Chemical engineering and nuclear technology first met in the Metallurgical Lab and Stagg Field at the University of Chicago at the beginning of World War II. This effort eventually became Argonne National Laboratory. In this work, chemical engineers joined with chemists, physicists, metallurgical engineers, mechanical engineers, mathematicians, and many others to develop nuclear technology. This talk will look back to the beginnings, the problems encountered, the accomplishments, and the plans for the future. Anecdotes will illustrate the application of chemical engineering principles to the development of nuclear technology and the way this nuclear work helped to advance chemical engineering technology as well. Special emphasis will be given to the work in solvent extraction.

This work was supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 with UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (“Argonne”).