Word: fissioning
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Argentina," explained Perón, had decided that it was not "worth the trouble to copy nuclear fission." Instead, "contrary to what was done in foreign experiments, Argentine technicians worked on the basis of thermonuclear reactions, which are identical with those whereby the sun releases atomic energy." The successful experiment had been conducted at the government atomic plant on Huemul Island, in the Andean lake of Nahuel Huapi, some 900 miles southwest of Buenos Aires. It required neither uranium nor plutonium. "With the seriousness and veracity which is my custom," Perón assured his people that his cut-rate...
...deep in the desert near the plutonium plant at Hanford, Wash. are thick-walled concrete treasure chests, guarded by a stronger curse than watches over any Egyptian tomb. If a thief were to try to loot them, a blast of radioactivity would strike bim dead. But the dangerous treasure-"fission products" from plutonium manufacture-may some day revolutionize many branches of industry. Last week Stanford Research Institute issued a weighty report on the fission products and how they may be used...
...sacrificed splits into other elements of lesser atomic weight. Most of these are fiercely radioactive, and they must be disposed of before the plutonium can be used for atomic bombs. The chemical separation process, accomplished by remote control from behind thick shields, results in a crude mixture of fission products and nonradioactive chemicals. Radioactivity of the mixture varies, but may be as high as 1,000 curies* per lb.-about twice as active as radium, the smallest visible speck of which is dangerous. Further refining raises the activity to 5,000 or 10,000 curies per lb. Stanford Institute believes...
What good are these cheap and perilous fission products? The institute gives a long list of promising industrial uses: to sterilize food products and surgical dressings without heat, by passing them through intense radiation; to kill mold on the outside of cheese or fruit; to destroy weevils and other pests in grain elevators. Probably even more important are the chemical uses. Radiation breaks up many chemical molecules, encouraging them to recombine into new compounds. Chemical plants of the future, says the institute, may use fission products to turn out valuable substances that cannot be made in any other practical...
...Atomic Energy Commission, says Stanford Institute, has enormous quantities of fission products in the underground storage at Hanford. Before they are put freely on the market, however, industry must learn gradually how to make use of them. It must also learn how to control its new and dangerous tools...