Heard in a movie, The Fourth Protocol: (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE


>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Heard in a movie, The Fourth Protocol:
>
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> Ca, 1948-49, in ASF, I read a story in which Federal agents
> inadvertently set off a chain-reaction, followed by a nuclear
> explosion, as a consequence of stupidly bringing into contact a
> critical mass of two 15-lb. blocks of Pu. I took that as fact for
> years. However, in adulthood, I've sense ... uh, *since* ... been
> informed by any number of people that that could never happen. The
> heat generated by the chain-reaction would be so intense that the Pu
> would instantaneously melt, thereby eliminating critical mass,
> stopping the chain-reaction, and eliminating the possibility of a
> nuclear explosion.
>

This is called "tickling the dragon's tale", from a quote by Richard
Feynman.
http://www.mphpa.org/classic/LA/Photo-Pages-2/LAP-217.htm

Like Wilson says, it'd be difficult to get a nuclear explosion, but it
is easy to get a big dose of hard radiation, and a couple of Manhattan
Project scientists were killed or injured due to poor experimental
protocols during experiments.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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