On February 2, Patrick Blackett publishes experimental results of the first nuclear transmutation, by the bombardment of a nitrogen nucleus with an alpha particle, producing an oxygen-17 nucleus and a proton, at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge.[1]
On February 27, James Chadwick publishes the discovery of the neutron, identified as the "beryllium radiation" emitted under alpha-particle bombardment, previously observed by Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie.[4]
In January, Vemork hydroelectric plant in Norway operates the first large-scale heavy water production site, pioneered by Leif Tronstad.[6]
1939
On February 11, Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch publish the discovery of nuclear fission,[7] collaborating with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann who previously identified barium following neutron bombardment of uranium, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, Berlin.[8] Meitner and Frisch, both Jewish, had already fled Nazi Germany to Stockholm and Copenhagen respectively.
On March 16, Herbert L. Anderson, Enrico Fermi, and H B Hanstein submit for publication the first net neutron production in the United States, from pile Columbia number 1 at Columbia University, New York. The pile submerges a 13-cm glass bulb filled with uranium oxide in water acting as a moderator and reflector.[10]
The Chicago Pile-1, the first artificial nuclear reactor, built in secrecy at the University of Chicago in 1942 during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project.The plutonium production B Reactor at Hanford Site, Washington, US, the first large-scale nuclear reactor, completed in 1944.1942
In July, the X-10 Graphite Reactor becomes the first reactor to exceed 1 MWth power output, reading 4 MWth due to the addition of two large fans.[15]
On September 26, the B Reactor is started at Hanford Site, Washington. At 250 MWth, it is the first reactor to exceed 10 and 100 MWth and is considered the first large-scale reactor.[11]
On August 24, EBR-I, the first breeder reactor, producing more fuel than it consumes, begins power operation.[21]
1952
On October 27, the Saclay reactor, the first gas-cooled reactor, achieves criticality at the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre, France. While many early reactors were air-cooled, it is an experimental 2 MW design testing the first closed circuit nitrogen and carbon dioxide cooling.[22][23]
On September 27, a Soviet-supplied experimental 10 MW reactor, the first reactor in China, begins operation in Beijing. Nuclear power is developed only for weapons production until the Qinshan I reactor begins development in 1985.[46]
1959The Kiwi A Prime nuclear thermal rocket engine is test fired at full power at Area 25, Nevada on July 8, 1960.
The 1965 launch of the Snapshot satellite carrying the SNAP-10A reactor, the first operated in space and to power a nuclear electric propulsion system.
On January 3, the Army Nuclear Power Program's SL-1 experiences a prompt critical accident, killing three workers. This is the first and only fatal nuclear power accident in the United States.[24]
On June 8, the Phoebus-2A nuclear thermal rocket engine undergoes its second test and first at full power.[62] It achieves a maximum power output of 4082 MWth.[63]
On October 28, US president Gerald Ford indefinitely suspends nuclear spent fuel reprocessing, and encourages other nations to do the same. The decision is based on the plutonium proliferation risk, especially the 1974 first Indian nuclear weapons test, Smiling Buddha.[66]
1978
On November 5, voters in Austria reject a referendum to allow the startup of its first nuclear power plant, Zwentendorf, by 50.47% to 49.53%. A subsequent law makes Austria the first country to ban nuclear power.[67][68]
The damaged Reactor 4 following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear accident in history.1983
On December 31, Unit 1 at Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant comes online in the Lithuanian SSR. The first RBMK-1500 unit, at 4800 MWth, it is the largest nuclear reactor unit by thermal power ever. Alongside Unit 2 they are the only RBMK-1500 units completed. During testing the "positive scram" power excursion flaw in the RBMK design during graphite moderator-tipped control rod insertion is discovered. Other RBMK plants are alerted but changes are not made to prevent it triggering the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.[72]
1985
In September, Superphénix, the largest fast reactor and breeder reactor ever, at 1,242 MWe, achieves criticality at Creys-Malville in France.[73]
On October 21, the United States and North Korea sign the Agreed Framework. The DPRK agrees to freeze its operational 5 MWe and under construction 50 MWe and 200 MWe Magnox-style reactors at Nyongbyon and Taechon, seen as a plutonium production risk. The US assures the construction of two 1000 MWe light water reactors, likely OPR-1000s,[76] by the formation of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).[77] KEDO's director later comments the agreement is "a political orphan within two weeks of its signature" as the Republican Revolution ends Congressional funding for the organization.[78]
On March 11, during electrical outage from the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima Daiichi reactor units 1, 2, and 3 experience partial core meltdowns, and release radioactive material into the environment.[84] It is the second Level 7 nuclear accident on the International Nuclear Event Scale, making it the worst accident since Chernobyl,[85] and influences divestment from nuclear power in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Switzerland.[86]
2013
On October 11, the Dongfang Electric generator stator of the Taishan 1EPR is installed in Guangdong, China. At 1750 MWe it is said to be the largest single-piece electrical generator in the world.[87]
In December, the 20-year Megatons to Megawatts Program successfully concludes with the final Russian delivery of low-enriched uranium to the US. Critics later say that it led to Rosatom's dominance over the global enriched uranium market.[88]
2017
In November, Russia completes the first test of the 9M730 Burevestnik, the first nuclear-powered cruise missile and the first nuclear-powered aircraft of any kind. [89][90]
2018
In December, the Taishan 1EPR begins operation in Guangdong, China. At 1660 MWe it is the largest nuclear reactorunit by electrical power ever.[91][92]
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^VON HALBAN, H.; JOLIOT, F.; KOWARSKI, L. (1939). "Liberation of Neutrons in the Nuclear Explosion of Uranium". Nature. 143 (3620). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 470–471. doi:10.1038/143470a0. ISSN0028-0836.
^Anderson, H. L.; Fermi, E.; Hanstein, H. B. (1939-04-15). "Production of Neutrons in Uranium Bombarded by Neutrons". Physical Review. 55 (8): 797–798. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.55.797.2. ISSN0031-899X.
^Hill, C (2013). An Atomic Empire: A Technical History of the Rise and Fall of the British Atomic Energy Programme. Imperial College Press. ISBN978-1-908977-41-0.
^Drogan, Mara (2019-04-01). "The Atoms for Peace program and the Third World". Cahiers du monde russe. 60 (2–3). OpenEdition: 441–460. doi:10.4000/monderusse.11249. ISSN1252-6576.
^DiMoia, John (2010). "Atoms for Sale?: Cold War Institution-Building and the South Korean Atomic Energy Project, 1945–1965". Technology and Culture. 51 (3): 589–618. doi:10.1353/tech.2010.0021. ISSN1097-3729.
^Palangao, Marinell; Asuncion-Astronomo, Alvie; Tare, Jeffrey; Gatchalian, Ronald Daryll; Olivares, Ryan (2021-12-21). "Determination of Reactor Parameters for Different Subcritical Configurations of the Philippine Research Reactor-1 TRIGA Nuclear Fuel". Philippine Journal of Science. 150 (2). doi:10.56899/150.02.10.
^Hymans, Jacques E. C. (2011-03-21). "Proliferation Implications of Civil Nuclear Cooperation: Theory and a Case Study of Tito's Yugoslavia". Security Studies. 20 (1): 73–104. doi:10.1080/09636412.2011.549013. ISSN0963-6412.
^United States. Department of Energy; Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1957). TID. TID. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Technical Information Service. p. 114. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
^Cottrell, W. B.; Hungerford, H. E.; Leslie, J. K.; Meem, J. L. (1955-09-06). Operation of the Aircraft Reactor Experiment (Report). Oak Ridge National Laboratory. p. 1. OSTI4237975. ORNL-1845.
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^Tokuhiro, Akira; Potirniche, Gabriel; Cogliati, Joshua; Ougouag, Abderrafi (2014-07-08). Experimental Study and Computational Simulations of Key Pebble Bed Thermo-mechanics Issues for Design and Safety (Report). Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). doi:10.2172/1157564.
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