Atoms for Peace’ Conference

In 1950 Bohr wrote an open letter to the United Nations warning of the horrors of nuclear war. In 1955 he organized the first Atoms for Peace Conference. Niels Bohr was one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century, see also Rutherford, Ernest Thomson, Joseph John. 

As already indicated, the early postwar decades saw an enormous growth of both basic and applied nuclear research. Almost everywhere, certainly in the USA, Western Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan, governments supported nuclear science on a scale never before experienced. At the first Atoms for Peace Conference convened in 1955 at Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations, a vast amount of previously classified information was publicly presented for the first time (PUAE 1956). This conference gave a considerable impetus to the dissemination of nuclear research and the worldwide use of nuclear technology. 

Bhabha established the Atomic Energy Commission of India. He served as the president of the United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. His efforts to develop nuclear reactors in India coincided with the interest of the United States in promoting Atoms for Peace. The capabilities India acquired for peaceful use of nuclear energy, however, supported its national efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Bhabha s role in such developments is unclear. See also PEACEEUL NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS (PNE) TREATY SMILING BUDDHA. 

Fermi, Laura. Atoms for the World United States Participation in the Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1957. 

As a result of this change in policy, the second UN Geneva conference, held in 1958, led to the creation of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), which was intended to be a kind of uranium bank with responsibility for the inspection of the safety of all nuclear plants in use in various countries to guarantee the use of uranium for peaceful purposes. At the same time the 1958 Rome Treaty, signed by the six European countries that had previously combined to form the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), led to the establishment of the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). 

Weiss, J., Allen, A. O., Schwartz, H. A., Use of the Fricke Sulfate Dosimeter for Gamma Ray Doses in the Range 4 to 40 Kiloroentgen, Proceedings of First International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Geneva, 1955, P/155, pp-14, 179. 

Problems at the end of each chapter may prove useful when the text is used for instruction. References are provided for readers who wish more details about the topics treated in each chapter. Extensive use has been made of information from the Proceedings of the four International Conferences on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland, sponsored by the United Nations, which are listed as PICG, followed by the number of the conference, in the references at the ends of chapters. 

Hurst, R., and Wright, J., Paper No. 900, International Conference for the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Geneva (1956). 

Whitman s career in the post-war period was highly significant. At M.I.T. he directed the first study, in 1948, of the use of nuclear power for airplanes. On leave from M.I.T., he was on the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission and, successively. Chairman of the Research and Development Board of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Department of Defense, organized under United Nations auspices of the First International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, and Science Advisor to the Department of State. 

Professor Whitman is probably best known in technical circles for his development of the two-film theory for gas absorption and for contributions in the corrosion field. His later years were devoted largely to administration of the department and to public services such as the War Production Board, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Science Advisor to the Department of State, and Secretary General of the U.N. Conference on Peaceful Uses of the Atom. His citation on election... 

F. T. Adler, G. W. Hinman and L. W. Nordheim, Effective reaomince integrals a systematic evaluation for all temperatures and geometries of practical interest. Proceedings United Nations Second International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, United Nations, Geneva, vol. 2, P/1988, 1958. 

M. E. Mandl and J. Howlett, A method for calculating the critical mass of an inter-mediate reactor. Proceedings of the International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, vol. 5, August, 1955, pp. 433-436. 

During the last ten years most of the efforts have gone toward exploiting the existence of fast electronic computers. As a result several new methods have been developed, such as the Sn difference methods [3 4] and the Monte Carlo statistical approach. In addition, several of the earlier methods, for example, those mentioned above, have been adapted to the new situation. Many of these more recent investigations are discussed by Richtmyer [5] and others were reported on at the Second International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (see for instance Bareiss [6] and Grelbard, et al. [7]). 

Horrocks DL (1974) Applications of liquid scintillation counting. Chap. 6. Academic, New York Hulet EK (1964) J Inorg Nucl Chem 26 1721 Hyde EK (1956) Radiochemical separation methods for the actinide elements. In Proceedings of the International Conference on the peaceful used of atomic energy, Geneva, 1955. A/CONF. 8/7, New York United Nations, p 281... 

We can think of World War II period practices as plutonium production driven and embryonic efforts at civilian control. I have chosen 1954 as the cut-off date because that was the date of the transfer of control of nuclear energy in the United States from the military to the civilian control [5]. We could also use the date of the first hitemational Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Geneva, 1955 as a cut-off date. While the pressures for production were great in every country, how they manifested themselves differed from country to country depending upon its own social, political, and cultural patterns. At that time, there were only a few coimtries involved. Because I know the USA situation best, it inevitably will serve as the baseline of my comments-which is not to infer that it is the standard or the most desirable practice or regulatory regime. 

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