Nagy Britannia és Ausztrália közös atomprogramja 1945-1960

Abstract

Australia was determined to obtain a nuclear weapon after the Second World War. The most obvious solution seemed to collaborate with Britain doing nuclear research in the so-called “joint project”. The British defence planners had been aware of the fact that Great Britain would not survive a forthcoming nuclear attack at the dawn of the cold war and thus, they were in need of their own nuclear weapon. When the MacMahon Act came into force the Government of United States of America rejected the British to continue the joint research in the Manhattan Project and they wanted to retain their sole atom monopoly. They provided the British neither with raw material nor with nuclear technology, furthermore, they were not allowed to participate in the test blasts. Hence, the role of Australia was revalued by the British Government. Several productive intitiatives such as the establishment of the Australian National University, launching the Snowy Mountains project, deployment of the Royal Australian Air Force in Southeast Asia coincided with the joint project. The culmination of the Australian–British cooperation was the atomic blast in 1952 and the decision of the British to contribute to the construction of an Australian nuclear reactor. Nevertheless, the nuclear achievements of the Soviet Union put an end to the so far successful joint project.