Pioneers of nuclear physics, exposure to radiation

[Jamal]

 

[porchrat]

Should they have invented a time machine and traveled forward in time to find out about shielding themselves from radiation before they started their experimentation?

Did you know that the inventor of the internal combustion engine didn't have a car? Amazing.

 

[xumwun]

I don't think they knew that the radiation was dangerous.

 

[GreyBush]

I don't think they knew that the radiation was dangerous.

It just gave them that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Should they have invented a time machine and traveled forward in time to find out about shielding themselves from radiation before they started their experimentation?

Did you know that the inventor of the internal combustion engine didn't have a car? Amazing.

I'll buy him a ghei French Poegaai and give it to him, then see what he do with it when it'll give him endless hassles

 

[Alan]

I don't think they knew that the radiation was dangerous.

At 3:20 p.m., the screwdriver slipped and the upper beryllium hemisphere fell, causing a "prompt critical" reaction and a burst of hard radiation.[9] At the time, the scientists in the room observed the "blue glow" of air ionization[citation needed] and felt a "heat wave". In addition, Slotin experienced a sour taste in his mouth and an intense burning sensation in his left hand.[2] Slotin instinctively jerked his left hand upward, lifting the upper beryllium hemisphere and dropping it to the floor, ending the reaction.

Daghlian panicked immediately after dropping the brick and attempted to knock off the brick without success; he was forced to partially disassemble the tungsten-carbide pile to halt the reaction.[2] Daghlian was estimated to have received a dose of 510 rem (5.1 Sv) of neutron radiation, from a yield of 1016 fissions.[1] He died 25 days later from acute radiation poisoning.[2]

More recent accident in Japan that resulted in deaths

IThe Tokaimura nuclear accident (東海村JCO臨界事故, Tōkai-mura JCO-rinkai-jiko?, "Tōkai Village JCO Criticality Accident"), which occurred on 30 September 1999,[1][2][3] resulted in two deaths.[4] At that time, it was Japan's worst civilian nuclear radiation accident. The criticality accident occurred in a uranium reprocessing facility operated by JCO (formerly Japan Nuclear Fuel Conversion Co.), a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. in the village of Tōkai, Naka District, Ibaraki.[5]

The accident occurred as three workers were preparing a small batch of fuel for the Jōyō experimental fast breeder reactor, using uranium enriched to 18.8% with the fissionable radionuclide (radioisotope) known as U‑235 (with the remainder being the non-fissile U‑238). It was JCO's first batch of fuel for that reactor in three years, and no proper qualification and training requirements appear to have been established to prepare those workers for the job. At around 10:35 a.m., a precipitation tank reached critical mass when its fill level, containing about 16 kg of uranium, reached about 40 litres.[5]

Aftermath

Dozens of emergency workers and nearby residents were hospitalized and hundreds of thousands of others were forced to remain indoors for 24 hours.[10] At least 667 workers, emergency responders, and nearby residents were exposed to excess radiation as a result of the accident.[7]

A dose of 50 millisieverts (mSv) is the maximum allowable annual dose for Japanese nuclear workers.[5] For context, 8000 mSv (800 rem) is normally a fatal dose and more than 10,000 mSv is almost invariably fatal. Normal background radiation amounts to an annual exposure of about 3 mSv.[7] There were 56 plant workers whose exposures ranged up to 23 mSv and a further 21 workers received elevated doses when draining the precipitation tank. Seven workers immediately outside the plant received doses estimated at 6–15 mSv (combined neutron and gamma effects).[11] The three operators' doses were far above permissible limits at 3,000, 10,000, and 17,000 mSv; the two receiving the higher doses later died.[7] The most severely exposed worker had his body draped over the tank when it went critical. He suffered serious burns to most of his body, experienced severe damage to his internal organs, and had a near-zero white blood cell count.[7]

The cause of the accident was said to be "human error and serious breaches of safety principles", according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokaimura_nuclear_accident