  For 75 years the theory of nuclear fission has been based on the existence of
a collective coordinate associated with the nuclear shape, an assumption
required by the Bohr-Wheeler formula as well as by the R-matrix theory of
fission. We show that it is also possible to formulate the theory without the
help of collective coordinates. In the new formulation, fission is facilitated
by individual states in the barrier region rather than channels over the
barrier. In a certain limit the theory reduces to a formula closely related to
the formula for electronic conductance through resonant tunneling states. In
contrast, conduction through channels gives rise to a staircase excitation
function that is well-known in nanoscale electronics but has never been seen in
nuclear fission.
