The other moderator is reactor-grade graphite (graphite containing less than 5 ppm boron and with a density exceeding 1.50 gm/cm 3 ). Heavy water is one of the two principal moderators which allow a nuclear reactor to operate with natural uranium as its fuel. It is present naturally in water, but in only small amounts, less than 1 part in 5,000. Heavy water, D 2O, is water in which both hydrogen atoms have been replaced with deuterium, the isotope of hydrogen containing one proton and one neutron. 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. In February 1932, in Cambridge, England, James Chadwick discovered the neutron - taking his cue from Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, who had observed the effects of neutrons but misinterpreted them.ĭeuterium is physically so different from ordinary hydrogen (roughly twice as massive, for one thing) that chemists eagerly turned their attention to it. In 1931, most scientists thought the differing weights of isotopes were due to extra protons bound to "nuclear electrons." That year, at Columbia University, Harold Urey found the spectral lines of 2H in commercial hydrogen gas and, by Thanksgiving, identified it in a few cubic centimeters of concentrated liquid hydrogen. However, CANDU (CANadian Deuterium Uranium) reactors designed and built in Canada are used for commercial electric power production.ĭdeuterium, 2H, an atom whose nucleus includes one neutron, was discovered before the neutron itself. A nation seeking large quantities of heavy water probably wishes to use the material to moderate a reactor, and may be planning to produce plutonium. In addition, a source of deuterium is essential for the production of tritium and 6LiD, two ingredients of thermonuclear weapons. As such, the production of heavy water has always been monitored, and the material is export controlled. duPont de Nemours and Company in Morgantown, West Virginia, Montgomery, Alabama, and Dana, Indiana.Heavy water is the key to one type of reactor in which plutonium can be bred from natural uranium. Badger and Sons and the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada in Trail, British Columbia and by E. Actual costs per facility per year are apparently unknown.ġDesigned and constructed by E.B. Costs adjusted using a base year of 1944 (the year of highest Manhattan Project expenditures). Includes capital and operations costs from 1942 through 1945.
AEC Technical Information Center, 1972), pp. Anderson, Jr., The New World: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Volume 1, 1939/1946 (Oak Ridge, Tennessee: U.S. Clinton Engineer Works, HQ and central utilities (estimated cumulative costs through December 31, 1945) ammunition) - $24 billionĪtomic devices/bombs produced and date detonated: The total cost to the United States for World War II was approximately $3.3 trillion.)Īll bombs, mines and grenades - $31.5 billion (Source: Statistical Review?World War II: A Summary of ASF Statistics, Statistics Branch, Control Division, Headquarters, Army Service Forces, U.S. Excludes $76 million spent by the Army Air Forces on Project SILVERPLATE from September 1943 through September 1945 (Project SILVERPLATE covered the modification of 46 B-29 bombers in support of the Manhattan Project, trained the personnel of the 509th composite bombing group, and provided logistical support for units based at Tinian Island, launching point for the attacks on Japan).Ĭomparison With Selected WWII Expenditures: *Includes costs from 1940-42 for the National Defense Research Council and the Office of Scientific Research and Development. These project pages should be considered historical. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 edited by Stephen I. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project was completed in August 1998 and resulted in the book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S.
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