Great Sequence of Video Documentaries on Nuclear Disasters

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a sequence of video documentaries on nuclear disasters, highlighting various incidents involving mishandling of nuclear materials and the consequences of such events. The scope includes historical accounts, technical details of specific disasters, and their implications for safety and radiation exposure.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Historical

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants mention specific nuclear disasters covered in the videos, such as the THERAC-25 Medical Device disaster, the Demon Core incident, and the Goiania Accident, emphasizing the negligence involved in these cases.
  • One participant discusses the incidents involving Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin, detailing the radiation exposure they experienced and the recklessness of their actions in handling fissile materials.
  • Another participant shares information about the Trinity Incident and its impact on Kodak's X-ray film production due to nuclear fallout, as well as the lesser-known Troy Incident where fallout was detected by a student using a Geiger counter.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the significance of the discussed nuclear disasters and their implications, but there are multiple competing views regarding the details and interpretations of specific incidents. The discussion remains unresolved in terms of the broader implications of these events.

Contextual Notes

Some claims about radiation exposure and the specifics of the incidents rely on technical assumptions that may not be universally accepted. The discussion includes references to historical events that may have varying interpretations based on different sources.

jedishrfu
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Youtuber Kyle Hill has created a great sequence of videos on nuclear disasters around the world:



They include:
- THERAC-25 Medical Device disaster where cancer outpatients received doses many times greater than what the doctors prescribed
- The Demon Core: fissile material that scientists used to determine the point of criticality
- The Goiania Accident: how radioactive Cesium was accidentally dispersed throughout a Brazilian community
 
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Calling @Astronuc, you might like to check these out though I'm sure you most likely know the stories from industry sources.
 
jedishrfu said:
- THERAC-25 Medical Device disaster where cancer outpatients received doses many times greater than what the doctors prescribed
- The Demon Core: fissile material that scientists used to determine the point of criticality
- The Goiania Accident: how radioactive Cesium was accidentally dispersed throughout a Brazilian community
These are some classic examples of negligent mishandling nuclear material. The incidents involving Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin. Slotin was particularly reckless given the Daghlian incident preceded his incident. Both of them would have received a substantial does of gamma radiation (about 7 or 8 gammas, 1 or 2 gammas from beta decay products and about 1 gamma from radiative capture in Pu from each fission event) in addition to the neutron radiation. Based on their positions near the cores, they would have received a faction of the total radiation emanating from the core, probably less than 20%. Slotin received much more though.

I'm familiar with the other events, which are sometimes discussed in courses on radiation protection and handling (or mishandling) of nuclear material.
 
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I learned about the Trinity Incident where cornfields in Indiana picked up nuclear fallout from the Trinity test. Kodak used paper made from their corn husks and had a quality problem with their Xray film having exposure blotches due to being wrapped in the paper.

Since Trinity was hush-hush top secret, they had trouble finding out about why they had Ce-141 made in the fires of a nuclear blast in their paper.

https://interestingengineering.com/science/when-kodak-accidentally-discovered-an-a-bomb-testing

The one I didn't know about was the Troy Incident where a thunderstorm going through the Capital District ie Albany Schenectady and Troy NY had dropped a lot of fallout from a 1953 nuclear test. An RPI (Troy) student noticed it on his geiger counter while doing some labwork.

https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/RPI-scientist-found-atom-bomb-fallout-553543.php