discovc~~~icx in science and terhnology. It s h o w n way t o adequate levels of living, iwailitlrle to evelyonn, which is still ineomplete but e m n e v e r t h ~ l ~bes ~rspirlly extended m d improved by specific kinds of rrseareh." The majar topic.; discrwed inclndo the Present IVorId Predicament (Human Serda, Poprdrttion, Ilesowcee, Furl, I t o c h and Minerals, Humsn Seeds IJninlfillrd), New Foods, Sra Fuels, and Xerv I'utt,rrns of Living (Thr llnlthnsim I>ilrmmna, A Minimum Adrquntc St,nndd u d oi Living, Characteristics of the New IJ~.hanization, The New Industries, The Developmental Soriet,:-, Social Orgsniext i m for Sen-Technology, 0 t h Horizons). ~ An appendix is includrd which pI.esent,s problrms in Fwdamental Science and in Applied Rraeanh. Each wction is well daeumentetl with recrnt litemture referenrcs. A I I W I ~ I P index is inchldrd. 11)pcnrrnl the vriting is well donr whicll makes I'm easy reading. Suffiricnt dntit am included t o support the :~~.guments, to give s~hst:mro to the topics covered, and to mskc thc hook both int~restinpar w l l a s usnhlr as R reference source. This hook is to he twommmdcd as ;L wfwnrrr sotlrrr for terminal courses in gcwml s c i m c r (either 1,iologirnl or. phwie rwl). I t is also a useful r ~ i r r ~ n csourer I'm the, scientist and the laymilr for ~ a s u n l ~.c,:dingnnrl sBldy. 4 . R. GARRETT OH,^
S ~ T UVIV~_R.ITY E
Co~.uusus.OHIO
PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY SERIES 11: REACTORS Edited by R. A. Chmpie, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, D. 1. Hughes, Brookhaven National Laboratory, D. I. Littler, A. E. R. E., Harwell, and M. Trocheris, C. E. A,, Saclay. McGrawHill Book Co., Inc.. New York, 1956. x X 492 pp. Many figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm'. $14.00. PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY SERIES IV: TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING Edited by R. Hurst, A. E. R. E., Harwell, and S.McLoin, Argonne National Laboratory. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1956. xiii 420 pp. Many figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5cm. $12.00
+
THESEnew series of books a n "Progress in Siwlwr ICrm.p),," annoonerd late in 1956, are initiated by eight volumes, each of which is volume one in its particular series. T h ~ s eseries are not to be coniusrd with the "National Surlear En~1.g)Se~ies,"slzo pt~blished by filcGraw-Hill, whirh 7 w . e I m e d upon declassified Manhattan Plojrct reports and Inter inform* tion. IZ'or should these series be confusod with the United Nations prtblicationa of the proceedings of the Geneva Conference on Nuclear Energy. Instead tlrese new FCI.~(.P will he international in scope, in-
(Contimed an page AZ49) JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
cludr msterial never Iwfore published, and will ronstitutc zi critical reappraisarl of the datn and teehniones of noolcar enerw. The t,wo volumes reviewed herewith Gr in the series on 11eaetors and on ?'eehnolor,w and Engineering, respectively. The volume on reactors first covers resrarch reactors, according to their national origin or gcographienl location, Then spceialized rcaetors a1.e discussed: the Pressurized Wnt,er Itewetor a t Shippingport, I'mnsylvania; t,hr prot,otype Boiling \Vntcr I'ower Reactor. a t Areonne Na1.shoratory; gl.nphite-mode~.ntod, g a s cooled power reactors (United Kingdom); and n rcvicw oi U. S. dc!velopments on fast ~ O ~ rc~ctom, C P l ~ y\Tr. H. Zinn. The valtune i~ rloscd l ~ ya 40-page Catalogue of .V.urlear Kzado~s, according to nat,ional origin. The reactors which atrldcnt~arc most :tpt t o enco~tnter :we vs~.istiansof the M T R reaetor-espec:i;~lly t,he so-csllcd swimming pool t y p t ? - ~ r the water-hoilcr reactor. Thenc avc bcroming common on the mmpmes of univcr~it,ios. All these research rrilettxs ua: n highly enriched uranium furl (>!lo% U-235). Untlor I'rcsidont Eisenhower's plan to supply en~riehcdfuel t o fricndlv nations to hnild reacaroh rcactorr, tho onriehmcnt is limited t,o 20%. Thc mctsllurgical prohlems imp o a d hy the necessity of using a more con-
VOLUME 34, NO. 5, MAY, 1957
cent,rated nrsnium-aluminum alloy have been ohviated hy a technique based upon use of uranium dioxide in thc "meat" of thc fuel-plate sandwich. Surprisingly enough, preliminary results roported in this volume show that the amount of uranium-235 docs not have t o be increased very much, when tho 20% enriched alloy is substituted for thc 90% enriched alloy, to make the reactor go critical. The variations in design and experimental inrilitie^ of most of the research rssctora in the U. S. are well reviewed by J. It. Huffman and A. M. Wcinberg in Chapter 2. Tho twntment of t,hese t,apics is descriptive and essentially nonmathematical, which makes i t possihle to recommend thc book t o nonsprainlints who wish an over-all picture of the current ~ t n t of u reactor developmcnt. Nowhere r l ~ eis there available so competent a survey of the divcrse types of rcsctors. As stated by 1,. It. Hafstad in tho preface, "This volumo will be a classir in its field and will be looked rlpon as thc first truly international toxt on the subject." The Serios I V volume on technology and engineering covers the t,opics oi resct,or coolants, moderators, heat trensfer, wactor chrmintry and corrosion of react,or mnterixl~. There is much or interest to chemists among these topics: hcavy-IT&t,er production; production of graphite for reactors; production of pure helpilium onidc and its fabrication for use in nuclenr reactors; sodium and sadiam-potassium d o ? for reactor cooling; drcomposition by nuclear radiations of wnt,cr in a rcsetor and recombination of gaseons pvoducts;
corrosion of aluminum and of zirconium and their alloys under various conditions expected to arise in power reactors; corrosion by liqoid metals; and, metallurgical studies an liquid bismuth and hismuth alloys for reactor fuels or coolants. The chemical prohlems are concerned with elements that were among tho less familiar ones prior t o 1939. The engineering prohlems likewise were not envisioned bv the pre-war engineer. Chapter 5 on engineering, for example, deals with the pumping of liquid metals; heat transfer hy comprcsscd gases, molten metals and organic materials; improvement of heat transfer between oraninm and zluminrim in contact; mechnnical pumps for pumping water, soIut,ion~,d u r r i e ~ ,molten sodium, moltcn bismuth, terphonyl, and fused salts; s n d undertaking these engineering prorednrcs under completely leakproof requirements and under conditionn of high bemper~torc,high pressure, high radiation levpls. I t is obvious that while much has been learned about nnelear reactors and the convelxion of nuclmr energy into uscful power, the sricnce is still in its infancy. These volumes on the "Progress of Xuclear Energy" serve a very useful purpose to call attention to the present state of the art, hot in addition, they serve to reveal tho problems that remain t o be solved. Them books will awaken the imagination of the student with the ehallengo of new front,iers to cross.
