2022-12-06 21:11 UTC
In August 2011, Los Alamos techs posed 8 plutonium rods on a work table to take a few photos.
Had these rods rolled into each other there would have been an instant criticality event. (Think "Demon Core")
Worst still, a supervisor who saw the display ordered the techs to safe the rods, ignoring the protocol to evacuate EVERYBODY (b/c even a hand could moderate the neutrons & cause criticality).
It caused a 4-year, billion-dollar shutdown.
...
Smart people + overfamiliarity = stupid things.
Replies (3)
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@silversword411@twit.social 2022-12-07 05:36
@PadreSJ@twit.social You suck at criticality...neutron-hater! 😆
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@joemcintyre@twit.social 2022-12-07 05:43
@PadreSJ@twit.social with how well the demon core story is known theyd should have know better.
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@unidave199@twit.social 2022-12-07 15:11
@PadreSJ@twit.social Shouldnt they have used a bananna for scale? 😉