How did the scientist who was exposed to radiation from 'Demon Core' die?
At the Los Alamos Laboratory in the United States, there was a subcritical mass of plutonium weighing about 14 pounds (6.2 kg) that was used in various experiments and took the lives of two scientists. This came to be called the ' Demon Core' because it took the lives of two scientists.
demon core: the strange death of louis slotin - the new yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/demon-core-the-strange-death-of-louis-slotin
On August 21, 1945, Dr. Harry Darian, a physicist working at the Los Alamos Laboratory, a secret laboratory located 3 km away from Los Alamos, New Mexico, used a lump of plutonium to discover how neutron reflectors work. I was conducting an experiment to see. During the experiment, Dr. Darian was exposed to a fatal dose of radiation due to a mistake and died from acute radiation syndrome.
Nine months later, on the afternoon of May 21, 1946, also at the Los Alamos Laboratory, a team was set up to investigate ``How close should a neutron reflector be to subcritical fissile material to reach a critical state?'' experiment was being conducted. Participating in the experiment were Canadian physicist Dr. Louis Slotin and his colleagues.
Dr. Slotin was a person who participated in the assembly of the world's first atomic bomb manufactured in 1945, and was said to be one of the world's leading ``experts in handling dangerous amounts of plutonium'' at the time. At the time, bombs were handmade and could truly be assembled by human hands, but the tasks that Dr. Slotin and other physicists were tasked with were very simple and straightforward.
Dr. Slotin (left) and his colleague Dr. Herb Rhea assembling the world's first atomic bomb.
The experiment used Demon Core as the subcritical fissile material and beryllium as the neutron reflector. Cut the beryllium sphere in half and insert the demon core into the center of the two hemispheres. By inserting a flathead screwdriver between the upper and lower halves of this beryllium hemisphere, and moving the screwdriver in your hand to move the hemispheres closer or further apart, the detector detects how far it takes to reach a critical state. It seems that he was conducting a very dangerous experiment to measure it. If the sandwiched driver is removed and the two hemispheres are completely attached, the demon core will immediately reach criticality and emit a large amount of radiation.
The following photos were taken to reproduce the state of the experiment handling the demon core. During the experiment, Dr. Slotin held a beryllium hemisphere in his left hand and a long screwdriver in his right hand.
While conducting an experiment in which the beryllium hemisphere was slowly moved closer to the hemisphere below it, Dr. Riemer Schreber, one of Dr. Slotin's colleagues, decided that the experiment was being carried out so that he could concentrate on other tasks. It seems that he turned his back to where he was being held. But at that moment, Dr. Schrebel hears a sound. The sound was said to be ``the sound of Dr. Slotin's screwdriver slipping and the beryllium hemisphere completely sticking together.'' Dr. Schreber said that the moment he turned around, he saw a flash of blue light emitted from the experiment site, and at the same time felt a wave of heat on his face.
A week after the accident, Dr. Schrebel said, ``The room where we were conducting the experiment had sufficient brightness from the light coming in through the window and the light bulb, but at the time of the accident, a level of blue light that was clearly visible to the naked eye was generated.'' 'This flash occurred for only a few tenths of a second. Dr. Slotin flipped the hemisphere very quickly. The accident occurred at about 3 p.m.' This is a report containing the following information.
the blue flash was clearly visible in the room although it (the room) was well illuminated from the windows and possibly the overhead lights. . . the total duration of the flash could not have been more than a few tenths of a second. slotin reacted very quickly in flipping the tamper piece off. the time was about 3:00 pm
The guards stationed at the laboratory had no knowledge of the precious subcritical amount of plutonium that Dr. Slotin was using in his experiments. However, the moment the hemispheres came together and emitted blue light, the guard ran outside the laboratory and ran up to the hill near the laboratory. According to numbers calculated after the incident, it appears that about 3,000 trillion nuclear fission reactions occurred during just a few tenths of a second of contact. Although this is said to be one millionth of the scale of the first atomic bomb used in
After the accident, an ambulance is dispatched and the personnel involved are evacuated from the laboratory. Until the ambulance arrived, the scientists in the laboratory were trying to calculate how much radiation they had been exposed to. At this time, Dr. Slotin was drawing sketches marking the location of his colleagues who were in the lab at the time of the incident. Afterwards, a radiation detector is used to detect the amount of radiation in brushes, empty Coca-Cola bottles, hammers, and measuring tapes near the demon core, but Dr. Slotin himself is exposed to a large amount of radiation. Because of this, it was not possible to measure it.
Therefore, Dr. Slotin instructs one of his colleagues to go near the demon core, which is still in danger, and detect the radiation level in the surrounding area. However, a later report states that the information obtained from this investigation did not result in useful data.
Experiment participants were then transported to Los Alamos Hospital. Dr. Slotin vomited several times in the hours before the test, but his symptoms had subsided by the next morning, and he appeared to be in good health. Over time, Dr. Slotin's left hand became paralyzed and the pain gradually increased. Dr. Slotin's left hand was located closest to the demon core, and was therefore exposed to an estimated 15,000 rems of low-energy x-rays. The lethal dose for humans is said to be 500 rem, and Dr. Slotin's entire body was exposed to 2100 rem, more than four times that amount, of neutrons, gamma rays, and x-rays.
His left hand then turned pale and had a large blister, and his doctor tried to ice it to relieve the swelling and pain. The same symptoms, albeit mild, were also observed in the right hand that was holding the screwdriver during the experiment.
Dr. Slotin called his parents after the incident, and they arrived to see him four days after the accident occurred. Five days after the accident, Dr. Slotin's white blood cell count drops dramatically, and his body temperature and pulse begin to fluctuate significantly. 'From that day on, the patient rapidly became immobile,' the medical report states. After that, Dr. Slotin gradually lost weight while suffering from vomiting and abdominal pain, but this was ``due to internal radiation burns''.
Seven days after the incident, Dr. Slotin becomes mentally unstable. His lips turned blue and it appears he was forced to live in an oxygen tent. Afterwards, Dr. Slotin fell into a coma and died nine days after the incident at the young age of 35. The cause of death was recorded as 'acute radiation syndrome', also known as radiation sickness.
Dr. Darian and Dr. Slotin are the only two fatalities from the two radiation exposure accidents that occurred at Los Alamos. The plutonium lump used by the two physicists was originally called 'Rufus', but after the incident it was called the Demon Core.
The demon core that caused the accident was scheduled to be used in the third nuclear test during Operation Crossroads , but it was canceled and melted down for use in new weapons in the summer of 1946. .
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