Leipzig L-IV experiment accident

On June 23, 1942 the experimental early type of a nuclear reactor L-IV led to the first nuclear accident in history, consisting of steam explosion and reactor fire in Leipzig, Nazi Germany.[1]

Shortly after the Leipzig L-IV atomic pile—worked on by Werner Heisenberg and Robert Döpel—demonstrated Germany's first signs of neutron propagation, the device was checked for a possible heavy water leak. During the inspection, air leaked in, igniting the uranium powder inside. The burning uranium boiled the water jacket, generating enough steam pressure to blow the reactor apart. Burning uranium powder scattered throughout the lab causing a larger fire at the facility.[2][3]

This happened after 20 days of operation when Werner Paschen opened the machine at the request of Döpel after blisters formed at the gasket.[1] As glowing Uranium powder shot to the 6 meter high ceiling and the apparatus heated up to 1000 degrees Heisenberg was asked for help but couldn't provide it.[1]

The experiment

Results from trial L-IV, in the first half of 1942, indicated that the spherical geometry, with five metric tons of heavy water and 10 metric tons of metallic uranium, could sustain a fission reaction. So, "the Germans were the first physicists in the world, with their Leipzig pile L-IV, to achieve positive neutron production."[4] The results were set forth in an article by Robert Döpel, Klara Döpel and W. Heisenberg.[5] The article was published at first in the Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte (Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), a classified internal reporting vehicle of the Uranverein.[6]

The Leipzig research group was led by Heisenberg until 1942 who in winter 1939/1940 reported on the possibilities and feasibility of energy extraction from Uranium for a Uranium-machine and nuclear bomb. After the report Heisenberg withdrew from practical experiments and left the execution of the experiments L-I, L-II, L-III and L-IV mostly up to his coworkers.[7] The accident ended the Leipzig Uranium projects.[8]

See also

References
  1. Kretz, Sebastian (19 April 2012). "Geschichte der Atomkraft: Der Urknall". Die Zeit. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. R. Döpel (1941 bzw. 1942), Beschreibung zweier Unfälle mit Uranoxid.
  3. Goudsmit, S. A. (November 1947). "Heisenberg on the German Uranium Project". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. 3 (1): 343ff. doi:10.1080/00963402.1947.11459137. ISSN 0096-3402. Retrieved 2014-06-26.
  4. Irving, D. J. C., The Virus House. London 1967. Paperback (with the text unchanged): The German Atomic Bomb. The History of Nuclear Research in Nazi Germany. New York 1983.
  5. R. Döpel, K. Döpel and W. Heisenberg: Der experimentelle Nachweis der effektiven Neutronenvermehrung in einem Kugel-Schichten-System aus D2O und Uran-Metall. In: Werner Heisenberg: Collected Works Bd. A II (Eds. W. Blum et al., Springer-Verl., Berlin 1989, S. 536-544. Online: Research report 1942.
  6. G-136 (July 1942), as cited in Walker, 1993, 272.
  7. "Deutsches Museum: Forschungszentrum Leipzig". www.deutsches-museum.de (in German). Deutsches Museum. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  8. "Zu einem autobiographischen Brief von Robert Döpel an Fritz Straßmann" (PDF). Retrieved 11 February 2017.
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