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December
1982
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INTRODUCTION
Assembly for the Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Out for Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Curve is Exponential FERMIS OWN STORY By Enrico Fermi The Discovery of Fission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Gathering on the Balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OF SECRECY AND THEpi LE...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Laura Fermi The Fermis Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Homemakers FINAL CHAPTERS. Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sinking an Admiral EPILOGUE SUGGESTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REFERENCES
30 34 36 38
of Energy
Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy and Assistant Secretary, Management and Administration Office of the Executive Secretary History Division Washington, D.C. 20585
v
PREFACE
On December 2, 1942, in a racquets court underneath the West Stands self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi created mans first controlled,
1946
scientific
and technological It is
commemorated
by those involved.
and revised story of the first reactor, or pile, It also includes the postwar recollections
is based
Laura Fermi. The text of the three accounts remains largely unchanged.
Forty
public with a brief and readable account of a significant moment in American history of nuclear energy.
Fall
982
vii
INTRODUCTION
This new edition of an old story of mans first self-sustaining nuclear
secrecy that
surrounded
the Manhattan
The original
because nowhere in the extensive records of the Manhattan for a press release by the Manhattan background experiment. material which Engineer District,
a narrative history of the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Prepared the report included on a significant was part of the final report
authors
of The
Allardice
and
Energy
the agency that succeeded the Manhattan later served in various public and Trapnell Commission
Trapnell
and Allardice
which was
on December
who took part. Their essay is based on postwar interviews with more than a dozen of the 43 scientists present at the Stagg Field on December 2nd. Another valuable source was the tape on which was traced the neutron intensity within the first pile.
In addition,
Enrico Fermi, the
the
firsthand and
reminkcences
of
director,
his wife,
Laura.
Written
in the
1950s,
-.-:+, .-ii,
from the label of a wine to toast the This was the only Each of the scien-
success. Most of those present had signed the wine bottles as a memento.
tists Iisted on the bottle was asked if he recalled any others who might have been present, and the resulting list of 43 names was accepted as complete.
The two drawings of the first pile were prepared by Melvin A. Miller of the Argonne National Laboratory staff in the fal I of 1946. They are based on descriptions given Miller by the scientists who built the first pile.
In the years since 1946 more literature become available, including the memoirs scientists involved multi-volume in the Manhattan of the Project Project,
on nuclear energy history has and autobiographies the official in 1976), of many but unpublished and scholarly of recom-
history
(declassified
We are grateful to Professor Robert C. Williams of Washington University in St. Louis, and to History Associates Incorporated, revising and updating of this brief but important history. for assistance in the
of that day, a small group of scientists witnessed the advent of a new era in science. History was made in what had been a squash-rackets court. Precisely at 3:25 the cadmium-plated p.m., 2 Chicago time, scientist George Weil withdrew rod and by his action man unleashed and conthe experiment Fermi, became aware of what had control
trolled the energy of the atom. As those who witnessed be heard. It was a tribute happened, smiles spread over their faces and a quiet ripple of applause could to Enrico Nobel Prize winner, to whom, was due. more than to any other person, the success of the experiment with uranium element 94.
Fermi, born in Rome, Italy, on September 29, 1901, had been working for many years. In 1934 he bombarded uranium with neutrons is element 92) and However, after closer examination it seemed as if nature had and produced what appeared to be element 93 (uranium
gone wi Id; several other elements were present, but none could be fitted into the periodic table near uraniumwhere if they had been the transuranic years later that anyone, Fermi fission of the uranium Fermi knew they should have fitted realized he had actually caused elements 93 and 94. It was not until five included, elements belonged back
in the middle part of the periodic table. Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1938 for his work on transuranic elements. He and his family failing went to Sweden to receive the prize. The Italian him for not wearing a Fascist uniform and Fascist press severely criticized never returned to 1tal y. From Sweden, having taken most of his personal possessions with him, Fermi proceeded The modern December day to London and thence to America where he has remained Italian explorer of the unknown looking was in Chicago that cold ever since.3 in 1942. An outsider into the squash court where
to give the Fascist salute when he received the award. The Fermis
Fermi was working would have been greeted by a strange sight. In the center
stadium. out that the time was 3:36, November 28, 1954. which is now the
Anderson
died in Chicago,
..= : ..< ;
Sketch
Around
cloth
fabric, prepared
so that
the reactor
loss of neutrons
if necessary;
room, shrouded on all but one side by a gray balloon sphere on top. Up to half of its height, its sides were like a beehive. During the construction of
cloth envelope, was a pile of black bricks and wooden timbers, square at the straight. The top half was domed,
this crude appearing but complex pile (the name which has since been applied to all such devices)4 the standing joke among the scientists working on it was: If people could see what were doing with a million-and-a-half of their dollars, theyd think we are crazy. If they knew why we are doing it, theyd be sure we are. In relation to the fabulous atomic bomb program, of which the Chicago Pi Ie experiment 2nd formed Confirmation the bomb Manhattan negotiations
4The
one more piece for the jigsaw puzzle which was atomic energy. of the chain reactor studies was an inspiration to the leaders of project, Engineer and reassuring at the same time, District had moved because the Armys fronts. Contract nuclear chain reactors,
age, gradually gave
ahead on many
pile, in use for the first few years of the atomic to identify the key device that controls
way to reactor
3
land had been acquired at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and millions of dollars had been obligated. Three covered that uranium years before when the December 2nd experiment, was bombarded Later, it had been disby neutrons, the it had been found atoms. These an atom of uranium atom sometimes was split, or fissioned.
that when an atom of uranium and became available for further facts implied the possibility which to the reaction under
fissioned, additional
is the source of the suns energy. The facts further could be brought together result. size a self-sustaining chain reaction would the critical
indicated that if a sufficient the proper conditions, This quantity tions is known of the particular of uranium pile.
as the critical
For three years the problem of a self-sustaining chain reaction had been assid~ously studied. was finally was a reality Nearly a year after Pearl Harbor,5 It worked. A self-sustaining a pile of critical size nuclear chain reaction constructed.
had been found, but they units of mass. The barium atom when bombarded
the uranium
98 units of mass. The question was, where did this elements, each of approximately scientific with journal Die
by a neutron Before
half the mass of the uranium. in the German Naturwissenschaften; Hahn and Strassman communicated Lise Meitner
The
Japanese
attacked
the
American brought
naval
base at
Pearl
Harbor,
Hawaiian
Islands, December
7, 1941;
this attack
the United
War 11.
393-218 0-
82 - 2
.: ,.,
A,
Lise Meitner
and Otto
Hahn in
their laboratory
in the 1930s.
Miss Meitner was very much interested in this phenomenon diately attempted to analyze mathematically of the uranium
the results of the experiment. atom. But when she added the
She reasoned that the barium and the other residual elements were the result of a fission, or breaking, atomic masses of the residual elements; she found this total was less than the atomic mass of uranium. There was but one explanation: two elements each of approximately nephew verted O. into The uranium fissioned or split, forming half of its original mass, but not exactly disappeared was conby Albert
half. Some of the mass of the uranium had disappeared. Miss Meitner and her R. Frisch suggested that the mass which energy. According to the theory advanced in 1905
tion E = mcz (energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light), this energy release would be of the order of 200,000,000 each atom fissioned.
under
Adolf
HitIers
Nazi
Party
as the Third
Reich
other problems with Einstein who had found a Studies. Bohr came to America, pal item report Princeton
Nieis Bohr, Danish physicist
Einstein
of Meitner
Einstein and J. A. Wheeler who had once been his student. by word at Columbia. Fermi Princeton the news spread of mouth Fermi to neighboring physicists, which could be expected however, Fermi left
including
Enrico
from the fission and consequent release of energy. be completed, to attend a conference on theoretical in Washington, might be emitted the meeting Institution of fission. Fermi physics at George Washington mentioned the possibility that their ideas of Meitner and
D.C. Here Fermi and Bohr exchanged information in the process. In this conversation, was over, experimental from four of Washington, confirmation laboratories
of the possibility of a chain reaction began to crystallize. Before States and Frischs deduction (Carnegie the University experiments Joliot-Curie was obtained in the United
Columbia,
Johns Hopkins,
of California).
Later it was learned that similar confirmatory the results and published them in the Walter H. Zinn and Leo began their exand H. B. The results of the
had been made by Frisch and Meitner onJanuary 15th. Frederic in France, too, confirmed 27, 1939,
January 30th issue of the French scientific journal, Comptes rendus. On February Szilard, a Hungarian, the Canadian-born at Columbia both working University,
periments to find the number of neutrons emitted by the fissioning uranium. At the same time, Fermi and his associates, Herbert Hanstein, commenced their investigation of these experiments Physics/ Review L. Anderson of the same problem.
.... .
.4J
Walter
H. Zinn
L&
Szilard
These Further
measurements
of
neutron
emission
by Fermi,
Zinn,
Szilard,
Anderson, and Hanstein were highly significant steps toward a chain reaction. impetus to the work on a uranium reactor was given by the California, discovery of plutonium capturing a neutron, structure with at the Radiation Laboratory, 7 Berkeley,
in March, 1940. This element, unknown in nature, was formed by uranium-238 and thence undergoing two successive changes in atomic Plutonium, and their it was believed, associates were chain material In July, of a 1, a the emission of beta particles. at Columbia, Fermi and Zinn
would undergo fission as did the rare isotope of uranium, U=5. Meanwhile, working to determine operationally traveling k), possible designs of a uranium at relatively high velocities.
reactor. Among other things, they had to find a suitable moderating to slow down reproduction the neutrons factor (called 1941, experiments chain reaction.
with uranium were started to obtain measurements of the which was the key to the problem greater than could be made sufficiently
If this factor
chain reaction cou Id be made to take place in a mass of material of practical dimensions. If it were less than 1, no chain reaction could occur. Since impurities would escape from in the uranium the pile without and in the moderator encountering would capture atoms, it neutrons and make them unavailable for further reactions, and since neutrons uranium-235
7Now Department
the
Lawrence
Berkeley
Radiation
Laboratory,
operated
for
the
U.S.
of Energy
by the University
of California.
7
was not known obtained. Fortunate it was that the obtaining and difficult of a reproduction factor greater than 1 was a complex of k, problem. If Hitlers scientists had discovproducing an atomic whether a value for k greater than unity could ever be ered the secret of controlling bomb for the Nazis. the neutrons and had obtained a working value
a uranium atom. Of all the materials which possessed the proper cou Id be obtained of the desired degree of purity. lattice reactors was started at Columbia of the uranium project in December, and it was decided at the University and Princeton of groups
in sufficient quantity
The study of graphiteuranium in July, 1941, but after reorganization 1941, Arthur H. Compton under the Office Chicago. of Scientific early
was placed in charge of this phase of the work, Research and Development, in 1942 the Columbia
Arthur Chicago
Holly
Cornpton,
Director
of
the
Metallurgical
Project,
1942-1945.
Laboratory
was estab-
In a general way, the experimental was primarily division concerned with organized by F. H. Spedding methods,
J. Franckr W. C. Johnson, and T. Hogness) with the chemistry of plutonium and with separation with and the theoretical group under E. P. Wigner were intertwined designing production piles. However, and technical the problems
studied in whatever group seemed best equipped for the particular task.
Norman secret
Hilberry %fatallurgical
headed
procurement
efforts
at the
Laboratory.
At Chicago, the work on subcritical size piles was continued. 1942, the measurements obtained enough to permit from these experimental a choice of design for a test pile of critical
By July,
time, the dies for the pressing of the uranium oxides were designed by Zinn and ordered made. It was a fateful step, since the entire construction oxides because metallic pile depended upon the shape and size of the uranium piece:. It was necessary to use uranium the desired degree of purity were attempting Electric uranium did not exist. Although several manufacturers Westinghouse and F. H.
that any appreciable amount was available. By mid-November, and Manufacturing Metal Hydrides
Laboratory Association.
of Argonne
National
Labora-
by the University
of Chicago
.. .
9
Spedding, who was working at Iowa State College at Ames, program Iowa, had defor moderating Hilberry. R. L. livered several tons of the highly purified material metal which was placed in the pile, as close to the center as possible. The procurement Doan headed the procurement Although controlling constructed in July, additional and uranium oxides had been handled by Norman program for pure uranium metal. about
the dies for the pressing of the uranium oxides were designed measurements were necessary to obtain information experimental subcritical
the reaction, to revise estimates as to the final critical size of the piles were before the final pile was completed.
Research
Development,
recommended bomb.
be established to take
responsibility
of the atomic
,,
Leslie directed
R.
Groves,
U.S.
Army
COWS of EngiDistrict, 8
the
Manhattan
Engineer
Energy District
(AEC), President
civilian Gerald
the
as the governmental
energy
signed the bill that absorbad (NRC). part the regulatory became
The research and development and Development into the Research absorbed
Regulatory
Commission
and Development
Administration
of Energy.
in November.
The
crews, one under Zinn and the other under Anderson, worked estimates as to the critical size of the pile were pessimistic. air. craft, the
almost around the clock. V. C. Wilson headed up the instrument work. precaution, it was decided to enclose the pile in a balloon cloth by Goodyear Tire and Rubber of a square
bag which could be evacuated to remove the neutron-capturing This balloon cloth bag was constructed Company. balloon. joking. Specialists Security in designing forbade gasbags for informing
lighter-than-air Goodyear
companys engineers were a bit puzzled about the aerodynamics regulations of the envelope and so the Armys
of the purpose
The bag was hung with one side left open; in the center of the floor a circular layer of graphite bricks was placed. This and each succeeding layer of the pile was braced by a wooden By this layer-on-layer frame. Alternate layers contained spherical the uranium. construction of graphite a roughly pile of
uranium and graphite was formed. Facilities for the machining bricks were installed in the West Stands. Week after week this shop turned out graphite bricks. This work was done under the direction millwright Zinns men. August Knuth. of Zinns group, by skilled mechanics led by Anderson and his associates joined In October,
,.
left.
On the right is the 7th iayer of graphite pseudospheres of black blocks. uranium metal oxide. and/or containing uranium
edges
layer
3%-inch
courses of graphite
layer
of graphite
blocks
containing richer
of black
and brown
uranium
The brown briquets, In the foreground change layer an expedient in the lattice 18 containing
slightly measure
by shortage oxide.
layer
393-218 0 - 82 - 3 k,.
..T
Describing this phase of the work, group, said: We found would around floor.
Albert
Wattenberg,
one of Zinns
out how coal miners feel. After eight hours of madust. About a half-hour after the
chining graphite, we looked as if we were made up for a minstrel. One shower remove only the surface graphite the room Graphite first shower the dust in the pores of your skin would start oozing. Walking where we cut the graphite was like walking on a dance is a dry lubricant, you know, and the cement floor covered measurements indicated that
with graphite dust was slippery. Before the structure the critical was half complete, size at which the pile would become self-sustaining was some-
in the design.
scientists gave greater and greater attention surements, and exactness of their construction Guiding the entire pile construction Fermi, whose associates described conceit. wholly without
to detai Is, the accuracy of meaand design was the nimble-brained self-confident but
him as completely
on December 2nd, he was able to predict almost to the exact brick all their care and confidence, few in the group knew the the de with E. 1. duPont
the point at which the reactor would become self-sustaining. But with extent Manhattan Nemours principles of the heavy bets being placed on their success. I n Washington, District had proceeded with to design, build, unproved negotiations and operate and Company of the then
Engineer Worksfo at Pasco, Washington, was to be the result. At Chicago during the early afternoon that critical size was rapidly was relieved by the men working of December Ist, tests indicated At 4:00 p.m. Zinns group afterwards, the Shortly being approached.
under Anderson.
~OLater operated
the
Hanford Electric
Atomic
Products
Laboratories, facilities
oper-
have been
by 5 contractors.
:. :@. I I
13
model
of
the
first
racquets to with-
of Stagg Field
last layer of graphite and uranium bricks was placed on the pile. Zinn, who remained, pile would and Anderson become made several measurements of the activity within the the pile. They were certain that when the control self-sustaining. measurements indicate the reaction would rods were withdrawn,
that should
they would not start the pile operating until Fermi and day.
the rest of the group cou Id be present. Consequent y, the control locked and further work was postponed until the following that the trial run was due the next morning.
That night the word was passed to the men who had worked orI the pile
is
14
Assembly for the Test
About At 8:30 on the morning of Wednesday, December 2nd, the group about ten feet were began to assemble in the squash court. the north end of the squash court was a balcony of the court. the little Fermi, Zinn, Anderson, above the floor and Compton
at the east end of the balcony. The remainder of balcony. R. G. Nobles, one of the young
on the pile, put it this way: The control cabinet was On the floor just beneath final control Weil, whose duty sets of control balcony. rod end. pile rope of the squash court, stood George it was to handle the
surrounded by the big wheels; the little wheels had to stand back. the balcony,
rods. In the pile were three rods. One set was autofrom the emergency the the was running an
matic and could be controlled Another rope safety rod. Attached was a The
pile and weighted heavily on the opposite rod was withdrawn by another Hilberry an and tied with rope to the
balcony.
was ready to cut this axe should something rod, or in case the auThe third
George Weil
happen,
rods failed.
by Weil, was the one which actually held the reaction in check until the proper distance. was new and different squad, from anything of ever complete Therefore, reliance was not placed on mechanically a liquid-control composed solution operated Harold
Lichtenberger,
were prepared to flood the pile with cadmium-salt Each group rehearsed its part of the experiment. At 9:45 Fermi ordered the electrical y operated
drawn. The man at the controls threw the switch to withdraw But quickly, the balcony
them. A small
motor whined. All eyes watched the lights which indicated the rods position. group turned to watch the counters, whose clicking stepped up after the rods were out. The indicators of these counters
with
hands
to indicate
neutron
count.
Nearby was a recorder, whose quivering pen traced the neutron activity withShortly Zipr after ten oclock, Fermi ordered Zip the emergency rod, called
pulled out and tied. Zip out, said Fermi. Zinn withdrew by hand and tied it to the control rod which was marked the instruments, said
balcony rail. Weil stood ready by the vernier At quietly: Pull pen moved made. This off. indicated is not it, said Fermi. it to 13 feet, George. up. All the instruments 10:37 Fermi, without taking
to show the number of feet and inches which remained within the pile. his eyes off
He indicated a spot on the graph. In a few minutes the pen came to the point and did not go above that point. Seven minutes later Fermi
ordered the rod out another foot. Again the counters stepped up their clicking, the graph pen edged upwards. But the clicking was irregular. Soon it leveled off, as did the thin line of the pen. The pile was not self-sustainingyet. At eleven oclock, the rod came out another six inches; the result was the same: an increase in rate, followed Fifteen moved again. Each time by the leveling off. and at 11:25 was a few conHe knew minutes later, the rod was further withdrawn
the time was near. He wanted to check everything again. The automatic
IE
The graph line took a drop, the counters slowed abruptly. rod was adjusted and Zip faster and faster. was withdrawn. Up went the counters, clicking, and
rails. The graph pen started to climb. Tensely, the little group watched, waited, entranced by the climbing needle. Whrrrump! frozethen slammed As if by a thunder clap, the spell was broken.
breathed a sigh of relief when he realized the automatic home. The safety point at which the rod operated
automatically
had been set too low. Im hungry, said Fermi. Lets go to lunch.
never says much, had even less to say. But he appeared supremely confident. His team All determined computing jammed, was back on the squash court at 2:00 p.m. Twenty right, George, called Fermi, the automatic rod was reset and Weil stood ready at the control rod. and Weil moved the rod to a pre-
point. The spectators resumed their watching and waiting, watchthe rate of rise of reaction from the indicators. the control rod came out another foot. The counters nearly
ing the counters spin, watching the graph, waiting for the settling down and At 2:50
the pen headed off the graph paper. But this was not it. Counting it six inches, said Fermi at 3:20. the rod. standing at his side. and continue to The trace will climb Again the changebut again
ratios and the graph scale had to be changed. Move the leveling off. Five minutes later, Fermi called: Pull it out another foot. Weil withdrew This Now
it will
climb. It will not level off. Fermi computed period. rule. He silently, the rate of rise of the neutron counts over a minute ran through some calculations on his slide grim-faced,
~., ..,
of C%icago on December left to right, Nyer, H. Zinn, Norman and Marvin Leona Warren
2,
1946,
annirow, Leo L.
success. William
Hilberry, W.
Allison,
Wilkening.
Harold Waltar
Lichtenberger, Aibeti
Marshall,
Enrico
Wattenberg,
and Herbert
In about constant His fingers Three instruments, very instant Overbeck Marshall
know the reaction was self-sustaining. lightning speed. Characteristica llyr the rate of rise in neutron
he turned the rule over and jotted down some figures on its ivory back. later he again computed count. The group on the balcony had by now crowded in to get an eye on the those behind craning their necks to be sure they would know the history was made. In the background could be heard Wilcox system. Leona Sturm were record-
calling out the neutron count over an annunciator (the only girl present), Anderson, and William
By this time the click of the counters was now a steady brrrrr.
evey second, waiting for orders. His face was motionless. His eyes darted from one dial to another. His expression was so calm it was hard. But suddenly, his whole face broke into a broad smile. Fermi closed his slide rule The reaction is self-sustaining, he announced quietly, happily. The curve is exponential. The group tensely watched for twenty-eight first nuclear chain reactor operated. The upward movement O. K., time was 3:53 Zip of the pen was leaving a straight line. There was to Zinn who controlled that rod. The no change to indicate a leveling off. This was it. in, called Fermi p.m. Abruptly, the counters slowed down, the pen slid down nuclear reactionand then stopped that minutes while the worlds
across the paper. It was all over. Man had initiated it. He had released the energy. a self-sustaining energy of the atoms nucleus and controlled
OEC.2 1942 START-UP OF FIRS7 SELF-SUSTNNING CHAIN REAGTION NEUTRONINTENsITY IN THE PILE AS RECOROEO BY A GALVANOMETERS
OF YET
SELF
/ SSTA, FWW
~DRw IN1EN51TY
,N DUE
lNDk2.TES
NOT
CRITICAL
The
birth
certificate intensity
Age.
The galvanometers
chart
that indicated
the
rise in neutron
chain reaction.
after
Fermi
stopped,
the Hungarian-born
physicist
Eugene Wigner presented him with a bottle of Chianti Wigner had kept this wine hidden behind
the experiment
poured a little wine in all the cups, and silently, solemnly, Hungarians Fermi, Hiiberry, the without Szilard toasts, the scientists raised lipsthe and Canadian Wigner, Compton, Zinn, the the Italian Anderson, the cups to their
Americans
and a score of others. They drank to to the hope they were the first up,
success-and to succeed.
A small crew was left to straighten lock controls, group filed from guards asked Zinn:
and check all apparatus. As the the West Stands, one of the
Eugene P. Wigner
Whats going on, Doctor, something happen in there? The guard did not hear the message which Arthur Compton was giving James B. Conant at Harvard, by long-distance telephone. prearranged. The Italian navigator has landed in the New World, How were the natives? asked Conant. Very friendly. said Compton. Their code was not
bottle to help of
by the chain
self-sustaining,
participants, autographed
Fermi,
~:
. ..
December 2,1942
Enrico Fermi H. M. Agnew S. K. Allison H. L. Anderson W. Arnold H. M. Barton T. Brili R. F. Christy A. H. Compton R. J. FOX
S.
G. Monk, Jr. R. G. Nobles W. E. Nyer W. P. Overbeck H. J. Parsons G. S. Pawlicki L. Sayvetz L. Seren L. A. SIotin F. H. Spedding W. J. Sturm Leo Szi}ard A. Wattenberg R. J. Watts G. L. Weil E. P. Wigner M. Wilkening V. C. Wilson E. O. Wollan Miss L. Woods W. H. Zinn
A. FOX
D. K. Froman A. C. Graves C. H. Greenewalt N. Hilberry D. L. Hill W. H. Hinch W. R. Kanne P. G. Koontz H. E. Kubitschek H. V. Lichtenberger G. Miller
It is ten years since man first achieved a self-sustaining atomic reaction. Many people link this event only with the development to which has been made in the last few days by the Atomic sion. The history of the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, of all scientific predictable. The sequence of discoveries leading to the atomic chain reaction was part of the search of science for a fuller explanation a major industrial or military development. A partial list of the main stepping-stones to this development many countries contributed to it. The Antoine story begins in Paris in that 1896 when indicates of nature and the world to around us. No one had any idea or intent in the beginning of contributing achievements, begins with mans first philosophical tions about the nature of the universe. Its ultimate like that speculaof the atomic bomb and the subsequent efforts to develop the hydrogen bomb, reference Energy Commis-
Henri Becquerel discovered the existence elements; emit is, elements which penetrating rays. invisible,
years later,
Curie discovered radium, for many years the best known of the radioactive elements. In Einstein equivalent
A. H. Becquerel
Zurich,
in
1905,
Albert that
announced
that
mass was
Ernest Rutherford
but heavy nucleus which forms the core of the atom. War 1, the same Rutherford achieved for the first
elements this core is stable; in radioactive elements it is unstable. after World disintegration of the nucleus at the center of the nitrogen
by Dr. Fermi
Sun-Times, First
November 23,
Pile experi-
in observance Copyright
of the tenth
successful
Reprinted
by permission,
22
During the next decade, research progressed steadily, three if unspectacularly. countries Bothe in Then, in 1932, came a in which Germany, led to the next and Frederic work series of three discoveries by scientists working different Walter Joliot-Curie that covery trically structure.
Earnest Rutherford
itivel y charged proton. The next step was taken in Rome in 1934. I was concerned it was shown that these neutrons This discovery many atoms, including those of uranium. In experiments in which
Fritz Strassman, discovered fission or splitting of the uranium to many scientists that this
fact opened the possibility of a form of nuclear (atomic) energy. The year was 1939. A world war was about to start. The new possibil ities appeared likely to be important, A group Walter Zinn, and Anderson, of now physicists director of not only for peace but also for war. Statesincluding National delay further Leo Szilard, Herbert of of publications Argonne to Laboratory, in the United privately
myselfagreed
findings in this field. We were afraid course, lightly. represented Subsequently, these findings a break with might scientific help the Nazis. Our action, tradition and was not taken
bomb project, secrecy became compulsory. Here it may be well to define what is meant by the chain reaction which was to constitute utilizing atomic energy. An atomic chain reaction may be compared to the burning of a rubbish pile from spontaneous combustion. In such a firer minute parts of the pile start to burn and in turn ignite other tiny fragments. When sufficient numbers our next objective in the search for a method of
23
of these fractional bursts into flames. A similar process takes place in an atomic pilesuch as was constructed under the West Stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago in 1942. The pile itself was constructed of uranium, a material that is embedded in a matrix emitted of graphite. With sufficient uranium in the pile, the few neutrons occur strike neighboring in a single fission that may accidentally parts are heated to the kindling points, the entire heap
atoms, which in turn undergo fission and produce more neutrons. These bombard atomic fire The complete atomic pile other atoms and so on at an increasing rate until the is controlled by cadmium and prevented from burning itself to is going full blast. rods which absorb neutrons and stop the low the
destruction through
process. The same effect might be achieved by running a pipe a rubbish heap; by keeping the temperature
pipe would prevent the spontaneous burning. The first atomic chain reaction experiment was designed to proceed at a slow rate. In this sense it differed from the atomic bomb, which was designed
Patent
Number
18, 1955,
to Enrico
Fermi not
reactor, 1944,
Pile No.
was applied
contained
declassified.
of the patent
application.
24
to proceed at as fast a rate as was possible. Otherwise, similar to that of the atomic bomb. The atomic chain reaction was the result of hard work by many hands and many heads. Arthur Szilard, the University be performed. Thirty full-sized pile. The scene of this test at the University confusing to an outsider-if gained admittance. He would have seen only what appeared to be a crude pile of black timbers. All but one side of the pile was obscured by a its final shape during the days of preparation, many times a day indicated everything was bricks and wooden of Chicago would have been guards and he could have eluded the security H. Compton, Walter Zinn, Herbert directly Anderson, Leo Eugene Wigner and many others worked of Chicago. Very Finally a plan was decided upon. piles of less than the size necessary to establish a chain reacon the problems at had to the basic process is
many experiments
and calculations
tion were built and tested. Then the plans were made for the final test of a
balloon cloth envelope. As the pile grew toward the measurement performed
gathered on a balcony
which the structure had been erected. Beneath us was a young scientist, George Weil, whose duty it was to handle the last control rod that was holding the reaction in check. Every precaution heavily weighted The had been taken against an accident. There were three Another consisted of a sets of control rods in the pile. One set was automatic. the rope ready to release it at the least sign of trouble. last rod left in the pile, which acted as starter, had never been tried before, accelerator and brake for the reaction, was the one handled by Weil. Since the experiment control carefully. Finally, withdraw which it was time to remove the control rods. Slowly, Weil started to rod. On the balcony, we watched the indicators count and told us how rapidly the disintegrathe main control rods failed. a liquid control squad stood ready to flood the pile with cadmium salt solution in case the
fp.
25
was proceed-
It seemed a good time to eat lunch. During lunch everyone was thinking talked much about it. At 2:30, ments. Shortly after, the intensity shown by the indicators began to rise at a slow but ever-increasing rate. At this moment we knew that the self-sustaining reaction was under way. The event was not spectacular, no fuses burned, no lights flashed. But to us it meant that release of atomic energy on a large scale would be only a matter of time. The further ef feet ive weapon. At the same time we all hoped that with the end of the war emphasis would be shifted decidedly from the weapon to the peacefu I aspects of atomic energy. development of atomic erwgy during the next three years of producing an of the war was, of course, focused on the main objective Weil pulled out the control rod in a series of measured adjustabout the experiment but nobody
26
We hoped that radioactive objectives. Unfortunately, of the Atomic the end of the war did not bring brotherly love among nations. The fabrication of weapons still is and must be the primary concern was an unwelcome necessity of the war still perhaps the building of power plants, production of elements for science and medicine would become the paramount
Energy Commission. necessity. The peaceful objectives must come progress has been made also along those situation are not for the scientist
very considerable
alone but for all people to resolve. Perhaps a time will come when all scierttific and technical progress will be hailed for the advantages that it may bring to man, and never feared on account of its destructive possibilities.
27
OF SECRECY AND THE PILE12
By Laura Fermi
The
period
life started
when
we moved to Laboratory.
Chicago. Enrico walked to work every morning. nor simply to the lab, but to the Met. Everything metallurgists at the Metallurgical
was top secret there. I was told one single secret: there were no Laboratory. Even this piece of information at the Met. Lab., the wiser
was not to be divulged, As a matter of fact, the less 1 talked, the better; the fewer people I saw outside the group working I would be. In the fall, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur he was in charge of the Metallurgical comers at the Metal Iurgical Laboratory. H. Compton1 Project-gave Newcomers was to learn later that were by then so numera series of parties for new-
ous that not even in Ida Noyes HaIi, the students recreation hall, was there a room large enough to seat them all at once; so they were invited in shifts. At each of these parties the English film Next of Kin was shown. It depicted in dark tones the consequences of negligence and carelessness. A briefcase laid down on the floor in a public place is stolen by a spy. English military plans become known result. After the film there was no need for words. Willingly we accepted the hint and confined our social activities to the group of metallurgists. for they were scientists. The nonworking for the war effort. entertain + or to work of the USO.
q
to the enemy.
Bombardments,
destruction
front
ities of choice; besides, most of them were congenial, as was to be expected, wives wished, quite understandably, to do something
One of the possible activities along this line was to help to sew for the Red Cross and to save my in the hospital of the university,
Atoms Copyright
in the Fami/y,
Laura Fermi,
University
of Chicago
Press, Chicago,
by the University
of Chicago
Press. Reprinted
by permission.
28
Fermi
Enrico and for their wives. As the first bell rang shortly
after eight in the evening, Enrico went to open the door, and 1 kept a few steps behind him in the hall. Walter Zinn and his wife Jean walked in, bringing along the icy-cold air that clung to their clothes. Their teeth chattered. They shook the snow from their shoulders and stamped their feet heavily on the floor to reactivate the circulation in limbs made numb by the subzero weather. Walter extended his hand to Enrico and said: Congratulations. Congratulations? notice of me. Enrico was busy hanging Jeans coat in the closet, and both the Zinns were fumbling at their snow boots with sluggish fingers. Nasty weather, Jean said, getting up from her bent position to put her boots in a corner. Walter again stamped his feet noisily on the floor. I asked, puzzled, What for? Nobody took any
29
Wont you come into the living room? time to Enrico asked. Before we had coid
sit down, the bell rang again; again Enrico went to open the door, and
amid repeated stamping of feet and complaints about the extraordinarily weather I again heard a mans voice: Congratulations.
It went on this same way until all our guests had arrived. Every single man congratu Iated Enrico. He accepted the congratu Iations readily, with no embarrassment on his face. My inquiries received either no answer at all or such evasive replies as: Ask your husband, or: Nothing special. He is a smart guy. Thats all, or:
(
or show of modesty,
Dont get excited. Youll find out sometime. I had nothing to help me guess. Enrico had mentioned nothing worthy of notice, and nothing unusual had happened, except, of course, the preparations for the party. And those did not involve Enrico and provided no ground for congratulating. I had cleaned house all morning; I had polished silver. I had picked up the electric formula train in Giuiios room and the
I
t
to teach order to children, I have not found it. I had run the vacuum,
Half an hour to set the table. Half an hour to spread sandwiches. Half an hour to collect juices for the punch. . . . I must remember to make tea for my punch soon, so that by . ... it will have time to cool, . . . And if people start and eating dinner coming by eight, well have to start dressing by, seven-thirty,
A Homemakers Schedule
My schedule was upset, as schedules will be. While I was baking cookies in the kitchen, the house had gone surprisingly quiet, too quiet to contain had they got themselves? I found them on the thirdlittle children were mixing snow with balls at our neighbors recently in scolding through and punishing, in pots and throwing time was spent Giulio and his two girl friends who had come to play. Where were they? Into what sort of mischief the soil in the flower washed windows. floor porch. The three angelic-looking Precious
seeing what could be done to placate our neighbor. So at dinner time Enrico found me hurrying the last preparations, absorbed in my task and even less than usually inclined to ask questions
30
of him. We rushed through dinner, and then I realized we had no cigarettes. It was not unusual: we dont smoke, and I always forget to buy them. Enrico, wouldnt you run to the drugstore for cigarettes? I asked. The answer was what I expected, what it had been on other such occasions: 1 dont know how to buy them. We cant do without did; it isnt done. Well set the habit, then. Besides, the less our company smokes, the better. Not so much foul smell in the house tomorrow. This little act was almost a ritual performed was nothing lations? I went up to Leona Woods, a tall young girl built like an athlete, who could do a mans job and do it well. She was the only woman with physicist in Enricos energy, group. At that time her mother, who was also endowed was running inexhaustible a small farm near Chicago her time atoms either and to she I before each party. There unusual in it, nor in Enricos behavior. Then why the congratucigarettes for our guests, 1 insisted, as I always
and her allegiance Because or smash atoms and had helped with
potatoes,
Woodss
farm,
however, be kind.
thought, owed me some friendliness. Leona, tions. Tell me what. Enrico did to earn these congratula-
Sinking an Admiral
Leona bent her head, covered with short, deep-black and from her lips came a whisper: He has sunk a Japanese admiral. You are making fun of me, 1 protested. hair, toward me,
Leona. Herbert,
had been a graduate student at Columbia when we arrived in the United his Ph.D. work with with him. had taken
He had come to Chicago a few months before I did. Do you think anything is imposan sible for Enrico? No matter
Herbert L. Anderson
earnest, almost chid ing, face. the logical there part of my mind of disbelieve,
still was another, subconscious, submitted spectacular that was fighting for acceptance words. Herbert was Enricos mentor. to intelligence 1.Q. They should know. two
Leona, who was young enough to have To sink a ship in the Pacific from parts of ones mind is not promptly
Chicago . . . perhaps power rays were discovered. . . . When a struggle between resolved with clear outcome, doubt results. My doubt was to last a long time. That evening no more was said about admirals, The party proceeded as most parties do, with a great deal of small talk around the punch bowl in the dining room; with pingpong comments on the war in the I.iving room; with games of on the third floor, because Enrico has always and shuffleboard
enjoyed playing games, and most of our guests were young. In the days that followed I made vain efforts to clear my doubts. Enrico, did you really sink a Japanese admiral? Did l? Enrico would answer with a candid expression. So you did not sink a Japanese admiral! Didnt I ? His expression would not change. paperbound volume. Report, 13 he said. it contains Two years and a half elapsed. One evening, shortly after the end of the war in Japan, Enrico brought home a mimeographed, It may interest you to see the Smyth all declassified information tion, and this is an advance copy.
13
This classic document, Enargy (It for Military later at the 1945. Metallurgical
Account written
of Methods
of
was published,
References.)
It was not easy reading. I struggled with its technical difficult content until slowly, painfully,
reached the middle of the book, I found the reason for the congratulations Enrico had received at our party. On the afternoon successfully, under E nricos direct ion. Young this feat equivalent not foresee Hiroshima. 1942, the first chain reaction was achieved and the first atomic pile operated Leona Woods had considered ship with the admiral to the sinking of an admirals
inside. The atomic bomb still lay in the womb of the future, and Leona could
The 1942
Council that
Tree
beneath
which
scientists
held
a highly
secret
discussion of Eckhart
was vital to the success of the first pile. of Chicago campus. being overheard. The meeting without
It stands in front
so the scientists
..
...-
..
34
FINAL
first
pile
early
in
the
Laboratory.
was renamed
Unveiling West on right Robert Daniels, Enrico Hutchins, University West in the
the fifth 2, W.
plaque of Stagg
on
the
Stands
December William
are AEC
Stands 1957,
demolished
remains.
The first heavy reactor CP-2 water shahs marker. at uranium, (CP-3)
water moderated was In two beneath built 1956 and nm.r the heavy reecton this
wara ramovad
.
CHAPTERS
PERSONE PRESENT AT CP-1 EXPERIMENT
35
Achievement first SdL.%stained of NwdearChainReaction December , 1942 2
obtained
during Nuclear
November
LMqK&-q
Chicago,
ber 1, 1962.
tLkwnd
Pmlmr
Ewnii
of a work Moore, of to
of sculpture
by
who Chicago
was commisof the Art to create Age! at the a the Zbe the first
by the Trustees
site on the
annivemary
+&,.-:<,
---:
. .
. .
36
EPILOGUE
The 1942 CP-1 chain reaction experiment marked the culmination of a process of European scientific discovery and American technical development in nuclear physics research that dated back to 1934, when Enrico Fermi split the atom without realizing it. success of the Metallurgical of Chianti Laboratory was The legendary bottle was completed. of scientists and engineers had already of the Army design and plutoproduced by Eugene In this sense, the final almost anticlimactic.
Wigner and signed by all the participants was actuall y purchased a year before the successful experiment Project forward. recommended December project, Nor was the success of CP-1 especially decisive in pushing the Manhattan A visiting committee continuing the pile project before they arrived in Chicago on a letter authorizing
2, and a day earlier General Leslie Groves, director the du Pent Company of the massive Hanford, Washington,
had written
construction
nium, using the pile project as a prototype. In this context, takes on a different project the famous telephone meaning. Conant, U 235 call from from to Conant an enthusiast of Ernest Lawrences as the quickest toward a fullconveying the a
to separate electromagnetically
route to the bomb, remained skeptical of the pile approach, and criticized the visiting Lewis committee scale plant. On from In report for pushing the pile project Conant, Compton was not only approved telephoning 28,
secret message, but advocating a particular route to the new weapon. December 1942, President Roosevelt report Vannevar Bush of the Office of Scientific supervision. Research and Development
to build an atomic bomb with private industry In this crucial decision CP-1 had played scientific theory into technological of energy had been
harnessed to mans purposes. 1943, following work on the production piles shifted to new plants springing up at Oak Ridger Tennessee, and Hanford, Washington. In Field The scientists of Chicago gave way to the engineers of du Pent, Project moved away from that city. pile moved from Stagg Forest Preserve south of larger than 1943, Groves ordered Fermis and the major work of the Manhattan February to Site A, a 20-acre
Chicago, where it was reassembled as CP-2. CP-2 was considerably Cp-1, and had a five-foot exposure to staff.
37
CP-2 was followed In function 1944, in 1943 by CP-3, a heavy-water of cinderblock reactor designed iron by Eugene Wigner and built by Walter Zinn. the modest collection and corrugated buildings at Argonne development, after 1945. In January tory. 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission purchased a new site Laborareactors became peacetime centers and applied
I
now became basic research on nuclear fission, rather than weapons with consequent shortages of both funding and personnel until
near La Mont, II Iinois, southwest of Chicago for the Argonne National At the new laboratory neutron the wartime of research into mathematics. plutonium biological power. diffraction, the effects of radiation,
in the end, the various offspring of CP-1, the first reactor, continued its original mission: to push back and explore the frontiers of science in the never-ending quest for knowledge of the universe in which we Iive.
. . .. .
38
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
Books
Arthur
H., Atomic
Quest,
New
York:
Oxford
Chicago: Boston,
University
Manhattan
Massachusetts:
Harper and Row, 1961. District History, Project 1Inception Center, 1961. Oscar E., Jr., The New Wor/d, State University Comof the United States A tomic Energy ComThe Pennsylvania The History New York: Volume until August 1945, Springfield,
1, A History
University
of a Scientific Atheneum
Lansing, Day
The Man and His Theories, New York: Peep/e, New York: Scribners, Press,
Paul S. Eriksson, Inc., 1966. The Uranium Secret, 1979. Purcell, John, 1963. Segre, Emilio, Smyth, Strauss, Company, Wigner, Wilson, Henry Lewis The Collected D., Atomic L., Men Papers of Enrico Fermi, Chicago, I Ilinois: Energy for Military New Purposes, York: Princeton, and University of Chicago Press, 1965. New Jersey: Princeton University Inc., 1962. Eugne P., Symmetries Jane, cd., All and Reflections, Time; Bloomington, of Indiana: Twelve Press, 1945. and Decisions, Doubleday The Best-Kept New York: The Vanguard
Indiana University Press, 1967. in Our The Reminiscences Nut/ear Pioneem, Chicago, I Ilinois: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1975.
39
Articles Anderson, Review, 33:511 Anderson, Neutrons (April 15, 1939). Argonne A/ational Laboratory (December Fermi, Fermi, 1962). Enrico, Enrico, Elementary Development Theory of the Chain-Reacting Pile, (January 10, 1947). of the First Chain Reacting Pile, ProAmerican, Plews Bulletin, Anniversary Issue, Vol. 4 Herbert Herbert L., et. al., The Fission of Uranium, Physics/ of (March 1, 1939). L., Fermi, E., and Hanstein, by Neutrons, H. B., Production Bombarded Physics/ Review, 34:797
in Uranium
Science, 105:27
ceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 22 (January 29, 1946). Hahn, Otto, (February 1958). Atomic Energy Agency Bulletin, L., The Zinn, W. Birth H., Special number to mark Age, December Emission Uranium, 48:67 2, International Laurence, Szilard, Neutrons Zip 1946). Review, 34:799 out: The Discovery of Fission, Scientific 198:76
the 20th anniversary of the worlds first nuclear reactor (December 2, 1962). William Leo, and of the Atomic Instantaneous Neutrons Pile, with ?942, New York Times tl+gazine, in the Interaction Worlds Vl; 11 (December 1, 1946). of Fast Physics/ 9,
of Slow
(April
Motion Picture
The Day
Tomorrow
Bqgan, 30 minutes,
color,
1967.
(via historical film strips, photographs, interviews, and paintings) the exciting story of the construction of the first nuclear reactor. The story is highlighted by interviews with members of the research team and those closely associated with it, such as Glenn Seaborg, Mrs. Enrico Fermi, Leslie Groves, Walter Zinn, Herbert Anderson, and Mrs. Leona Libby.
PHOTO
photographs
Addison-Wesley Nobel Stephen Chicago Nobel Mary Nobel Institute Louise Barker
Publishing (left);
Company
Washington
University
.. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .
is printed as a special edition to commemoof nuclear energy. For additional Assistant 1000 Secretary for Nuclear Avenue, informaEnergy, Washing-
rate the 40th anniversary of the, Chicago Pile, a landmark in tion on nuclear energy, contact the Department Forrestal Building, Independence of Energy,
. . . . ..
. .
. .
. . . .
DOE/NE0046