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A recent commenter on one of my questions noted that Fermi could take a tour of a modern nuclear powerplant and not be suprised by anything, and I believe that. I also think this shouldn't be the case, there have been many advances in high energy physics, with enormous leaps in understanding including the standard model since the time of Fermi. Why then do we still have the same nuclear technology as designed in the 50s? Should we have done something that would have suprised Fermi by now?

Mike Flynn
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    Well, what is needed to run a reactor was all known before QCD was invented. – Jon Custer Apr 18 '19 at 23:23
  • @JonCuster That's like saying all is needed to make a computer is the vaccuum tube, and yet solid state physics did a great job inventing the germanium/silicon transistor and we have made 70 years of great progress since then. Perhaps Von Neumann would have anticipated something like an iPhone coming out, but no idea what form and it would probably have excited and surprised him to check it out if he was brought back alive today... – Mike Flynn Apr 19 '19 at 00:40
  • Fine. So why hasn't QCD fed back into semiconductor electronics? Its about the same question. – Jon Custer Apr 19 '19 at 02:32
  • @JonCuster They are not the same question because semiconductor electronics do not involve the strong nuclear force. – Mike Flynn Nov 24 '19 at 18:30

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As pointed out by Jon Custer, everything that physicists needed to know in order to initiate a fission chain reaction was known long before QCD was invented, and the basic physics behind reactor design and operation haven't changed since then. Detailed knowledge of what's inside a proton isn't needed when you're extracting heat energy from the fissioning of U-235.

However, we do know a lot more today about things like neutron yields, absorption cross-sections, radiation damage to reactor materials, fuel packaging and reprocessing, and half-lives of daughter elements.

If Fermi were to visit a nuclear reactor of modern design, he might well be amazed at their physical size and power output, and by the intricate computer-controlled operating and safety systems they have.

niels nielsen
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