TRIVIA QUESTIONS Submitted by: ANS Savannah River - A. Bryson, D. Hanson, B. Lenz, M. Mewborn 1. What was the code name used for the first U.S. test of a dry fuel hydrogen bomb? Castle Bravo 2. What was the name of world’s first artificial nuclear reactor to achieve criticality? Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), I also seem to recall seeing/hearing them referred to as “number one,” “number two,” etc. 3. How much time elapsed between the first known sustained nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago and the _____ Option 1: {first use of this new technology as a weapon} or Option 2: {dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima} A3) First chain reaction = December 2nd 1942, First bomb-drop = August 6th 1945 4. Some sort of question drawing info from the below tables. For example, “what were the names of the other aircraft that accompanied the Enola Gay (one point for each correct aircraft name)?” Another example, “What was the common word in the call sign of the pilots who flew the Japanese bombing missions?” A4) Screenshots of tables from the Wikipedia page “Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” Savannah River Trivia / Page 1 of 18 5. True or False: Richard Feynman’s name is on the patent for a nuclear powered airplane? (True) 6. What is the Insectary of Bobo-Dioulasso doing to reduce the spread of sleeping sickness and wasting diseases that affect cattle using a nuclear technique? (Sterilizing tsetse flies; IAEA.org) 7. What was the name of the organization that studied that radiological effects on people after the atomic bombings? Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission 8. Who are the two financial supporters or the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF)? United States and Japan 9. What is the name of the United Arab Emirates first nuclear power project? Barakah Nuclear Energy plant (http://www.gtreview.com/news/mena/uaes-first-nuclear-plant- wins-new-financing/ 10. What power plant just started producing power? Watts Bar unit 2http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/us/tennessee-nuclear-power-plant/index.html 11. What temperature of fusion is required for commercial fusion? 50 million C http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a23431/mit-world-record-nuclear- fusion/ http://news.mit.edu/2016/alcator-c-mod-tokamak-nuclear-fusion-world-record-1014 12. Q: The recently shut down nation’s smallest nuclear plant is adjacent to this river. a. A: Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station, Missouri River 13. Q:This home of a national laboratory, bearing the same name as the county wherein it resides, may also be known as The Cottonwoods or The Poplars a. A: Los Alamos 14. Q: In the nuclear world, what does the acronym NORM stand for? a. A: Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material Savannah River Trivia / Page 2 of 18 15. Q: This physicist has many honors (some posthumous) including being interred near Sir Isaac Newton at Westminster Abbey, having a chemical named after him/her, receiving a nobel prize in chemistry, and being knighted. a. A: Ernest Rutherford. This is his arms for the presentation if you want it. b. 16. Plutonium's density always decreases with increasing temperature: true or false? a. Answer: False. There is a range between around 575K and 725K where the density increases with increasing temperature 17. What caused Buck Rogers to go into "a state of suspended animation, free from the ravages of catabolic processes, and without any apparent effect on physical or mental faculties"? a. Answer: Radioactive gas. In Rogers's back story, in 1927 he is working for the American Radioactive Gas Corporation investigating reports of unusual phenomena reported in abandoned coal mines near Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania 18. How many nuclear power stations will be operating in Massachusetts if Entergy proceeds with the plan to shut down Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in 2019? a. Answer – 0; Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is the only operating nuclear power station in Massachusetts. (http://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/pilgrim- nuclear-plant-massachusetts-close-2019-owner-says-n443566, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Nuclear_Generating_Station) 19. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, Roger Guillemin, and Andrew Schally won the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of the radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique. What was the first disease studied using this technique? Answer: Diabetes mellitus a. Alternative wording: Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, Roger Guillemin, and Andrew Schally won the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for a technique they developed which allowed researchers to observe the circulation of insulin in the body. What was the technique? Answer: 1 point for general description (use of radioisotope tracers), 2 points for the name (radioimmunoassay) or a more-specific description (injection of radioisotope-target material mixture, along with an anti-body that preferentially Savannah River Trivia / Page 3 of 18 attaches to the non-radioactive molecules of the target mixture, allowing a comparison of the concentration of radioactive antibody-tracer-target materials in a blood sample the subject with a control mixture where the antibodies only had tracer-target molecules to attach to) b. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalyn_Sussman_Yalow Bonus information: Rosalyn Yalow was the second American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, following Gerty Cori. 20. In September 1934, Ido Noddack published a criticism of Enrico Fermi’s nature paper, “Possible Production of Elements of Atomic Number Higher than 92”. Part of her criticism was significant for what it suggested, and significant in that it was ignored. It related to a discovery that involved another female scientist. What was that suggestion? Answer: It suggested that Fermi had produced fission in his experiments. ((Bernstein, Jeremy, Plutonium, p. 30) 21. What was the name of the world’s first fast-neutron reactor? a. Clementine, built as part of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1945- 1946.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_(nuclear_reactor) b. Why was the name “Clementine” given to the fast-neutron reactor built as part of the Manhattan Project? Because it was built in a deep canyon, and because the reactor operators were known as 49ers, because 49 (for element 94, isotope 239) was a code name for plutonium at that time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_(nuclear_reactor) 22. Tie breaker: How long is the half-life of the ground state decay for NA-24 to the nearest second? a. (Ignoring uncertainties) A: 53,824 seconds (T1/2=14.997 hours * 3600 seconds/hour = 53823.6, round to 53,824 second) 23. Who coined the term “radioactive”? Answer: Marie Curie (Plutonium, by Jeremy Bernstein 24. What European city; known for its historic architecture and numerous hot springs and spas; is the birthplace of Edward Teller? Answer: Budapest, Hungary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller#Early_life_and_education) 25. Found on an old draft, not sure if we used this one? What did the Manhattan Project site replace on the mesa Los Alamos? The Los Alamos Ranch School (losalamoshistory.org) (2 point question; 1 for “school”, 1 for full name?) Possible other answers: “trees” (suggest not accepting that one), township (still there) Savannah River Trivia / Page 4 of 18 26. In what countries would you find a SLOWPOKE (safe low-power kritical Experiment) reactor? (Canada, Jamaica. China has similar design, Miniature Neutron Source Reactor MNSR) 27. What movie includes the line, "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room!" (Dr. Strangelove) 28. Name two comic book characters whose superpowers are attributed, directly or indirectly, to radiation exposure (Spiderman, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, arguably all of the X-Men but Beast in particular, Firestorm, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Radioactive Man from the Simpsons, Atom Man, Superman, Doctor Solar, Dr. Midnight, etc.) 29. What term refers to positive health effects of low-level radiation? (hormesis) 30. With what element does the decay chain of Uranium-238 end? (Pb-206) 31. Where does the state historical marker commemorating the detection of the neutrino stand? (Actually there are three historic markers that mention the discovery of the neutrino, one off Whiskey Rd at 278, P Reactor, and one is also in front of P-Reactor. www.scaet.org/markers/display.cfm?id=1357 - at the chamber of commerce www.scaet.org/markers/display.cfm?id=1018 - at P Reactor www.scaet.org/markers/display.cfm?id=1009 - at 278 & 19) 32. What country gets over 70% of its electricity from nuclear power plants? (France) 33. What is the most widely used radioactive isotope for medical diagnostic studies? Tc- 99M is more accurate. Tc-99M is milked from a Mo-99 (secular equilibrium source). Tc-99M isomeric transitions to Tc-99 with about a 6 hr half-life, Tc-99 beta decays with a half-life of about 213,000 years 34. Name three countries that are not part of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Any 3 of North Korea, Israel, Pakistan, India) 35. Name a country which has formally announced an intention to remove nuclear power from its electricity sources (Germany, Switzerland) 36. What percentage of South Carolina's power came from nuclear sources in 2010? (49.9% according to NEI, 50% effectively) 37. Who writes the "Backscatter" column shown on the last page of Nuclear News ( Bill Minkler) 38. What color is associated with Cherenkov radiation in water? (blue) 39. TRUE OR FALSE: A nuclear reactor can explode like a nuclear bomb. (False) 40. Name the only nuclear powered, U.S. commercial ship (USS Savannah) 41. What does SCRAM stand for? (Safety Control Rod Axe Man) 42. Where does the only known natural nuclear reactor lie? (Oklo region, Gabon, Africa) 43.