

MAN WHO LOST HIS JAW TO RADIUM SERIES
He was attempting to build a neutron reflector by manually stacking a series of tungsten carbide bricks around a plutonium core.

Daghlian, Jr., who was part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Text: A 1945 accident in Los Alamos, N.M., took the life of Armenian-American physicist Harry K. Lugovoi has accused the British secret intelligence agency, MI6, and a self-exiled Russian tycoon, Boris A. But the Russians refused to extradite him. bodyguard who is now a member of the Russian Parliament. Just before his death, he accused the Russian government of masterminding the poisoning.Īccording to The New York Times, his death created "one of the most stirring dramas of espionage since the cold war." Russia's relations with Britain suffered and diplomats on each side were expelled.īritish authorities blamed the murder on Andrei K. An autopsy showed that his tea had been spiked with a lethal dose of polonium-210. agent Alexander Litvinenko was living in political asylum in Britain in 2006 when he unexplainably became ill and died in the hospital three weeks later. At first, he could talk, but his condition gradually got worse as the radioactivity broke down the chromosomes in his cells. One, Hiroshi Ouchi, was taken to the University of Tokyo Hospital Emergency Room and died two and a half months later. Three workers were exposed to high doses of radiation, according to the 2008 book "Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness." Three workers were exposed to radiation after a uranyl nitrate solution exceeded the critical mass. Text: Japan's worst nuclear radiation accident took place in 1999 at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokaimura. He improved briefly, but then developed severe abdominal pains, sweat profusely, developed an irregular pulse and, 35 hours after the accident, Kelley died.
MAN WHO LOST HIS JAW TO RADIUM SKIN
His skin turned reddish purple, indicating he had little oxygen in his blood. Kelley fell to the floor and screamed, "I'm burning up," according to reports from the American Federation of Scientists.Īt first, he was mentally incapacitated, but on arrival at the local medical center he came to and began vomitting and hyperventilating. When he switched on the stirrer, the liquid formed a vortex and the plutonium layer was released in a pulse that lasted only 200 microseconds. He had an excruciating death after being exposed to a lethal dose of neutrons and gamma rays from a mixing tank. Text: An industrial accident at the Los Alamos, N.M., plutonium-processing plant took the life of experienced chemical operator Cecil Kelley in 1958. After a latent phase, victims experience hair loss and bone marrow failure and, if they do not recover, die within weeks to months. Polonium's effect, known as "acute radiation syndrome," first causes nausea, vomiting, anorexia and diarrhea. But taken internally, the poison can be fatal within one month. As a result, external contamination does not cause radiation sickness, according to a 2007 report in the Journal of Radiologic Protection. It is only a hazard if it is ingested, because of the low range of alpha particles in biological tissues. Polonium-210 (P-210) is a high-energy alpha emitter with a radioactive half-life of 138 days. In 1927, American geneticist Hermann Joseph Muller published research showing genetic effects of radiation, and in 1946 he was awarded the Nobel prize. In 1896, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla intentionally subjected his fingers to X-rays and published findings that burns developed. Radiation was not discovered until the late 19th century and its dangers were not immediately known. Swiss scientists announced they had found 18 times the normal levels of polonium in Yasser Arafat's rib, pelvis and in soil stained with his decaying organs, concluding that he was poisoned. 7, 2013 - intro: This week, former Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat's death was in the news in a case of suspected radiation poisoning.
