Enrico Fermi and
Leo Szilard invented the first nuclear reactor in which nuclear chain reactions
are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady observable rate. In
Chicago, Fermi oversaw the design and assembly of what was called the ‘atomic
pile’, the code name given to a ‘nuclear reactor’ so as to not cause panic
during peace-time.
With World War
II raging in Europe, the ability to produce an atomic bomb was considered of
the greatest importance, and so Fermi was assisted in the development of his
nuclear reactor.
Being the
world’s largest source of emission- free energy, generating nuclear energy
needed a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction and
so we have the Nuclear Reactor. Four distinct ‘Generations’ of nuclear plants
have existed through time.
Generation 1
reactors were the first to produce civilian nuclear power. Generation 2 designs
were commercial reactors, but had the disadvantage of needing manpower to
operate and not functioning if the power was shut off. This brings us to
Generation 3 reactors which can function by themselves hence addressing, to an
extent, safety concerns of working in a nuclear plant. And finally, Generation
4 reactors which right now are still in theory but will supposedly surpass all
other nuclear reactors.
Obninsk Nuclear
Power Station, situated 100km from Moscow, was the first civilian nuclear power
station in the world.
