bigger job of civilian power reactors.
2. New standards of production and quality control
a) Unheard of tolerances and realiability features required for nuclear reactors.
b) Development of new metals like Zr
c) New techniques like big pressure vessels for nuclear reactors
d) Welding and fabrication of complex alloy steels
e) Many of these techniques have spinoffs in civilian nuclear industry and industry in general
3. Dominance of PWR
a) PWR are the ones that finally triumph in submarines and the expertise built up is transferred quite rapidly into civilian sector
b) First American civilian reactor (Shippingport in 1957) is essentially a submarine reactor scaled up (60 MW)
4. Effects on international nuclear industry
a) American industry is waiting with lots of excess capacity and expertise when America begins to launch an international campaign of sales of nuclear technology

A. Features
1. Drastic turn away from McMahon Act regarding secrecy and sharing of information
2. Bank of nuclear fuel to be set up (obtained in part from military stockpiles) to be offered to non-nuclear powers for controlled use for their civilian programs.
B. Official Motivation
1. Spread of nuclear power to aid growth and development not merely in industrial countries but also in the Third World.
2. Promotion of an international effort to develop research and development in civilian uses of atomic energy
C. Possible Additional Motivations
1. Counter-propaganda against peace movement and foreign policy PR
2. Profitable Export of US technology and materials
D. Effects
1. Long-term effects
a) Expansion of peaceful atomic energy
b) Germ of international control policy
2. Conference in Geneva 1955 marks first widespread exchange of technical information
3. Sometimes perceived as a form of technical neo-colonialism. GB, France, Canada not subjected to controls and inspection
4. Anti-nuclear lobby perceives it as succesful attempt to get other nations "hooked" on American nuclear technology as well as just nuclear tech. Ultimately a cause of nuclear proliferation.
5. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) founded 1958 begins to function effectively from 1963 after Soviets come on board
6. Nuclear Power becomes well established as a potential energy source and is considered by many as the salvation of the world because of its perceived potential for solving energy supply problems. Beginning of the civilian nuclear age.