3 ms·
> Slotin instructed one of his colleagues to lay radioactivity-detecting film badges around the area, which required the scientist to go dangerously close to th
by calibraxis 10y ago
> Slotin instructed one of his colleagues to lay radioactivity-detecting film badges around the area, which required the scientist to go dangerously close to the still overheated core.
Many managers and coworkers are so unthinking about their coworkers' health. Even without plutonium.
- optforfon 10y agoThat part didn't make sense to me. Why does it stay more radioactive for a period of time after the accident? The pieces are separated - shouldn't it return to it's previous state? .I can understand it heating up (though can't you just cool it down mechanically?) but that's not really the same
- hga 10y agoBecause lots if not most of the fission products are themselves very unstable, and will be decaying towards more stable isotopes in due course. I doubt this radioactivity was a fraction as dangerous as the criticality excursion he caused (and I'm sure he wasn't in a normal frame of mind after his screwup, which I'm sure he knew could eventually kill him), so it's a hopefully moderate at worst personal harm vs. unique opportunity to collect data trade off.