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A daring nuclear physics experiment with lasting impact


Chicago Pile 1: A bold nuclear physics experiment with lasting impact

Scientists built Chicago Pile 1, the world’s first nuclear reactor, layer by layer beneath the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field. In this image, this layer shows graphite bricks with small holes to hold uranium or the control rods used during the experiment. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory.

A modest pile of uranium-filled black graphite bricks became known as the Chicago Pile 1, the world’s first man-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Eighty years later, nuclear scientists continue to deliver on their promise.

On a cold December 2, 1942, beneath the University of Chicago football field, Enrico Fermi and his colleagues conducted a physics experiment that changed the world forever. A hugely important step forward for the United States in the Manhattan Project race to mislead Germany in its pursuit of atomic weapons, the secret Chicago Pile 1 experiment hastened the end of World War II. It also opens the door to medical isotopes for cancer treatment, neutrons for materials science experiments, and safe, renewable nuclear energy. energy. Today, that energy source powers everything from submarine fleets to homes and businesses without adding any carbon to the atmosphere.

Fermi’s experiment is both complex and simple. A pile of graphite bricks 20 feet wide by 25 feet high consisting of a few containing small amounts of uranium. Long, vertical wooden slats, coated with cadmium, a material known to slow the motion of neutrons, were tied to the stake. By methodically removing the rods, Fermi and his team demonstrated that the atoms in a uranium nucleus could be activated to split. Some of the neutrons fired from the atoms were initially absorbed by other uranium atoms, safely releasing energy each time until scientists slowed the chain reaction to a halt by mounting back the bars carefully.

Considered a great success, the experiment was named CP-1. It generates enough energy to light a small light bulb. The current, nuclear power fuel for nearly 20% of the electricity used in the United States and most U.S. submarines. About half of the country’s renewable electricity is provided by nuclear power. Other countries also rely on this technology to generate clean energy.

It’s fitting that an experiment that relies on graphite, the material found in ordinary pencils, will continue to make history. The success of the CP-1 marked the end of a world war for a generation and inspired the formation of a national laboratory system that has benefited every generation since.

The first laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, was established in 1946. Sixteen other laboratories followed, creating a strong research and development network that initially gathered focused on nuclear energy but ultimately on many other scientific fields.

Today, Argonne uses its rich historical knowledge and experience in nuclear energy to tackle other pressing issues, such as climate change, renewable energy, infrastructure stability and national security.

“Argonne’s story begins with the Chicago Pile 1 experiment, but it’s exciting how today’s nuclear scientists and engineers are moving towards new designs and technologies,” said Roger Blomquist, principal nuclear engineer at the company. Argonne said.

New nuclear design built on history

Nuclear reactor Design has come a long way since Fermi’s wooden stakes and handlebars. There are light water reactors, boiling water reactors, sodium cooled reactors, advanced rapid reactors, etc.

There are plans for advanced fast micro-reactors that can be built at one facility and shipped to another for incorporation. Such reactors would be useful in supplying power to remote or mountainous areas and ensuring the safety of military camps. They may even one day be ready to ship to interstate refueling stations, where they are proposed to be used to recharge battery-powered long-distance pickups. Advanced reactors that can be used for industrial heat applications will help decarbonize industry; Water-cooled reactors can be used for heat to cut down on natural gas use.

Notably, Argonne’s newer advanced fast reactor designs are capable of increasing the amount of energy extracted from uranium by 100 times. This means they significantly reduce the amount of energy used. nuclear fuel remains after power generation and how long the spent nuclear fuel remains dangerous.

Nuclear reactor safety advances have been made step by step with the Argonne reactor design. For example, the lab has successfully tested inherent safety—the idea that a reactor can cool itself using its own physics—in a simulated reactor accident scenario. Research Experiment Breeder Reactor-II in the 1980s. Important findings that helped Japan during and after the emergency at the Fukushima I power plant in 2011. Argonne has also collaborated for decades with the Agency. National Nuclear Security Administration to improve the security and safety of enriched uranium and research reactors worldwide.

Argonne’s high-performance computing resources also make it possible for scientists to dramatically speed up complex physical calculations that Fermi and his team perform manually. Artificial intelligence and highly accurate models and simulations allow engineers to create digital twins of reactor cores before they attempt to build real reactor cores. The technologies and software that Argonne develops for nuclear reactors are shared with industry so that all nuclear designs benefit from the fundamental understanding of physics pioneered by Fermi and colleagues and has been developed by national laboratories for decades.

“Argonne has conducted thousands upon thousands of experiments and we analyze them with the same computer software that we use to design new reactors,” Blomquist said. “This way we tie computer-based designs to real physics. Whether it’s Argonne or small companies innovating, we all benefit.”

Combined, these innovations lead to clean, safe and increasingly cost-effective energy. Eighty years after Fermi’s groundbreaking experiment, peaceful nuclear energy is poised for the next great moment.

quote: Chicago Pile 1: A bold nuclear physics experiment with lasting impact (2022, December 2) accessed December 2, 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12 -chicago-pile-bold-nelson-physics.html

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