I&EC 130 |
| Plutonium was discovered in 1940 by Seaborg, McMillan, Kennedy, and Wahl, who obtained considerable chemical information based on tracer experiments. The most important isotope, 239Pu, was discovered in 1941 and its fissionability with slow neutrons was established, thus initiating the intense effort to produce large quantities of this isotope for the Manhattan Project. This presentation will trace the efforts to achieve the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, which took place under the west stands of the football stadium at the University of Chicago on December 2, 1942. The scale-up of this reactor to the production reactors at Hanford will be detailed. A number of different separation processes were investigated to isolate plutonium from the wide variety of chemical species present in irradiated uranium fuel. The story of the development of the bismuth phosphate process and its scale-up for use at the Hanford site will be told. |
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Separation of f-Elements, Sponsored by Separation Science and Technology Sub-Division
1:45 PM-4:50 PM, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Room 250, Oral
Division of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry |