Katsaus Suomen varhaiseen atomihistoriaan

Abstract

Nykyisellä ydinteknologialla on lähinnä kaksi haaraa joita ovat ydinenergia ja lääketieteellinen isotooppitekniikka. Ensin mainitun lähtölaukauksena Suomessa pidetään nk. energiakomitean perustamista vuonna 1955. Tämän historian tutkimuksen painopiste on ollut 1960-ja 1970-luvun tapahtumissa, jotka liittyvät nykyisten ydinvoimalaitosten hankintakuvioihin. Professori Lennart Simons aloitti vakavasti otettavan ydinfysiikan tutkimuksen Suomessa ja oli alan ykkösnimi 1940- ja 1950-luvuilla kun koko länsimaailman yli pyyhkäisi atomiteknologian huuma, jota ehkä voi sanoa ensimmäiseksi teknologiahypeksi modernissa mielessä. Kirjan tarkoituksena on antaa lisävalaistusta suomalaisen ydinteknologian varhaiseen historiaan. Asiaa katsotaan luonnontieteen näkökulmasta, mutta esiin tuodaan myös se, miten aikakauden suuret poliittiset jännitteet vaikuttivat nousevan atomiteknologian kehitykseen Suomessa.

The development of civilian nuclear technolog y began with full speed right after World War II, and has gone through an extremely shifting set of fortunes over the decades since then. The 1950’s were characterized by a huge public enthusiasm for the possibilities of atomic tech-nolog y, as there were unrealistic expectations that the new technolog y would lead to another industrial revolution. In the 1960’s the hype was replaced by realism, and the emergence of the anti-nuclear movement as a significant political force in the 1970’s made the progress of the nuclear power industry very cumbersome. In the early days of nuclear technolog y, it’s development was significantly connected to the general political climate. Particular examples can be seen in the careers of the communist nuclear physicist Frederic Joliot-Curie in France and the scientific leader of the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer in the USA.The current established history of atomic energ y in Finland sets the beginning to the initiative in 1955 of the Chairman of the Academy of Finland, the Nobel Prize awarded biochemist A.I. Virtanen, who recommended for the government the formation of the so called Energ y Committee. This committee worked under the chairmanship of the material physicist Erkki Laurila. It’s recommendations led to the purchase of an American research reactor and several other investments into research on atomic technolog y. Ten years later Finland decided on the purchase of its first commercial nuclear power stations. However, serious scientific activity in nuclear physics in Finland began after the successful research visit of the physicist Lennart Simons to the Niels Bohr Institute in 1938-1940, and his nomination to Professor of Physics at the University of Helsinki in 1941. Beginning in 1947, the research group of Simons constructed largely by their own effort a Van de Graaff-accelerator which was in active use until the 1980’s. Simons also took the initiative already in 1946 for embarking on the use of radioactive isotopes in medical diagnostics, which was the starting point for this field in Finland.Despite being the sole independent researcher in Finland of international significance in nuclear physics until the late 1950’s, Simons and his group had no part in the work of the Energ y Committee. Practically all developed nations had some atomic program in the 1950’s. Such an arrangement, where a government put aside its existing available expertise in nuclear physics, and instead relied on scientists from other fields, probably did not happen elsewhere. It is argued, that the basic explanation for this state of affairs can be sought in the political circumstances of the post-war years in Finland, and more precisely, in the fact that Lennart Simons clearly expressed his commitment to the progressive ideas and the peace movement of his time. The main focus of the book is on the period 1945 – 1960. Later developments are briefly discussed in light of the main events of this period.