Concept
Norwegian heavy water sabotage
Related concepts (8)
Norwegian campaign
The Norwegian campaign (8 April - 10 June 1940) involved the attempt by Allied forces to defend northern Norway coupled with the resistance of the Norwegian military to the country's invasion by Nazi Germany in World War II. Planned as Operation Wilfred and Plan R 4, while the German attack was feared but had not yet happened, the battlecruiser set out from Scapa Flow for the Vestfjorden with twelve destroyers on 4 April. The Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine met at the First Battle of Narvik on 9 and 10 April, and British forces conducted the Åndalsnes landings on 13 April.
Rjukan
Rjukan (ˈrʉ̀ːkɑn) is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name from the Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. As of 2022, the town has 3,003 inhabitants. The town was essentially "built from scratch" with industrial developments by Norsk Hydro in the 1910s and 20s. At its peak, Rjukan was a significant industrial center of Telemark.
Vemork
Vemork is a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power plant with a capacity of 108 MW. Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water developing from the hydrogen production then used for the Haber process. During World War II, Vemork was the target of Norwegian heavy water sabotage operations.
Tinn
Tinn is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan. The parish of Tin(d) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area of Hovin was separated from the municipality of Tinn in 1860, but it was merged back into the municipality of Tinn on 1 January 1964. Krossobanen is the oldest aerial tramway in Northern Europe.
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: Motstandsbevegelsen) to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945.
Thermonuclear weapon
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits. Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material such as uranium-235 () or plutonium-239 ().
Telemark
Telemark (ˈtêːləmɑrk) is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional regions and former counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The name Telemark means the "mark of the Thelir", the ancient North Germanic tribe that inhabited what is now known as Upper Telemark in the Migration Period and the Viking Age.
Plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon, and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric.