edited by S Esposito (Università di Napoli ”Federico II”, Italy & INFN Sezione di Napoli, Italy) & O Pisanti (Università di Napoli ”Federico II”, Italy & INFN Sezione di Napoli, Italy)

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accurate and very detailed description of the functioning and operation of basic nuclear reactors, as emerging from yet unpublished papers by Nobel Laureate Enrico Fermi.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.

• Introduction
• Neutron Physics:
  • Sources of Neutrons
  • The Isotopic Chart: Nuclear Masses and Energies
  • The Scattering of Neutrons (Part 1)
  • Resonance: Models of the Nucleus
  • The Scattering of Neutrons (Part 2)
  • Slow Neutrons as Waves
  • The Slowing Down of Neutrons
  • The Age Equation
  • Thermal Neutron Distributions
  • The Reflection of Neutrons
  • The Stability of Nuclei
  • Nuclear Fission
  • The Possibility of a Chain Reaction
  • The Heterogeneous Pile
  • The Time Dependence of a Pile
  • Practical Aspects of Pile Physics
  • Fast Reactors
  • Problems and Exercises
• Nuclear Reactors:
  • Process for the Production of Radioactive Substances
  • Test Exponential Pile
  • Method of Operating a Neutronic Reactor
  • Chain Reacting System
  • Neutronic Reactor I
  • Air Cooled Neutronic Reactor
  • Testing Material in a Neutronic Reactor
  • Neutron Velocity Selector
  • Neutronic Reactor II
  • Neutronic Reactor III
  • Neutronic Reactor IV
  • Method of Testing Thermal Neutron Fissionable Material for Purity
  • Method of Sustaining a Neutronic Chain Reacting System
  • Neutronic Reactor Shield