RE: Russia: Iran May Seek More Reactors

["Minnema, Douglas" <Douglas.Minnema@ns.doe.gov>]

Franz and interested others,

Please forgive me for combining three thoughts into one message, but they
are all related to this topic:

1.  For an interesting and different spin on the motivations of the German
scientists, I suggest reading a recent book, "The Uranium Club", which
discusses the recently declassified reports of the recordings of the
scientists after they were captured by the Allies and held in England.  This
book reaches the conclusion that the idea that "we really didn't want Hitler
to get the bomb" was really created in hindsight as a means of defending
themselves when they returned to Germany after the war.  The real problem
was their inability to manage such a project in the fragmented bureacratic
environment of WWII Germany under Hitler, combined with their own inability
to understand the problems involved.  The book is worth reading if you are
interested in the time period.

2.  With regards to RBMKs, when Chernobyl exploded I was working at Sandia
National Labs and was privy to several discussions.  The story I received
was that the Former Soviet Union was limited in manufacturing capability for
large pressure vessels.  They could either build submarines or pressure
vessels for reactors, but not both.  The RBMK was 'convenient' in that,
while it was a plumber's nightmare, it did not require the pressure vessel.
While it could be used to produce weapons grade plutonium, most of them were
not used that way, but only for power production.  If I recall, the
weaknesses of the design were known, but failures such as Chernobyl were
discounted by the FSR.

3.  To answer another question, Dr. Cohen is correct regarding the
production of the various grades of plutonium.  For weapons grade, you want
to minimize isotopes of Pu other than -239 because they yield unacceptable
neutron background rates.  This background is not a problem when the
plutonium is used for reactor fuel, and so reactor grade plutonium allows
much higher fractions of the other isotopes.  The difference is all in the
amount of time the U-238 target is irradiated.  By the way, although it is
possible, enrichment of individual plutonium isotopes has never been done in
large scale, to the best of my knowledge.  Also, if I recall properly,
Pu-238 is produced via neutron irradiation of Np-237, and not by isotopic
enrichment.  While it is also produced from U-238, the yield is too low to
be useful.

Hope this helps answer some questions,

Doug Minnema, PhD, CHP
Defense Programs
Department of Energy
<Douglas.Minnema@ns.doe.gov>

what few thoughts i have are truly my own...

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Franz Schoenhofer [SMTP:schoenho@via.at]
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 18, 2000 4:20 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Re: Russia: Iran May Seek More Reactors
> 
	<snip>

>  It is
> often mentioned that the scientists involved in this research were not
> fond
> of Hitler and therefore were not eager at all to develop such a device.
> Moreover Hitler was not fond of too much technology and would neither have
> been willing nor able to spend money for the necessary research and
> development. A crash programme like the Manhattan project would not have
> been possible. One should not forget that a large number of nuclear
> physicists were driven into exile - where they for instances worked on the
> Manhattan project. I think that the matters of the nuclear bomb and
> nuclear
> power are a very good example of the influence of politics on science and
> the influence of science on politics.
> 
> 
> Franz Schoenhofer
> 

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