Chapter 996: Chapter 747: Progress of Nuclear Weapons
Having the Military engage in the hunting of Wild Rabbits was a proposition that Arthur had never considered before.
But thinking about it, it made sense. Training soldiers by having them shoot at fixed targets was one thing, but shooting at moving Wild Rabbits was even better training.
In fact, hitting Wild Rabbits was more challenging than hitting fixed targets, and it might even be more beneficial in improving the Soldiers’ accuracy.
As for the funds consud by organizing the Military to hunt Wild Rabbits on a large scale, for Australasia as it stood, this was not a concern.
It was also a good opportunity for the Military to engage in prolonged field exercises, firstly, to train the Military’s combat capabilities in various terrains, and secondly, to improve the Soldiers’ marksmanship.
After careful consideration and deeming the thod feasible, Arthur did not hesitate.
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Arthur instructed William to go to the Ministry of Defense and have the General Staff formulate a plan for mobilizing the Military to hunt Wild Rabbits.
If they could effectively reduce the number of Wild Rabbits, it would also be an achievent and a credit to William.
Of course, if they failed to effectively eliminate the Wild Rabbits, it could still be said to train the Military—so there wouldn’t be any significant bla anyway.
The reason for entrusting this task to William, besides allowing him to gain so prestige, was that Arthur had more important matters to attend to, naly inspecting the progress of the Nuclear Weapons research project.
For Arthur, Nuclear Weapons were the trump card he dread of possessing, and a crucial ans to ensure the developnt and strength of Australasia.
If they could develop Nuclear Weapons ahead of the rest of the world, the subsequent period when other countries lacked such weapons would be Australasia’s window to freely utilize Nuclear Weapons.
When so of the more powerful countries eventually acquired Nuclear Weapons, such weapons would more commonly serve as a deterrent than as weapons for regular use.
Therefore, it was vital to develop Nuclear Weapons as soon as possible. If they could develop Nuclear Weapons before the onset of World War II, the coming war would beco much easier.
Especially facing an insanely tenacious Enemy like the Island Nation, Arthur could use Nuclear Weapons without any restraint or psychological burden.
Completely annihilating the nation might be impossible, but if it were just about wiping out the country, it was within the realm of possibility.
When it cos to Nuclear Weapons, the production process in later generations is actually very clear. However, for Australasia now, being pioneers in the field of Nuclear Weapons, the journey is inevitably more difficult and complex.
Moreover, the United States began its Nuclear Weapons research in 1939, while Australasia had already started following World War I.
Different eras of research bring different challenges.
When the United States embarked on its Nuclear Weapons research, the related nuclear theories had already matured, with Germany also competing in the race to develop Nuclear Weapons.
But now, theories related to Nuclear Weapons were not yet mature, and other countries hadn’t even considered the concept of Nuclear Weapons.
People were unaware that a certain uranium elent found in Uranium Mines could unleash trendous power and also offer vast benefits to humanity.
Developing Nuclear Weapons involved two crucial steps.
First was the extraction of the true raw material for making Nuclear Weapons from abundant Uranium Mines, naly the famous Uranium-235.
Don’t think that this is easy. It’s important to note that the content of Uranium-235 in typical Uranium Mines is only 0.7%—a rather low figure.
And if that were all, the remaining 99.3% of the Uranium Mine is almost entirely Uranium-238, an elent extrely similar to Uranium-235.
The difference between the two is minimal; both have 92 protons, but Uranium-238 has a few more neutrons.
Yet it is these few neutrons that are key to whether a Nuclear Weapon can be made.
The reason Uranium-235 can release trendous energy is that after absorbing a low-energy neutron, it releases two more neutrons during fission, which other Uranium-235 atoms absorb to promote new fissions, releasing new neutrons.
This cycle creates a full “chain reaction”, where the energy from each fission builds upon the next. That’s why Nuclear Weapons are so powerful.
Unlike Uranium-235, Uranium-238 absorbs neutrons to form Uranium-239 with 147 neutrons, without releasing any material or energy, quietly swallowing the neutrons. It stays with Uranium-235, where neutrons co and go, thus maintaining a balance.
Discerning between two extrely similar elents and extracting a small amount of Uranium-235 from a vast amount of Uranium Mines is what the Nuclear Weapons research project team must first accomplish.
The thod currently employed by Australasia’s Nuclear Weapons research project team is the gas separation thod.
Put simply, due to the difference in neutrons, Uranium-235 and Uranium-238 also have different masses.
After turning these two substances of different masses into gases, gases of different masses will gradually separate, with the heavier sinking and the lighter rising.
Thus, it beca simpler to distinguish between uranium 235 and uranium 238, and to extract the uranium elents truly suitable for nuclear weapons.
But these were just theories proposed by Albert Einstein and Oppenheir; in practice, there were still many difficulties.
The first was how to gasify uranium ore.
This wasn’t as simple as just heating it up. Gasification of uranium ore required high temperatures of 4131 degrees Celsius, and achieving such high temperatures was a severe problem.
In addition to that, it was necessary to find a container that could withstand such high temperatures to store the gasified uranium ore without allowing it to escape.
High temperatures were not the issue, but finding materials that could withstand those high temperatures took the research team nearly a year.
In the end, it was Oppenheir, who had newly joined the project team, who ca up with the solution of synthesizing uranium compounds with lower boiling points after research and discussions with Einstein.
This was sowhat of a workaround. Since materials that could withstand temperatures of 4100 degrees Celsius couldn’t be found, the next best thing was to lower the temperature required to gasify uranium, effectively circumventing the problem.
Ultimately, after over a year of searching led by the nuclear weapons research team guided by Oppenheir and Einstein, it was discovered that the compound uranium hexafluoride, synthesised with fluorine, not only had fewer isotopes but also had a low boiling point, theoretically a very good material for separating the two types of uranium.
But imdiately afterwards, another difficult problem erged for Einstein and Oppenheir. How to synthesise uranium hexafluoride?
To create pure uranium hexafluoride was extrely difficult, and one careless mistake could be life-threatening.
This experint was no re child’s play; Death would not joke with these scientists, nor would it avoid accidents because of the project’s significance.
Uranium hexafluoride was extrely reactive, and it could easily explode upon contact with hydrogen in the air.
Even a little water vapor could transform uranium hexafluoride into a highly corrosive and extrely toxic substance—hydrofluoric acid.
From this stage on, the developnt of nuclear weapons beca exceedingly dangerous and fatal.
Previous studies of uranium ore only posed a radiation risk, which posed no great harm to scientists’ health if proper radiation protection was taken.
But now it was different. Any mishap in the experints could likely cause nurous casualties among the research personnel, which would also be a trendous loss for Australasia.
To prevent the leak of state secrets, these experts in nuclear weapons technology all lived in a secure small town, surrounded and protected by the military.
These experts were carefully selected to ensure they were scientists loyal to the country and the royal family. Their unyielding approach to such serious dangers greatly satisfied Arthur with their performance.
In treating these loyal servants of the nation, Arthur naturally was not stingy. First was the scientists’ salaries, which were more than double that of ordinary scientists, and with bonuses, their inco was definitely among the top in the entire country.
Secondly, the country had corresponding policies in place to subsidize and protect their families.
All scientists’ children received free education from elentary school to university. Not only were various book fees waived, but even miscellaneous expenses were directly exempted.
This was also a way of showing Arthur’s appreciation for these scientists. For those who would give everything for their country, Arthur spared no expense to protect the interests and safety of them and their families.
About ten years later, when Arthur visited the city where the nuclear weapons research team was located, the developnt of nuclear weapons had reached its final stages.
The research team had already successfully synthesized uranium hexafluoride and was working to separate more uranium 235.
This also signified that the nuclear weapons Arthur had long coveted would soon co into existence. Once they had a sufficient quantity of uranium 235, the research team could use it to make hugely powerful nuclear weapons.
However, separating enough uranium 235 was also a major challenge.
The current nuclear weapons research team had tried two thods, both commonly used in later generations of nuclear weapons manufacturing: centrifugation and diffusion.
Centrifugation involved using the high-speed rotation of a centrifuge to separate gases of different masses to different locations.
Yet, the centrifuge needed for nuclear weapons production required a centripetal force a million tis that of gravity, and it had to be as corrosion-resistant as possible. These requirents placed a significant demand on the centrifuge, and the ones produced by the current research team could not fully et the needs to produce large amounts of uranium 235.
Another thod was diffusion.
True to its na, it simply involved allowing gases to diffuse quickly, separating them based on differences in mass, as gases of different mass would diffuse at different rates.
By placing uranium hexafluoride in a low-pressure container, the lighter gases would diffuse first. By collecting these gases and repeating this process, sufficient uranium 235 could be purified.
While this thod did not require very advanced equipnt, the efficiency of purifying uranium 235 was quite slow.
Moreover, according to calculations by Einstein and Oppenheir, to create a reliable nuclear weapon, the purity of uranium 235 needed to be at least 80%. This ant that the two thods currently available to Australasia were not very reliable.
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