The Demon Core
Harry Daghlian did not expect a simple breach of safety protocols to lead to his death. On the evening of August 21, 1945, Daghlian went alone to work on his project at the Los Alamos site. While adding reflective brick walls made up of tungsten carbide around a plutonium core, his equipment notified him that […]
Accidentally Discovering Nuclear Fission
The year is 1935 and Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, and Fritz Strassmann are working tirelessly to understand which heavy natural elements change under neutron bombardment. Three years later, they had discovered around 10 different half-life activities of natural elements. Soon after, Hahn and Strassman discover 6 more. While bombarding these elements with neutrons, they were […]
The History of Nuclear Testing
Purpose Before getting into the history of nuclear testing, it is important to understand the reason why they were done. The testing itself provides vital information about how well certain nuclear weapons work, what they act like under different conditions, and how other factors are going to react to a given nuclear weapon. In other […]
Nuclear Plant in Piketon, Ohio Linked to Cancer
An out-of-service nuclear facility that played an important role in the Cold War is still affecting people today. It once produced weapons-grade uranium for the military but has since been decommissioned, and an environmental clean-up is on progress. The problem is, some ex-workers at the plant have gotten sick due to radiation exposure. There is […]
A Small Guide to Radiation-Induced Cancers
The select cancers we cover under our free home healthcare services for EEOICPA and RECA beneficiaries are in large part caused by high levels of exposure to radiation. The potential to develop a radiation-induced cancer is particularly high in some professions, such as those which are associated with the mining and nuclear power industries. Many […]