Fission Commission Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chicago, Illinois

The Manhattan Project was formed in 1939 in order to defend against Nazi Germany as they were reported to have begun a nuclear weapons project of their own. Scientists of the Manhattan Project constructed the world's first nuclear reactor, named Chicago Pile-1, under Stagg Field, a football stadium owned by the University of Chicago.

Italian physicist Enrico Fermi was the scientist in charge of the experiment. Chicago Pile-1, using natural uranium as its fuel source, first reached criticality (the state in which a mass of fissionable material sustains or is able to sustain a nuclear chain reaction) on December 2, 1942.

Answer: Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Following the success with Chicago Pile-1, the Manhattan Project team decided to construct a nuclear reactor in the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee as part of the Y-12 National Security Complex. Workers who were brought in to the town to work on the project found themselves in a town shrouded in secrecy.

The X-10 Graphite Reactor, which was then known as the Clinton Pile, reached criticality on November 4, 1943. The purpose of the reactor was to convert natural uranium into plutonium that would be used in atomic weapons.

The reactor can be visited as part of tours of what is now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Answer: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated in southern New Mexico in what was known as Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range. The name of the facility was changed to the White Sands Missile Range in 1960. The bomb that was detonated was fueled with plutonium and was the same type of bomb as the one that was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. An obelisk made from volcanic rock was constructed in 1965 at the detonation site, now known as the Trinity Site.

The site can be visited by tourists despite there still being residual radiation from the blast, however the site is only opened to the public twice a year at most.

Answer: USS Nautilus

The USS Nautilus was the first submarine to be powered by nuclear fission. It was constructed by General Dynamics at a shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The USS Nautilus was named after the fictional submarine found in the famous Jules Verne novel, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea".

The USS Nautilus submarine, designated as (SSN-571) was the fourth American ship to bear the name and remained in active service until it was decommissioned on March 3, 1980. The submarine is currently on display at the Submarine Force Library and Museum located in Groton, Connecticut.

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was a nuclear powered aircraft carrier that was launched on September 24, 1960.

Answer: Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant

The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant reached criticality on May 6, 1954. It was the first nuclear power station to be permanently connected to the national power grid in the Soviet Union on June 27, 1954. The town of Obninsk, Russia is located approximately 70 miles (115 km) southwest of Moscow.

The power plant was taken off the Soviet power grid in 1959, but continued to remain operational for research purposes. The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant was eventually shut down on April 29, 2002.

Answer: Idaho

On July 17, 1955, the town of Arco, Idaho became the first American community to receive power produced via a nuclear reactor. The power was generated by an experimental reactor known as the BORAX-III, which was built by Argonne National Laboratory. The reactor was constructed at the National Reactor Testing Station (aka Idaho National Laboratory), which is located in the city of Idaho Falls, an hour drive east of the town of Arco.

The town only received the power for about an hour before the reactor was shut down.

Answer: Ford

The Ford Nucleon was a concept car introduced in 1957 that was designed to be powered by a nuclear reactor. The car resembled a futuristic pickup truck, with a nuclear reactor placed in the bed of the vehicle. It was implied that the Nucleon would have been able to travel approximately 5,000 miles without needing to refuel. Ford had designed the Nucleon in the hopes that nuclear technology would eventually be able to shrink reactors down to a size that would make it feasible to use as a power source for a car.

However, the cost, safety and health concerns regarding such a vehicle today make the Ford Nucleon an impractical concept.

Answer: Australia

Atucha Nuclear Power Plant, located near Buenos Aires, Argentina, was first activated on June 1, 1968. Embalse Nuclear Power Plant, which is located near Cordoba, Argentina, was activated on January 20, 1984. Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant, located near Cape Town, South Africa, was the only nuclear plant built in the entire continent of Africa prior to 2020.

It was first activated on July 21, 1984. The Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Station is the only nuclear power plant located in Mexico. It was first activated on July 29, 1990 and can be found on the east coast of Mexico, approximately 250 mi (400 km) east of Mexico City. Australia has not constructed a nuclear power plant at the time of writing this quiz (2021).

The only nuclear reactors constructed in Australia were used for research purposes.

Answer: Pripyat, Ukraine

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was first activated on September 26, 1977. It was built near the town of Pripyat, which became part of the Ukraine after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Chernobyl became the site of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents. On April 26, 1986, a design flaw in one of the reactors combined with improper safety techniques resulted in an explosion that crippled the town. Only two workers were killed in the initial explosion, but there would be more casualties as a result of the nuclear fallout.

The town of Pripyat was forced to be evacuate. The town still remains contaminated in 2021 and is likely to remain so for years to come.

Answer: Dawn

Many deep space probes since they travel so far away from the Sun are not able to be powered by solar arrays. Therefore, many of these spacecraft use radioisotope thermoelectric generators or RTG's to generate power. RTG's are powered by the radioactive decay of specific elements and isotopes, such as plutonium-238. Pioneer 10 and 11, both Voyagers, Galileo (Jupiter), Cassini (Saturn) and New Horizons (Pluto) were all powered using RTG's. Dawn, which explored the asteroids Ceres and Vesta, was powered by solar panels.