>> >> >> ANNOUNCING: >> Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> >> Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy Seminar Series >> >> “No time for political baloney!” The first years of the Dutch >> Ultracentrifuge Program 1955 - 1961 >> Abel Streefland >> Ph.D.-Researcher at Leiden University, >> Leiden, The Netherlands >> >> MIT Dept. of Nuclear Science & Engineering >> Friday March 28, 2014 >> Room 24-213 >> >> 2:00 – 3:30 PM >> Refreshments 2:00 PM >> ABSTRACT: >> In 1955 Jaap Kistemaker started doing research on gas centrifuges at his >> laboratory for mass spectrometry in Amsterdam. During the following decades >> this project evolved into one of the showpieces of the Dutch nuclear >> industry. But this did not happen overnight. In this talk the early Dutch >> ultracentrifuge program will be discussed. Cold War sentiments, endless >> bureaucratic dealings and unexpected visitors went hand in hand. >> From the start, the program had a complicated organizational structure. The >> research was commissioned by the RCN, the Dutch Reactor Centre. But the >> execution was in the hands of the FOM, the Foundation for Fundamental >> Research on Matter. Whereas the competitive nature of the project often >> required swift action, RCN had a habit of first consulting several advisory >> committees before coming to a decision, thereby slackening the process. Such >> conduct proved a habitual irritant to Kistemaker. >> Contingencies influenced the project decisively. Soviet centrifuge >> specialist Gernot Zippe visited Kistemaker unexpectedly in 1957, exchanging >> valuable knowledge on centrifuge design. And organizational aspects became >> even more complicated when in 1960 an American delegation of AEC scientists >> and diplomats visited Kistemaker’s lab. Their request was simple: please >> classify the gas centrifuge research as secret. The result of this request >> was twofold: on the one hand it led to considerable practical problems in >> the execution of the program, while on the other hand it resulted in >> beneficial financial and organizational changes. >> >
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