A CHEMONUCLEAR PROGRAM FOR THE USAEC

Technical Report · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1963

OSTI ID:4641162

Manowitz, B; Raseman, C; Steinberg, M; Stoller, S; Hogerton, J; Geller, L

The current status of work in the United States on the applications of nuclear energy to the direct production of chernicals through the utilization of the kinetic energy of recoiling fission fragments in chemonuclear reactors was reviewed. Basic and applied research has been carried out on chemonuclear systems over the past several years by a small number of AEC, university, and industrial organizations. In recent years interest has been evidenced by a large segment of the chemical and petrochemical industry in the potentialities of the direct use of fission fragment energy for large-scale chemical production. The technical data now available do not permit accurate chemonuclear production cost estimates. Such rough estimates as have been made do not appear to warrant embarking at this time on a full-fiedged product-oriented large-scale program. Instead, circumstances appear to dictate an orderly sequence of basic and applied research and exploratory development work. This effort should be concentrated on (1) studying the fundamental radiation chemistry effects peculiar to fission fragments, (2) determining yields, conversions, reaction mechanisms, and kinetics for various systems that appear promising, and (3) developing necessary general technology, unique to the chemonuclear field, primarily through the construction and operation of in-pile loops. While a large-scale reactor experiment does not appear justified at this time, the work in this field should be reviewed periodically to determine the direction in which the long-range program should go. (auth)

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, N.Y.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(30-2)-GEN-16
• NSA Number: NSA-17-036091
• OSTI ID: 4641162
• Report Number(s): BNL-804; BNL-T-309
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICALS
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
FISSION PRODUCTS
IN PILE LOOPS
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF ISOTOPES AND RADIATIONS
OPERATION
PETROLEUM
PRODUCTION
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
RADIATION CHEMISTRY
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATIONS
REACTION KINETICS
RECOILS
USES