Plutonium, the man‐made element of atomic number 94, has established itself mainly as the fissile component of nuclear weapons. It is always made in the operation of a uranium‐fueled reactor and has been manufactured in large quantities since its introduction in World War II. It has long been considered inevitable that plutonium will become an important reactor fuel. It offers hazards and puzzles to reactor physicists, and for two reasons in particular they must know the conditions under which assemblies containing it become critical. First, they must design processing systems that will not have accidental and dangerous chain reactions. Second, they need data for reactor design.
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H. C. Paxton et al., Critical Dimensions of Systems Containing and Technical Note No. TID‐7028, June 1964 (unpublished).
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F. E. Kruesi, J. O. Erkman, D. J. Lanning, Critical Mass Studies of Plutonium Solutions, Technical Note No. HW‐24515, DEL, May 19, 1952 (unpublished).
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R. H. Masterson et al., Limiting Concentrations for and in Aqueous Solutions, Technical Note No. HW‐77089, March 27, 1963 (unpublished).
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© 1965 American Institute of Physics.
1965
American Institute of Physics
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