Huemul Project
Encyclopedia
The Huemul Project was a secret project proposed by the German
scientist of Austria
n origin Ronald Richter
to the government of Argentina
during the first presidency
of Juan Domingo Perón
.
In 1948, Richter convinced Perón that he could produce nuclear fusion
energy before any other country based in a lithium
-deuterium
nuclear reaction and deliver it in milk-bottle type/size containers.
The present state of the art in fusion research is for example, the $
12 billion ITER
multinational project, which uses a tokamak
-like configuration to reach and maintain the high temperatures and plasma densities needed for fusion (Lawson criterion
, 1957). The initial temperatures achieved by Richter's device were orders of magnitude lower, and too low for producing fusion events at a rate high enough to obtain higher temperatures.
German scientists under Walter Gerlach
and Kurt Diebner
carried out experiments to explore the possibility of inducing thermonuclear reactions in deuterium
using high explosive-driven convergent shock waves, following Karl Gottfried Guderley's famous convergent shock wave
solution. At the same time Richter proposed in a memorandum to German government officials the induction of nuclear fusion through shock waves by high-velocity particles shot in to a highly compressed deuterium plasma
contained in an ordinary uranium
vessel. The proposal was not carried through.
Recommended to Perón by Kurt Tank
, Richter convinced Perón that he could produce controlled nuclear fusion using cheap materials in a process that could supply cheap energy in enormous quantities, a program that eventually became known as the Huemul Project. Perón's reasons for backing Richter were in line with the ideology of modernization underlying his concept of the "New Argentina"; he was not interested in the military applications of atomic energy but rather saw it as a way to expand iron and steel production.
Perón believed that any project undertaken by a German scientist was bound to be successful. Due to his political disagreements with true Argentine scientists of the stature of, for example, Enrique Gaviola
, Perón was reluctant to seek their advice on Richter's proposal and he gave Richter an effective blank check and appointed him as his personal representative in the Bariloche area.
Late in 1949 construction of the laboratories in Huemul Island
(Isla Huemul in the Nahuel Huapi Lake
), was begun. In March 1951 Richter informed Perón that the experiments had been successful and the government announced on March 24, 1951:
Richter's claim to have achieved fusion was wrong. It is hard at present to analyze his ideas because he never published them in the peer reviewed literature. In other failed attempts, such as the British
claim that fusion had been achieved with the ZETA device, the published results could be used for further progress. The subsequent worldwide race
over controlled fusion research was in part triggered by these press announcements.
The generation of excess energy by controlled fusion is still an open problem
.
After the announcement, and because of delays in Richter's work to pass from the 'technical scale' to the 'industrial scale', Perón appointed a technical committee which included physicist
José Antonio Balseiro
and engineer Mario Bancora, which was to report directly to him whether Richter's project should be discontinued. The committee analyzed Richter's work and concluded that the actual temperature reached in his experiments was far too low to produce a true thermonuclear reaction. They reported their findings to Perón in September 1952.
The government appointed physicists
Richard Gans
and Antonio Rodríguez to review the response by Richter to the report of the first commission. This second group of experts endorsed the findings of the first review panel and found Richter's response inadequate. In view of these findings, the Huemul Project was closed in 1952. Richter had grossly underestimated the technical difficulties of achieving controlled fusion and had erroneously interpreted the results of his experiments.
The Richter affair caused substantial damage to the science and engineering sectors of Argentina's higher education system. Not only was the financial cost enormous, but Richter had never contacted any Argentinan university or admitted a single student into his facilities, making his contribution to physics in Argentina a somewhat negative one.
in September 1955, opponents to Perón painted a value for the budget of the project in a wall of Richter's Laboratory No. 4 (a photograph can be seen in Mariscotti's book, see references) claiming that the total expenses were 62 million pesos (the amount stated in Isnardi's report), which at that time represented approximately $
7 million, or about 140 times the amount allocated by the U.S. government soon after the Argentine announcement (Project Matterhorn
, under Lyman Spitzer
). A recent estimate has been published by M. Cardona et al., in their biography of Falicov (see references). They state that the total cost of the project was equivalent to $
300 million in 2003 dollars.
This amount is small compared to the expenditures made by other nations in later efforts, but it is significant because it credits Argentina as the first country to give official support to a nuclear fusion program for peaceful purposes.
Today, the Huemul island with the ruins of the historic facilities (at 41°06′23"S 71°23′42"W), can be visited by tourists. It is reached by boat from the port of Bariloche
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
scientist of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n origin Ronald Richter
Ronald Richter
Ronald Richter was an Austrian, later Argentine, scientist who became famous in connection with the Huemul Project and the National Atomic Energy Commission. This was intended to generate energy from nuclear fusion in the 1950s in Argentina, during the presidency of Juan Perón...
to the government of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
during the first presidency
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
of Juan Domingo Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
.
In 1948, Richter convinced Perón that he could produce nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
energy before any other country based in a lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
-deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
nuclear reaction and deliver it in milk-bottle type/size containers.
The present state of the art in fusion research is for example, the $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
12 billion ITER
ITER
ITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache in the south of France...
multinational project, which uses a tokamak
Tokamak
A tokamak is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus . Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires magnetic field lines that move around the torus in a helical shape...
-like configuration to reach and maintain the high temperatures and plasma densities needed for fusion (Lawson criterion
Lawson criterion
In nuclear fusion research, the Lawson criterion, first derived on fusion reactors by John D. Lawson in 1955 and published in 1957, is an important general measure of a system that defines the conditions needed for a fusion reactor to reach ignition, that is, that the heating of the plasma by the...
, 1957). The initial temperatures achieved by Richter's device were orders of magnitude lower, and too low for producing fusion events at a rate high enough to obtain higher temperatures.
The project
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
German scientists under Walter Gerlach
Walter Gerlach
Walter Gerlach was a German physicist who co-discovered spin quantization in a magnetic field, the Stern-Gerlach effect.-Education:Gerlach was born in Biebrich, Hessen-Nassau....
and Kurt Diebner
Kurt Diebner
Kurt Diebner was a German nuclear physicist who is well known for directing and administrating the German nuclear energy project, a secretive program aiming to built weapon of mass destruction for the Nazi Germany during the course of World War II...
carried out experiments to explore the possibility of inducing thermonuclear reactions in deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
using high explosive-driven convergent shock waves, following Karl Gottfried Guderley's famous convergent shock wave
Shock wave
A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field...
solution. At the same time Richter proposed in a memorandum to German government officials the induction of nuclear fusion through shock waves by high-velocity particles shot in to a highly compressed deuterium plasma
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...
contained in an ordinary uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
vessel. The proposal was not carried through.
Recommended to Perón by Kurt Tank
Kurt Tank
Kurt Waldemar Tank was a German aeronautical engineer and test pilot, heading the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931-45. He designed several important aircraft of World War II, including the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.-Early life:Tank was born in Bromberg , Province of Posen...
, Richter convinced Perón that he could produce controlled nuclear fusion using cheap materials in a process that could supply cheap energy in enormous quantities, a program that eventually became known as the Huemul Project. Perón's reasons for backing Richter were in line with the ideology of modernization underlying his concept of the "New Argentina"; he was not interested in the military applications of atomic energy but rather saw it as a way to expand iron and steel production.
Perón believed that any project undertaken by a German scientist was bound to be successful. Due to his political disagreements with true Argentine scientists of the stature of, for example, Enrique Gaviola
Enrique Gaviola
Ramón Enrique Gaviola ). Born and died in Mendoza, Argentina was an Argentine astrophysicist of worldwide renown. Student of Richard Gans at the Universidad de La Plata went in 1922 to Germany where he continued his studies...
, Perón was reluctant to seek their advice on Richter's proposal and he gave Richter an effective blank check and appointed him as his personal representative in the Bariloche area.
Late in 1949 construction of the laboratories in Huemul Island
Huemul Island
Huemul Island is an island located in the Nahuel Huapi Lake, off the shore of San Carlos de Bariloche, a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, at . It derives its name from the Mapuche chief Güemul, whose tribe inhabited the area...
(Isla Huemul in the Nahuel Huapi Lake
Nahuel Huapi Lake
Nahuel Huapi Lake is a lake in the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina. The lake depression consists of several glacial valleys carved out along faults and Miocene valleys that were later dammed by moraines.Nahuel Huapi lake, located...
), was begun. In March 1951 Richter informed Perón that the experiments had been successful and the government announced on March 24, 1951:
"On February 16, 1951, in the... Isla Huemul... thermonuclear reactions under controlled conditions were performed on a technical scale."
Richter's claim to have achieved fusion was wrong. It is hard at present to analyze his ideas because he never published them in the peer reviewed literature. In other failed attempts, such as the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
claim that fusion had been achieved with the ZETA device, the published results could be used for further progress. The subsequent worldwide race
Timeline of nuclear fusion
Timeline of significant events in the study and use of nuclear fusion:*1929 - Atkinson and Houtermans used the measured masses of low-mass elements and applied Einstein's discovery that E=mc2 to predict that large amounts of energy could be released by fusing small nuclei together .*1932 - Mark...
over controlled fusion research was in part triggered by these press announcements.
The generation of excess energy by controlled fusion is still an open problem
Unsolved problems in physics
This is a list of some of the major unsolved problems in physics. Some of these problems are theoretical, meaning that existing theories seem incapable of explaining a certain observed phenomenon or experimental result...
.
After the announcement, and because of delays in Richter's work to pass from the 'technical scale' to the 'industrial scale', Perón appointed a technical committee which included physicist
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
José Antonio Balseiro
José Antonio Balseiro
José Antonio Balseiro was an Argentine physicist.Balseiro studied at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in his home city, before moving to La Plata to study and research, obtaining a doctorate in physics at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. His doctoral dissertation was directed by Dr...
and engineer Mario Bancora, which was to report directly to him whether Richter's project should be discontinued. The committee analyzed Richter's work and concluded that the actual temperature reached in his experiments was far too low to produce a true thermonuclear reaction. They reported their findings to Perón in September 1952.
The government appointed physicists
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
Richard Gans
Richard Gans
Richard Martin Gans , German of Jewish origin, born in Hamburg, was the physicist who founded the Physics Institute of the National University of La Plata, Argentina...
and Antonio Rodríguez to review the response by Richter to the report of the first commission. This second group of experts endorsed the findings of the first review panel and found Richter's response inadequate. In view of these findings, the Huemul Project was closed in 1952. Richter had grossly underestimated the technical difficulties of achieving controlled fusion and had erroneously interpreted the results of his experiments.
The Richter affair caused substantial damage to the science and engineering sectors of Argentina's higher education system. Not only was the financial cost enormous, but Richter had never contacted any Argentinan university or admitted a single student into his facilities, making his contribution to physics in Argentina a somewhat negative one.
Project cost
In 1948 Argentina was in a good economic position, following a large trade surplus after World War II, so economic resources were available for the Huemul Project. The amount spent is precisely known thanks to a report written by Dr. Teófilo Isnardi et al., published in 1958. After the fall of Perón's governmentRevolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
in September 1955, opponents to Perón painted a value for the budget of the project in a wall of Richter's Laboratory No. 4 (a photograph can be seen in Mariscotti's book, see references) claiming that the total expenses were 62 million pesos (the amount stated in Isnardi's report), which at that time represented approximately $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
7 million, or about 140 times the amount allocated by the U.S. government soon after the Argentine announcement (Project Matterhorn
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an...
, under Lyman Spitzer
Lyman Spitzer
Lyman Strong Spitzer, Jr. was an American theoretical physicist and astronomer best known for his research in star formation, plasma physics, and in 1946, for conceiving the idea of telescopes operating in outer space...
). A recent estimate has been published by M. Cardona et al., in their biography of Falicov (see references). They state that the total cost of the project was equivalent to $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
300 million in 2003 dollars.
This amount is small compared to the expenditures made by other nations in later efforts, but it is significant because it credits Argentina as the first country to give official support to a nuclear fusion program for peaceful purposes.
Today, the Huemul island with the ruins of the historic facilities (at 41°06′23"S 71°23′42"W), can be visited by tourists. It is reached by boat from the port of Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a city in the , situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake and is located inside Nahuel Huapi National Park...
.
External links
- Reports of Balseiro and Bancora (1952) in English.
- Balseiro's Report (1952) PDF - Spanish
- Bancora's Report(1952)- Spanish]
- López Dávalos, Arturo y Badino, Norma (1988). Antecedentes Históricos del Instituto Balseiro - Spanish
- Horacio Luis Varela: Litio: Materia Prima para la Tecnología de la Fusión Termonuclear (1997) Spanish
- Mic. Ramón Regés: Proyecto Huemul (1999) Spanish
- Guillermo Giménez de Castro: La quimera atómica de Richter (2004) Spanish