Further Reading — Chapter 20

Foundational Papers

N. Bohr and J.A. Wheeler, "The Mechanism of Nuclear Fission," Physical Review 56, 426 (1939). The landmark paper that established the liquid drop model of fission, the deformation energy analysis, and the fissility parameter. Still remarkably readable and the intellectual foundation of this entire chapter.
O.R. Frisch and L. Meitner, "Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: A New Type of Nuclear Reaction," Nature 143, 239 (1939). The original one-page letter explaining fission using the liquid drop model, written within weeks of Hahn and Strassmann's discovery.
O. Hahn and F. Strassmann, "Uber den Nachweis und das Verhalten der bei der Bestrahlung des Urans mittels Neutronen entstehenden Erdalkalimetalle," Naturwissenschaften 27, 11 (1939). The experimental discovery of fission — the identification of barium among the products of neutron bombardment of uranium.
E. Fermi, "The Development of the First Chain Reacting Pile," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 90, 20 (1946). Fermi's own account of the physics and engineering of Chicago Pile-1.

K.S. Krane, Introductory Nuclear Physics (Wiley, 1988), Chapter 13. Excellent treatment of fission at the intermediate undergraduate level, including the liquid drop barrier, mass distributions, and the chain reaction. The standard reference for the level of this course.
S.S.M. Wong, Introductory Nuclear Physics, 2nd ed. (Wiley-VCH, 2004), Chapter 6. Good coverage of the fission process with more detail on the deformation energy calculation.
B.L. Cohen, Concepts of Nuclear Physics (McGraw-Hill, 1971), Chapter 11. Particularly clear on the four-factor formula and reactor physics at the physics (as opposed to engineering) level.
J.R. Lamarsh and A.J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 4th ed. (Pearson, 2018). The standard nuclear engineering textbook. Chapters 3–4 cover fission and chain reactions in detail with practical reactor physics calculations.
W.M. Stacey, Nuclear Reactor Physics, 3rd ed. (Wiley-VCH, 2018). Comprehensive graduate-level treatment of reactor neutronics, the four-factor formula, reactor kinetics, and reactor design.

V.M. Strutinsky, "Shell effects in nuclear masses and deformation energies," Nuclear Physics A 95, 420 (1967). The Strutinsky method for incorporating shell corrections into the liquid drop model — essential for understanding why actinide fission barriers are lower than the pure liquid drop prediction and why fission isomers exist.
P. Moller et al., "Nuclear fission modes and fragment mass asymmetries in a five-dimensional deformation space," Nature 409, 785 (2001). Modern theoretical calculations of fission barriers and fragment mass distributions using multi-dimensional potential energy surfaces.

A.C. Wahl, "Systematics of fission-product yields," Los Alamos Report LA-13928 (2002). Comprehensive compilation and systematics of fission product mass and charge distributions.
ENDF/B-VIII.0: The Evaluated Nuclear Data File, maintained by the National Nuclear Data Center at Brookhaven National Laboratory (www.nndc.bnl.gov). The definitive source for evaluated fission yield data, cross sections, and decay data used in reactor physics calculations.

G.R. Keepin, Physics of Nuclear Kinetics (Addison-Wesley, 1965). The classic reference on delayed neutrons and reactor kinetics. Keepin's six-group delayed neutron parameters remain standard.

R. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Simon & Schuster, 1986). Pulitzer Prize-winning history that covers both the physics and the human story. Chapters on the discovery of fission, the Fermi pile, and the weapon designs are scientifically detailed.
L. Hoddeson et al., Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945 (Cambridge University Press, 1993). The technical history of the weapons program, drawn from declassified documents.

IAEA, "Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology Developments," 2022 edition. Comprehensive survey of SMR designs worldwide, including physics parameters and safety features.
NuScale Power, "NuScale Standard Plant Design Certification Application" (NRC ML20224A492). The full design certification documentation submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
World Nuclear Association, "Small Nuclear Power Reactors" (www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/small-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx). Regularly updated summary of SMR designs and their development status.

National Research Council, Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste in Deep Geologic Formations (National Academies Press, 2001). Authoritative review of the science of deep geological disposal.
B. Boullis et al., "Spent fuel reprocessing and recycling," in Nuclear Fuel Cycle Science and Engineering, ed. I. Crossland (Woodhead, 2012). Overview of reprocessing and transmutation strategies.

National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC): www.nndc.bnl.gov — Evaluated nuclear data including binding energies, cross sections, fission yields, and decay data. The NuDat database is particularly useful for looking up nuclear properties.
IAEA Nuclear Data Services: www-nds.iaea.org — International compilations of nuclear reaction data, including the EXFOR experimental database and ENDF evaluated files.
Table of Isotopes (Firestone): The Berkeley reference for nuclear decay data. Available online at isotopes.lbl.gov.

R. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986) and Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (1995). Together, these two volumes provide the definitive narrative history of nuclear weapons development and the physics community's engagement with it.
L. Meitner, personal correspondence with O. Hahn, December 1938–January 1939. Excerpts published in R.L. Sime, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (University of California Press, 1996). Essential reading for understanding the human story behind fission's discovery and Meitner's unjust exclusion from the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.