Word: plutonium
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Explosive Lenses. According to Greenglass, the plutonium in the bomb was surrounded by 36 "lenses" of some such high explosive as TNT. Such lenses are roughly analogous to the shaped charges in bazooka projectiles; when they explode, they focus much of their force in one direction. If they are arranged in a spherical shell around the plutonium, their explosion will force it toward a common center...
...general principle of an atom bomb lias been no secret. The "fissionable material" (plutonium or uranium 235) explodes spontaneously if enough of it is brought together to form a "critical mass." Smaller masses do not explode, so a bomb is made with two or more "subcritical masses." To bring about an efficient explosion, these must be slammed together as quickly as possible...
...projected plant, he will use uranium supplied by AEC, charge AEC a fee for turning it into plutonium. The tremendous heat, now a waste byproduct of the process, will be used to run a steam generating plant. By charging a fee for making the plutonium, Thomas thinks that the cost of producing electricity can be brought down to current commercial rates. By using the cheap electric power to manufacture chemicals, he thinks Monsanto can afford to make plutonium at a lower cost than in AEC's own plants...
...Monsanto Chemical Co. and Detroit Edison Co. (allied with Dow Chemical Co.) asked and got AEC permission last week to study the work done on nuclear reactors. They hoped to develop nuclear reactors to produce power for commercial purposes as well as plutonium (for bombs...
Large nuclear reactors need vast quantities of cooling water, and it must be water of a very special sort. The plutonium plant at Hanford, Wash. was built there because of the Columbia River, but Columbia water did not prove entirely satisfactory. Though clear and cold and plentiful, it contains a large amount of dissolved solids, some of which become radioactive when they are carried through the reactors...