The United States disgraced itself by deciding to intimidate Russian nuclear scientists

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Vladimir Putin's spring announcement that Russia had developed compact nuclear power plants and the prospects for their use in the military sphere scared the foe so much that a real PR campaign began in the United States, designed to convince the public that the Pentagon was not doing well too bad.

Statements of high-ranking military personnel, as well as publications of specialists, make it clear that the Americans are not “bastard” and can also oppose their eternal rivals - the Russians - with technological innovations in the military sphere. Among them, the announcements stand out, allegedly of a compact thermonuclear reactor (KTR) developed by the Americans.

According to Lt. Col. Rafael Ofek, a BESA employee and once a senior analyst in the Israeli intelligence community, Lockheed Martin, having recently received a patent for a "revolutionary design for the KTP," sentenced Russian nuclear scientists. The translation of the corresponding article by Ofek “SP” published on 1 August.

Our readers were skeptical of Ofek's boast. So, Vasily Fedotov called the case of information about the KTR propaganda and compared it with the obtrusive advertising of the American SDI - "Star Wars" from the 1980s of the last century. In turn, Sergei Khomyakov drew attention to the fact that the American patent for "revolutionary design" is nothing more than a picture.

Alexei Leonkov, a military expert and commercial director of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, also does not attach much importance to Lockheed Martin's boasting, but he draws attention to the real achievements of Russian nuclear scientists, used in practice and having no analogues in the world. In an interview with "SP", he emphasized that the result was achieved, despite the collapse of the country in the 1990s.

- The United States and the USSR, and later Russia, in the field of nuclear technology have always been tacit rivals. They built their own nuclear power plants, we built our own, and at the same time, both countries carried out experiments in the field of nuclear fusion in order to develop thermonuclear reactors, which should have a higher efficiency and give more energy than a traditional nuclear power plant.

"SP": - Explain "on the fingers" what is the difference?

- When nuclear fuel is loaded into a conventional station, 10-15 percent of it is consumed. After that, the spent fuel is removed from the reactor, sent for reprocessing, where plutonium is extracted from it, which is used for military purposes, and the rest is disposed of. This technology has existed for a long time in all countries, but some time ago our country took a different path.

Our nuclear physicists have created a fundamentally different technology based on MOX fuel (from the English MOX - Mixed - Oxide fuel - auth.). They use completely different reactors, which allow not only to extract electricity, but also completely - to the state of isotopes, to generate all the nuclear fuel loaded into the reactor.

Naturally, this is done with the help of additional equipment - a centrifuge, where fuel is enriched. The centrifuge converts spent fuel into uranium for civilian use - reloading it into reactors, or into plutonium for military use, or back into civilian fuel.

Suppose there is a question of denuclearization of a state. So that it never deals with weapons-grade plutonium, all of its plutonium can be distilled into civilian fuel.

"SP": - Technology is good, but is it used in practice?

- When we carried out all these experiments, an industrial BN-600 fast neutron reactor was built at the Beloyarsk NPP. Then the BN-800 reactor appeared there. The numbers are power in megawatts. That is, we have left the stage of experiments at the stage of industrial production. These reactors operate on completely different principles than traditional ones. Nobody has such technology. Neither the Americans, nor the French, and the Japanese even reached the stage of experiments. They are at the beginning of this path.

"SP": - The Americans did not succeed with a fast neutron reactor, but a compact thermonuclear reactor, according to the patent, is almost ready. But this thing will be cooler …

- Americans are practical guys. They patent everything they can, even without having created anything yet. This is done in case a country or individual invents something and tries to enter the world market, the Americans will get a patent and will prevent the emergence of a new one. Litigation will begin, finding out who is right, proposals to share, etc. This is a method of competition.

In addition, in the courts, they learned to withdraw good money from such inventors. Those remain "without pants." The media write little about this, everything happens in the courtrooms. Then, “stripping” the inventor, the Americans try to acquire the invention and sell it at home. Although this is not always possible. In the case of the KTR, the Americans patented a breakthrough for the future. If someone does that, they will try to get either the technology or money for it.

"SP": - It seems that in Russia, despite the technological advances, the work with patent law is "lame"? Russian Lefty can do incredible things, but can hardly protect his genius …

- Indeed it is. Take the Kalashnikov assault rifle for example. How many of it is released all over the world without a license and spit on our rights. In Soviet times, when this weapon was created, no one thought that it would be so popular and that it would be produced by all and sundry. And he was not protected by international patent law. Therefore, it is now impossible to make claims. At most, you can negotiate, as we do with the Americans, who also produce Kalashnikov.

"SP": - Well, in the USSR they did not really think about patent protection. But have they begun to think now? Are the same fast neutron reactors and other Russian nuclear inventions being able to be protected?

- When Rosatom tried to enter the international market, it attracted Siemens to help us with patents, so that we could develop abroad. When Siemens agreed to this, it got a hat from the same USA. They began to impose fines and sanctions on the company. A powerful pressure campaign was organized on Siemens to keep our nuclear technology out of the global market. I will assume that Rosatom's plans to build 60 reactors in the world using the new technology were thwarted for this very reason.

"SP": - Is not the protection of an international patent, for example, of the Russian compact nuclear power plant, which Putin spoke about on March 1, the disclosure of military secrets?

- This factor is taken into account. The principle is being patented - for example, in the case of a bicycle - it is movement on two wheels, but the details of how this principle is implemented are not disclosed. Note, the same "Kalashnikov" is produced by everything, but the most reliable, accurate one is still ours, Russian. Here, the brands of metal, and processing technologies, and assembly algorithms, etc. are important. Otherwise, it is a Chinese fake.

This also applies to the sphere of nuclear technologies. Remember how Ukraine tried to supply American fuel cells to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. They didn’t come to our reactors. Although it would seem that difficult? It turned out that the incompatibility of fuel manufacturing technologies could lead to a second Chernobyl. Therefore, Kiev abandoned this venture.

By the way, Russia at one time prepared fuel for the Americans for nuclear power plants within the framework of the Yeltsin-Gor program. Putin recently stopped this, upsetting the United States. The fact is that they do not have a technology for enriching spent fuel for nuclear power plants. They need re-mined uranium every time, and there are not so many such mines in the world. In Kazakhstan, Africa, North Korea … Hence all the "dances with tambourines" around the DPRK.

"SP": - Do you believe in the reality of the American KTR? Interestingly, Lockheed Martin promises to launch it already in 2019, while according to the plan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which also deals with these issues, we are talking about 2032 …

- I trust MIT more than others. Still, they are closer to science, and Lockheed Martin is not far from politics. After all, America positions itself as the most advanced state in all respects. And then it turned out that Russia had created compact nuclear installations, which were installed on the Poseidon submarine system and the Burevestnik cruise missile.

This all has a background, when both Russia and the United States tried to create a nuclear installation for launching into orbit. Satellites with such an installation could exist for a long time and power the space weapons systems. The Americans, after numerous attempts, closed their program due to failure. And the USSR succeeded - we have several satellites with such an installation worked in orbit. Thanks to the physicists who did this despite the collapse of the country.

Simulations have shown that compact nuclear power plants can have a capacity of 100 megawatts or more. The fuel cell of such a reactor will last for 10 years. They can be used, for example, in areas where it is difficult to reach electrical networks - in the Arctic, in Siberia. This means you can develop hard-to-reach areas. Can be used in the field of weapons and so on.

The Americans are right to be puzzled by these questions. And their politicians are trying to calm down their scientific community, the public with such messages. They say that the Russians made a compact nuclear reactor, and we made a thermonuclear one. Although the issue of controlled thermonuclear fusion is still open. But it is possible to “stake out a clearing”, to patent it for this case. What if the Russians do it? And the Americans already have a patent.