# Did Nazi Germany have nuclear weapons? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354 "2025-05-14T02:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/73 "2025-05-15T17:52:17Z")
What’s rather chilling is that both [the Allied bomb raid on Vemork/Rjukan and the sinking of FS Hydro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage), which both brought significant civilian casualties - these days known as “collateral damage”, could have been avoided if the Allies were aware that the Nazi research into nuclear power was for energy, not for making a bomb. Oh, well. On an interesting note, the sabotage action against the Vemork heavy water production plant (operation Gunnerside) was planned by [major and professor Leif Tronstad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Tronstad), with invaluable help from [then-engineer at Norsk Hydro (later professor) Jomar Brun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomar_Brun). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/74 "2025-05-15T18:00:19Z")
Berg took a small amount of clandestine film of the Tokyo skyline. According to _Moe Berg: Athlete, Scholar, Spy_ he wore a kimono to a hospital where an ambassador’s daughter was staying, asking for a visit. Once there he went to the roof and took off the camera he had strapped onto his body. He never saw the daughter and sneaked out. He wasn’t very good at filming and accounts differ at whether it was of any use. That book says the government used it after Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, he probably was asked to spy before he left on the trip and he definitely spied while he was there. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/75 "2025-05-15T19:30:33Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > What’s rather chilling is that both [the Allied bomb raid on Vemork/Rjukan and the sinking of FS Hydro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage), which both brought significant civilian casualties - these days known as “collateral damage”, could have been avoided if the Allies were aware that the Nazi research into nuclear power was for energy, not for making a bomb. Oh, well. I’m willing to bet that the Allies would have destroyed that plant anyway, just to be sure the Nazis could never build an atomic bomb in case a scientist had a bright idea one day. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/76 "2025-05-16T03:32:49Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’m willing to bet that the Allies would have destroyed that plant anyway, just to be sure the Nazis could never build an atomic bomb in case a scientist had a bright idea one day. I agree. Especially since they wouldn’t have wanted to take the risk that any such intelligence about it being wrong, and the fact that they were trying to cripple German industry anyway. Under the circumstances of total war, “destroy it” was always going to be the _default._ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/77 "2025-05-16T06:45:42Z")
There was a really good episode of _NOVA_ where they recovered some of the barrels of the Heavy Water sunk on the ship in the movie _Heros_. Overall conclusion was they were pretty far off the mark. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/78 "2025-05-16T20:40:09Z")
Even if the Nazis had the Science and the technology to build a bomb, they needed raw materials, and the US had control of the biggest source of Uranium at the time: > **[The forgotten mine that built the atomic bomb](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200803-the-forgotten-mine-that-built-the-atomic-bomb)** > > The DR Congo’s role in creating the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was kept secret for decades, but the legacy of its involvement is still being felt today. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/79 "2025-05-16T20:46:05Z")
The Germans had their own sources. [https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/44000/in-ww2-did-germany-ever-mine-uranium-from-czechoslovakia](https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/44000/in-ww2-did-germany-ever-mine-uranium-from-czechoslovakia) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/80 "2025-05-16T20:58:20Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > There was a really good episode of _NOVA_ where they recovered some of the barrels of the Heavy Water sunk on the ship in the movie _Heros_. I saw one a few years ago at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. And I took a photo: [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/6wEQSI6.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/abBGXeZ) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/81 "2025-05-17T15:02:06Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Whilst plutonium weapons are significantly more difficult to design and make work, there are good reasons that there is significant worldwide resistance to any idea of using plutonium for reactors for power production. Canadian reactors, oddly enough, both create and use plutonium simultaneously, and can use plutonium as a fuel. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354/82 "2025-06-03T03:18:36Z")
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nazi-germany-have-nuclear-weapons/1018354.md?page=2)