Editing Huemul Project (section)

== The project ==
Richter was soon given a laboratory at Tank's Córdoba site, but in early 1949 a fire destroyed some of the equipment. Richter claimed it was sabotage, and demanded a more protected location free from spies.{{sfn|Hagood|2014|p=264}} When support was not immediately forthcoming, Richter went on a tour, visiting Canada and perhaps the U.S. and Europe as well.{{sfn|Cabral|1987|p=80}} A year later, [[Lise Meitner]] recalled meeting "a strange Austrian with an Argentine visa" in [[Vienna]], where he demonstrated a device he claimed was a thermonuclear system but which Meitner later dismissed as a chemical effect.{{sfn|Newton|1992|p=379}}

Richter's tour was a thinly veiled threat to leave Argentina, which prompted action. Perón handed the problem of selecting a suitable experimental site to Colonel González, a friend from the [[1943 Argentine coup d'état]]. González selected a location deep within the country's interior on [[Huemul Island]], in [[Nahuel Huapi Lake]], where it would be easy to protect from prying eyes. Construction work began in July, causing a nationwide shortage of brick and cement. Richter moved to the site in March 1950 while construction on Laboratory 1, the reactor, was still ongoing.{{sfn|Mariscotti|1992|p=9}}

In May 1950, Perón formed the [[National Atomic Energy Commission]] (''CNEA''), bypassing Gaviola's earlier efforts and placing himself in the position of president, with Richter and the minister of technical affairs as the other chairs.{{sfn|Mariscotti|1992|p=10}} A year later, he formed the National Atomic Energy Directorate (''DNEA''), under González, to provide project assistance and logistics support.{{sfn|Mariscotti|1992|p=11}}

When the reactor was finally completed in May, Richter noticed there was no way to access the interior of the {{convert|12|m|adj=on}} wide concrete cylinder, requiring a series of holes to be drilled through the {{convert|4|m|adj=on}} thick walls. But before this could be completed, Richter declared that a crack on the outside rendered the entire reactor useless, and had it torn down.{{sfn|Mariscotti|1992|p=9}}

While this was taking place, Richter began experiments in the much smaller {{convert|2|m|adj=on}} reactor in Laboratory 2. The experiments injected lithium and hydrogen into the cylinder and discharged a spark through it. The cylinder was supposed to reflect the energy created by these reactions back into the chamber to keep the reaction going.{{efn|A condition now known as ''[[Fusion ignition|ignition]]''.}} Diagnostic measurements were provided by taking photographs of the [[spectrum]] and using Doppler widening to measure the temperature of the resulting reactions.{{sfn|Mariscotti|1992|p=9}}