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AMASIMP MARCH 25, 2010
I used to train people how to operate nuclear power plants and my students were always
interested in stories about radiation sickness. Radiation poisoning or radiation sickness is
a form of damage to organ tissue caused by excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. The
term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a
short period of time, however it can also refer to cases when somebody has been
repeatedly exposed to high doses. Symptoms prior to death can include severe nausea,
vomiting, and diarrhea, rapid hair loss, infections, edema, high fever, and coma.
This list will look at 10 instances where people have died from effects of radiation exposure
and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
10
Cecil Kelley
TECHNOLOGY
10 Famous Incidences of Death
by Radiation

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On December 30, 1958 an accident occurred in the Los Alamos plutonium-processing
facility. Cecil Kelley, an experienced chemical operator was working with a large mixing
tank. The solution in tank was supposed to be lean, typically less than 0.1 grams of
plutonium per liter. However, the concentration on that day was actually 200 times higher.
When Kelley switched on the stirrer, the liquid in the tank formed a vortex and the
plutonium containing layer went critical releasing a huge burst of neutrons and gamma
radiation in a pulse that lasted a mere 200 microseconds.
Kelley, who had been standing on a foot ladder peering into the tank through a viewing
window, fell or was knocked to the floor. Two other operators on duty saw a bright flash
and heard a dull thud. Quickly, they rushed to help and found Kelley incoherent and saying
only, Im burning up! Im burning up!. He was rushed to the hospital, semiconscious,
retching, vomiting, and hyperventilating. At the hospital, Kellys bodily excretions were
sufficiently radioactive to give a positive reading on a detector.
Two hours after the accident, Kelleys condition improved as he regained coherence.
However, it was soon clear that Kelley would not survive long. Tests showed his bone
marrow was destroyed, and the pain in his abdomen became difficult to control despite
medication. Kelley died 35 hours after the accident.
9
Harry K. Daghnian, Jr.
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Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. was an Armenian-American physicist with the Manhattan Project. On
August 21, 1945 he was conducting an experiment attempting to build a neutron reflector
by manually stacking a series of tungsten carbide bricks around a plutonium core. As he
was moving the final block over the assembly, neutron counters alerted Daghlian to the
fact that the addition of this brick would render the system supercritical. As he withdrew
his hand, he accidentally dropped the brick onto the center of the assembly. The addition
of this last brick caused the reaction to go immediately supercritical.
Daghlian panicked immediately after dropping the brick and attempted to knock off the
brick without success. He was forced to partially disassemble the tungsten carbide pile to
halt the reaction causing him to receive a lethal dose of neutron radiation. He died 25 days
later. Daghlian was violating safety regulations by working on the assembly late at night
and alone in the laboratory.
8
Louis Slotin
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Louis Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project
that created the first atomic bombs. He participated in criticality testing of plutonium
cores, often referred to as tickling the dragons tail.
On May 21, 1946 Slotin and seven other colleagues performed an experiment that involved
the creation of one of the first steps of a fission reaction by placing two half-spheres of
beryllium around a plutonium core. Slotin was stabilizing the upper beryllium sphere with
his left hand using the blade of a screwdriver to maintain the separation between the two
half-spheres in violation of experimental protocol. At 3:20pm the screwdriver slipped
causing the upper beryllium sphere to fall creating a prompt critical reaction and a burst of
radiation. Scientists in the room observed a blue glow around the spheres and felt a heat
wave.
Slotin instinctively jerked his left hand upward, lifting the upper beryllium hemisphere and
dropping it to the floor, ending the reaction. However, Slotin had already been exposed to a
lethal dose of radiation, equivalent to the amount that he would have received had he been
1500m away from an atomic bomb detonation. He was rushed to the hospital immediately,
but the damage was irreversible and he died nine days later on May 30, 1946. The core he
dropped was the very same core dropped by Daghnian the year before causing it to be
named the Demon Core.
Slotins story is integrated in the movie, Fat Man and Little Boy starring Paul Newman
and John Cusack.
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7
Eben McBurney Byers
Eben McBurney Byers was a wealthy American socialite, athlete, and industrialist. In 1927
while returning via chartered train from the annual Harvard-Yale football game, Byers fell
from his berth and injured his arm. He complained of persistent pain and a doctor
suggested that he take Radithor, a patent medicine containing high concentrations of
radium. Byers drank nearly 1400 bottles over three years. By 1930, when Byers stopped
taking the remedy, he had accumulated significant amounts of radium in his bones
resulting in the loss of most of his jaw. Byers brain was also abscessed and holes were
forming in his skull. He died from radium poisoning on March 31, 1932. He is buried in
Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a lead-lined coffin.
6
Hiroshi Couchi
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Japans worst nuclear radiation accident took place at a uranium reprocessing facility in
Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, on September 30, 1999. The direct cause of the criticality
accident was workers putting uranyl nitrate solution containing about 16.6 kg of uranium,
exceeding the critical mass, into a precipitation tank. The tank was not designed to
dissolve this type of solution and was not configured to prevent eventual criticality.
Three workers were exposed to lethal radiation doses. One of these workers, Hiroshi
Couchi, was transferred to the University of Tokyo Hospital and three days after the
accident he could talk and only his right hand was a little swollen with redness. However,
his condition gradually weakened as the radioactivity broke down the chromosomes in his
cells.
The doctors were at a loss as to what to do. There were few precedents and proven
medical treatments for victims of radiation poisoning. A local television crew followed the
story for 83 days until Hiroshi died. Their observations are chronicled in the book, A Slow
Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness
5
Marie Curie
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Marie Sklodowska Curie was a physicist and chemist and a pioneer in the field of
radioactivity. In fact, it was Curie that coined the term radioactivity, though Henri
Becquerel discovered the phenomenon years earlier. Curies research into the properties of
two different uranium ores, pitchblende and chalcolite. led to the discovery of radium and
polonium, other radioactive elements. Curies husband, Pierre, was so intrigued by her
research that he decided to suspend his own research to join her.
The Curies undertook the arduous task of separating radium out of pitchblende ore. From
a ton of pitchblende, one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride was separated. Unfortunately,
the Curies were unaware of the deleterious health effects of repeated unprotected
radiation exposure. Pierre Curie died in 1906 after being hit and run over by a horse drawn
carriage, however Marie lived for another 28 years continuing her research and eventually
winning two Nobel prizes. She often carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in
her pocket and stored them in her desk drawer, remarking on the pretty blue-green light
that the substances gave off in the dark.
Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934 due to aplastic anemia contracted from exposure to
radiation. She is interred at the cemetery in Sceaux, alongside her husband Pierre. Her
laboratory is preserved at the Musee Curie. Due to their levels of radioactivity, her papers
from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. Even her cookbook is highly
radioactive. They are kept in lead-lined boxes, and those who wish to consult them must
wear protective clothing.
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4
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko was a former KGB officer who escaped prosecution in Russia and
received political asylum in the United Kingdom . In November of 2006 he suddenly fell ill
and was hospitalized. He died three weeks later and post-mortem tests showed he had
been given a lethal dose of Polonium-210 via a cup of tea. On his deathbed, Litvinenko
accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of being behind his death.
Subsequent investigations by British authorities into the circumstances of Litvinenkos
death led to serious diplomatic difficulties between the British and Russian governments.
Unofficially, British authorities asserted that we are 100% sure who administered the
poison, where and how. However they did not disclose their evidence in the interest of a
future trial. The main suspect in the case, a former officer of the Russian Federal
Protective Service (FSO) Andrei Lugovoy, remains in Russia. As a member of the Duma, he
now enjoys immunity from prosecution.
3
Soviet Submarine K-19
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K-19 was one of the first two Soviet submarines equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles.
Several people had died during its construction earning it the nickname Hiroshima
among naval sailors and officers. On July 4, 1961 under the command of Captain Nikolai
Vladimirovich Zateyev, K-19 developed a major leak in her reactor coolant system causing
the reactor temperature to rise to a very dangerous 800 deg. Celsius. Due to poor design
and failure to have a backup cooling system installed, Captain Zateyev had no choice but to
order a team of seven engineering officers in crew to undertake a repair despite the lethal
rates of radiation exposure.
The repair crew was successful in stopping the leak however all seven were dead within a
week. The incident contaminated the entire boat and within a few years twenty more
crewmembers were dead attributed to the incident at sea.
The Soviet Navy made extensive repairs to boat and it later returned to service. It did,
however, continue to experience horrible accidents including an at-sea collision in 1969 and
a fire in 1972 killing 28 sailors. It was finally decommissioned in 1991.
The movie K-19: The Widowmaker starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson is loosely
based on the nuclear accident on the K-19.
2
Chernobyl
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On April 26, 1986 a nuclear accident occurred on the Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Workers at the plant were planning a test to determine
how long turbines would spin and supply power to the main circulating pumps following a
loss of main electrical power. Due to another regional power station going offline, the test
was delayed and as a result, the test was conducted over the night shift where the
workers had not been trained on the test procedure. Several subsequent errors, including
a decision to disable automatic shutdown mechanisms, led to an unstable reactor
configuration with nearly all of the control rods removed.
The reactor SCRAMed (rapid insertion of all control rods) but a flaw in the design of the
control rods actually caused the reaction rate in the lower half of the core to increase. At
this point, a massive power spike occurred and the core overheated. The precise
subsequent course of events was not registered by instruments; it is known only as a
result of a mathematical simulation. What is known is that there was a large steam
buildup in the core that eventually exploded releasing tons of radioactive steam and
fission products into the air. Radiation levels in the vicinity of the reactor core after the
explosion were 30,000 times the lethal limit.
One person was killed immediately and his body was never found. Another died that same
day as a result of injuries received during the explosion. Acute radiation sickness was
originally diagnosed in 237 people on-site and involved with the clean-up and it was later
confirmed in 134 cases. Of these 28 people died within weeks of the accident, six of whom
were firefighters tasked with attending the fires on the roof of the turbine building.
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Nineteen more subsequently died between 1987 and 2004. Nobody off-site suffered from
acute radiation effects, although a large proportion of childhood thyroid cancers diagnosed
since the accident is likely to be due to intake of radioactive iodine fallout. Subsequent
studies in the Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus estimate over 1 million people were affected by
radiation from Chernobyl, however the extent of its effects may never be truly known.
1
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan at the end of World War II
have been the only time in history such weapons have been used on people. The
justification for the bombings has been hotly debated since, but no doubt the memory of
their destruction has been a large reason why they have been not used since.
On August 6, 1945 the uranium bomb, Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima killing
70,000-80,000 people immediately. Three days later, the plutonium bomb, Fat Man, was
dropped on Nagasaki killing an estimated 40,000-75,000 instantly. Those that survived the
initial blasts were then subject to severe radiation and thermal burns, radiation sickness
and related diseases all aggravated by the lack of meckal resources. It is estimated that
another 200,000 people had died by 1950 as a result of health effects of the bombings.
Surviving victims of the bombings are known as hibakusha, a Japanese word that literally
translates to explosion-affected people. As of March 31, 2009 235,569 hibakusha were
recognized by the Japanese government. The government of Japan recognizes about 1% of
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these as having illnesses caused by radiation.
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Name 3 years ago
Interesting but there should be mention of the Therac-25 incidents which were "normal"
victims unrelated to working in engineering or physics. They were simply patients trying to
receive radiation therapy treatments but instead exposed to 25k rads in a single second due
to poor systems programming causing a glitch, aka "Malfunction 54". A case of
commercialized shoddy workmanship at the expense of murdering people under the
disguise of a treatment program. It's one of the most horrifying cases of radiation poisoning
out there since it could happen to literally anyone and not just because of one's occupation
or happenstance in living near a nuclear reactor.

12
Reply
fuckstain 4 years ago
@Mathilda, he's buried near you? Where are you buried? :-)

4
Reply
Nauplius 4 years ago
I was expecting to see the radium girls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

4
vanowensbody 4 years ago
When I was going to school to become a health & safety professional I did an internship at
a steel fabrication company. This company did a lot of steel fabrication for bridges. As
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see more
a steel fabrication company. This company did a lot of steel fabrication for bridges. As
such, they had to have a state inspector from each state where they sent their steel, on
site, to inspect the steel, before it was shipped. They worked mostly in the northeast so
there were state bridge inspectors from Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, etc.
My "office" was a desk up with all the different state bridge inspectors. I got to know a few of
them (great guys) and they taught me a lot about radiation safety. One even took me out
into the plant with him and showed me how he set up their non-destructive inspection
equipment to examine the steel for imperfections (essentially a portable x-ray machine).
He also gave me some books to read up on and become more familiar with the dangers of
radiation. I will never forget one of the images I saw in the book (and there were many
gruesome images of people killed or injured by ionizing radiation).
It was a picture of a guy who worked at a plant that made the uranium pellets that go into
reactor fuel rods. Each fuel rod is made up of many individual fuel "pellets", stacked on top
of each other and encased in metal. Kind of like stacking poker chips.

2
Reply
mchrismmx 4 years ago
wow! Rad poisoning is definitely a nasty way to go. Think I agree with deeziner, just take
me out back and shoot. It's gotta be hell knowing there's no chance in hell anyone is going
to save you during those days your body is falling apart.

2
Reply
forsetiboston 2 years ago
So, in Japan - three people received lethal doses. Of those three people lethally dosed, one
person died. Outside of that, one was murder, one was because of poor decision making
(Chernobyl). A decision that had to be made due to bad reactor design, and one was
another series of really poor choices (K19). Outside of those. Most of the deaths were
before the 70's.
All in all I would suggest we have a very strong grasp on Radiation in general. How about a
follow up article about all of the children, women, and men that radiation therapy has
helped. I think your list would be far longer if that were the topic.

2
Reply
Rex 2 years ago forsetiboston
Fukashima.


Ratfink a year ago Rex
Fukushima: 0 deaths.
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Reply
Fukushima: 0 deaths.

2
Reply
examplesample a year ago Ratfink
LOL K


Reply
Paul a year ago examplesample
Around 25k people died due to the earthquake and tsunami, but there
were no casualties caused by the nuclear accident and the radiation
released. Furthermore likely future cancer deaths caused by
accumulated radiation exposures in the inhabitants of Fukushima are
predicted to be almost nonexistent. So get your shit straight before
you hit that caps lock button.

5
Reply
Ben Franklin 10 months ago Paul
Oh boy! We have an oracle and seer among us! Oh great one Paul,
tell us the future of Apple! hahahaha... There has yet to be an
investigation into the matter. Japan won't let anyone near it... Right?


Reply
examplesample a year ago Paul
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.c...


Reply
Steve Weatherill 2 years ago
What about three mile island? Did anybody die as a result of that? I think it was the worst
nuclear accident in the history of the USA

1
Reply
Joseph Perkins a year ago Steve Weatherill
No one was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation.

1
Reply
General Tits Von Chodehoffen 4 years ago
Nice list. Not sure why anyone would want to work with radioactive material though.

1
Lifeschool 4 years ago
Very good list in the main - highly informative!
Three Mile Island: Is really a case of a 'disaster averted' - to my knowledge no one actually
died as a direct result of the incident. Nearly all the radioactive material released was
contained within the unit.
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contained within the unit.

1
Reply
deeeziner 4 years ago
Then there is always the second generation of radiation death--Birth defects abound in the
children of those exposed. Like Chernobyl and Hiroshima/Nagasaki.
I'd seriously be begging for euthanasia if I were to be so unfortunate as to be rad poisoned.
After all it is one medical situation that has "no way back".
A horrifying, yet informative list amasimp.

1
Reply
Arsnl 4 years ago
@myndela: i just love it when people take pride in things they never did.

1
Reply
Bluegrasslass 2 years ago
Dear god! Learn to punctuate. Commas are not arbitrary, Ukraine is THE Ukraine and look
what I can do: that sign means "degrees". Christ!


Reply
Bri 3 months ago
You know how random buildings are given a "Radioactive Shelter" sign? Would those
actually be safe from radioactive fallout?


Reply
Guest 5 months ago
What the U.S did to Japan wasn't exactly morally excepted by many. But it did instill us as
the dominate super power of the World since.


Reply
Dwayne J. Stephenson 8 months ago
Don't forget Spock. "The needs of the many..."


Reply
Ben Franklin 10 months ago
Do one on Tony Snow, and Tim Russert.


Reply
cjb a year ago
So where does the March 2011 incident in Japan rank on this list? Yikes, scary stuff!


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Reply
Nathan Merrill 2 months ago cjb
Wouldn't even be on the list, as no one died of exposure there.


Reply
christian 2 years ago
radiation is really scary.


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Ray Wilson 3 years ago
Your Hiroshima-Nagasaki photo is from neither. It is of the Asakusa area of Tokyo after the
firebombing.


Reply
defukdto 4 years ago
nice list. the isle of man was affected by chernoybl. many of the hills were doused with
radioactive rain and have only been reopened recently to allow farmers to use there sheep
on.


wim121 4 years ago defukdto
No it wasnt. But that&#039s what you&#039ve been told to think.
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Reply
The Isle Of Man and the lancashire side of the pennines WERE affected by radiation
contamination but it wasnt from Chernoybl. It was actually a small leak from
Sellafield just across the water from the Isle Of Man.
This has been proven from fallout patterns and Yorkshire pennines being largely
unaffected but kept quiet as its easier to blame a bigger disaster that occured within
the same timeframe.


Reply
m_ornob 4 years ago
Hmmm. . . . Loved it. Specillay as few related movie names given herewith the real
incidents.


Reply
ag 4 years ago
I thought Chernobyl happenned the year after 3 mile island in 1979.


Reply
htomfields 4 years ago
It would be interesting to compare these stories with those of coal mining accidents, black
lung cancers, mercury poisoning, etc. Here's an article that ranks coal-fueled Pittsburgh as
the city with the worst air in the United States.
"Communities ranking high on this list have short-term spikes in particle pollution that can
last anywhere from a few hours to several days. And it's these short-term spikes that
increase the number of emergency room visits for asthma and other respiratory diseases,
along with upping the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and early death among residents . . .
The sources of particle pollution can range from woodstoves and diesel trucks to coal-fired
power plants and heavy highway traffic"
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/A...


Reply
bloodwts 4 years ago
@deeeziner: No one was killed by the three mile island incident or after it due to radiation
effects. That has to be one of the most overblown stories about nuclear power. It frightened
people so much, it led to the death of further growth of nuclear power in the USA.
It also happens to be highly efficient (MW per kg fuel) and the (relatively small amount
of)waste is the only true problem. New fuel recycling processes should get that point fixed,
they use a similar process in France, but in the US we've been behind the tech curve now
for over 30 years. I digress.


yack a year ago bloodwts
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yack a year ago bloodwts
we're actually not behind on the tech curve, it was made illegal years ago to recycle
spent fuel in the US, despite the fact that a very large percentage of the fuel can be
reused


Reply
pithlitt 4 years ago
@amasimp:p.s. I didn't comment on the actual content of the list, which I did find interesting
and informative. It has occured to me before that radiation sickness would be a horrible way
to die, and you did leave me no doubt that my earlier assesment was indeed correct. I
would hope to have a very good friend with a gun nearby should I ever be exposed to a
lethal dose. :)


Reply
pithlitt 4 years ago
@amasimp: You failed to read the link you posted for me. The word "incidence" is not
pluralized by "incidences" and as stated in your link, can be confused with "incidents" and
"incidental". The word used to describe each of the items on this list would be "incidents"
meaning more than one "incident" while each one on it's own is an "incident" of death by
radiation. Your use of the word "instances" in the final sentance of your opening statement
is correct, so I know you must have some education. I'll not be taking my Ph.D in English
from Oxford University down from my wall just yet thank you. :)


Reply
astraya 4 years ago
@moonbeam: (Mainland) Australia's highest mountain (not very impressive by world
standards) is Mount Kosciusko (pronounced Cossie-osko here because most of us don't
know any better) because the first European explorer to locate and measure it was Polish.
At the risk of making this sound like a Polish joke, he actually mismeasured the tallest and
nearby second tallest mountain. He originally named the second one (which he thought was
the tallest) Kosciusko and the first one (which he thought was the second tallest)
something else. When later surveyors found out they were actually the other way round
they switched the names.


Reply
hotb0x 4 years ago
You should have mentioned Anatoli Bugorski as a bonus


Perky 4 years ago
@The Annoyed Elephant:
I was actually thinking of John Wayne as well! Seems like such a waste of amazing talent
just because the people at the time didn't understand the full dangers of radiation!
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Great list!


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amasimp 4 years ago
@pithlitt:
Yes, it is a word. Go look in a dictionary.
http://dictionary.reference.co...


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vanowensbody 4 years ago
Awesome list. Well written. Thanks for sharing.


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Moonbeam 4 years ago
@myndela: I try to avoid jumping into an argument between others, so forgive me for the
intrusion here... but I think Arsnl was a bit harsh in criticizing you. I get what you're saying.
There was a long phase where "Pollock" jokes were running rampant in the US. Much like
the "dumb blond" jokes that seem to be so popular. Because of that Polish heritage took a
beating. I'm not of Polish decent, but I can relate to your enthusiasm with your cultural pride.
I think historical figures from Poland would be a good idea for a list.
Although this is definitely off topic from this particular list: One Polish heroic figure from
American History who I'm aware of is Tadeusz B. Kociuszko (Thaddeus Kosciusko). After
reading the Declaration of Independence he was so moved by the document that he sought
out Thomas Jefferson and they became lifelong friends. He was instrumental in the
American Revolutionary War and was regarded as one of the best engineers in American
service. But one thing that I love about him is the fact that was anti-slavery before it became
a popular cause. His efforts in ending slavery have brought him posthumous recognition by
many African American civil rights groups. After his death he attempted to leave his
property in America to be used to buy the freedom of "black slaves", including Jefferson's,
and to educate them for independent life and work. He was a man ahead of his time. There
is too much more about his life that I can't even begin to touch on here.(For more info check
out, The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution by Alex
Storozynski.)


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overdramaticdesigns 4 years ago
Would recommend the film Kuroi Ame (Black Rain) which looks at the effects of radiation
sickness on a family effected by the Hiroshima bombing. It's Japanese with subtitles but is
truly excellent.


myndela 4 years ago
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myndela 4 years ago
@Arsnl:
I'm sorry, did I somehow hint that I was Marie Curie and that I accomplished all that she
had? Please point out where I did, because I'm dying to know. All I said is that I'm proud of
my Polish heritage. Some brilliant people have come from my homeland. I have a beloved
composer, (great great grandfather) an Olympian skiier, (great great uncle) and heroes of
the Polish Underground (grandparents, great uncle, cousins) who survived Auschwitz and
Birkenau that I also take pride in. I have countless others who were members of the Polish
Underground that were either immediately murdered because of it, or were killed in the
camps. I am priveleged to count them as part of my family, and that I knew my
grandparents before they died. But hey, I must be taking credit for their work too, eh?


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pithlitt 4 years ago
@deeeziner: I'll have to remember the onion thing just in case. lol
@pithlitt: my bad the word is "incidents" not incedents.


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pithlitt 4 years ago
There is no such word as "incidences" The word you want is "incedents" Okay, now I'll go
read the list.


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