Nuclear energy has not always been viewed with the caution that this useful but potentially disastrous power source deserves. In the early 1980s, especially in the U.S.S.R., citizens were led to believe that nuclear power offered the ultimate in safety, cleanliness, and reliability. As this text excerpted from Richard Rhodes' book, Nuclear Renewal and reprinted on the FRONTLINE Web site explains, such beliefs led to the complacency responsible for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, the worst accident of its kind in history. Grades 6-12
This course introduces fundamental properties of the neutron. It covers reactions induced by neutrons, nuclear fission, slowing down of neutrons in infinite media, diffusion theory, the few-group approximation, point kinetics, and fission-product poisoning. It emphasizes the nuclear physics bases of reactor design and its relationship to reactor engineering problems.
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