2023-09-25 08:31:00
The project he carried out brings humanity into a whole new era. That of nuclear weapons. A little less than a month following the test orchestrated by Oppenheimer, the United States dropped an atomic bomb for the first time on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, another nuclear device hit Nagasaki. The number of victims is impressive and continues to increase with each passing hour. Behind the scenes, the Americans are already preparing for a third nuclear attack. “The bomb should be ready for release on the first day of good weather following August 17 or 18,” wrote General Leslie Groves. Meanwhile, horror and fear push Japan to capitulate. The United States can put away its third bomb. The war is over.
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But scientists aren’t done yet. In the town of Los Alamos in New Mexico, built specifically to accommodate Oppenheimer’s team, physicists continue to think and try to improve the third weapon of mass destruction. Some people don’t give themselves any respite. Harry Daghlian is one of those who does not experience fatigue. What’s the point of sleeping when you can work on “the most important project in history”? His obsession: the “criticality” of nuclear weapons. In other words, the point of no return, the one which, once reached, causes a self-sustaining chain reaction. The operation is dangerous. Nuclear physics enthusiasts have fun comparing this bravado to the “tickling of a dragon’s tail”.
The Demon Core ©Creative commons
The demon’s first victim
On the night of August 21, 1945, the 24-year-old physicist went to his laboratory. Accompanied only by a security agent, he works on what is nowadays nicknamed the “Demon Core”, a subcritical mass of plutonium of 6.2 kg measuring 8.5 cm in width. diameter. The scientist gets busy. He stacks tungsten bricks around the “Demon Heart”. But man, despite his vigilant nature, ends up doing the irreparable. Maybe it’s fatigue. Or maybe his mind is elsewhere. But a brick slips out of his hands. It lands directly on the plutonium sphere. The physicist immediately grabbed the rectangular piece of tungsten.
But it’s too late. A jet of blue light escapes from the “Demon Core”. The room is filled with heavy heat. Too heavy. Harry Daghlian receives a dose of radiation that he has little chance of surviving. His hand is burned. Nausea suffocates him. The pain is immense. Plunged into a coma, the scientist died three weeks later. If the security guard survives the accident, he nonetheless faces a disastrous fate. He died 33 years later of acute myeloid leukemia.
Since we cannot remove the atomic bomb, how can we preserve the future?
Impressive irradiation
The “Demon Heart” claimed its first victims, but not its last. Although it saddens Daghlian’s colleagues, the incident does not weaken their determination. With heavy hearts, the scientists got back to work. Nine months later, on May 21, 1946, the “Demon Core” was back in trouble. Surrounded by seven scientists, physicist Louis Slotin details his actions, with a view to passing the torch. The man knows his hours at Los Alamos are numbered. In a few days, he will return to the “real world”. But now is not the time for daydreaming. The scientist in cowboy boots wants to stay focused and careful. The Daghlian accident remains fresh in our memories. It would not be a question of reproducing the errors of the deceased physicist. However, today’s maneuver is delicate. The physicist must surround the “Demon Heart” with two hemispheres of beryllium, which cannot completely cover the core under any circumstances. To make sure, Slotin places a screwdriver between the two hemispheres. But the experience does not go as planned. The tool slides for a moment. The few seconds that elapse are enough to create irradiation such that blue light springs from the plutonium ball. 1,000 rad of neutrons and 114 rad of gamma rays pass through the scientist, who replaces the screwdriver. Stunned, he still just saved the lives of his companions. But not his. The man is taken to hospital. His body, which received most of the irradiation, is in a bad state. He died nine days later, following long hours of suffering.
This second incident has profoundly shaken the scientific world. It also marks the end of hand-made criticality experiments. Machines will insert themselves between physicists and radioactive matter. As for the “Demon Core”, rumors are starting to circulate regarding a possible curse surrounding this plutonium core. The one who until then was nicknamed “Rufus” was given the much less enviable nickname, which we still refer to when talking regarding him today. It lives up to the bad reputation that taints the sphere. Two deaths aren’t nothing. Physicists are more than reluctant to confront this “monster”. This is perhaps what decides the authorities to abandon their plans concerning the “Demon Heart”. But there is no question of sacrificing such precious materials on the altar of superstition in these times of the nuclear arms race. The “Demon Core” was melted down in the summer of 1946. The material collected would be added to the American nuclear stockpile.
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