Atomic electricityIn 1959, it was reported that the first generation of electricity direct from uranium heated by fission in a reactor took place at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico. It used a “plasma thermocouple”in the reactor without any boiler or turbine of a conventional power station. The device produced merely 3.8 volts, 30-40 amps current, and with low efficiency that made it unlikely to have any immediate practical application. It was an interesting application of Seebeck's thermo-electric effect (1821) by which a current will flow in a circuit formed by different conductors joined with two junctions at different temperatures. The Los Alamos experiment used a rod of uranium carbide, heated by fusion of its U-235 content, in a plasma atmosphere of casesium metal in a metal container with cooled exterior.« |
