[ RadSafe ] Nuclear submarines, Fusion, etc.

[JPreisig at aol.com]

Dear Radsafe,

       This is from:    jpreisig at aol.com    .

        Hey all.  Hope your end of summer is going well.

        Saw in a news item (was it posted here on radsafe???) that the Germans
    are building nuclear submarines for the Israeli's.  Are they fission 
    powered as well as being capable of launching nuclear warheads???
    What an interesting reality.  What is to stop such a submarine from 
cruising
    through the Mediterranean, going around France and planting itself in the
    North Sea (directly North of Germany)???  Another interesting path would
    be for such a submarine to go through the Suez Canal (could it go through
    the Suez Canal and would it be allowed to do so???) and make its way
    towards India and Pakistan.  Launch City, baby (not India, though).
    This all boggles the mind.

          Back to Heisenberg and World War II.  Apparently, Heisenberg had 
    a reactor, much Uranium and heavy water (D2O).  Was he thinking of
    getting into the Hydrogen (fusion) bomb business???  With a reactor and
    heavy water, he could have made tritium all day (and night).  He already 
    had deuterium on hand.  Hmmmmm.

         So, the Mainland Chinese are getting into the superconducting magnet
    and fusion business.  What happens when the 15 MeV (or whatever) neutrons 
      
    dump their energy into the the liquid nitrogen and/or hydrogen???  Will
    the Magnets go normal (i.e. warm up and cause the coolants to vaporize)???
    I guess the devil is in the details and the design.  The larger the 
magnets, the           
    higher the cost.  Guess one needs to have the magnets, fusion reaction
    chamber and water (or some other means of taking off the neutron energy)
    in close proximity.

         For you Navy nuke guys out there, a Soviet ship with some underwater
    capabilities has discovered a submarine wreck (in the Western Pacific),
    and the wreck is said to be the US Submarine WAHOO.  I guess it had
    the duty of sinking Japanese supply ships.  This news item was in my
    local newspaper.

         Have a good week.    Regards,     Joseph R. (Joe) Preisig, Ph.D.