German
scientist Martin Klaproth discovered uranium in 1789 and called it
after the planet Uranus. Wilhelm Rontgen discovered ionizing
radiation via X-rays in 1895, followed by Henri Becquerel's
discovery in 1896 that pitchblende emits beta and alpha particles,
giving rise to the notion of radioactivity, which was subsequently
called by Pierre and Marie Curie (World
Nuclear Association, n.d.-c).
Ernest
Rutherford's 1902 work on radioactivity, Niels Bohr's atomic model,
and James Chadwick's 1932 discovery of the neutron are all
significant contributions to nuclear research. Otto Hahn and Fritz
Strassmann demonstrated nuclear fission in 1938, which Lise Meitner
and Otto Frisch characterized as a watershed point in the history of
nuclear energy development (World Nuclear Association, n.d.-c).
In 1939,
Hahn and Strassmann discovered that fission unleashed not just
enormous quantities of energy but also more neutrons, possibly
beginning a self-sustaining chain reaction. This was proven by
experts such as Joliot and Szilard. Niels Bohr's theory that
uranium-235 was more fissionable than uranium-238 was also
confirmed, particularly for slow-moving neutrons. The notion of
uranium enrichment developed when U-235 made up only 0.7% of natural
uranium (World Nuclear Association, n.d.-c).
Francis
Perrin developed the critical mass hypothesis, which was later
extended by Rudolf Peierls. By 1940, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
proposed that uranium-238 might be transformed into plutonium,
another powerful explosive. Although Germany's nuclear energy
program halted in 1942 owing to resource constraints, it prompted
Britain and the United States to continue atomic bomb development
(World Nuclear Association, n.d.-c).
By 1940,
the British MAUD Committee had made substantial progress in nuclear
research, demonstrating U-235's potential to maintain a chain
reaction (Nuclear Museum, n.d.). In 1941, the committee's studies
stated that a uranium bomb was possible, with 12 kg of U-235 causing
an explosion equivalent to 1,800 tons of TNT. They acknowledged
uranium's potential for power generation but prioritized bomb
development. After the United States entered World War II in
December 1941, its entire resources were directed toward the
development of atomic weapons .
Nuclear
energy began to be utilized for power generation in the 1950s,
following the technical achievements of nuclear fission during World
War II. The first important milestone was the development of nuclear
reactors intended for peaceful energy rather than military goals. at
1954, the Soviet Union established the first nuclear power plant at
Obninsk, and other countries quickly followed suit. The United
States constructed its first commercial nuclear power plant in 1957,
in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. These reactors employed controlled
nuclear fission to create heat, which was subsequently converted
into electricity via steam turbines, establishing nuclear power as a
key energy source.