2026

May 13th

Dr. Gareth (Taff) Jones.

The Discovery of Nuclear Fission and its Application to Submarine Propulsion.

The Introduction will emphasise the 5 milestones in submarine design and why nuclear power is so important as a fuel.

The atom from its concept, its construction, the splitting of the atom.           

The discovery of nuclear fission and its initial focus of submarine propulsion.            

Looking at nuclear research during WWII; the incorporation of British/Canadian Tube Alloys into the Manhattan Project.                                        

The knowledge of the atom power becoming public knowledge; how nuclear research into submarine propulsion in the UK progressed following WWII.                   

The the adoption of the Pressurised Water Reactor for submarine propulsion (its construction and how a PWR plant works) - and - The construction of HMS/m Dreadnought, Britain's first nuclear powered submarine.

The building of the Dounreay prototype plant in Caithness.