atomic pile

American  

noun

Physics.

1. reactor.

---

atomic pile British  

noun

1. the original name for a nuclear reactor

---

atomic pile Scientific  

1. An early type of nuclear reactor whose core consisted of layers of graphite block interspersed with uranium, designed to create a sustained fission reaction.

---

Etymology

Origin of atomic pile

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

The fearful light at Alamagordo and the bombing of Hiroshima are well contrived; but the fine opportunities for suspense�e.g., the trial run in the atomic pile under Stagg Field�are largely bungled.

From Time Magazine Archive

Wafers of cobalt the size of a 25� piece were put in the Canadian atomic pile at Chalk River, Ont. and left there for two years to be bombarded with neutrons and made highly radioactive.

From Time Magazine Archive

They brought the hair from a known arsenic victim to "Zo�," the atomic pile at Ch�tillon.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tracerlab also began marketing elements which had been made radioactive by insertion in the Oak Ridge atomic pile.

From Time Magazine Archive

An important breakthrough occurred in a squash court under the west stands of the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field, where Enrico Fermi had erected an atomic pile.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik