Lev Kochetkov
Don't you know that sodium was not the first candidate for the role of a coolant for
fast reactors? There were other candidates that seemed to be more promising than
sodium.
In our country IPPE has made the most significant contribution to the development
of fast reactors, certainly, by the great support from other domestic organizations.
But fast reactors research has been started in the USA. Most important priority at
first was to find the method of plutonium enrichment for military purpose.
First we had to guess, that fast neutron spectrum is capable of improving
reproduction characteristics! A crucial role must have played Enrico Fermi.
Generally speaking, history of nuclear energy has examples of genius inspirations. I
always remember the words of our compatriot academician V.I.Vernadsky,
pronounced in 1922 about the prospects of nuclear energy. How could he at that
time foresee the appearance of NPPs - it is mind-boggling, as all main discoveries
that paved the way for using nuclear energy have been made later.
