Page 26 - Neutrons for Sciences and Society

Neutrons for Science
1.1.3 In America and U.K.
This was the situation at the time when America initiated
the construction of the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) at Brookhaven. This was going to place European scientists at a marked disadvantage compared to their American colleagues.
The first mention of a European high flux reactor I have found
is in a report17 written in 1961 by Lew Kowarski entitled “New tendencies in atomic research and their international significance” (see Fig. 1.7). In these times Lew Kowarski was already at CERN, but retained a great interest in nuclear reactors, a field to which he had greatly contributed. In addition he was scientific advisor of the European agency for nuclear energy.
In his report he insisted on the need for European cooperation analogous to that of CERN to create a source comparable to that working, or about to operate in the USA. It was as the scientific advisor that he participated in a meeting organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD18. The aim of this was to examine the proposals in Kowarski’s report and deal with “cooperation in certain fields of nuclear research”. The idea of a European high flux reactor was first discussed here. The British representative, Dr Vick19, mentioned that the studies were already under way in the UK for a heavy water reactor of 25 MW intended primarily for research in solid state physics. This initiative was not a surprise;
17 This report and others cited a little later are in the archives of Lew Kowarski deposited in the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics, which I thank for having supplied me with copies.
18 This first European organisation was created in 1948 (with the name European Organisation for Economic Co- operation OEEC) to manage funds from the American Marshall Aid for the reconstruction of Europe.
19 I think this was Sir Arthur Vick (1911-1998) who worked at Harwell from 1959.
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