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localroger

(3,626 posts)
20. Actually it was laughable
Tue Jun 11, 2019, 05:07 PM
Jun 2019

The Germans had plenty of uranium (we made good use of it after capturing it) but they had no more heavy water nor any other critical materials necessary, nor any way to make use of the energy produced. Even if it had worked it would have been only a first experimental step like CP-1, and they had no resources to continue research. I once saw it stated that the only reason they were bothering was to salvage the reputation of German science once the war was well and truly lost.

If they had been able to pursue carbon as a moderator, or if they had not been denied isotope separation by the fact that the single means they had the resources to try didn't work with uranium hexaflouride, and most importantly if Hitler hadn't gotten the whole country bogged down in Russia in the winter with Operation Barbarossa, then there might have been a non-laughable chance of the Germans getting some kind of effective nuclear technology. As it was, just a useless waste of resources they would have gotten more benefit from directed toward some more practical element of the war -- much as with the V-weapons and jet aircraft which were never effective enough to justify their high costs.

Was not the distruction Wellstone ruled Jun 2019 #1
I was thinking this as well, but now it seems it was more of an organizational problem. hunter Jun 2019 #5
Forgot about the Boron Wellstone ruled Jun 2019 #7
There's a fascinating TV miniseries, The Heavy Water War, The Velveteen Ocelot Jun 2019 #2
I'll look for it. hunter Jun 2019 #8
Depleted uranium zipplewrath Jun 2019 #3
Depleted uranium is used because there are huge stockpiles left over from uranium enrichment. hunter Jun 2019 #4
One of my Dad's favorite jokes SCantiGOP Jun 2019 #6
Every "alternative history" following the success of the Trinity Test is moot. hunter Jun 2019 #10
"The U.S.A. would have kept dropping atomic bombs on Japan until they surrendered" Javaman Jun 2019 #16
Caution zipplewrath Jun 2019 #11
This is all well documented by Richard Rhodes localroger Jun 2019 #9
It's harder than one thinks zipplewrath Jun 2019 #12
I remember when I first read about this, still amazes me that it was allowed to happen... Javaman Jun 2019 #18
To quote from the article posted: hunter Jun 2019 #15
Actually it was laughable localroger Jun 2019 #20
that was such a brilliant book. Probably my favorite. nt Javaman Jun 2019 #17
The real irony SCantiGOP Jun 2019 #13
I read a lot of alt history and I always wondered... Javaman Jun 2019 #19
Many Russians were willing to embrace the Germans as saviors localroger Jun 2019 #21
In 1943, after his famous meeting with Heisenberg, Neils Bohr escaped Denmark to England... NNadir Jun 2019 #14
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