Nuclear Energy

Eugene Wigner is one of the very few scientists that may be safely described as creators of 20th-century physics. Less well known to the public are his groundbreaking contributions to nuclear energy. In this book, Volume V of his Collected Works, A.M. Weinberg presents 42 reports and 12 of Wigner's many patents in nuclear engineering. For the first time Wigner's own account of his participation in early nuclear technology is published. This "Memoir" together with A.M. Weinberg's beautiful annotations will be of great interest to a general audience.

I Introduction: Eugene Wigner and Nuclear Energy.- Introduction: Eugene Wigner and Nuclear Energy.- II Memoir of the Uranium Project.- Memoir of the Uranium Project.- III Acrticles, Reports, and Memoranda on Nuclear Energy.- The Pre-Chicago Days Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg.- 1. For Discussion of the Homogeneous and Lattice Arrangements for Power Plants.- 2. Approximation for Radius of Sphere Sufficient for Chain Reaction in Light Isotype.- 3. Diffusion of Slow Neutrons on Absorbing Materials.- 4. Solution of Boltzmann's Equation for Monoegenergetic Neutrons in an Infinite Homogeneous Medium.- 5. Review of the Measurements of the Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Uranium in Bulk.- 6. Resonance Absoprtion of Neutrons by Spheres.- 7. Effect of Geometry on Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Uranium.- 8. Effect of Temperature on Total Resonance Absorption of Neutrons by Spheres of Uranium Oxide.- 9. Absorption of Thermal Neutrons in Uranium.- 10. Density of Neutrons in Carbon Block with and Without Absorbing Material.- Reactor Engineering at Chicago, 1942-1945, and at Clinton, 1946-1947 Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg.- Plutonium-Producing Reactors.- 11. Report of the Committee for the Examination of the Moore-Leverett Design of a He-Cooled Plant.- 12. General Considerations Concerning the Lattice Structure.- 13. Survey of the Power Plant Problem.- 14. A Plant with Water Cooling.- 15. On a Plant with Water Cooling.- 16. Preliminary Process Design of Liquid Cooled Power Plant Producing 5 x 105 kW.- 17. Memorandum from P-9 Committee.- Breeders.- 18. Breeders and Converters: Minutes of Lecture on April 7, 1945.- 19. Preliminary Calculations on a Breeder with Circulating Uranium.- 20. New Ideas for Nuclear Reactors.- 21. Project Hope: A Chemical Reprocessing Plantfor a Nuclear Power Economy.- Reactor Shielding.- 22. Protection Against Radiations.- 23. Penetration of Fission Neutrons Through Water.- 24. On the Available Information Concerning the Interaction of Neutrons with Matter.- Fission Products.- 25. The Rate of Decay of Fission Products.- Wigner Effect.- 26. The Effects of Radiation on Solids.- Reactor Theory Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg.- 27. Theoretical Physics in the Metallurgical Laboratory of Chicago.- 28. Mathematical Problems of Nuclear Reactor Theory.- Microscopic Reactor Theory.- 29. Resonance Escape Probability in Lattices.- 30. On the Utilization of Thermal Neutrons.- Temperature Coefficients.- 31. Effect of the Temperature of the Moderator on the Velocity Distribution of Neutrons with Numerical Calculations for H as Moderator.- Macroscopic Reactor Theory.- 32. Approximate Boundary Conditions for Diffusion Equation at Inteface Between Two Media.- 33. On the Boundary Condition Between Two Multiplying Media.- 34. On Variations of the Power Output in a Running Pile.- 35. Use of the Pile Oscillator for the Measurement of Pile Constants.- 36. Effect of Small Perturbations on Pile Period.- 37. Efficiency of Control Rods Which Absorb Only Thermal Neutrons.- General Articles on Nuclear Energy and Energy Policy Annotation by Alvin M. Weinberg.- 38. Atomic Energy.- 39. Impact of the Developments in Atomic Energy on the Sciences.- 40. Ziele und Probleme von Reaktoren.- 41. Longer Range View of Nuclear Energy.- 42. Our Needs for Energy and Ways to Satisfy Them.- Book on Reactor Theory and Nuclear Physics.- IV The Wigner Patents.- The Wigner Patents.

"...it is a highly desirable addition to the library in any college where a physics program is in place, and it is an indispensable addition in any school where nuclear engineering is also taught." - American Journal of Physics
"I would recommend it to any budding nuclear phycist - and the older ones too!" - Australian & New Zealand Physicist