The Demon Core: Hubris, Accidents, and Nuclear Disasters

The Origin of the Demon Core

• 💡 The Demon Core was the subcritical mass of plutonium intended for the third atomic bomb, which was never dropped after Japan's surrender.
• 🚀 It was a 6-kilogram sphere of plutonium, approximately 89 mm in diameter, alloyed with gallium to stabilize its shape.
• ⚛️ The core was created by soaking plutonium rods in neutrons within a nuclear reactor and then forming it into a sphere.

The First Incident: Harry Daghlian Jr.

• ⚠️ Physicist Harry Daghlian Jr., aged 24, was conducting experiments to measure neutron reflection near the core.
• 🧱 He was manually stacking tungsten carbide bricks around the core to reflect outbound neutrons back into it.
• 💥 Daghlian accidentally dropped a brick onto the assembly, causing the core to go into a supercritical state and release a massive burst of radiation.
• 💀 Daghlian received a fatal dose of 200 rads and died 25 days later from acute radiation syndrome.
• 🤕 A security guard, Private Robert J. Hemerly, received leukemia at age 62, attributed to this exposure.

The Second Incident: Louis Slotin

• 🤠 Physicist Louis Slotin, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was conducting similar experiments, but with beryllium hemispheres.
• 🛠️ The experiment required careful placement of shims to prevent the beryllium hemispheres from touching the core.
• 🥄 Slotin, impatient with the shims, used a flathead screwdriver to manually manipulate the hemispheres, with his thumb acting as a shim.
• ⚡ The screwdriver slipped, the hemispheres touched, and the core went supercritical, emitting a blue flash and intense radiation.
• 💔 Slotin received a direct blast of 1000 rads, suffering severe internal burns, and died nine days later.
• 👥 Seven other people in the room, including the physicist he was training, were also exposed to radiation.

Aftermath and Atomic Culture

• 🚫 Following these fatal accidents, the core was officially named the Demon Core, and safety protocols were drastically enhanced.
• 🤖 Experiments were thereafter conducted remotely using mechanical manipulators, with personnel kept a quarter-mile away.
• 📺 The incidents occurred during a period of intense atomic culture, where nuclear energy was both feared and fascination, influencing everything from popular culture to product marketing.
• ☢️ Concepts like atomic gardening and the naming of the bikini swimsuit after nuclear test sites highlight this era's complex relationship with nuclear technology.