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Re: The "From" bug strikes again :-)
Thanks for setting me straight about Peenemunde. I confused it with the
Nrwegian plant. I'm surprised about proactinium -- that's interesting.
Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Franta, Jaroslav <frantaj@aecl.ca>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 5:13 AM
Subject: RE: The "From" bug strikes again :-)
>
>Ruth,
>> Peenemunde was the German rocket testing/development site where Werner
Von
>> Braun & Co. worked -- it had nothing to do with nuclear
>> science/technology.
>I believe you really meant the bombing of the Norsk Hydro heavy water plant
>in Norway (forget the name of the nearby town), which did indeed put an end
>to the nuclear work, right ?
>As for enrichment, from what I have read the Germans did very little work
in
>that field -- they seemed to consider protactinium-231 (similar to
>plutonium) extraction from uranium ores slightly more practical, but still
>an impossibly difficult task in the circumstances at the time. ( You see
>Pa-231 mentioned in several instances in the Farm Hall transcripts, as well
>as the interned scientists' skepticism about the US A-bomb success -
knowing
>how enormously difficult U-enrichment or Pa-231 extraction would have been
>at the time... but Alvin Weinberg confirmed in a letter published in
>Physics Today some years ago that even the Manhattan Project people
>considered "topping off" their U-235 or Pu-239 with Pa-231, should either
>production method - calutron enrichment or reactor uranium conversion -
fail
>to supply adequate amounts of fissile material. This was early on, before
>both techniques proved very successful ).
>Jaro
>
>> ----------
>> From: ruth_weiner[SMTP:ruth_weiner@email.msn.com]
>> Reply To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>> Sent: Tuesday August 08, 2000 11:32 PM
>> To: Multiple recipients of list
>> Subject: Re: The "From" bug strikes again :-)
>>
>> I believe that the bombing of the plant at Peenemunde effectively ended
>> the
>> German nuclear weapons program. There was, however, no particular
>> question
>> that the Germans had Czechoslovakian uranium. They went for the Baku oil
>> fields, which might have given them the energy resources to enrich
uranium
>> sufficiently.
>>
>> To add a lighter note to this thread, I commend to RADSAFERs two Tom
>> Lehrer
>> songs: "Werner von Braun" and "In the Land of the Old AEC."
>>
>> Ruth Weiner
>> ruth_weiner@msn.com
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jim Muckerheide <jmuckerheide@delphi.com>
>> To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>> Date: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 11:59 AM
>> Subject: The "From" bug strikes again :-)
>>
>>
>> >See, e.g.,:
>> >>From a bio note on Heisenberg:
>>
>http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Heisenberg.htm
>> l
>> >
>> >"During the Second World War he headed the unsuccessful German nuclear
>> weapons
>> >project. He worked with Otto Hahn, one of the discoverers of nuclear
>> fission,
>> >on the development of a nuclear reactor but failed to develop an
>> effective
>> >program for nuclear weapons. Whether this was because of lack of
>> resources
>> or
>> >a lack of a desire to put nuclear weapons in the hands of the Nazis, it
>> is
>> >unclear.
>> >
>> >After the war he was interned in Britain with other leading German
>> scientists.
>> >However he returned to Germany in 1946 when he was appointed director of
>> the
>> >Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics at Göttingen. In 1958
>> the
>> >Institute moved to Munich and Heisenberg continued as its director.
>> >
>> >But, see also:
>> >http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/journal/issues/1997/feb/abs204.html
>> >
>> >Another ref:
>> >http://www.csr.utexas.edu/personal/leuliette/HTML/book_1099.html
>> >
>> >Regards, Jim
>> >muckerheide@mediaone.net
>> >========================
>> >
>> >Franz Schoenhofer wrote:
>> >>
>> >> At 08:14 08.08.2000 -0500, you wrote:
>> >> >I believe way beyond the shadow of a doubt that President Truman made
>> the
>> >> correct decision. My Father and wife's father were posed to invade
>> the,
>> >> then Japanese aggressor (who knows I or my wife might have never
been).
>> I
>> >> sincerely believe that the people of Japan, who now represent a new
>> >> generation, have new ideals and this is good. The one question for
>> everyone
>> >> I have is that do they remember that Germany and Japan during WW II
>> were
>> >> developing their own capability for nuclear destruction.
>> >>
>> >> There was not the slightest chance for Germany or Japan to develop a
>> >> nuclear bomb. Germany had an assembly of uranium, where a small
>> >> multiplication of neutrons could be achieved, no self-sustaining chain
>> >> reaction was possible. There was no technology to enrich uranium or to
>> >> breed plutonium, therefore no access to the necessary fissile
material.
>> >> There was during the last years of WWII no money and no infrastructure
>> >> available for such a development. Japan was far behind Germany
>> regarding
>> >> nuclear research, I am not sure that they even knew about the
>> theoretical
>> >> possibility.
>> >>
>> >> I know, that it has been often been used nearly as an excuse, that the
>> USA
>> >> was suspicious that a nuclear bomb was under construction in Germany -
>> but
>> >> was and is a myth and counter intelligence should have known better.
>> >>
>> >> Franz
>> >>
>> >> Franz Schoenhofer
>> >> Habicherg. 31/7
>> >> A-1160 Vienna
>> >> Austria
>> >> Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
>> >> Fax.: same number
>> >> mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
>> >> e-mail: schoenho@via.at
>> >>
>> >> Please note my new telephone number at my office!
>> >>
>> >> Office:
>> >> Ministerialrat Dr. Franz Schoenhofer
>> >> Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
>> Management
>> >> Radiation Protection Department (BMLFUW I/8 U)
>> >> Radetzkystr. 2
>> >> A-1031 Vienna
>> >> AUSTRIA
>> >>
>> >> phone: -43-1-71100-4458
>> >> fax: -43-1-7122331
>> >************************************************************************
>> >The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
>> >information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
>>
>>
>>
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>> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
>> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
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>The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
>information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
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information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html