研究人员通过分析幸存的铀立方体和战争文献，发现纳粹德国最后的实验核反应堆B8远未达到临界点1。由Timothy Koeth及其同事进行的研究表明，该反应堆实现可持续链式反应所需的铀和重水分别是德国实际拥有量的两倍以上1。这一发现挑战了物理学家海森堡曾主张的B8反应堆已接近临界点的论断1。
德国无法获得充足的必要资源来推进其核计划1。该国从挪威Vemork工厂获得重水，但1943年11月16日美国轰炸机空袭了该设施1。此外，德国控制区域内的石墨含有硼杂质，无法作为重水的替代品1。B8实验在1945年被美军发现并拆除时从未达到临界点1，而美国则在1942年用石墨反应堆实现了世界上第一次受控可持续链式反应1。这项研究已发表在《PNAS Nexus》2026年第5卷第9期，DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag2821。
Researchers analyzing surviving uranium cubes and wartime documents have determined that Nazi Germany's final experimental nuclear reactor, B8, fell far short of achieving nuclear success.1 The reactor would have required approximately double the amount of uranium and more than double the heavy water that Germany actually possessed to sustain a chain reaction.1 This finding challenges physicist Werner Heisenberg's earlier assertion that the B8 reactor had approached criticality.1
Germany obtained heavy water from the Vemork facility in Norway, but this supply was severely disrupted when American bombers attacked the installation on November 16, 1943.1 The B8 experiment, under Heisenberg's leadership, never reached criticality before being dismantled by American forces in 1945 when discovered.1 Additionally, the graphite available in German-controlled territories contained boron impurities, making it unsuitable as an alternative to heavy water.1 By contrast, the United States achieved the world's first controlled, sustained chain reaction using a graphite reactor in 1942.1
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