|

The Atomic Show #012

ByRod Adams

Shane and Rod take a trip into atomic fission history as they discuss the events and people leading up to the initial discovery that uranium nuclei could be broken, releasing vast quantities of energy. In just a few short years, a small number of physicists and chemists, mostly European and working with tiny research budgets, determined a new model for atomic structure, found a particle called the neutron that could serve as an effective wedge, and realized that one of the natural products released in the splitting process was enough neutrons to keep the reaction going.

These people, with names like Fermi, Curie, Hahn, Meitner, Strassman, Frisch, Szilard, and Teller made a profound discovery that opened up an entirely new field of study and soon led to the creation of a large and potentially huge energy industry. Rod and Shane contrast the rapid rate of development with the furor that surrounded the announcement of cold fusion in the 1990s – an announcement that led to lots of excitement but no experimental confirmation by outside scientists or engineers.

One key thing to take away from this show is just how recently this development took place – some of the direct participants have only recently passed away and there are many people still alive today who were alive when the discoveries occurred.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:36 — 12.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Rod Adams
Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Posts

  • Atomic Show #186 – SMRs, Climate Change, and Natural Gas Competition

    ByRod Adams

    On the evening of July 29, 2012, Suzy Hobbs-Baker, Director of the Nuclear Literacy Project and founder of PopAtomic Studios, Dan Yurman, who blogs at Idaho Samizdat and writes for Fuel Cycle Week and the ANS Nuclear Cafe, Margaret Harding, an independent nuclear energy consultant who blogs at 4 Factor Consulting, and Cal Abel, a…

  • The Atomic Show #127 – New Nuclear Plant Public Meetings

    ByRod Adams

    On February 3, 2009, I attended a public meeting regarding the future construction of North Anna Unit 3. Several of the people who attended that meeting gathered via Skype last night to share notes. I will add some more notes to this post later today, but now it is time to get ready for my…

  • Atomic Show #173 – Nuclear communicators bid goodnight to Hurricane Irene

    ByRod Adams

    Hurricane Irene took a path up the east coast of the United States that put a large population at risk from heavy rains, storm surges, and high winds. Before the storm there were stories about the fact that among all of the other parts of the infrastructure that might be affected, there were a number…

  • Atomic Show #230 – Alex Epstein, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

    ByRod Adams

    Alex Epstein, the founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, recently published The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. Trained as a philosopher, Alex describes himself as anti-pollution but pro-development. He believes that the standard of value for any development or technology should be its impact for human beings and that the green standard of non-impact…

  • Kenneth Pitzer blamed AEC advisors for slow power reactor development

    ByRod Adams

    During the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) earliest years, the General Advisory Committee was sometimes viewed as a source of discouraging, delaying advice. Made up of selected members of the scientific establishment, the group habitually sought more studies and inserted costly delays aimed at making the perfect next step instead of taking steps that were good…

  • Atomic Show #192 – Zero Carbon Options for South Australia

    ByRod Adams

    Ben Heard is one of the growing number of environmental professionals who have seriously evaluated all options for reducing mankind’s annual production rate of carbon dioxide and discovered that the best tool available is nuclear fission energy. As a part of his continuing journey of discovery, he worked with Brown and Pang to produce a…