Nuclear History

[Rain Man]

Thought a thread was needed for nuclear history.  Check out the link below.  HP's used to be "Gieger Men".  I also liked the "Kit List" with condoms for pencil dosimeters and film badges.  Now you know where all the US military surplus "raincoats" went after WWII.

http://www.aracnet.com/%7Epdxavets/caldwell.htm

[moke]

Hi Rain Man,

I do appreciate your thread since my Dad, Uncles, Friends and other Hawaii locals participated in many similar functions. My Dad was part of Operation Redwing. Similarly to your example, they conducted weapons tests.

I asked my Dad: What type of Anti-C's did the HP's make you wear when you folks inspected structures after various tests? The answer was "Street Clothes." Whew!

I maintain a deep interest is this subject matter ever since I engaged in DOE clean-up Operations abroad.

Thank you,

Moke

[St Raphael]

Rain Man

You've done it again! Thanks for  =D the great thread.  Atomic Veterans rock.  We must not forget the good, the bad and the ugly.  

[Rain Man]

Check link below for a comprehensive list of nuclear weapons tests.  Nation, GPS coordinates, yield, type...this has some great info.  It's a sh*t load of SNM that went K eff > 1.  The madness of those times.

http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Library/Catalog

[Rain Man]

A good site for Cold War info.  Lots of links for weapons tests, fall out maps, I-131 plume tracks, arms treaties, proliferation, biographies, films, etc.  Also many photos and great links.


www.nuclearfiles.org

[Rain Man]

Information on and for Atomic Veterans:


www.angelfire.com/tx/atomicveteran/

[RDTroja]

The man who taught me my first in-depth theory in 1975 was a retired Lieutenant Commander named Armand Nice. He was career navy and told me a couple of wild stories that were very similar to the ones reported in the article. He was on the ship closest to the test area and the dose rates he spoke of were just amazing and he knew that the detection equipment was inadequate to tell the whole story.

I am sorry to say I never kept in touch with him -- he was a great guy and helped me a lot. If he is still with us he has to be well over 90 years old. I think about him and thank him often for giving me the foundation I had to do my job and a few horror stories to make me want to do it well.

[Rain Man]

No wonder nuclear energy has a credibility problem:


http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/VirtualClassroom/Chariot/chariot.html

http://borealis.lib.uconn.edu/SEEJ/part2.html

[Rain Man]

One of the more interesting ideas to come out of the fifties:


www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html

[duke99301]

ok so this one is off the wall  but here it is .
http://www.nonukesnorth.net/

This is not a link to a site regarding nuclear history - it's a political site mostly relating "Star Wars" missile project.

[duke99301]

I like there shirts on this one funny.
http://nukes.hypermart.net/


This is not a link to a site regarding nuclear history - it's a site for a band.

[duke99301]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57555,00.html
 do not forget about NASA

This is not a link about nuclear history - it's an article discussing the possibility of NASA using a nuke powered engine in a probe sent to Jupiter

[duke99301]

Loose Nukes

What are "loose nukes"?
The term originally referred to poorly guarded nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union that might tempt terrorists or criminals. Today, experts use the term to refer to nuclear weapons, materials, or know-how that could fall into the wrong hands. Areas of particular concern include the black market in uranium and plutonium, as well as the temptation for poorly paid former Soviet nuclear scientists to sell their skills to the highest bidder

[duke99301]

http://www.nukes.org/MAp/godzilla.html
and lets not forget this guy

This is a link pertaining to Godzilla... not nuke history.

[duke99301]

Dr. Louis Slotin had a screwdriver and two pieces of plutonium. He was screwing these two pieces together very slowly, watching the Geiger counter needle rise, and then he would unscrew it. One day he slipped. As a consequence critical mass was attained right in his face ... Slotin lunged forward and grabbed the two hemispheres with his bare hands, ripped them apart and took the full brunt of a nuclear detonation right in his stomach."

[duke99301]

its sad but it did happen.
http://www.nukes.org/MAp/radiumgirls.html

[duke99301]

and its in our food.
http://www.nukes.org/nukefood.html

This is not a site about nuclear history - nor is it about radiating food.

[Rain Man]

Nuclear powered bombers.  12 ton crew compartment, 10-12" leaded glass windows.....the old radium dial flight instruments were the least of their concerns.


www.radiationworks.com/flyingreactor.htm

[Rain Man]

Dr. Louis Slotin had a screwdriver and two pieces of plutonium. He was screwing these two pieces together very slowly, watching the Geiger counter needle rise, and then he would unscrew it. One day he slipped. As a consequence critical mass was attained right in his face ... Slotin lunged forward and grabbed the two hemispheres with his bare hands, ripped them apart and took the full brunt of a nuclear detonation right in his stomach."

Hollywood used "artistic license" in "Fat Man and Little Boy" with this incident.  It occurred approximately 2 years later than the film would lead one to believe.  See the link below for details.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/lavitt/louisslotin/beaver.html

[Rain Man]

Anyone ready to trust NASA with nuclear weapons?



www.islandone.org/Propulsion/ProjectOrion.html


www.angelfire.com/stars2/projectorion/

[duke99301]

they are trying to do more out in the handford area  take a look.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/3934842p-3957059c.html

[MercTech]

They must be referring to the "paint can bunker" right outside of WNP2s fence when they balked at the expansion plans.

That thing needs digging up before new construction or Energy Northwest or whomever will inherit some buried nasties.  (And very nasty they be.)

[MercTech]

http://www.nukes.org/MAp/godzilla.html
and lets not forget this guy

This is a link pertaining to Godzilla... not nuke history.

Well, if you want to stretch it... Godzilla was done as a protest about nuclear weapon testing.  It could be considered nuclear history in a bit of a warped fashion.

Of course, I've always been accused of having a warped sense of humor.

[Rain Man]

A big idea in its day....now a big pile of scrap.  Note the passenger accomodations just aft of the reactor compartment.


www.radiationworks.com/NSSavannah.htm


The Germans tried it also:


www.radiationworks.com/NSOttoHahn.htm

[stirfry]

Hello,
Are there any ex NR-1 nukes out there? I would like to hear from you.

My Father just passed away and was eulogized as the Father of the NR-1.

Any stories would be welcome.

Thanks
in advance

Finni

[stirfry]

How bout the crazy things they were doing at Oak Ridge?
trying to find suitable shielding for nuclear Planes.
Look up Tower Shielding Facility.

These people lifted the reactor out of the ground using four tall towers, while the reactor was suspended in air they turned the thing on. and placed numerous configurations of various metals and substances for shielding.

Fun stuff those whacky guys in the early days.
Sounds like they needed 10CFR26 back then.

[SloGlo]

here's a link to what stirfry is talking about....
http://www.ornl.gov/%7Ewebworks/cppr/y2001/rpt/61946.pdf

[stirfry]

here is a short link:

http://www.ornl.gov/publications/labnotes/may95/tsf.htm

[Rain Man]

Interesting talk on Israeli nuclear weapons strategy:


http://freeman.io.com/m_online/nov96/beresi.htm

[HydroDave63]

in other words.... "smoke 'em while you've got them!"

[MadameCurie]

and its in our food.
http://www.nukes.org/nukefood.html

This is not a site about nuclear history - nor is it about radiating food.

haha... i love this quote from this link.

"It is unethical to expose anyone to nuclear radiations without their consent."

maybe i just have a warped sense of humor...
or maybe i'm just bored out of my goard.

in anycase, i'm a noob here and I need more posts under my belt.
 [smiley=poke2.gif]

[Rain Man]

Interesting information on "broken arrows":


www.wfu.edu/~marttr2/incidents.htm


In-depth of a specific incident:


www.ibiblio.org/bomb/initial.html

[Rain Man]

One of the former Soviet Union's more embarassing problems:


www.logtv.com/chelya/cheldis.html


.....and if you want a vacation:


http://all-hotels.ru/chelyabinsk/hotels/index.en.html

[Rain Man]

Remember the "football"??  With the demise of the Soviet Bloc is it still used or even necessary??  See:


www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/nuclear-football.htm

[Wolfen]

Rain Man,

Good idea on the Nuclear History thing.  This stuff needs to be captured before all of us old guys decay off.

[berzio]

rain man

link is bad

http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Library/Catalog

[berzio]

AWEsome history.  i've been looking at the links.  need more of this before we lose more history.  

FFFFRRRRRAAAAANNNNNKKKKK

where are the heavies from sl-1

[Wolfen]

A little history - A lot of insight.


http://www.manuelsweb.com/sam_cohen.htm

[Rain Man]

A little history - A lot of insight.


http://www.manuelsweb.com/sam_cohen.htm

Interesting read Wolfen.  Thanx.  A first strike with nuclear weapons has never been official US policy (although military doctrine dictates preparing for that possibility).  Things can change when the heat is on or if you are backed into a corner.  That is why we have organizations like the RAND Corp. to "think about the unthinkable".  See:


www.rand.org


Please note that much of the work performed by this organization is classified and not available to the general public.  They also produced the Pentagon Papers much to the embarassment of the Pentagon and the Nixon administration.

[Rain Man]

The first of the reactor accidents:


www.lakestay.co.uk/1957.htm

[Rain Man]

Check link below for a comprehensive list of nuclear weapons tests.  Nation, GPS coordinates, yield, type...this has some great info.  It's a sh*t load of SNM that went K eff > 1.  The madness of those times.

http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Library/Catalog

The above listed link has been killed.  See the following link for the same information.  Not as detailed but still good.


http://www.ga.gov.au/oracle/nukexp_query.html

[Rain Man]

"Tsar Bomba"....the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated:


http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html

[Rain Man]

Ever wonder how underground nuclear tests are contained?  See below link:


www.clw.org/pub/clw/coalition/contain.pdf

Adobe Acrobat reader required.

[Rain Man]

The wonders of science education in the mid-70s.  From The Journal of Chemical Education:

  www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/radio_activity.html

[moodusjack]

Driving past the ole SL-1 site dredged up some sobering thoughts.