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Love at first sight. Co-operation between the Netherlands and Norway on the peaceful use of atomic energy, 1950-1960 (1994)

AuteurJ.van Splunter
Datum1994
Classificatie 2.08.0.00/01 (NOORWEGEN - ALGEMEEN)
Voorkant

Uit de publicatie:

Introduction

Late in 1938 the German chemists 0. Hahn and F. Strassmann discovered the fission 
of the uranium nucleus. Soon thereafter the German physicist L. Meitner and her 
Austrian colleague 0. Frisch showed that in this reaction a large amount of energy is 
released. (1) Aware of the possible consequences (2) the Dutch government purchased 
in the summer of 1939 ten tons of 'Yellowcake' (the trade name of partly refined 
uranium oxide) from Union Miniere in Belgium. (3) This purchase became an 
important asset when after the Second World War the Dutch government faced the 
task of breathing new life into the pursuit of science. As regards nuclear science, it 
was soon realized that it would be impossible for the Netherlands to build a nuclear 
reactor on its own. To do so was not technically, and especially not financially, 
feasible for such a small country: 'We must learn to think on an entirely different 
scale from the Dutch scale, on a west European scale' . (4) Efforts to bring about 
joint working arrangements with the Americans in this sphere were severely 
hampered by the United States' policy of monopolisation and of keeping secret 
the information acquired in the field of nuclear energy.

1 R. Jungk, Licht van duizend zonnen [translated from: Heller aus tausend Sonnen; 
also translated in: Brighter than a thousand suns] (Amsterdam: Scheltens and 
Giltay, 1957), pp. 74-75.

2 In the summer of 1939 the Dutch Prime Minister H. Colijn was informed of the 
latest developments on nuclear fission by the Ouch Professor W.J. de Haas from the 
University of Leiden. The possible military consequences were also emphasized. 
Central Archives Ministry of Defence (hereafter CAMD), The Hague, Ministry of 
War, LITT P 34 25/10/45, W.J. de Haas to Prince Bernhard, Enclosure: 
'Voorgeschiedenis van den aankoop van Uraanoxyde zouten', 3 Sept. 1945.

3 H.M. Hirschfeld, Herinneringen uit de bezettingstijd (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1960), 
p. 206; G. Dean, Report on the atom (New York: Knopf, 1953), p. 267; H.B.G. 
Casimir, Het toeval van de werkelijkheid Een halve eeuw natuurkunde [translated 
from: Haphazard Reality. Half a Century of Science] (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 
1983), p. 203; H. Ramaer, De dans om het nucleaire kalf (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 
RAM, 1974), pp. 15-19; J.A. Goedkoop, 'Geel pigment en zwaar water', 
Energiespectrum 14 (1990) l (January), pp. 14-20; CAMD, Chef Technische 
Staf KL 1946-1949, Box I, File "Atoomenergie 1946", No. 60204-0-101 04/02/46, 
Meijnen to Sizoo, 4 Feb. 1946.

4 Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (hereafter FOM by its Dutch
acronym)), Utrecht, Minutes Governing Council FOM, 1946-51, Minutes of the 
meeting of the Governing Council FOM, 2 April 1949.

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