Customer Reviews

Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy

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With his newest work of science history, Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy, physicist and author Per Dahl pulls off the remarkable feat of delivering both a scholarly work and a nail-biting thriller. *** Late in 1938, Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, and Fritz Strassman discovered the phenomenon of atomic fission; physicists everywhere realized that if chain reactions could be tamed, fission could lead to a new source of power. What was needed was a substance that could "moderate" the energy of neutrons emitted in radioactive decay, so that they could be captured by other fissionable nuclei. Heavy water was a prime candidate for the job -- its role in world affairs thus forever assured. *** While plenty of books and movies have dealt with Allied efforts to deny heavy water to the Germans in World War II, Dahl's is the first history of the substance itself -- not as "a purely technical treatise," he writes in the preface (although there are details and diagrams aplenty), but "a social history." *** Deuterium, a hydrogen atom whose nucleus includes one neutron, was discovered before the neutron itself. In 1931, most scientists thought the differing weights of isotopes were due to extra protons bound to "nuclear electrons." By Thanksgiving of that year, Columbia University chemist Harold Urey had identified the spectral lines of what he would later call deuterium in a few cubic centimeters of concentrated liquid hydrogen. Not until February 1932, in Cambridge, England, did James Chadwick discover the neutron. *** Deuterium is physically so different from ordinary hydrogen (roughly twice as massive, for one thing) that chemists eagerly turned their attention to it. They wondered what differences deuterium instead of ordinary hydrogen might make in the behavior of chemical compounds; what the effects on plants and animals of water with two deuterium atoms per molecule might be; and even what therapeutic potential this literally heavy water might possess. *** The protean Gilbert Lewis, Urey's mentor at the University of California at Berkeley, was a pioneer in these investigations, and he soon made more heavy water than Urey himself -- enough that, among many other experiments, he was able to feed two-thirds of a gram of the precious stuff to a mouse. The mouse survived, Lewis reported, but showed "marked signs of intoxication." *** Concentrating heavy water requires enormous amounts of electricity. In the 1930s, one of the few places in the world with power to spare was the Vemork plant of Norway's Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk, which had harnessed a 144-meter-high waterfall to produce fertilizers. Norsk Hydro supplied the world's scientific community with heavy water only as a sideline. Inebriated mice aside, what was it good for? *** Nuclear fission supplied the answer. The best candidates for moderators in atomic reactors were heavy water and pure graphite. Dahl relates the fascinating events, including romantic distractions, that persuaded German scientists that graphite wouldn't do the job. When, in late 1939, the Germans began ordering heavy water in very large quantities, Norsk Hydro management suspected "some kind of deviltry." *** Frédéric Joliot knew perfectly well what kind of deviltry, and with the cooperation of Norsk Hydro, the French managed to spirit the company's entire stock of heavy water, some 185 kilograms, out of the country under the noses of watching German agents. Later, Joliot's assistants smuggled most of it out of Vichy France and used it to convince the British that chain reactions were practical. *** Meanwhile the Germans had invaded Norway, and the Allies set out to destroy Vemork, a story familiar from the 1965 Hollywood film, Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris. Despite tragic loss of life, the Norwegian underground repeatedly sabotaged Vemork's heavy water production until the Germans finally gave up. *** The German attempt to build a reactor was feeble and disorganized -- and their effort to build an atomic weapon nonexistent -- but the Allies didn't know that. German interest in heavy water was a major factor in the race to build the A-bomb. *** Per Dahl masterfully recounts all these events and many more. There is wisdom in his judicious treatment of persistent historical debates, including the rancorous argument that still rages about the motivations of Hahn, Werner Heisenberg, and the other members of the German "Uranium Club." His style is lively, his research thorough, his organization superb. *** The Institute of Physics Publishing company has matched Dahl's efforts by giving Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy the scholarly apparatus and handsome production it deserves.

The quality of the writing is very good. The people involved are portrayed as people and as scientists. Insights are given regarding atomic research in France, Germany and the United States. For the researcher studying the German atomic project, a few interesting facts emerge. The author, having had access to Norsk Hydro archives, also tells about internal sabotage by plant workers and the role of the British in their attempts to destroy part or all of the plant. A report is also given about German plans to dismantle the equipment for producing heavy water and moving it out of harm's way to Germany. Then, there is a strange report about the Germans, after securing an 'important' shipment of heavy water, which was designated to be destroyed by the Norwegians at any cost, leave it relatively unguarded on a boat. The saboteurs gain easy access, sink the boat and most of its precious cargo. The key to understanding that episode is to look at the possibility of a feint by the Germans designed to keep attention focused in Norway while a larger, more heavily funded concern, IG Farben, the world's largest chemical cartel, could have simply and quietly duplicated the process, and the required equipment, in Germany. This, I think, is the most important conclusion to be drawn from the book. That, and the fact that IG Farben had part ownership in Norsk Hydro.

The Americans were also looking at heavy water as a moderator for their atomic pile work. Another detail which I think is missed when considering the history of this substance. For the serious researcher, this book adds important details and makes clear the importance of heavy water in atomic research.

This is a fantastic book, Mr Dahl is one of the few authors that I've read that doesn't feel the need to "dumb down" his material. The book is well written and chock full of technical detail. My only regret is that I had to get a copy from the library, since the $75 cost(at the time of this review) is far too steep for anything other than a textbook. If the publisher were to lower book's cost to the $20 or below price point I would happily buy a copy to add to my collection.