Chicago Pile 1 physical/technical details

[Tabasco Sauce]

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've been around here but I could use some help!

I'm trying to throw together a rudimentary neutron diffusion simulation of Chicago Pile 1 but I'm having trouble finding some technical details on it.

I need to find details on the dimensions of the reactor. Things like how the uranium metal/oxide blocks, graphite blocks, and control rods were arranged. Basically I need a labeled and dimensioned technical drawing of the reactor. If something like that is super hard to come by then I could at least use a good general description of the uranium distribution along with at least the external dimensions of the pile. I've read that the whole reactor is approximately the size of a squash court and that the pile is somewhat of a flattened ellipsoid, but I would love to have a better picture than that.

I'm also having trouble finding a few other technical details such as U-235 enrichment % of the uranium metal and oxides and what kind of material the control rods were.

There is a ton of information available on the history of this reactor but the technical details are sparse. If anyone has any technical sources they could point me to I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks for your time!

 

[phyzguy]

The site below has some cross-sectional pictures, from which you could make some estimates of the dimensions. It also lists the total size, and the masses of graphite and uranium. I thought it was natural uranium, but I'm not sure. I don't think they had a source of enriched uranium. I don't know about the control rods.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/Photos/CP1/image1.shtml

 

[QuantumPion]

Nice pictures. From that site:

"The completed pile contained 771,000 pounds of graphite, 80,590 pounds of uranium oxide and 12,400 pounds of uranium metal when it went critical. It cost about $2.7 million to produce and build. The pile took the form of a flattened ellipsoid which measured 25 feet wide and 20 feet high."

 

[jtbell]

An amusing side-note:

Original estimates as to the critical size of the pile were pessimistic. As a further precaution, it was decided to enclose the pile in a balloon cloth bag which could be evacuated to remove the neutron-capturing air. This balloon cloth bag was constructed by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Specialists in designing gasbags for lighter-than-air craft, the company's engineers were a bit puzzled about the aerodynamics of a square balloon. Security regulations forbade informing Goodyear of the purpose of the envelope and so the Army's new square balloon was the butt of much joking.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/firstpile/firstpile_06.shtml

 

[Tabasco Sauce]

Hey thanks guys! Those atomic archive links seem to be the best thing out there at the moment. It's still not quite as technical as I'd like, but I can at least get a good start with it.

If anyone else either now or in the future is also interested in this- I've found some technical details on the control rods and uranium fuel at the oak ridge national laboratory website in this pdf:

http://www.ornl.gov/info/reports/1957/3445605702068.pdf

I've also actually emailed UOC to see if they had any technical info on site that I might be able to get a hold of and I will post anything I can get from that.

After the model is complete I'll try to upload my MATLAB files for anyone interested.

 

[Astronuc]

This might be of interest - http://library.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/getfile?aavq.pdf
from - http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/fermipat.html

A better file of the patent might be - http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2708656.pdf

One might also try - Neutron physics for nuclear reactors: unpublished writings By Enrico Fermi, Salvatore Esposito, Ofelia Pisanti


More story than technical - http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2002-11-2.pdf