| Site of the First Self Sustaining Nuclear Reaction | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
 | |
| Location: | Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1942[1] |
| Designated as NHL: | 18 Feb 1965[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[2] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000314 |
| Governing body: | Regenstein Library |
Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1) was the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Cook County is a county in the US state of Illinois. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. A National Historic Landmark (NHL is a Building, site, Structure, Object, or District, that is officially recognized by the Events 3102 BC - Epoch (origin of the Kali Yuga. 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II Holy Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of Events 533 - Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. The Joseph Regenstein Library is the main Library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device in which Nuclear chain reactions are initiated controlled CP-1 was built on a racquets court, under the abandoned west stands of the original Alonzo Stagg Field stadium, at the University of Chicago. Rackets ( British English) or Racquets ( American English) is an indoor Racquet sport played in the United Kingdom, United States The University of Chicago is a Private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. The first artificial, self-sustaining, nuclear chain reaction was initiated within CP-1, on December 2, 1942. A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one Nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more nuclear reactions thus leading to a self-propagating number of these reactions Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The site of the first nuclear reaction received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and added to the newly created National Register of Historic Places a little over a year later. A National Historic Landmark (NHL is a Building, site, Structure, Object, or District, that is officially recognized by the The site was named a Chicago Landmark in 1971.
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Reactor
The reactor was a pile of uranium and graphite blocks, assembled under the supervision of the renowned Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the The Mineral graphite, as with Diamond and Fullerene, is one of the Allotropes of carbon. The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging It contained critical mass of the fissile material, together with control rods, and was built as a part of Manhattan Project research done by the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory. A critical mass is the smallest amount of Fissile material needed for a sustained Nuclear chain reaction. A control rod is a rod made of Chemical elements capable of absorbing many Neutrons without fissioning themselves The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb The Metallurgical Laboratory or "Met Lab" at the University of Chicago was part of the World War II –era Manhattan Project, created by the The shape of the pile was intended to be roughly spherical, but as work proceeded, Fermi calculated that critical mass could be achieved without finishing the entire pile as planned. [3]
A labor strike prevented the construction of the pile at a laboratory in the Argonne forest preserve, so Fermi and his associates Martin Whittaker and Walter Zinn set about building the pile (the world's first "nuclear reactor," although that term was not used until 1952) in a racquets court under the abandoned west stands of the university’s Stagg Field. Argonne National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy 's oldest and largest science and engineering research national laboratories and is Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The pile consisted of uranium pellets as a neutron–producing "core" separated from one another by graphite blocks to slow the neutrons. This article is a discussion of neutrons in general For the specific case of a neutron found outside the nucleus see Free neutron. In Nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium which reduces the velocity of Fast neutrons thereby turning them into Thermal neutrons capable Fermi himself described the apparatus as "a crude pile of black bricks and wooden timbers. " The controls consisted of cadmium-coated rods that absorbed neutrons. Cadmium (ˈkædmiəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Cd and Atomic number 48 Withdrawing the rods would increase neutron activity in the pile to lead to a self-sustaining chain reaction. Re-inserting the rods would dampen the reaction.
First nuclear reaction
On December 2, 1942, CP-1 was ready for a demonstration. Before a group of dignitaries, a young scientist named George Weil worked the final control rod while Fermi carefully monitored the neutron activity. The pile went critical at 3:20 p. A critical mass is the smallest amount of Fissile material needed for a sustained Nuclear chain reaction. m. Fermi shut it down 33 minutes later.
Operation of CP-1 was terminated in February 1943. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The reactor was then dismantled and moved to Red Gate Woods, the former site of Argonne National Laboratory, where it was reconstructed using the original materials, plus an enlarged radiation shield, and renamed Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2). Red Gate Woods is a Forest preserve within the Palos Division of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois. Argonne National Laboratory is one of the United States Department of Energy 's oldest and largest science and engineering research national laboratories and is Radiation protection, sometimes known as radiological protection, is the science of protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of Ionizing radiation CP-2 began operation in March 1943 and was later buried at the same site, now known as the Site A/Plot M Disposal Site. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Site A/Plot M Disposal Site is located within Red Gate Woods and situated on the former grounds of Argonne National Laboratory and its predecessor the University [3]
Significance and commemoration
The site of the first nuclear reaction received designation as a National Historic Landmark on February 18, 1965. A National Historic Landmark (NHL is a Building, site, Structure, Object, or District, that is officially recognized by the Events 3102 BC - Epoch (origin of the Kali Yuga. 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II Holy Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. [1] On October 15, 1966, which is the day that the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was enacted creating the National Register of Historic Places, it was added to that as well. Events 533 - Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA Public Law 89-665 16 U The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of [2] The site was named a Chicago Landmark on October 27, 1971. Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. [4] A small graphite block from the pile is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI is located in Chicago, Illinois in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to The old Stagg Field plot of land is currently home to the Regenstein Library. The Joseph Regenstein Library is the main Library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. A Henry Moore sculpture, Nuclear Energy, in a small quadrangle commemorates the nuclear experiment. Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986 was an English artist and sculptor. [1]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d Site of the First Self-Sustaining Nuclear Reaction. Alonzo Stagg Field is the name of two different football fields for the University of Chicago. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2008-06-11. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes.
- ^ a b NRIS Database, National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 11 February 2007. Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
- ^ a b Fermi E (1946). "The Development of the first chain reaction pile". Proceedings of the American Philosophy Society 90: 20-24. tif.
- ^ Site of the First Self-Sustaining Controlled Nuclear Chain Reaction. City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division (2003). Retrieved on March 31, 2007. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
External links
- Photos of CP-1 The University of Chicago Library Archive. Includes photos and sketches of CP-1.
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