Chapter 54:
Chapter 54
“Did you succeed in building the reactor?”
“Yes, we did, Comrade Secretary. We have started to process the uranium from the mines and use it for reactor construction and plutonium production. But it will take some time to produce and refine plutonium…”
In the secret cities of the Ural Mountains, research cities and production plants for nuclear development were being built under Beria’s command.
In these so-called ‘Atomgrads’, numerous scientists and engineers worked tirelessly on their research day and night.
There were roughly two types of nuclear weapons that we aimed to develop for this era.
The ‘Little Boy’ type atomic bomb that used uranium-235, and the ‘Fat Man’ type atomic bomb that used plutonium.
Uranium-235 could be used for nuclear weapons or power generation, but it had a low refining efficiency.
It required facilities and time to separate and enrich uranium-235, which made up less than 1% of natural uranium, from uranium-238, which accounted for most of it, by using the slight difference in mass.
On the other hand, plutonium had the advantage of being easy to refine because it had different chemical properties.
More plutonium could be produced by using a process that generated nuclear fuel from uranium-238 by inducing a nuclear reaction with uranium-235, which was present in very small amounts in natural uranium ore.
This was more efficient.
Of course, there were difficulties in development.
‘The Americans haven’t reached this far yet…’
We tested the critical mass for a nuclear reaction experimentally in a reactor, and carefully controlled the dangerous nuclear reaction to produce the necessary materials… There were many obstacles to overcome at every step of the process.
I could tell them what I knew about plutonium refining, but that was it.
“Give this paper to Dr. Kurchatov. It’s about plutonium refining.”
Beria politely took the note I handed him and folded it into his pocket.
It was a method that was developed during the Manhattan Project, so it was not yet known in this world… but the principle was simple.
The used nuclear fuel contained uranium, plutonium, and other radioactive elements.
To refine it, the fuel had to be acid-treated and dissolved in an organic solvent and extracted… Anyway, I briefly summarized that.
Beria informed Igor Kurchatov, the head of nuclear development, of the fragmentary information I gave him – uranium enrichment using gas diffusion method, reactor construction, plutonium refining, Fat Man design – and Kurchatov quickly proceeded with nuclear development.
Our spy Klaus Fuchs in the Manhattan Project, scientists who were sympathetic to the Soviet Union, and our spies who had connections from Britain to Germany.
The information pouring in from all over the place boosted our nuclear development speed to an unimaginable level.
It was rather a problem that we didn’t have a means to deliver it.
“General Vasilevsky, how much longer do we need for mass production of new fighters and bombers?”
“Well… we need at least six more months for fighters. We can’t even estimate for bombers yet.”
“Damn those American engineers! Give them whatever they want, women or gold!”
We gave huge sums of money and luxurious treatment to the American engineers we brought in by any means possible.
For ground attack fighters like P-47 Thunderbolt, we somehow managed to get the blueprints, so we only had to copy and mass-produce them.
We didn’t need Americans as much for that.
Of course, we still had to rely on America for basic industries – steelmaking, nonferrous metals, refined oil – because we lacked them.
“Is aluminum production still insufficient?”
“Well… yes. We have no problem with ore supply, but we lack electricity.”
Hmm.
This is a problem that can be solved soon.
Once nuclear development is on track and nuclear power generation is possible, we can supply cheap electricity for aluminum production.
It would make it a little easier to handle sectors that literally consume a lot of energy like steelmaking, nonferrous metal production.
“Anyway, we have to speed up nuclear development as much as possible.”
“I will devote my body and soul to carry out your orders, Comrade Secretary!”
Beria saluted exaggeratedly and shouted loudly.
He was disgusting and repulsive in everything he did, but I couldn’t get rid of him because he was competent enough to lead nuclear development like this…
It was amazing how he could handle everything I asked him to do without any difficulty.
“Did you succeed in contacting them?”
“Yes. Your letter has been delivered to them.”
The sooner Germany or America got nuclear weapons, the more likely it was that the Soviet Union would also hide their nuclear weapons without using them.
Wouldn’t the world be a little more free from dangerous things like nuclear weapons?
He took a puff of his pipe. On the table lay a letter written in fine handwriting.
This letter from a place he had never imagined… contained something he had never thought of.
He had written a letter to President Roosevelt, saying that America should develop nuclear weapons as soon as possible, with the idea that Nazi Germany’s totalitarian dictators should not have nuclear weapons.
Now he regretted it.
Nazi Germany had to be destroyed.
They should not have had nuclear weapons.
‘But what consequences will the use of nuclear weapons bring?’
The letter contained that question. In a simple sentence.
I do not know what weapons will be used in the Third World War, but in the Fourth World War, they will probably use stones and wooden sticks. Or there may not even be a Fourth World War.
This era still did not know the danger of radiation.
In Europe or America, they sold water containing radium as a cure-all, and they also made ‘wellness’ products that put radioactive materials in toys or chocolate.
There were some cases that pointed out that radiation could cause fatal damage to the human body, but no one knew exactly how it worked.
No, to be precise, humanity did not know anything about the secrets of genetics and cancer.
At best, they knew that bad environments could contribute?
The relationship between DNA and genetics that Stalin Secretary described so naturally was something that Einstein himself had never heard of.
But Einstein thought he could understand it to some extent.
His senior scientist and respected junior Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia.
The explanation that the rays or X-rays from radioactive materials were all kinds of high-energy electromagnetic waves… was unnecessary for him, who was one of the world’s best scientists.
The concept that this could disrupt the human body and cause cancer was a reasonable hypothesis.
Of course, there were things he had never thought of.
According to this letter, nuclear weapons had the power to make countless civilians like that.
A tragedy that lasts for generations through genetics!
Nuclear weapons could also make people who would live in the places where they fell sick with diseases.
The word ‘fallout’ was explained as if Stalin Secretary had made it himself.
Also, some nuclear fission formulas were written as examples, and there were also annotations for them.
About what nuclear weapons could produce.
‘Strontium can deposit in bones like calcium and cause internal exposure for several years with its half-life in the human body. As a result of internal exposure, blood cells undergo malignant transformation and cause leukemia and similar diseases. Iodine is absorbed by the thyroid gland and causes thyroid tumors.’
‘Most of the radioactive nuclides released by nuclear weapons have the ability to cause mutations in the human body and can cause fatal damage to innocent children who have not yet seen the light of the world or committed a single sin.’
‘Cities will be reduced to ruins, and their effects will be borne by our future generations for decades. The earth can abandon us, but we cannot live without the earth. I await your decision, Doctor.’
Every single thing that the letter said as if it was obvious was surprising to him. Where did he learn this?
The signature attached to the letter made it somewhat plausible.
-From Moscow, I send you infinite respect and reverence. Joseph Stalin.
Stalin did not mention at all how he found out about these human effects in the letter. But according to Stalin Secretary, the Soviet Union only possessed nuclear weapons for national defense and would never use them.
And… he had sent a similar letter to Germany. It was written in a scrawled handwriting.
‘I cannot interfere with your internal affairs by developing nuclear weapons in America. Therefore, I rely on the organized power of awake scholars in our Soviet Union. I think that is the last bastion of world peace.’
Stalin wrote that in his letter.
Who was there in Germany?
Einstein wondered for a moment.
Philipp Lenard?
Johannes Stark?
Those bastards who criticized his theory of relativity as ‘Jewish physics’ and advocated ‘German physics’ that he had never heard or seen before?
He felt a bit bitter and worried that they were researching nuclear weapons based on ‘Jewish physics’.
Maybe if he sent such a letter, the Soviet Union had already accumulated considerable research results in nuclear physics.
They would be able to stop Germany at the end, but… Could he stop Nazi’s madness with just one letter?
Einstein was skeptical.
“I have to do my part…”
Nevertheless, he picked up a paper and a pen.
He was a theoretical physicist, and he was far from experimental physics or engineering.
He was old, and he had been branded as a socialist by mainstream society for his ideology.
He would not be entrusted with such a top-secret project.
It was his junior colleagues who specialized in experimental physics who would actually make something out of nuclear experiments.
Some names flashed through his mind.
His longtime academic companion and respected junior Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi who had fled like him, or Lawrence or…
There were too many young juniors who were like shooting stars these days.
He had many letters to write.
By the way, there were two incomprehensible postscripts attached to it.
No, actually one of them was understandable, but why did Stalin Secretary know about it? He felt a slight resentment.
P.S. 1. God – we Soviets do not acknowledge God – plays dice games. And he likes them very much. For your honor, Doctor.
P.S. 2. DDT can have adverse effects on the human body and various ecosystems. I believe that you, Doctor, know the appropriate way to publicize this. DDT has a low concentration in the natural environment where it is first sprayed, but it dissolves in the fat of living organisms and ‘accumulates’, so it has a higher concentration as it goes up the food chain. In particular, it thins the eggshells of birds and disrupts their reproduction and nature.
Why me…? Einstein thought.
But what can I do?
It’s because I’m famous.
Hahaha. He felt a little proud.
A genius scientist who worries about saving humanity from destruction!
And he was a genius recognized by one of the world’s most powerful leaders!
“If I had known that Stalin Secretary respected me so much, I would have fled to the Soviet Union.”
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