Evening star., 1951-03-27
peron S Atom Energy
Apparently Made by
Fusion, Not Fission
BY the Asseeioted Press

gentina claims to be drawing
atomic energy from some of the
|lightest known substances in the
world.
Ronald Richter, Austrian born
scientist who adopted Argentine
citizenship to carry on atomic ex-
lperiments. gave hints as to the
trend of his work during a three
hour news conference Sunday. A
Istenographic copy OF his state
Iments at the conference made
available today emphasized these
points:
/. He is using temperatures
which rival those at the suns sur
face for intensity. (This surface
Temperature is between 10000 and
$4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It is.
quite different from the millions
Iof degrees. temperature of the suns
interior. The 10,000-degree tenn
perature is easy to produce by
electrical discharge methods.)
2. Heat is generated in, the
presence OF heavy hydrogen.
3. Atomic reaction occurs when
a compound of lithium, the light
est known metal. is injected.
Not Using Uranium.
Richter said the result of the
injection is a wedding of protons
and neutrons with the subsequent
release of atomic energy. He made
the definite statement that Ar
gentina is not using heavier ele-
ments.' such a plutonium or ura-
nlurn, which require costly in
stallations.
(The United States, Britain.
Russia and other countries used
the heavier elements to get
energy from atomic fission, such
as takes place in the explosion
OF the A-bomb. Apparently
Richter is working in the oppo-
site direction, atomic fusion.
which theoretically brings atoms
together with the release of
great energy. Fusion is the
direction in which the United
States is now working in its
program for developing an
H-bomb.)
Referring to his method for pro
ducing super-high temperatures
needed to free atomic energy in a
solar reactor furnace, Richter
said:
In the first place, the problem
consisted of obtaining a thermon-
uclear reaction with a concentra.
ton OF energy and then utilizing
the product of this energy to in.
crease the temperature under con-
troll without the danger of an ex-
lploSion."
Gas at Terrific Velocity.
Richter said a small group of
scientists working at a secluded
plant on Huemel Island. $50 miles
southwest Of Buenos Aires, had
learned how to produce superheat
through the use of a lthium com =.
pound and deuterium, scientific
name for hydrogen istope which
has twice the atomic weight of or
binary hydrogen.
! The scientist said the reactions
he had obtained were '.in turn re-
lated to the hydrogen bomb"
During the thermonuclear re-
action" he continued, I'VE pro-
duced gas a terrific velocity which
reached speeds of 5000 kilometers
Isl, 1874 miles per second, OF. about
a thousand times faster than the
gas expelled by rockets"
H-Bomb a Costly Goal.
AS a result of his experiments,
Richter sadi. Argentine scientists
have learned the secret of the
hydrogen bomb, but Ito produce it
we would have to invest the same
amount of money as they have
done in other countries"
Although President Peron and
Richter both have spoken of a
pilot plant in connection with the
Argentine experiments, Richter
indicated the energy released at
Huemel Island was on a relative
ly small scale.
Asked when and if such atomic
energy would be available in use
full quantities. he said that de-
pends on the successful applica-
tion of the results already obtained
in the small solar reactor fur
mace. A larger furnace already
lis under construction, Richter
said, adding that many tests must
still be made before it can be put
to use.