Where did uranium come from? Most likely, it appears in supernova explosions. The fact is that for the nucleosynthesis of elements heavier than iron, a powerful neutron flux must exist, which occurs just during a supernova explosion. It would seem that then, when condensing from the cloud of new star systems formed by it, uranium, having gathered in a protoplanetary cloud and being very heavy, should sink in the depths of the planets. But this is not the case. Uranium is a radioactive element and it releases heat when it decays. Calculations show that if uranium were evenly distributed throughout the entire thickness of the planet, at least with the same concentration as on the surface, then it would emit too much heat. Moreover, its flux should weaken as the uranium is consumed. Since nothing of the kind is observed, geologists believe that at least a third of uranium, and perhaps all of it, is concentrated in the earth's crust, where its content is 2.5 ∙ 10 –4%. Why this happened is not discussed.

Where is uranium mined? There is not so little uranium on Earth - it is in 38th place in terms of abundance. Most of this element is found in sedimentary rocks - carbonaceous shale and phosphorites: up to 8 ∙ 10 –3 and 2.5 ∙ 10 –2%, respectively. In total, the earth's crust contains 10 14 tons of uranium, but the main problem is that it is very scattered and does not form powerful deposits. About 15 uranium minerals are of industrial importance. This is a uranium resin - it is based on tetravalent uranium oxide, uranium mica - various silicates, phosphates and more complex compounds with vanadium or titanium based on hexavalent uranium.

What are Becquerel rays? After Wolfgang Roentgen discovered X-rays, the French physicist Antoine-Henri Becquerel became interested in the glow of uranium salts, which occurs under the influence of sunlight. He wanted to know if there were any X-rays here as well. Indeed, they were present - the salt was illuminating the photographic plate through the black paper. In one of the experiments, however, the salt was not illuminated, and the photographic plate still darkened. When a metal object was placed between the salt and the photographic plate, there was less darkening under it. Consequently, the new rays did not arise at all due to the excitation of uranium by light and did not partially pass through the metal. They were called at first "Becquerel rays". Subsequently, it was discovered that these are mainly alpha rays with a small addition of beta rays: the fact is that the main isotopes of uranium emit an alpha particle during decay, and the daughter products also undergo beta decay.

How high is the radioactivity of uranium? Uranium has no stable isotopes; they are all radioactive. The longest-lived is uranium-238 with a half-life of 4.4 billion years. Next comes uranium-235 - 0.7 billion years. They both undergo alpha decay and become the corresponding thorium isotopes. Uranium-238 makes up over 99% of all natural uranium. Due to its huge half-life, the radioactivity of this element is low, and in addition, alpha particles are not able to overcome the stratum corneum on the surface of the human body. They say that IV Kurchatov, after working with uranium, simply wiped his hands with a handkerchief and did not suffer from any diseases associated with radioactivity.

Researchers have repeatedly turned to the statistics of diseases of workers in uranium mines and processing plants. For example, here is a recent article by Canadian and American experts who analyzed data on the health of more than 17 thousand workers at the Eldorado mine in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan for 1950-1999 ( Environmental Research, 2014, 130, 43–50, DOI: 10.1016 / j.envres.2014.01.002). They proceeded from the fact that radiation acts most strongly on rapidly multiplying blood cells, leading to the corresponding types of cancer. Statistics showed that the incidence of various types of blood cancer among mine workers is lower than the average among Canadians. At the same time, the main source of radiation is not considered to be uranium itself, but the gaseous radon generated by it and its decay products, which can enter the body through the lungs.

Why is uranium harmful?? It, like other heavy metals, is highly toxic and can cause kidney and liver failure. On the other hand, uranium, being a scattered element, is inevitably present in water, soil and, concentrating in the food chain, enters the human body. It is reasonable to assume that in the course of evolution, living things have learned to neutralize uranium in natural concentrations. Uranium is the most dangerous in water, so the WHO set a limit: at first it was 15 μg / l, but in 2011 the standard was increased to 30 μg / g. As a rule, there is much less uranium in water: in the USA, on average, 6.7 μg / L, in China and France - 2.2 μg / L. But there are also strong deviations. So in some areas of California it is a hundred times more than the standard - 2.5 mg / l, and in southern Finland it reaches 7.8 mg / l. Researchers are trying to understand if the WHO standard is too strict when studying the effect of uranium on animals. Here is a typical job ( BioMed Research International, 2014, ID 181989; DOI: 10.1155 / 2014/181989). For nine months, French scientists watered rats with water with depleted uranium additives, and in a relatively high concentration - from 0.2 to 120 mg / l. The lower value is water near the mine, the upper one is not found anywhere - the maximum concentration of uranium, measured in Finland, is 20 mg / l. To the surprise of the authors - the article is called: "The unexpected absence of a noticeable effect of uranium on physiological systems ..." - uranium had practically no effect on the health of rats. The animals ate well, put on weight properly, did not complain of illness and did not die of cancer. Uranium, as it should be, was deposited primarily in the kidneys and bones and in a hundredfold less amount in the liver, and its accumulation, as expected, depended on its content in water. However, this did not lead to renal failure, or even to a noticeable appearance of any molecular markers of inflammation. The authors suggested starting a revision of the strict WHO guidelines. However, there is one caveat: the effect on the brain. In the brains of rats, uranium was less than in the liver, but its content did not depend on the amount in water. But uranium affected the work of the antioxidant system of the brain: the activity of catalase increased by 20%, glutathione peroxidase by 68–90%, the activity of superoxide dismutase dropped by 50% regardless of the dose. This means that uranium was clearly causing oxidative stress in the brain and the body was responding to it. Such an effect - a strong effect of uranium on the brain in the absence of its accumulation in it, by the way, as well as in the genitals - has been noticed before. Moreover, water with uranium at a concentration of 75-150 mg / L, which researchers from the University of Nebraska fed rats for six months ( Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 2005, 27, 1, 135-144; DOI: 10.1016 / j.ntt.2004.09.001), had an effect on the behavior of animals, mainly males, released into the field: they did not cross the lines like control ones, stood up on their hind legs and cleaned their fur. There is evidence that uranium also leads to memory impairments in animals. The behavioral change correlated with the level of lipid oxidation in the brain. It turns out that the uranium water made rats healthy, but stupid. These data will still be useful to us in the analysis of the so-called Gulf War Syndrome.

Is uranium contaminating shale gas sites? It depends on how much uranium is in the gas-containing rocks and how it is associated with them. For example, Assistant Professor Tracy Bank of the University of Buffalo explored the shale of the Marcellus deposit, which stretches from western New York through Pennsylvania and Ohio to West Virginia. It turned out that uranium is chemically bound precisely with the source of hydrocarbons (remember that related coal shale has the highest uranium content). Experiments have shown that the solution used for fracturing the formation perfectly dissolves uranium in itself. “When uranium in these waters comes to the surface, it can cause pollution of the surrounding area. It does not pose a radiation risk, but uranium is a poisonous element, ”notes Tracy Bank in an October 25, 2010 university press release. Detailed articles on the risk of environmental pollution by uranium or thorium in the extraction of shale gas have not yet been prepared.

Why is uranium needed? Previously, it was used as a pigment for making ceramics and colored glass. Now uranium is the basis of atomic energy and nuclear weapons. At the same time, its unique property is used - the ability of the nucleus to divide.

What is nuclear fission? The disintegration of the nucleus into two unequal large pieces. It is because of this property that during nucleosynthesis due to neutron irradiation, nuclei heavier than uranium are formed with great difficulty. The essence of the phenomenon is as follows. If the ratio of the number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus is not optimal, it becomes unstable. Usually such a nucleus ejects from itself either an alpha particle - two protons and two neutrons, or a beta particle - a positron, which is accompanied by the transformation of one of the neutrons into a proton. In the first case, an element of the periodic table is obtained, spaced two cells back, in the second - one cell forward. However, in addition to the emission of alpha and beta particles, the uranium nucleus is capable of fission - decaying into the nuclei of two elements in the middle of the periodic table, for example barium and krypton, which it does after receiving a new neutron. This phenomenon was discovered shortly after the discovery of radioactivity, when physicists exposed the newly discovered radiation to whatever they had to. This is how Otto Frisch, a participant in the events, writes about this ("Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk", 1968, 96, 4). After the discovery of beryllium rays - neutrons - Enrico Fermi irradiated them, in particular, uranium in order to cause beta decay - he hoped to get the next, 93rd element, now called neptunium, at its expense. It was he who discovered a new type of radioactivity in irradiated uranium, which he associated with the appearance of transuranium elements. At the same time, the slowing down of neutrons, for which the beryllium source was covered with a layer of paraffin, increased this induced radioactivity. The American radiochemist Aristide von Grosse suggested that one of these elements was protactinium, but he was mistaken. But Otto Hahn, who was then working at the University of Vienna and considered protactinium discovered in 1917 to be his brainchild, decided that he was obliged to find out what elements were obtained in this case. Together with Lisa Meitner, at the beginning of 1938, Hahn suggested on the basis of the results of experiments that whole chains of radioactive elements are formed, arising from multiple beta decays of uranium-238 nuclei and its daughter elements that have absorbed a neutron. Soon, Lisa Meitner was forced to flee to Sweden, fearing possible reprisals from the Nazis after the Austrian Anschluss. Hahn, continuing his experiments with Fritz Strassmann, discovered that among the products there was also barium, an element with number 56, which in no way could be obtained from uranium: all the alpha decay chains of uranium end in much heavier lead. The researchers were so surprised by the result that they did not publish it, they only wrote letters to friends, in particular Lisa Meitner in Gothenburg. There, on Christmas Day 1938, her nephew, Otto Frisch, visited her, and while walking in the vicinity of the winter city - he was on skis, his aunt on foot - they discussed the possibility of the appearance of barium in the irradiation of uranium due to nuclear fission (for more information about Lisa Meitner, see “Chemistry and Life ", 2013, No. 4). Back in Copenhagen, Frisch literally on the ladder of a steamer leaving for the United States, caught Niels Bohr and told him about the idea of ​​fission. Bohr slapped his forehead and said: “Oh, what fools we were! We should have noticed this earlier. " In January 1939, an article by Frisch and Meitner was published on the fission of uranium nuclei by neutrons. By that time, Otto Frisch had already set up a test experiment, as had many American groups that had received a message from Bohr. They say that physicists began to disperse to their laboratories right during his report on January 26, 1939 in Washington at the annual conference on theoretical physics, when they grasped the essence of the idea. After the discovery of fission, Hahn and Strassmann revised their experiments and found, just like their colleagues, that the radioactivity of irradiated uranium is associated not with transurans, but with the decay of radioactive elements formed during fission from the middle of the periodic table.

How is the chain reaction in uranium? Soon after the possibility of fission of uranium and thorium nuclei was experimentally proved (and there are no other fissile elements on Earth in any significant amount), Niels Bohr and John Wheeler, who worked at Princeton, and also independently of them the Soviet theoretical physicist J. I. Frenkel and the Germans Siegfried Flügge and Gottfried von Droste created the theory of nuclear fission. Two mechanisms followed from it. One is related to the threshold absorption of fast neutrons. According to him, to initiate fission, a neutron must have a fairly high energy, more than 1 MeV for the nuclei of the main isotopes - uranium-238 and thorium-232. At lower energies, the absorption of a neutron by uranium-238 has a resonant character. For example, a neutron with an energy of 25 eV has a capture area thousands of times larger than with other energies. At the same time, there will be no fission: uranium-238 will become uranium-239, which with a half-life of 23.54 minutes will turn into neptunium-239, the one with a half-life of 2.33 days - into long-lived plutonium-239. Thorium-232 will become uranium-233.

The second mechanism is the thresholdless absorption of a neutron, followed by the third more or less common fissile isotope - uranium-235 (as well as plutonium-239 and uranium-233, which are absent in nature): after absorbing any neutron, even a slow one, the so-called thermal, with energy as for molecules participating in thermal motion - 0.025 eV, such a nucleus will split. And this is very good: thermal neutrons have a capture cross section four times higher than fast, megaelectronvolt ones. This is the significance of uranium-235 for the entire subsequent history of atomic energy: it is it that ensures the multiplication of neutrons in natural uranium. After a neutron hit, the uranium-235 nucleus becomes unstable and quickly divides into two unequal parts. Several (on average 2.75) new neutrons are emitted along the way. If they fall into the nuclei of the same uranium, they will cause the multiplication of neutrons in geometric progression - a chain reaction will take place, which will lead to an explosion due to the rapid release of a huge amount of heat. Neither uranium-238 nor thorium-232 can work this way: after fission, neutrons with an average energy of 1–3 MeV are emitted, that is, if there is an energy threshold of 1 MeV, a significant part of neutrons will certainly not be able to cause a reaction, and there will be no multiplication. This means that these isotopes should be forgotten and neutrons will have to be slowed down to thermal energy so that they interact with the nuclei of uranium-235 as efficiently as possible. At the same time, their resonant absorption by uranium-238 should not be allowed: after all, in natural uranium this isotope is slightly less than 99.3% and neutrons more often collide with it, and not with the target uranium-235. And by acting as a moderator, it is possible to maintain the multiplication of neutrons at a constant level and prevent an explosion - to control a chain reaction.

The calculation carried out by Ya.B. Zel'dovich and Yu.B. Khariton in the same fateful 1939 showed that for this it is necessary to use a neutron moderator in the form of heavy water or graphite and enrich natural uranium with uranium-235 by at least 1.83 times. Then this idea seemed to them pure fantasy: “It should be noted that approximately double enrichment of those rather significant amounts of uranium, which are necessary for the implementation of a chain explosion,<...>is an extremely cumbersome task close to practical impracticability. " Now this problem has been solved, and the nuclear industry is serially producing uranium for power plants, enriched with uranium-235 to 3.5%.

What is spontaneous nuclear fission? In 1940, G.N. Flerov and K.A. Since this fission also produces neutrons, if they are not allowed to fly away from the reaction zone, they will serve as initiators of the chain reaction. It is this phenomenon that is used to create nuclear reactors.

Why is nuclear power needed? Zeldovich and Khariton were among the first to calculate the economic effect of atomic energy ("Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk", 1940, 23, 4). “... At the moment, it is still impossible to draw final conclusions about the possibility or impossibility of carrying out a nuclear fission reaction with infinitely branching chains in uranium. If such a reaction is feasible, then the rate of the reaction is automatically adjusted to ensure its smooth flow, despite the enormous amount of energy at the experimenter's disposal. This circumstance is extremely favorable for the energetic utilization of the reaction. Therefore, let us give - although this is a division of the skin of an unkilled bear - some numbers that characterize the possibilities of the energetic use of uranium. If the fission process is on fast neutrons, therefore, the reaction captures the main isotope of uranium (U238), then<исходя из соотношения теплотворных способностей и цен на уголь и уран>the cost of a calorie from the main isotope of uranium turns out to be about 4000 times cheaper than from coal (unless, of course, the processes of "combustion" and heat removal are significantly more expensive in the case of uranium than in the case of coal). In the case of slow neutrons, the cost of a "uranium" calorie (based on the above figures) will be, taking into account that the abundance of the U235 isotope is 0.007, is already only 30 times cheaper than a "coal" calorie, all other things being equal ”.

The first controlled chain reaction was carried out in 1942 by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago, and the reactor was controlled manually - pushing in and out the graphite rods when changing the neutron flux. The first power plant was built in Obninsk in 1954. In addition to generating power, the first reactors also worked for the production of weapons-grade plutonium.

How does a nuclear power plant work? Most reactors now run on slow neutrons. Enriched uranium in the form of a metal, an alloy, for example with aluminum, or in the form of an oxide is piled into long cylinders - fuel elements. They are installed in a certain way in the reactor, and rods from the moderator are introduced between them, which control the chain reaction. Over time, reactor poisons, the fission products of uranium, also capable of absorbing neutrons, accumulate in the fuel element. When the concentration of uranium-235 falls below the critical value, the element is decommissioned. However, it contains many fission fragments with strong radioactivity, which decreases over the years, which is why the elements release a significant amount of heat for a long time. They are kept in cooling tanks, and then either buried or they are trying to reprocess them - to extract unburned uranium-235, accumulated plutonium (it was used to make atomic bombs) and other isotopes that can be used. The unused part is sent to the burial grounds.

In so-called fast reactors, or breeder reactors, reflectors made of uranium-238 or thorium-232 are installed around the elements. They slow down and send too fast neutrons back into the reaction zone. Neutrons slowed down to resonant speeds absorb the named isotopes, turning, respectively, into plutonium-239 or uranium-233, which can serve as fuel for a nuclear power plant. Since fast neutrons react poorly with uranium-235, its concentration must be significantly increased, but this pays off with a stronger neutron flux. Despite the fact that breeder reactors are considered the future of nuclear power, because they provide more nuclear fuel than they consume, experiments have shown that they are difficult to manage. Now in the world there is only one such reactor - at the fourth power unit of the Beloyarsk NPP.

How is nuclear power criticized? Aside from accidents, the main point in the arguments of opponents of nuclear power today is the proposal to add to the calculation of its efficiency the costs of protecting the environment after decommissioning the plant and when working with fuel. In both cases, there are problems of reliable disposal of radioactive waste, and these are costs borne by the state. It is believed that if we shift them to the cost of energy, then its economic attractiveness will disappear.

There is also opposition among the supporters of nuclear energy. Its representatives point to the uniqueness of uranium-235, for which there is no replacement, because alternative isotopes fissile with thermal neutrons - plutonium-239 and uranium-233 - are absent in nature due to a half-life of thousands of years. And they get them just as a result of the fission of uranium-235. If it ends, the excellent natural source of neutrons for a nuclear chain reaction will disappear. As a result of such extravagance, mankind will be deprived of the opportunity in the future to involve thorium-232 into the energy cycle, the reserves of which are several times greater than that of uranium.

In theory, particle accelerators can be used to generate a flux of fast neutrons with megaelectronvolt energies. However, if we are talking, for example, about interplanetary flights on an atomic engine, then it will be very difficult to implement a scheme with a bulky accelerator. Depletion of uranium-235 puts an end to such projects.

What is Weapon-Grade Uranium? This is highly enriched uranium-235. Its critical mass - it corresponds to the size of a piece of substance in which a chain reaction occurs spontaneously - is small enough to make ammunition. Such uranium can be used to make an atomic bomb, as well as a fuse for a thermonuclear bomb.

What disasters are associated with the use of uranium? The energy stored in the nuclei of the fissile elements is enormous. Having escaped from control through an oversight or due to intent, this energy is capable of doing a lot of troubles. Two of the worst nuclear disasters occurred on August 6 and 8, 1945, when the US Air Force dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and injuring hundreds of thousands of civilians. Disasters on a smaller scale are associated with accidents at nuclear power plants and nuclear cycle enterprises. The first major accident happened in 1949 in the USSR at the Mayak plant near Chelyabinsk, where plutonium was produced; liquid radioactive waste got into the Techa river. In September 1957, an explosion occurred on it with the release of a large amount of radioactive material. Eleven days later, the British plutonium production reactor at Windscale burned down, the cloud with the explosion products dissipated over Western Europe. In 1979, a reactor burned down at the Trimale Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. The most ambitious consequences were the accidents at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (1986) and the nuclear power plant in Fukushima (2011), when millions of people were exposed to radiation. The first littered vast lands, releasing 8 tons of uranium fuel with fission products as a result of the explosion, which spread throughout Europe. The second polluted and, three years after the accident, continues to pollute the waters of the Pacific Ocean in the fishing areas. Dealing with the consequences of these accidents was very expensive, and if these costs were decomposed by the cost of electricity, it would have increased significantly.

A separate issue is the consequences for human health. According to official statistics, many people who survived the bombing or live in contaminated areas benefited from radiation - the former have a higher life expectancy, the latter have fewer cancers, and experts associate a slight increase in mortality with social stress. The number of people who died precisely from the consequences of accidents or as a result of their elimination is in the hundreds. Opponents of nuclear power plants point out that the accidents led to several million premature deaths on the European continent, they are simply invisible against the statistical background.

The withdrawal of lands from human use in accident zones leads to an interesting result: they become a kind of nature reserves where biodiversity grows. True, some animals suffer from radiation-related illnesses. The question of how quickly they will adapt to the increased background remains open. There is also an opinion that the consequence of chronic irradiation is "selection for a fool" (see "Chemistry and Life", 2010, No. 5): even at the embryonic stage, more primitive organisms survive. In particular, in relation to humans, this should lead to a decrease in mental abilities in the generation born in contaminated areas shortly after the accident.

What is depleted uranium? This is uranium-238, left over after the separation of uranium-235 from it. The volumes of waste from the production of weapons-grade uranium and fuel elements are large - in the USA alone, 600 thousand tons of hexafluoride of such uranium have accumulated (for problems with it, see "Chemistry and Life", 2008, No. 5). The content of uranium-235 in it is 0.2%. This waste must either be stored until better times, when fast reactors will be created and the possibility of reprocessing uranium-238 into plutonium will appear, or somehow used.

They found a use for him. Uranium, like other transition elements, is used as a catalyst. For example, the authors of the article in ACS Nano dated June 30, 2014, they write that a catalyst made of uranium or thorium with graphene for the reduction of oxygen and hydrogen peroxide "has enormous potential for energy applications." Because uranium is dense, it serves as ballast for ships and as counterweight for aircraft. This metal is also suitable for radiation protection in medical devices with radiation sources.

What weapons can be made from depleted uranium? Bullets and cores for armor-piercing shells. The calculation is as follows. The heavier the projectile, the higher its kinetic energy. But the larger the projectile, the less concentrated its impact. This means that heavy metals with a high density are needed. Bullets are made of lead (the Ural hunters at one time also used native platinum until they realized that it was a precious metal), while the cores of the shells were made of tungsten alloy. Environmentalists point out that lead contaminates the soil in places of hostilities or hunting and it would be better to replace it with something less harmful, for example, the same tungsten. But tungsten is not cheap, and uranium, similar in density, is a harmful waste. At the same time, the permissible contamination of soil and water with uranium is approximately two times greater than for lead. This happens because the weak radioactivity of depleted uranium (and it is also 40% less than that of natural) is neglected and a really dangerous chemical factor is taken into account: uranium, as we remember, is poisonous. At the same time, its density is 1.7 times that of lead, which means that the size of uranium bullets can be halved; uranium is much more refractory and solid than lead - it evaporates less when fired, and when it hits a target, it produces fewer microparticles. In general, a uranium bullet pollutes the environment less than a lead one, however, it is not known for certain about such use of uranium.

But it is known that depleted uranium plates are used to strengthen the armor of American tanks (this is facilitated by its high density and melting point), as well as instead of tungsten alloy in the cores for armor-piercing projectiles. The uranium core is also good because the uranium is pyrophoric: its hot small particles formed upon impact on the armor flare up and set everything on fire. Both applications are considered radiation safe. So, the calculation showed that, even after spending a year in a tank with uranium armor loaded with uranium ammunition, the crew will receive only a quarter of the allowable dose. And in order to get the annual allowable dose, it is necessary to fasten such an ammunition to the skin surface for 250 hours.

Shells with uranium cores - for 30-mm aircraft cannons or for subcaliber artillery - were used by the Americans in recent wars, starting with the 1991 Iraqi campaign. That year, they poured onto Iraqi armored units in Kuwait, and during their retreat, 300 tons of depleted uranium, of which 250 tons, or 780 thousand rounds, fell on aircraft cannons. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the bombing of the army of the unrecognized Republika Srpska, 2.75 tons of uranium were spent, and during the shelling of the Yugoslav army in the province of Kosovo and Metohija - 8.5 tons, or 31 thousand rounds. Since the WHO was by then concerned about the consequences of the uranium use, monitoring was carried out. It showed that one salvo consisted of approximately 300 rounds, of which 80% contained depleted uranium. 10% hit the targets, and 82% fell within 100 meters of them. The rest scattered within 1.85 km. The shell that hit the tank burned up and turned into an aerosol, light targets like armored personnel carriers were pierced through by the uranium shell. Thus, one and a half tons of shells could turn into uranium dust in Iraq. According to the estimates of the specialists of the American strategic research center "RAND Corporation", more has turned into aerosol, from 10 to 35% of the uranium used. Croat Asaf Durakovic, a croat fighter with uranium munitions, who worked in a variety of organizations from King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh to the Washington Uranium Medical Research Center, believes that in 1991 only in southern Iraq, 3-6 tons of submicron uranium particles were formed, which scattered over a wide area , that is, uranium pollution there is comparable to that of Chernobyl.

The atomic bomb Gubarev Vladimir Stepanovich

Where to get uranium?

Where to get uranium?

Uranium needed hundreds of tons.

There were only a few kilograms in the USSR ...

Uranium deposits were poorly studied, they were located in remote areas of Central Asia, and were considered so poor that geologists considered it madness to start mining there.

However, they were soon forced to change their point of view.

In war-torn Europe, special teams - American and ours - were looking for uranium, with which the Germans were working. We got some of it, but the Yankees took most of it to their place; including the uranium that was in our zone of occupation. The Americans simply grabbed the "yellow powder", loaded them onto cars and disappeared. Our group of physicists was only a couple of days late, they were told that the American army really needed dyes, but how can we refuse such a trifle to the Allies ?!

In August 1945 I.V. Stalin demanded detailed information on the state of affairs and on the results of research on the atomic problem. I.V. Kurchatov and I.K. Kikoin prepared "Help".

Stalin asked to make calculations of the necessary materials and means for the manufacture of 100 atomic bombs. Professors Kurchatov and Kikoin said in their "Help" that this requires approximately 230 tons of uranium metal.

And how much uranium was in the USSR?

Kurchatov and Kikoin provide accurate data:

“In 1944 in the USSR the enterprises of the People's Commissariat for Meta mined 1,519 tons of uranium ore and produced only 2 tons of uranium salts.

In 1945, these enterprises were transferred to the NKVD of the USSR and it is planned to extract 5,000 tons of ore and 7 tons of uranium in chemical compounds. In 1946, the capacity of the enterprises will be increased to 125 thousand tons of ore and up to 50 tons of uranium ... The technology for obtaining metallic uranium and uranium compounds has been developed, with the exception of high-purity uranium required for the uranium-graphite boiler.

The impression is that there are very few uranium deposits in the country. And those that do have small reserves of ores, and the concentration of uranium in them is negligible.

The section "uranium resources in the USSR and abroad" is written by Kurchatov and Kikoin dryly, but nevertheless, one can feel the alarm behind the short phrases.

It is said about uranium reserves as follows:

“Until 1944, there was virtually no exploration for uranium.

At present, the explored reserves of uranium in the USSR in all categories (except for the assumed ones) are 300 tons and are located in two deposits: Taboshar (Tajik SSR) - 262 tons and Maili-Suu (Kyrgyz SSR) - 32 tons…

A serious disadvantage of our uranium deposits is the low uranium content in the ore (0.08 - 0.2%), which limits the extraction of uranium from the ore.

In view of this, it is still possible to obtain only 100–120 tons of uranium out of 300 tons of explored reserves ”.

60 geological parties in 1945 searched for new uranium deposits. They worked in the Baltics and Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Northern Urals. However, there have been no victorious reports yet ... That is why the "foreign" section of the "References" of Kurchatov and Kikoin attracted Stalin's special attention.

It said:

“In July of this year. The NKVD identified and removed from Germany 3.5 tons of uranium metal and 300 tons of its compounds, from which we can get 150-200 tons of uranium metal.

This uranium was removed from Belgium by the Germans.

The search for uranium raw materials in Germany continues. "

Unfortunately, no more uranium could be found in Germany.

The "Note" mentions deposits in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. One of them is destined to play an important role in the "Atomic Project of the USSR":

“Czechoslovakia has a well-known uranium deposit at Joachimstal.

Previously, silver and cobalt were mined here, and then radium.

Uranium reserves, according to literature data, are about 1000 tons with an average content of 0.85%.

The NKVD of the USSR dispatches a group of our specialists to get acquainted with the field and find out the expediency of the USSR's participation in its development. "

Literally a few days later, on August 30, L.P. Beria receives information from Dresden via HF from P.Ya. Meshik and S.P. Alexandrova. The surname of one of Beria's closest assistants - Meshik - will be encountered many times in the history of the Atomic Project. They will call him "the dog of the NKVD", and he will call himself that. Later, he will disappear along with his boss ...

S.P. Aleksandrov - mining engineer, professor, candidate of sciences. In 1937 he was "drafted" into the NKVD system, where he served. He was an experienced and knowledgeable specialist, and therefore Meshik took him with him.

So Meshik and Aleksandrov reported:

“Moscow, NKVD of the USSR - to comrade Beria L.P.

Memorandum.

On your instructions, we were able to survey the Iokhimstalskoe (Yakhimovskoe) ore deposit A-9 in Czechoslovakia ... "

Let me remind you: "A-9" is uranium.

“We personally and a group of our specialist employees managed to get acquainted with geological maps, mine surveying plans, statistical and economic data, visit the main mine workings, inspect structures on the surface, observe the work of the processing plant, contact a number of specialists of both the mine and the resort ...”

Representatives of the Atomic Project had to act both cautiously and at the same time very decisively. It was clear to them that the Nazis showed special attention to this deposit, and, therefore, this is another evidence that an attempt was made to create nuclear weapons in Germany.

"2. During the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Jokhimstal (Jachymov) enterprise was modernized by Germany. From 1939 to 1945 at least 2 million rims were invested in this enterprise, mainly in mining and processing machinery.

3. As a result of modernization, the entire enterprise is currently in excellent technical condition.

4. The actual capacity of the enterprise is 2–3 times higher than the actual, the annual capacity can easily be increased to 6–9 g of radium per year and, accordingly, to 20–30 tons of A-9 ... "

Meshik and Aleksandrov understand that some new forms of relations between the USSR and Czechoslovakia are needed, since it is not only the mine, the radium, but also the healing waters, which have long been well known throughout Europe.

"eight. In the workings of the Jáchymov mine, there are two sources of highly radioactive waters - the name of Curie and the name of Becquerel. The waters of these springs are, after radium ores, the second mineral of the enterprise, pumping out to the surface, and serve as a healing basis for a highly developed resort of European importance.…

As a result of the work done, we and our specialists have collected valuable statistical, geological and other data, as well as mined samples of ores and concentrates. Having thus completed the first part of your assignment, namely, having established the current state and prospects of the Yokhimstal (Yakhimovsky) ore deposit A-9, we proceed to the implementation of the second part of the assignment, namely, negotiations in Prague through the USSR Ambassador, Comrade Zorin on the concession of the Yokhimstal (Yakhimov) radium enterprise by the USSR or on other forms of mastering the Yakhimov raw materials ... "

Very little time passes, and work in Czechoslovakia expands sharply. On March 15, 1946, Stalin himself signed a decree to increase the production of A-9 at the Yakhimovsky mine. New equipment is being transferred there, mining specialists are sent, geological exploration is expanding. For the Permanent Czechoslovak-Soviet Commission (this form of cooperation was created), "food cards of an increased norm - for 700 people" are allocated. and "special list food cards - for 200 people."

Hunger raged in Ukraine, the most difficult situation was developing in the countries of Eastern Europe, and therefore Stalin personally must sign a document on how much to give to workers, engineers and employees of the Jachymov food enterprise. In particular, since April 1946, every month:

"... b) additional special meals according to the list No. 01-50 of second hot dishes with 100 g of bread - 500 letters" A "with a subscription - 5 letters" B "with dry rations - 25 ..."

Uranium from Czechoslovakia is now often mentioned in the documents of the Atomic Project, since it was also used in the first nuclear reactor in Europe, launched by I.V. Kurchatov on the outskirts of Moscow, and in the first industrial reactor, where plutonium was produced for the first atomic bomb, and in the world's first nuclear power plant.

"Why was it necessary to take upon yourself the conduct of the Olympics, if, as it turned out, you cannot cope with the preparations for it without the help of the West?" - This statement is unfounded. Let us turn to the facts: from the very beginning, the organizers of the Olympics focused primarily on

Chapter 7 THE URANIUM WAS POSITIONED ... ON THE ASS While the first scientific center for the study of the uranium problem was growing on the outskirts of Moscow, searches for uranium ore were going on thousands of kilometers from the capital. For the operation of the first experimental atomic reactor, at least one hundred