The Development of Nuclear Reactor Theory in the Montreal Laboratory of the National Research Council of Canada (Division of Atomic Energy) 1943-1946

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The Development of Nuclear Reactor Theory in the Montreal Laboratory of the National Research Council of Canada (Division of Atomic Energy) 1943-1946 Progress in Nuclear Energy 36 (2000) 239-322 M.M.R. Williams Corrigenda and Addenda Since publication of the above article, a number of matters have come to light which call for some corrections and additions. These are as follows: A number of biographical sketches were given of the authors of the MT reports. In this connection, I have to report very sadly the death of Jeanne LeCaine (Mrs Agnew) earlier this year 2000. MT-50 The neutron density near a plane surface II by C. Mark, is also published in Physical Review 72 (1947) 558. MT-55 The application of variational theory to the determination of asymptotic neutron densities by R. E. Marshak, is also published in Physical Review 71 (1947) 693. MT-88 Influence of a small black sphere upon the neutron density in an infinite non-capturing medium, MT-124 Large spherical hole in a slightly capturing medium, MT-135 Influence of a large black cylinder upon the neutron density in an infinite non-capturing medium, all by B. Davison. An abridged form of these reports may be found in the Proceedings of the Physical Society A LXIV (1951) 881-902 MS-1 On the possibility of a slow neutron chain reaction by R. Peierls. Because the print quality in the copy of the report I initially received was so poor, I inadvertently misread one of the symbols. On closer inspection, I see now that in my description of this paper, the second sentence commencing 'At that time...' should be deleted. In fact Peierls set the number of neutrons per fission equal to 3, he then calculated the value of k¥ as a function of the ratio of the number of hydrogen atoms per uranium 238 atom (h). He found that k¥ went through a maximum reaching the value of 0.84 at h » 5 ..

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