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The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples
atlasobscura.com ^
| Dan Nosowitz
Posted on 04/22/2015 7:10:13 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: dp0622
Nor did they tell her about the scientist at the Manhattan project who touched plutonium for some reason to save others in the room and he died a horrific death. They were "tickling the tail of the dragon", bringing two slightly sub critical masses close together to calibrate the reaction rate.
The top piece slipped and landed on IN CONTACT WITH the bottom piece.
This produced a spike of radiation so intense there was a brilliant flash of blue Čerenkov radiation.
In effect it became a nuclear reactor at full power, with no shielding, the scientist grabbed the top piece and removed it, stopping the reaction in its tracks.
Too late for him, he was effectively touching part of a neutron bomb and had received a lethal dose of radiation.
But he did save the people in the rest of the building...
21
posted on
04/22/2015 7:24:13 AM PDT
by
null and void
(He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded ~ Thomas Aquinas)
To: WKUHilltopper
Fukushima sushiNot to be confused with Rila Fukushiima.
22
posted on
04/22/2015 7:24:17 AM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
To: BenLurkin
In a few non-Chernobyl-related videos, she pours liquid mercury over her bare hands, comparing the feat to smoking a single cigarette: not dangerous in limited doses, she claims. Her most popular videos are driven by a need to explain why things commonly seen as dangerous are in fact not, hence her typical lack of protective gear. Its so odd to see her protecting herself, in fact, that she will begin some videos with an explanation about why she felt the need to don something as basic as a pair of gloves. What is her secret? Push away your fears and everything you've heard, and embrace the Zone, she writes Atlas Obscura in an email.
23
posted on
04/22/2015 7:25:10 AM PDT
by
McGruff
(Maybe my comments are too nuanced for some.)
To: BenLurkin
24
posted on
04/22/2015 7:25:34 AM PDT
by
nuconvert
( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
To: BenLurkin
25
posted on
04/22/2015 7:26:13 AM PDT
by
WKUHilltopper
(And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
To: Gaffer
I remember as a boy in the 50s playing with mercury all the time. You could buy it in some places. In my hands, fingers, etc..... 55-60 years later I write this. You may not see it, but the rest of us can see (via your post) that it has affected you. You've clearly lost the ability to type in anything but italics :)
26
posted on
04/22/2015 7:26:51 AM PDT
by
Alex Murphy
("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
To: Crazieman
I have done some, what cancer hysterics would consider, really crazy sh!t in my childhood. Once overseas when the housing authority towed a DDT sprayer tanker through the complex, I rode my bicycle right in the thick of it behind it.
27
posted on
04/22/2015 7:27:24 AM PDT
by
Gaffer
To: cripplecreek
It’s been 19 years.
I would eat the apples at this point.
Vegetation around Hiroshima and Nagasaki was fairly safe by 1964.
28
posted on
04/22/2015 7:27:59 AM PDT
by
MrEdd
(Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
To: BenLurkin
When she grows her third and forth breast, will she become more or less cute?
29
posted on
04/22/2015 7:28:09 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: null and void
They were "tickling the tail of the dragon", bringing two slightly sub critical masses close together to calibrate the reaction rate.
I remember reading about that. The scientist in contact made everyone else in the room stop at that moment and mark where they were at in the room to study the effect of radiation on them over various distances.
30
posted on
04/22/2015 7:28:10 AM PDT
by
cripplecreek
("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
Keep Free Republic Alive with YOUR Donations!
Make a difference.
PLEASE Contribute Today!
31
posted on
04/22/2015 7:29:58 AM PDT
by
RedMDer
(Keep Free Republic Alive with YOUR Donations!)
To: Gaffer
I remember as a boy in the 50s playing with mercury all the time. You could buy it in some places. In my hands, fingers, etc..... 55-60 years later I write this. Similar, High School Chemistry Lab aide. Me and a buddy would hold it in our cupped hands. I've gotten in a few decades since then.
32
posted on
04/22/2015 7:30:04 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: Alex Murphy
You sir, are a punctuation purist! :0)
33
posted on
04/22/2015 7:31:17 AM PDT
by
Gaffer
To: Mr. K
Thanks for the info!!! I am humbled very often on FR and actually appreciate it. My knowledge base gets bigger every day. Fascinating that it can be healthy in small doses.
And I was wondering what was the big deal with the catfish?
I probably wouldn’t eat the apples there out of an abundance of caution though.
I cant BELIEVE it became a nuclear reactor in effect regarding that incident at Manhattan project. If he didn’t lift the top part off, how bad would it have gotten?
34
posted on
04/22/2015 7:32:03 AM PDT
by
dp0622
To: null and void
Wow! If he didn’t lift the top part off, how bad would it have gotten?
35
posted on
04/22/2015 7:32:35 AM PDT
by
dp0622
To: dp0622
“they tell her about the scientist at the Manhattan project who touched plutonium for some reason to save others in the room and he died a horrific death.”
Who was that?
To: Gaffer
I remember as a boy in the 50s playing with mercury all the time. You could buy it in some places. In my hands, fingers, etc..... 55-60 years later I write this.
As a youngster, my open wounds were treated with mercurochrome (the real stuff). After I was married I checked my mom's medicine cabinet. It was still there.
37
posted on
04/22/2015 7:37:03 AM PDT
by
Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics)
To: ifinnegan
Some FReepers explained it in detail in a few of the posts above
38
posted on
04/22/2015 7:37:43 AM PDT
by
dp0622
To: dp0622
Plutonium is very chemically toxic, in addition to being radioactive. Plutonium has a very long half-life, which is why the chemical toxicity is far more dangerous.
39
posted on
04/22/2015 7:39:32 AM PDT
by
rottndog
('Live Free Or Die' Ain't just words on a bumber sticker...or a tagline.)
To: null and void
Bingo!
He was dead the moment he saw the blue flash... it just hadn’t caught up with him yet. So grabbing the plutonium wasn’t an act of self-sacrifice (though it was still noble and laudable in the service of others); he just punched his ticket a little faster...
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