Chapter 540 Purchase of Uranium Ore

If he had to choose the next most important weapons research project, Arthur would choose nuclear weapons without hesitation.

There is no way. The deterrent power of nuclear weapons on a country is too great, far exceeding the influence that other conventional weapons can bring to other countries.

In the future society, there is also a huge difference between a nuclear country and a non-nuclear country. A country with nuclear weapons is not necessarily a superpower, but a superpower must have nuclear weapons.

The first country in history to manufacture and use nuclear weapons was the United States, and it is also the only country in human history that has used nuclear weapons against other countries.

The US nuclear weapons research program was named the Manhattan Project, and the support for the successful research of the Manhattan Project was actually the uranium mines from the Congo region.

Speaking of uranium mines, this is a mineral resource that has been discovered long ago and is distributed in many countries.

But until now, uranium mines have been rarely used in human life, so they are also called useless ores, and only a small amount of development has been carried out.

The only purpose of people developing uranium mines is not to develop nuclear weapons like the Americans, but to find the radium element hidden in uranium mines.

Yes, it is the radium element discovered by the famous Marie Curie.

It was not until nuclear fission was discovered that people discovered the role and value of uranium ore, and the history of large-scale uranium mining began.

When the Americans carried out the Manhattan Project, they did not choose uranium mines in Colorado and Canada, but chose uranium mines in Congo, thousands of miles away. There was actually a reason for this.

Compared with the uranium ore in the United States and Canada, which has a purity of only 0.03%, the purity of uranium ore in Congo reached a terrifying 65%, and even the tailings that were later considered too poor to be processed had a purity of 20%.

Such a huge difference in purity is the real reason why Americans gave up uranium mines in the Americas and chose to mine uranium mines in Congo from afar.

This actually also represents an important news, that is, the high-quality uranium ore in Congo plays a vital role in the research and development of nuclear weapons.

Now it is good news for Arthur and Australasia, because uranium ore is almost worthless now, and almost no one will mine this ore except hoping to discover radium.

Before the news of nuclear fission was announced, it was entirely possible to mine and even empty the uranium mines in Congo.

As long as the high-quality uranium mines in Congo were monopolized, other countries would have to develop nuclear weapons at least several years slower than in history.

With a leading start, Australasia could also achieve a substantial lead in nuclear weapons research and development with this batch of high-quality uranium mines.

Thinking of this, Arthur no longer hesitated and directly notified the Australasia ambassador to Belgium to consult about the purchase of uranium mines in Congo.

It is worth mentioning that the current Congo is no longer the private property of the King of Belgium, but is ruled by the Belgian government and has been officially renamed Belgian Congo.

Although the uranium mines in Congo are useless ores of no value for the time being, the Belgian government is also very curious about the news that Australasia wants to buy the right mines, and even tried every means to test Australasia's intentions.

Unfortunately, such a test is naturally easy for diplomats to deal with. Even if the Belgian government tried every means, there was no reply in the end.

In order to make the Belgians willingly donate all the uranium mines, Arthur also spent a lot of money and bought all the uranium mines in Congo in his private name, at a cost of 5 million Australian dollars and a batch of weapons and equipment.

After being involved in World War I, the Belgians understood the importance of their own defense. After the war, they strengthened the major fortresses and equipped them with more powerful weapons.

After learning that the purchase of uranium mines was just Arthur's personal behavior, the Belgian government breathed a sigh of relief and was happy to make a fortune from Arthur.

After all, if all the uranium mines in Congo were mined, it might not be possible to make 5 million Australian dollars.

What's more, there is a batch of weapons and equipment. From the current perspective, this deal is naturally a sure win for the Belgian government.

Of course, the British also contributed part of their efforts to enable Australasia to obtain these uranium mines smoothly.

Although Congo is a colony of Belgium, the powers also have relevant interests in Belgium, especially the most powerful British Empire.

The Belgian United Mining Company, which is responsible for mining in the Congo region, has more than 30% of its shares owned by the British, which is enough to show the influence of the British on this land.

After the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence, the British urgently needed the support of Australasia at the international level, which was also the reason why the British agreed to Australasia's purchase of all uranium mines in Congo without thinking.

For the British, this batch of uranium mines is naturally not as important as their own stability. Anyway, there are more uranium mines in the world than only Congo. Australasia cannot monopolize the world's uranium mines, and the British Empire naturally does not have to worry.

After obtaining dual licenses from the British Empire and Belgium, Arthur was relieved and established the Royal Mining Company, which is specifically responsible for the mining and transportation of Congo uranium mines.

Of course, because it is known that uranium ore is a radioactive mineral, the specific mining responsible are naturally the natives of Congo, or the natives specially raised in Australasia. It is impossible for the Australians to mine it themselves.

This is exactly the purpose of keeping these indigenous people in captivity, to make due contributions to the Australasian government in this relatively dangerous environment.

Arthur was looking forward to the mining of uranium in Congo, so after obtaining the permission from Britain and Belgium, he had already started the uranium mining plan in Congo.

In order to maintain local order and protect the safe mining and transportation of this batch of uranium to the country, Arthur decided to send a troop to the mining area to protect the safety near the mining area with the consent of the Belgians.

Of course, the transport ship responsible for transporting uranium ore is also customized. Although it is not large in scale, it will take two or three months to complete the construction, which is just enough to allow the mining area to be mined for a while.

With the authorization of the British and Belgian governments, all uranium mines in Congo belong to Arthur privately, which is a fact that no one can change.

But in order to avoid accidents, Arthur decided to mine as much as possible and transport the high-quality uranium ore in Congo to Australasia.

On the one hand, it can facilitate the nuclear weapons research in Australasia, and on the other hand, it can hinder the progress of nuclear weapons research and development in other countries as much as possible.

Of course, Arthur is now worried too much. Before nuclear fission is studied, the nuclear weapons research and development of other countries has not started, and naturally there will be no possibility of other countries overtaking.

September 1, 1920, Belgian Congo, New Kolobwe Mine.

This uranium mine, which later became famous, had changed its owner and was stationed by the Australasian army.

Due to the rush of time, other construction of the mine had not yet started, and even the mining equipment had not been transported.

However, because Arthur's order was to start mining as soon as possible, the head of the Royal Mining Company decided to organize local indigenous people to mine as soon as possible.

Anyway, the life and death of these indigenous people did not need to be cared about. With a little food and funds, it was easy to exchange for the service of hundreds of indigenous people, and the mining of uranium officially began.

Considering the radioactivity of uranium, no Australasians would approach the entire uranium mining process, and it was basically handled by local indigenous people.

Of course, the preliminary work was also very simple, just dig the mine and pile the excavated ore in the designated place.

When the corresponding mining equipment arrives, the mine railway will be built, and more advanced transportation equipment will be established.

On the third day, Arthur received good news. That is, on September 1, the New Kolobwe Mine mined a total of 49 tons of uranium ore, and the mining work went very smoothly.

Arthur was very satisfied with the news. He praised the hastily established Royal Mining Company and asked the mining company to increase production as much as possible. The corresponding mining and transportation equipment will arrive in Congo soon.

The important raw materials for the development of nuclear weapons have made progress, and Arthur can't help but focus on the development of nuclear weapons.

Of course, it is not the development of nuclear weapons at present, but the research and exploration of nuclear theory.

The research of nuclear weapons is not achieved overnight. From the discovery of electrons and X-rays at the beginning to the discovery of nuclear fission and the birth of nuclear weapons, it took decades in history.

Many scientific theories have laid a solid foundation for nuclear weapons, which is also the real reason for the birth of nuclear weapons.

This also means that if you want to study nuclear weapons, you must verify the complete nuclear theory before you can study nuclear weapons based on this theory.

The good news is that scientists have laid a solid foundation for this theory. The discovery and proposal of the natural radioactivity of electrons, X-rays, polonium, radium and uranium, the special theory of relativity and the formula for the relationship between mass and energy, quantum mechanics and the atomic model have opened up a new stage in the development of atomic theory.

There is no exact timetable for the development of nuclear weapons, because the existing theory cannot support the development of nuclear weapons in Australasia.

Without a complete theory, scientists don’t even know what nuclear weapons are, so they can’t give an exact timetable.

The research of any weapon must be based on theory. Before the theory is explored, the weapon does not exist.

Even if nuclear fission was discovered in history, it took more than ten years to produce nuclear weapons, not to mention that nuclear fission has not been discovered yet.

In order to let Australasia develop nuclear weapons as soon as possible, Arthur racked his brains and frantically recalled the milestones of the development of nuclear weapons in later generations.

The earliest nuclear weapon was the atomic bomb, and the research of the atomic bomb must be inseparable from atoms.

If Arthur remembered correctly, with the discovery of neutrons, scientists proposed the hypothesis that the nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons, which promoted the research in related fields.

A simple sentence in the physics books of later generations has to go through many arguments in reality, and there must be a solid theory as a basis to confirm it.

Although it is just a simple sentence, a large number of scientists have devoted their lives to it, which cannot be mentioned in physics books.

Although the technology is indeed very advanced 100 years later, without the efforts of many scientists a hundred years ago, the pyramids would not have been built, and advanced technology would have no theoretical basis.

Although Arthur has a certain understanding of the theory of nuclear weapons, it has been too long and many things have been forgotten.

In addition to the theory that the nucleus is composed of neutrons and protons, Arthur also remembers nuclear fission and the famous uranium 235.

Of course, there are chain reactions and the like, which were provided by Arthur to the Institute of Physics headed by Einstein to help them conduct research on nuclear theory.

The research of nuclear theory is related to the strategic interests of Australasia. Arthur has instructed in advance that no one is allowed to leak any research results, otherwise it will be regarded as a betrayal of Australasia.

Of course, in order to compensate these scientists, Arthur said that he would add research funds for these people and encourage them to conduct research in other areas.

Obviously, scientists still value their research funds. After Arthur added a large amount of research funds, these physicists agreed to temporarily conceal the proposal of research related to theory.

With the many news provided by Arthur, I believe that the Institute of Physics will be very busy in recent times. After all, the exploration of various hypotheses cannot be achieved in a short time.

Of course, the news provided by Arthur is basically verified by later generations, which can also help Australasia's nuclear theory research avoid some detours.

With the help of high-quality uranium mines in Congo, Arthur is still very confident that nuclear weapons can be developed earlier than history, and even used in war in the middle of World War II.

After all, no matter how the world situation develops, nuclear weapons will always be the last trump card of each country in 100 years, and there will not be many opportunities to use them.

World War II was the most appropriate opportunity to use nuclear weapons. Before other countries developed nuclear weapons, this was equivalent to a unilateral attack.

Especially after nuclear weapons were used, other countries would see the powerful power of nuclear weapons and would naturally invest in the research of nuclear weapons regardless of everything.

This wave of research cannot be stopped at all. Even if Australasia's lead is large, it cannot stop other countries from developing nuclear weapons.

This also means that except for World War II, the most appropriate time to use nuclear weapons, when World War II is over, if you want to use nuclear weapons, you have to look at the faces of other countries.

First of all, the blind use of nuclear weapons will hit the reputation of the country, and secondly, you have to consider whether other countries have developed nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons after World War II are more used for deterrence. You can not use them, but you must have them. This is probably what it means.

For various reasons, Arthur still wanted to use nuclear weapons in World War II. After all, the famous Mount Fuji has not erupted for a long time. There is no reason. Arthur just wants to see what a volcanic eruption looks like.

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