| German Nuclear Energy Project |
Article Index for German |
Website Links For German |
Information AboutGerman Nuclear Energy Project |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GERMAN NUCLEAR ENERGY PROJECT | |
| nuclear weapons programs | |
| german world war ii weapons | |
| wunderwaffen | |
|
The German nuclear energy project was an endeavor by Scientist s during World War II in Nazi Germany to develop Nuclear Energy and an Atomic Bomb for practical use. Unlike the competing Allied effort to Develop A Nuclear Weapon the German effort resulted in two rival teams, one working for the military, the second, a Civilian effort co-ordinated by the Reichspost . at Haigerloch'']] OVERVIEW The nuclear research effort most widely discussed was that of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute , or KWG team led by the physicist Werner Heisenberg . The second was a Heereswaffenamt ("HWA") military team under the scientific leadership of Prof. Kurt Diebner . Diebner also had some interaction with Heisenberg on nuclear reactor design during the war, but the projects which they led were quite separate. Immediately before the end of the War, Diebner had a laboratory under a school stadium in Stadtilm, Leipzig. There he was working on development of a uranium atomic bomb. After postwar interrogation, Diebner was considered an unrepentant Nazi and was not allowed to resume a scientific career. He died 13 July 1964. All German nuclear research was originally funded through the German Post Office , under the Reich Research Council ; however, in 1942, armaments minister Albert Speer reorganised nuclear research and switched all funding to only support development of Nuclear Reactors . Dr Groth and Dr Paul Harteck were dismayed at the loss of funding for military use of nuclear energy for weapons. Harteck in particular had worked with Dr Fritz Houtermanns on the problem of Plutonium chemical separation (from uranium). These men were keenly aware of the Austrian scientist Prof Josef Schintlmeister , who proposed in 1940 for the construction of a nuclear reactor to breed plutonium for bombs. Groth and Harteck led a team of physicists and chemists in 1942 to persuade Herman Goering and Martin Bormann to fund an alternate nuclear project to Heisenberg's. Dr. Paul Harteck , chief physicist of the German army, had helped to develop the Gaseous Uranium Centrifuge invented by Dr. Erich Bagge , in 1942 at Kiel. The gaseous centrifuge was also known as an Isotope Sluice . It has since come to be known as the Harteck Process . Harteck initially led a team at Hamburg attempting to create a nuclear propelled U-boat. After the bombing of Hamburg in July 1943, the Kriegsmarine shifted its nuclear project to Stettin under Admirals Karl Witzell and vice-admiral Otto Rhein . Physicist Dr Otto Haxel took over scientific leadership of the Kriegsmarine, or OKM nuclear project. In April 1944 Harteck was responsible for gaining Nazi funding for industrial scale enrichment of uranium. Orders were placed with BMAG Meguin for production of gaseous uranium centrifuges. Uranium ore was sourced from western Czechoslovakia at Jachymov, then known as Joachimsthal. It was refined by Auer Gessellschaft at Oranienberg north of Berlin. Controversy around Nazi development of nuclear weapons places huge reliance upon Heisenberg's inability to identify the average cross section of Neutron Release in a Chain Reaction . At the presentation given by Harteck to Nazi leaders in 1942, however, it was correctly identified that one only needed a uranium warhead "the size of a pineapple." The intentions of Heisenberg's team are a matter of historical controversy, centering on whether or not the scientists involved were genuinely attempting to build an Atomic Bomb for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler , or were trying to hinder development of nuclear weapons. Heisenberg's project was not a military success by any measure. In efforts with Dr Robert Dopel at Leipzig in May 1942, a Fission Chain Reaction had been sustained by using two concentric shells of Uranium Oxide separated by Heavy Water . However, Heisenberg failed to provide any means for controlling the reaction. It quickly resulted in a Runaway Nuclear Reaction which ended with a massive Steam Explosion . |
|
|