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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Latest News
The Frisch-Peierls memorandum: A seminal document of nuclear history
The Manhattan Project is usually considered to have been initiated with Albert Einstein’s letter to President Franklin Roosevelt in October 1939. However, a lesser-known document that was just as impactful on wartime nuclear history was the so-called Frisch-Peierls memorandum. Prepared by two refugee physicists at the University of Birmingham in Britain in early 1940, this manuscript was the first technical description of nuclear weapons and their military, strategic, and ethical implications to reach high-level government officials on either side of the Atlantic. The memorandum triggered the initiation of the British wartime nuclear program, which later merged with the Manhattan Engineer District.
Juergen Biener, Paul B. Mirkarimi, Joseph W. Tringe, Sherry L. Baker, Yinmin Wang, Sergei O. Kucheyev, Nick E. Teslich, Kuang Jen J. Wu, Alex V. Hamza, Christoph Wild, Eckhard Woerner, Peter Koidl, Kai Bruehne, Hans-Joerg Fecht
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 4 | May 2006 | Pages 737-742
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST49-737
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Diamond has a unique combination of physical properties for the inertial confinement fusion ablator application, such as appropriate optical properties, high atomic density, high yield strength, and high thermal conductivity. Here, we present a feasible concept for fabrication of diamond ablator shells. The fabrication of diamond capsules is a multi-step process which involves diamond chemical vapor deposition on silicon mandrels followed by polishing, microfabrication of holes, and removing of the silicon mandrel by an etch process. We also discuss the pros and cons of coarse-grained optical quality and nanocrystalline chemical vapor deposition diamond films for the ablator application.