[ RadSafe ] Curiosity query

Tue Aug 6 12:43:40 CDT 2013

Radsafe,

      The famous US criticality accident was  described in a short story 
"the Strange Death of Louis Slotin" and surely in  many other references.  It 
has been discussed on Radsafe --- see the  Radsafe Archives.

      Richard Feynmann goes to some length to  describe liquid criticality 
in one or both of his popular books "Surely you're  joking, Mr. Feynmann" or 
the other paperback (not the Feynmann Lectures in  Physics).  He speaks of 
vats of green liquid lying around in lab  spaces.  The computer code SCALE 
is used for criticality modeling, and may  be available from RSICC (Radiation 
Shielding Information Center --- Oak Ridge  USA).

     I'd say more, but NAAAHHHH, not today.

    Joe Preisig

In a message dated 8/6/2013 7:20:20 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
JAitken at slb.com writes:

Maury:  you caused me to spend over a day in reading all the interesting 
information  on the web regarding the development of the "boys" and led on to 
a review of  criticality incidents.

Those who did similar Google searches probably  came across information on 
the two criticality accidents (both with fatal  consequence) with a 
plutonium core (nicknamed thereafter the "demon core"):  see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core

But what became evident  after a while is that more often, criticality 
accidents occurred with liquid  processes. Which is probably common knowledge 
among many on this list. Not  being someone who has been involved in the 
processing of radioactive  materials, I was interested to see how easily a small 
error could cause  material to go critical, sometimes with serious or fatal 
consequence.  

Here is a summary of all US criticality  accidents:
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/accident/critical.html

I  also found this very comprehensive review of criticality accidents that  
includes those in  Russia:
http://www.orau.org/ptp/library/accidents/la-13638.pdf

Regards
____________________________________________________________________________
_______
Doug  Aitken
QHSE Advisor, Schlumberger D&M Operations Support
Cell Phone:  713-562-8585
(alternate e-mail: doug.aitken at slb.com  )
Mail:
Schlumberger, Drilling & Measurements HQ,
300  Schlumberger Drive, MD15,
Sugar Land, Texas  77478

-----Original Message-----
From:  radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu  
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Franz  Schönhofer
Sent: Monday, August 05, 2013 3:04 PM
To: The International  Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ]  Curiosity query

Maury et al.,

More than enough and detailed  information about nuclear weapons including 
"Little Boy" can be found on  google. For information on the latter just 
type in the words and there is at  least one information which would answer all 
your questions! There are also  films frequently shown in documentaries, 
how the bomb was loaded into the  Enola Gay and I would be surprised if these 
scenes were not available on the  internet. There exists a number of 
excellent books on the Manhattan Project  with a lot of details - I bought a few 
during my visits to Los Alamos,  Albuquerque, the Trinity site etc. Don't 
forget the museum in Albuquerque with  replicas.

U-235 has a shorter half-life than U-238, therefore it is  more radioactive 
than natural uranium, but not so much that handling would  involve a 
radiation risk.

One conclusion one can draw, is that this  uranium would not be effective 
for a dirty weapon! Plutonium would be a  different story if one would be 
able to disperse it extremely  finely.

Best regards,

Franz

-----Ursprüngliche  Nachricht-----
From: McClung, Danny
Sent: Monday, August 05, 2013 6:31  PM
To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing  List'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Curiosity query

Maury,

The  components are only mildly radioactive prior to nuclear detonation.  
Not  a lot of shielding required.

It would likely be something small.   10 KT seems a plausible yield.

Dan

-----Original  Message-----
From:  radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu]  On Behalf Of Maury
Sent: Monday, August 05, 2013 12:17 PM
To: The  International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: [  RadSafe ] Curiosity query

Can anyone tell me or suggest a link to  description of the size and weight 
of the radioactive components of the  Hiroshima bomb?  Also would like to 
know weight and size of the shielding  required to handle this material.  How 
did they load this material onto  the USS Indianapolis without lethal 
irradiation of handlers?  Am  wondering if these answers would shed any light on 
what would be required to  attempt a practicable so-called dirty bomb if not 
a practicable nuclear  weapon.

Seems to me that terrorist groups would be hard pressed to  handle a 
nuclear weapon even if any of our opponents saw fit to give them one  ...?  The 
implication to me is that a dirty bomb of any serious yield  would not be 
feasible?

Thanks for  comments.
Maury&Dog
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