Evening star., 1945-08-08

OF tne German pLdnL IN NOTlOGy
jor the manufacture OF "heauy
tDater" Which Das held up by
the cenSors. Today the censors
released the story, Which tollotus.:
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star War Correspondent.
RJUKAN, Norway, June de-
layed by CENSOR Yesterday I Wis
tied the Valley of the Waters of
Death. 1t is a stage setting for
Doomsday-this Vestifjordalen. a
long narrow chasm of perpetual
swirling cloud and ghostly twilight
into whose lake floor from snowy
heights above crash scores of thou
d-foot waterfalls with a sound
like an earthly funeral dirge on the
ca athedral organ of gods.
At the valley head lies Rjukan
and one of the largest hydroelectric
plants in the world. From here in
three years was shipped to Germany
close to five tons of heavy water.
1t was being produced by the end of
1943 at the rate of II pounds day.
In 1888 scientists of the Bureau of
Standards in Washington produced
the first heavy water, thereby open
ing doors into the future of which
they little dreamed. A long, long
gulf lies between the quiet labora-
tory of DR.. Ferdinand Brickwedde
at Connecticut avenue and Van
Ness street and this Doomsday roar
ing Vestifjordalen.
Hydrogen Has Lightest Atom.
A molecule of water consists of
two. atoms of hydrogen and one of
oxygen. Hydrogen has the lightest
of all atoms, weighing about one
sixteenth that of oxygen. But about
one hydrogen atom in 5000 is twice
as heavy as ordinary. When the
two are combined with one oxygen
atom the result is water approx
mately one-tenth heavier than COM
mon water.
Water is the most important ma
terial on earth. constituting the
greater part of living tissue and en-
tering into nearly all chemical re-
actions.
The new kind of water immedi-
ately became of vast importance for
scientific experiments the world
over. but was very difficult and ex-
pensive to produce. The Rjukan
plant producing fertilizer found it
could produce heavy water as
sideline with great profit, selling it
to laboratories for about $500
pound and erected small electro
lytic plant as the worlds only heavy
water factory.
Germans Grab Plant.
The Germans grabbed Vestifjor-
dalen in 1910. Immediately they
expanded the plant and built an
other and by importing expensive
equipment made "deuterium oxide"
chief product of one of the worlds
greatest power sources.
Five tons in three years was
really enormous production, as sep
aration, going through Is steps, re-
quires six months for each batch.
The material shipped from Rjukan
was estimated at 98 per cent pure
heavy water. Norwegian experts
were kept under close German SUI
pervision and many inspections were
made by leading German scientists.
What use the enemy made of five
tons of heavy water is pure specu-
lation. Deuterium, as the heavy
hydrogen atom is called, has two
vital uses, reported in scientific
journals many times before the
war. One was in medicine. 1t en-
ables medical experimenters to fol-
low exactly the course of various
foods and drugs in the body. These
experiments were made with a
basis of heavy water instead of
ordinary water and then the deuter-
ium was recovered from various
organs at various intervals.
Important Discoveries.
AS Morse chemical engineer said
today, Every deuterium atom
placed In food is like flashlight on
food molecule." From this have
come some most important medical
discoveries in the last decade. But
the amounts required are very
small.
Heavy cr fed to rats has the
curious effects of changing person.
ality, slowing reactions and has
tening age. Deuterium oxide Is
the water Of age and death. The
biggest natural source is the Dead
Sea. 1t will be the last water re-
manning on earth as the planet nears
its end. Quite likely considerable
quantities were used in fantastic
medical experiments at German uni
versities.
The other well known use for
deuterium Is in the transmutation
of elements such as lead and gold
by bombarding heavy atoms with
light deuterium atoms. 1t Is ex-I
pensive and impractical, but waltz
able due to scientific results. Some
of it very likely was used in German
transmutation experiments. 4
Greatly Exaggerated.
Stories around Rjukan limited byI
German scientists to Morse engineers
greatly exaggerated the single men,
ton made to date in the press which
mentioned "heavy water bombs"
German scientists told Morse en-
gineers that when uranium isotopeI
atoms we're mixed with heavy water
tests indicated that the atom split
ting process went on in orderly FASH
ion, releasing enormous quanti-
ties OF heat which could be turned
into power. Another problem was
getting the reaction into explosive
form for war destruction PURPOSES.
Morse engineers say the Germans