This unique volume gives an accurate and very detailed description of the functioning and operation of basic nuclear reactors, as emerging from yet unpublished papers by Nobel Laureate Enrico Fermi. In the first part, the entire course of lectures on Neutron Physics delivered by Fermi at Los Alamos is reported, according to the version made by Anthony P French. Here, the fundamental physical phenomena are described very clearly and comprehensively, giving the appropriate physics grounds for the functioning of nuclear piles. In the second part, all the patents issued by Fermi (and coworkers) on the functioning, construction and operation of several different kinds of nuclear reactors are reported. Here, the main engineering problems are encountered and solved by employing simple and practical methods, which are described in detail. This seminal work mainly caters to students, teachers and researchers working in nuclear physics and engineering, but it is of invaluable interest to historians of physics too, since the material presented here is entirely novel.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the fundamental theory and applications of slow-neutron scattering.

The response to various neutron spectra of a 2-inch diameter BF3 proportional counter in a Halpern-type geometry has been studied as a function of moderator thickness. Neutron sources used were a calibrated RaDBe(a,n) source and a series of photoneutron sources using a number of bremsstrahlung spectra. The reactions used were: 16PO(gamma,n), 31P(gamma,n) and d(gamma,n). For these sources absolute neutron yields were determined either from the residual B+ activity or from the known cross section and the absolute bremsstrahlung intensity. Using these empirical data a final detector with 13 BF3 counters was constructed. Over the spectral range covered by the above sources the measured efficiency for counting neutrons of the final detector was 9.6 percent with an estimated uncertainty of plus or minus 0.5 percent, independent of spectrum. The detector was used to measure the neutron yields from Pb, Au, Ta, Ho, Ag, Cu, Co, Ca, P, Al, O and C for a series of bremsstrahlung energies between 12.0 and 29.0 MeV. These yields were compared with those calculated from previously published neutron yield cross sections. The data indicate that previously reported discrepancies in neutron yield data can probably be traced to the determination of neutron detector efficiencies. (Author).