https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-025-00098-7
Review
Myths of nuclear graphite in World War II, with original translations
1
Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, 221 Nassau St., 2nd Flr., 08542, Princeton, NJ, USA
2
College of Polymer Engineering, HTL Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria
3
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
Received:
5
June
2024
Accepted:
12
April
2025
Published online:
18
June
2025
We re-examine a common narrative that experimental errors by Walther Bothe in 1941 led Germany to abandon graphite as a reactor moderator during World War II. Using document-based nuclear archaeology, we first show that both American and German scientists used an incorrect carbon scattering cross section, thereby undermining the accuracy of all wartime data, including their conclusions on carbon’s absorption. Moreover, we argue that the availability of exceptionally pure petroleum coke in the United States, rather than any academic breakthrough, decisively enabled their production of nuclear-grade graphite. In contrast, Bothe’s Siemens electrographite had more boron contamination than any graphites considered in Fermi’s experiments, rendering it genuinely impractical as a moderator. By reframing the decision to eschew graphite as a deliberate decision rather than a mere experimental oversight, we believe the German decision was a rational consequence of material constraints and wartime priorities.
© The Author(s) 2025
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