Demon core - a 6.2-kilogram (14 lb) subcritical mass of plutonium measuring 89 millimetres (3.5 in) in diameter, which was involved in two criticality accidents

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[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Articles like this really have me doubting some fundamental assumptions about the world.

There's is a tremendous inconsistency that needs to be proven.

Either:

Plutonium is legitimately as dangerous as we are told, and momentary exposure is life threatening/certain death.... (Which means this story didn't happen.).

Or...

The radiation risks are inconceivably exaggerated, and manually handling the most dangerous materials on the planet for group experiments like this did happen (shims, and thumb holes, and screwdrivers, and famous witty commenters; spicing up the hoax)...

As I see it, these scenerios are the very definition of mutually exclusive (certain death from exposure vs. manual handling). They both cannot logically coexist.

Maybe the nuclear threat was a hoax by the oiligarchy to suppress limitless fe free energy. It wouldn't be the first time.

Edit:. A more pc version.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I think you just don't understand how it works.

You can be exposed to plutonium in small doses behind radiation shielding, but when it goes supercritical (as it did when he pulled the screwdriver out, thus ensuring complete closure of the neutron reflector shell) the amount of radiation that comes out is a thousandfold stronger or more, in a matter of milliseconds.

The difference is at one point the plutonium was supercritical (undergoing intense nuclear reaction), and normally it is not. It's perfectly logically consistent. He basically caused a meltdown when he pulled the screwdriver out.

I understand the desire to question things, but I think you should be really careful to deny established and tested science, that is repeatable and proven to physically exist, just because you don't understand the basics of how it works. You're not doing yourself any favors.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Well, maybe your right. Let me know what you think.

As I understand it, all radioactive material decays at the rate of it's radioactive half-life. Decay involves the splitting of unstable atomic nuclei, which produces both EM and subatomic particle radiation.

Exposure to the byproducts of radioactive decay is extremely dangerous, and sometimes lethal.

He's an summarized example for comparison:

The Chernobyl disaster's core melted into what is known as the elephants foot.

Allegedly, this core is so radioactive that a robot and remote camera that was initially sent to photograph the core was rendered inoperable by line-of-sight exposure to the elephant foot.

A second robot and camera was sent in, and used a mirror to indirectly photograph the elephants foot. I'm sure you've seen this photo.

The Chernobyl reactor core was not weapons grade nuclear material.. .

I'm not sure what prevented the radiation from damaging the film, but that's a separate topic.

Plutonium is not a naturally occurring element. It is produced by bombarding uranium 238 with neurons, and producing uranium 239. U239 then undergoes beta decay, where a neuron changes to a proton; producing plutonium 239.

Plutonium is a heavier and more unstable element (hence not found in nature), so it's a strong candidate for do fission reaction nukes.

The demon core is weapons-grade, as it was literally designed to be used *as the third nuclear bomb** for use against Japan.*

It was anticipated that it would be ready by August 16 to be dropped on August 19.[3] This was pre-empted by Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945.

It's difficult for me to imagine how a person could avoid receiving deadly doses of radiation when handling 14 lbs of weapons grade plutonium with shims, and screwdrivers, and thumb holes, etc.

Onlookers watching over shoulders, etc.??? I think it's safe to assume that shielding wasn't used, if they were using shims, and screwdrivers, and thumb holes.
This is a loosely controlled environment...

The injured physicists even had a reputation for reckless handling of this material, so direct handling must have occurred on multiple occasions.

If radioactive exposure to weapons-grade plutonium is as deadly as we are told, then how could these two scientists have handled this material multiple times; with audiences, etc. And not have experience serious radiation sickness from direct exposure (not to mention the direct physical handling)???

IMHO: It does not make sense.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken...

Edit:. I'm inclined to believe the Scientists, and their statements. So I'm not criticizing the veracity of this article.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

all radioactive material decays at the rate of it's radioactive half-life.

Half of the material decays at the end of the half-life. Not all of it. So it's always halved over and over and over, every time a half-life's worth of time passes.

Decay involves the splitting of unstable atomic nuclei, which produces both EM and subatomic particle radiation.

Correct, I agree with this and everything after it, it's factually correct as far as I understand.

I'm not sure what prevented the radiation from damaging the film, but that's a separate topic.

The signal was damaged. Just not enough to ruin it. And there was no film, they were piping the images from the robot to the place where they were controlling it, so that's why they got the pictures. It's like a live TV stream from the robot. But the information stream was still damaged by the radiation before the robot shut down and stopped transmitting.

It's difficult for me to imagine how a person could avoid receiving deadly doses of radiation when handling 14 lbs of weapons grade plutonium with shims, and screwdrivers, and thumb holes, etc.

Because it's not supercritical. The elephants foot is supercritical. This means that the reaction is happening in a runaway fashion, and is impossible to stop.

The demon core was sub-critical. To make it go supercritical, you have to enclose it in a neutron reflector shield, in order to make enough of the neutrons bounce back to hit the demon core, to make it go runaway. This is how the device is detonated, essentially, by ramming the two neutron reflector halves around the demon core, so it's completely enclosed and that creates a runaway reaction because of all the neutrons reflected.

Onlookers watching over shoulders, etc.??? I think it's safe to assume that shielding wasn't used, if they were using shims, and screwdrivers, and thumb holes.

Yes, it's super unsafe practice that would never be allowed today, but at a distance from a sub-critical mass, the radiation received is not fatal or even really dangerous. The CIA has been known to dose people with plutonium to induce cancer, but it literally takes years before the cancer sets in, and that's after the plutonium is ingested!

There's not just "radioactive" and "non-radioactive", there is a wide variety of rates of radioactivity. The elephants foot was extremely extremely radioactive, because it was in a supercritical state, meaning neutrons were flying and atoms breaking down actively, and it was going faster and faster.

Whereas the demon core was sub-critical, meaning the reaction would go slower and slower if left alone. A small piece of plutonium emits radiation, but when it's not being bombarded by neutrons, it is not nearly as radioactive, because it's not generating neutrons and undergoing atomic breakdown nearly as fast. Closing the neutron-reflective shell around it creates enough reflected neutrons that it begins to runaway, which is what happened when he accidentally pulled the screwdriver out. Then the two halves completely closed, and the plutonium went critical, which also means the amount of heat and radiation it outputs goes up a million-fold in a matter of microseconds.

So it's important to understand that when a nuclear reaction is in a runaway or supercritical state, it produces much much much more radiation than when it's sub-critical and just sitting there decaying naturally at a much slower rate.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's true.

However, the hysterical fear associated with radioactive contamination is well captured by the link that useless_aether provided.

I highly recommend listening to it in it's entirety. The speaker goes into detail about the exact inconsistency that I'm describing.

It's worth investigating.