Portal:Nuclear technology
The Nuclear Technology Portal
Introduction
- Nuclear technology is technology that involves the nuclear reactions of atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear reactors, nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons. It is also used, among other things, in smoke detectors and gun sights. (Full article...)
- Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear decay processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes such as Voyager 2. Generating electricity from fusion power remains the focus of international research. (Full article...)
- A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. (Full article...)
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Testing began with scale models at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, in August 1943. Modifications began on a prototype Silverplate B-29 known as the "Pullman" in November 1943, and it was used for bomb flight testing at Muroc Army Air Field in California commencing in March 1944. The testing resulted in further modifications to both the bombs and the aircraft.
Seventeen production Silverplate aircraft were ordered in August 1944 to allow the 509th Composite Group to train with the type of aircraft they would have to fly in combat, and for the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit to test bomb configurations. These were followed by 28 more aircraft that were ordered in February 1945 for operational use by the 509th Composite Group. This batch included the aircraft which were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Including the Pullman B-29, 46 Silverplate B-29s were produced during and after World War II. An additional 19 Silverplate B-29s were ordered in July 1945, which were delivered between the end of the war and the end of 1947. Thus, 65 Silverplate B-29s were made.
The use of the Silverplate codename was discontinued after the war, but modifications continued under a new codename, Saddletree. Another 80 aircraft were modified under this program. The last group of B-29s was modified in 1953, but never saw further service. (Full article...)
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Did you know?
- ... that campaigning by climate activist Kimiko Hirata halted plans to build 17 new coal-fired power plants following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan?
- ... that after journalist Adele Ferguson's criticism of the U.S. Navy's sex discrimination attracted nationwide attention, she was offered a personal tour of a nuclear submarine?
- ... that Project Carryall proposed the detonation of 23 nuclear devices in California to build a road?
- ... that in 1958 the Scyla theta pinch device was the first to demonstrate controlled nuclear fusion in the laboratory?
- ... that under college president Arthur Bronwell in 1959, Worcester Polytechnic Institute built one of the first nuclear research reactors at an American university?
- ... that the sodium fast reactor Fermi 1 suffered a nuclear meltdown that led one operator to suggest "we almost lost Detroit"?
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A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and Harvard Law School, Lansdale was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve in 1933. He was called up for active duty in June 1941, and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (military intelligence) of the War Department General Staff. He became involved with the Manhattan Project in 1942, eventually becoming Brigadier General Leslie Groves's special assistant for security. Lansdale coordinated the activities of the Manhattan Project's field security teams with those of other agencies such as the FBI.
In April 1945, Groves sent Lansdale to Europe, where he worked with the Alsos Mission to secure 1,000 tons of uranium ore from the German Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft (WiFO) plant in Stassfurt. He also participated in the planning and execution of Operation Harborage, in which a special Allied force went deep behind enemy lines, seized 1.5 tons of uranium ingots, and captured a number of German nuclear energy project scientists, including Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, Max von Laue, Karl Wirtz, Horst Korsching and Erich Bagge and Otto Hahn. (Full article...)
Nuclear technology news
- 14 May 2024 –
- Russia places its nuclear capable submarine-launched Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile into service. (Reuters)
- 9 May 2024 – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran–Israel relations
- Iran warns that it will build a nuclear weapon if Israel continues to target its nuclear facilities. (Al Jazeera)
- 25 April 2024 – Russia–NATO relations
- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warns that Russia will make NATO nuclear weapons in Poland one of its primary targets if they are deployed there. (The Jerusalem Post)
- 23 April 2024 – North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea claims that it tested a new command-and-control system in a simulated nuclear counterstrike. (CNN)
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