Re: 1945- uranium to Japan and the issue today

[Dale Dusenbury <dale.dusenbury@ncmail.net>]

A very interesting book on this is called "Japan's Secret War:The Secret

Attempt to Build an Atomic Bomb" by Greg Dixon. In this book, Dixon recounts

information he found in examining OSS files after the war that indicated that

Imperial Japan actually had a nuclear weapons program almost to the end of the

war. Let me supply a few details.

According to Dixon, a secret facility to perform nuclear weapons research was

set up in Manchuria. Huge quantities of electric power was provided by

facilities owned by an industrialist named Noguchi, who owned huge holdings in

factories to produce fertilizer, in addition to hydroelectric powerplants.

There were actually two nuclear weapons projects, one run by the Army and one

by the Navy, although one of these projects was eventually shut down. They

unsuccessfully experimented with at least two methods of uranium

enrichment,i.e. thermal diffusion via Clusius tubes and elecromagnetic

separation using cyclotrons. The alleged participants were some very important

physicists, specifically Dr. Nishina, the researcher in cosmic rays, who Dixon

said ran one of the projects. Another minor alleged participant in Dixon's

book was Dr. Hideki Yukawa, who later discovered the pi-meson. Dixon indicated

he was involved as a researcher for one of the two programs.At the end of the

war after the US detonated its weapons, the nuclear research center in

Manchuria was captured by the Soviets and a good portion of the equipment and

the scientists were transported to the Soviet Union, there to assist in

Stalin's nuclear weapons program. Dixon also said a newspaper article was

published during the Korean conflict that the US Marines in Korea found the

remains of this secret research facility.The story was then suppressed because

of a desire for secrecy by the US authorities. I personally asked a friend of

mine(now deceased) who had been with the Marines at the Chosin Reservoir, and

he indicated he heard at the time some secret facility had been discovered

nearby, but he was not told exactly what it was. This was truly a tantalizing

detail for me. Finally, the story that you cited comes in, apparently Nazi

Germany sent uranium to Japan(along with a large volume of mercury as I

recall) via a cargo type U-boat built with extra large storage spaces(I can't

recall the U number right off) which was captured. Finally, after the war

ended Dixon details a mini "Alsos" type project that the US undertook in

Japan. The task was  to find out how far Japan had come toward producing a

weapon and to collect any nuclear materials. They apparently did not recover a

weapon, or much fissile material. They were concerned enough however to remove

or destroy a good number of cyclotrons in Japan, presumably out of concern

that they could be used for enrichment purposes.

This is a particularly important issue to keep in mind now, since there have

been rumblings in Japan from some politicians that Japan should consider

acquiring nuclear weapons. They apparently are concerned about China's

military capabilities (and possibly growing dubious about our commitment). The

long recession they've been in could offer some temptations to increase

economic activity by more military activities, and by acquiring more

capabilities. The book is an excellent read and is a great intro to what may

be a new concern for nonproliferation in Asia.



Dale Dusenbury, Environmental Radiation Specialist

NC Radiation Protection Section

919-571-4141

dale.dusenbury@ncmail.net



maury wrote:



> Recently came across this interesting tidbit of history -- can anyone

> say more now about the uranium being sent to Japan?

> Thanks,

> Maury       maury@webtexas.com

> ==================================

>  1945

> Germany's largest U-boat, the 1,700 ton Type XB minelayer U-234 – was at

>

> sea when the war ended, and surrendered in mid-ocean to an American

> destroyer escort. Her original destination had been Japan; her cargo

> included two complete ME-262 jet fighters (disassembled in crates, but

> with complete technical data) and 550 kilograms of Uranium 235 (or

> Uranium oxide -- sources differ), packed in lead containers. The reason

> the uranium was being sent to Japan has never been determined – or, at

> least, revealed.

>

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