Contributions of chemistry in early day Los Alamos

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:5883220

Penneman, R A; Meade, R A

During 1943--1945, the premier physics laboratory in the world was at Los Alamos, but chemistry contributions were vital. Major chemical impacts on the success of the Los Alamos wartime mission included electrochemistry, which found the true melting point of plutonium metal to be hundreds of degrees lower than anticipated. This discovery had profound simplifying effects regarding crucibles to contain molten plutonium and on its production. Other significant chemical contributions involved constant purification of plutonium for reuse, producing carrier-free gamma sources at unprecedented kilo-curie levels, and high polonium work. 8 refs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5883220
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-91-1018; CONF-900802-18; ON: DE91009970
• Resource Relation: Conference: 200. American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting, Washington, DC (USA), 26-31 Aug 1990
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CHEMISTRY
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
LASL
ACTIVITY LEVELS
ALPHA PARTICLES
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
FISSION PRODUCTS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
INFORMATION NEEDS
ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS
LANTHANUM
MELTING POINTS
NATURAL URANIUM
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICS
PLUTONIUM
POLONIUM
PURIFICATION
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDES
CHARGED PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RARE EARTHS
REACTORS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
400000* - Chemistry