6.3 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear Secrets | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Secrets | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:38:46.972057+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Episode three: Superbomb === "After the Second World War, America was looking forward to a bright Atomic future. As the only country with the atom bomb it felt secure. 29th of August 1949, the Soviets stun the world by exploding their own atom bomb. Suddenly the West itself was under threat. Edward Teller, a leading physicist from Hungary, believed the only way to save the world from Soviet Communism was to build an even bigger bomb, the hydrogen bomb, or Super." In 1950, Edward Teller briefs the team at Los Alamos National Laboratory about plans to construct a hydrogen bomb but U.S. Presidential Advisor Robert Oppenheimer opposes him. Oppenheimer is summoned to the White House to discuss whether Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs passed on info about the Super. Soviet Chairman Stalin instructs Andrei Sakharov to work under Beria on the Soviet hydrogen bomb project. U.S. Atomic Energy Commissioner Lewis Strauss supports Teller and U.S. President Harry S. Truman commissions the project. Kitty Oppenheimer fears her communist connections may compromise her husband and his moral objections to the project. Sakharov reviews Fuchs' info on Teller's Super but has his own plans for a simpler but less powerful bomb. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Lamphere gets Fuchs to confirm his contact was Harry Gold and this leads to the arrest of the Rosenbergs. Teller and Stanislaw Ulam find an ingenious solution to the problems with their design, which is successfully tested following Teller's resignation from the project. A power struggle in the USSR following the death of Stalin results in the downfall of Beria shortly before the testing of the Soviet H-bomb. Strauss orders the FBI to revoke Oppenheimer's security clearance under suspicion of spying for the Soviets. When U.S. testing runs out of control the American public are alerted to the power of this new weapon. Teller testifies against Oppenheimer at a security hearing and Strauss's objections are upheld. Sakharov becomes a leading dissident after civilians are killed in a Soviet bomb test.
==== Cast ====
=== Episode four: Vanunu and the Bomb === "This is the first man to tell the world nuclear weapons have arrived in the most troubled region on the Earth, the Middle East. In doing so he's exposed the West's opposition to nuclear proliferation as little more than a sham. Vanunu is banned from talking to foreign media, based on eyewitness testimony, this film is his story." February 1977 Nuclear Technician Mordechai Vanunu is assigned to work at the top secret Dimona facility. In 1986 he reveals to journalists Oscar Guerrero and Peter Hounam the presence of an underground plutonium plant there. Former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had commissioned construction of the plant in 1958. Vanunu had made the discovery after 7-years at the plant and had photos to prove his story. Hounam takes Vanunu to The Sunday Times in London, where Nuclear Physicist Frank Barnaby confirms the data, but the Mossad is tailing them. Guerrero arrives in London and tries to sell the story to rival paper The Sunday Mirror. France, Britain and the U.S. had been complicit in the construction under a secret agreement between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. The lonely Vanunu befriends intern Wendy Robbins but she insists that they remain just friends. The discredited story in the Mirror causes the Times to delay their publication. Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres forbids the Mossad from kidnapping Vanunu on British soil so they spring a honey trap to lure him to Rome. In Italy Vanunu is abducted and shipped back to Israel but the Times decides to publish in the hopes of protecting his life. The Western powers that had professed a stance of non-nuclear proliferation while collaborating in the construction of Dimona were exposed as hypocrites and yet the press in those countries remained curiously silent on the subject. The Israelis confirm that they have Vanunu in detention but refuses to explain how. Convicted of treason Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
=== Episode five: The Terror Trader === "Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan: brilliant scientist, trusted colleague, nuclear spy. Khan's master plan: to bring technology from Europe, build an atomic bomb for Pakistan, and set up a network to sell technology to Middle Eastern states from Libya to Iran." Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan started working for URENCO in The Netherlands in 1972. working for the Pakistani Government, Khan gained access to technology due to lax security methods. Returning to Pakistan with his family in 1975. Khan's family had left for Pakistan following the end of 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. Khan had become a fierce nationalist. Pakistan's President Bhutto supported Khan and he constructed a nuclear plant in the foothills of the Himalayas. Dutch enquiries in the 1980s finally revealed what Khan was doing but he gets off on a technicality. The U.S. overlooks Khan's program in order to gain Pakistani support against the USSR in Afghanistan. Khan acquires missile technology from China and extends his network into the Middle East. UN Weapons Inspectors in Iraq uncover documents implicating Khan in nuclear trading but the West fails to act. Khan continues his trade amassing a huge personal fortune and becomes a hero following the detonation of Pakistan's first bomb. A joint CIA/MI6 task force uncovers Khan's dealings with Libya but are unable to move as Pakistani support is again needed in the post-9/11 Invasion of Afghanistan. UN Weapons Inspectors in Iran uncover further evidence implicating Khan, which the Iranians confirm. The task force targets Khan's network with a double agent and intercept a shipment of centrifuges to Libya. Muammar al-Gaddafi agrees to cooperate with UN Weapons Inspectors and the full extent of Khan's capabilities are revealed. Khan's deputy Tehir is arrested and interrogated in Malaysia and confesses. Pakistani authorities deny any knowledge of Khan's network and he is arrested and forced to confess on live television. Khan remains under house arrest in Pakistan where his secrets are protected.
== External links == Nuclear Secrets at BBC Online Nuclear Secrets at IMDb Region 2 dvd release