At the end of January 1943 the Soviet government sent a request to the Lend-Lease Administration in Washington, DC for 10 kilograms of uranium metal, and 100 kilograms each of uranium oxide and uranium nitrate. General Groves approved this request, for fear that refusal would alert the Soviet Union to the American project or excite curiosity in Washington. The uranium compounds – but not the metal – were flown to the Soviet Union early in April.41 Early in 1943 the Soviet Purchasing Commission submitted another request, this time for about 220 kilograms each of uranium oxide and uranium
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