He called the first atomic bomb “technically sweet,” yet as he watched its brilliant light explode over the New Mexico desert in 1945 in advance of the black horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he also thought of the line from the Hindu epic The Bhagavad Gita: “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, the single most recognizable face of the atomic bomb, and a man whose name has become almost synonymous with Cold War American nuclear science, was and still is a conflicted, controversial figure who has come to represent an equally ambivalent technology. In the decades since the successful detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb under his supervision, Oppenheimer has been portrayed as an emotionless and soulless man of science, an almost mystical Byronic visionary, a popular celebrity, an incarnation of the horrors of nuclear warfare, the embodiment of the American dream, and a Communist threat to the American way of life. In turn, he has been used to represent abstract ideas such as patriotism, ingenuity, intelligence, masculinity, and even science itself.
Following the seventieth anniversary of the Manhattan Project, The Meanings of J. Robert Oppenheimer examines how he has been represented over the past several decades in biographies, histories, fiction, comics, photographs, film, television, documentaries, theater, and museums. Lindsey Michael Banco gathers an unprecedented group of cultural texts and seeks to understand the multiple meanings Oppenheimer has held in American popular culture since 1945. He traces the ways these representations of Oppenheimer have influenced public understanding of the atomic bomb, technology, physics, the figure of the scientist, the role of science in war, and even what it means to pursue knowledge of the world around us. Questioning and unpacking both how and why Oppenheimer is depicted as he is across time and genre, this book is broad in scope, profound in detail, and offers unique insights into the rise of nuclear culture and how we think about the relationship between history, imagination, science, and nuclear weapons today.
“Robert Oppenheimer is endlessly fascinating. His life engaged the most profound issues of our time: the revolution in physics, the Great Depression, the Popular Front, the development of nuclear weapons, and the corrosive influence of the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s. Lindsey Banco expands our understanding of his influence by investigating his ‘meaning’ to our political culture. It is another important contribution to the Oppenheimer Library.”—Martin J. Sherwin, coauthor, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
“The Meanings of J. Robert Oppenheimer is an intriguing book about an important issue and an equally important person. It complements and builds on existing scholarship on Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb, and is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in Cold War America, the Manhattan Project, and the enigmatic figure that is Oppenheimer.”—Allan M. Winkler, Miami University of Ohio
“Oppenheimer has always been the ghostly presence behind nuclear culture in the United States, and Banco has done him a great service by thinking about him in all his ambivalent and paradoxical brilliance. Far afield from conventional biographies, The Meanings of J. Robert Oppenheimer explores the man and the idea of the man as a series of dualities, showing how a retiring physicist who went to the desert wound up setting the terms for so many aspects of postwar culture. A unique contribution to Cold War studies.”—Steven Belletto, author, No Accident, Comrade: Chance and Design in Cold War American Narratives


Whatman™ Grade 72 activated carbon air filter paper is designed for air pollution monitoring of radioactive iodine in medical and nuclear installations.
• High-quality composite cellulose/glass filter paper
• Loaded with activated carbon for radioactive iodine absorption
• Suitable for use in radioactive environments
We offer a range of application-specific filters under the Whatman™ brand, including options for use in soil analysis and in the sugar industry.
Activated carbon air filter benefits
Air pollution monitoring of radioactive iodine in medical or nuclear installations is a critical safety requirement. Grade 72 cellulose filter papers are designed specifically for these environments, delivering sensitive and accurate results by absorbing any radioactive iodine in the air for analysis.


The Pinky Show - Pinky Interviews John Burroughs, Director, Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy
Have you ever wondered . . .
Does the threat of nuclear war still exist?
What is the real risk of nuclear accidents?
What are the effects of nuclear weapons?
What would happen if a nuclear bomb was dropped on a U.S. city?
Is there a threat from other WMDs, such as biological and chemical weapons?
Many of us are too young to remember Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the after effects of the atomic bombs that ended WWII. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the public's fear of full scale nuclear war significantly diminished, and thoughts of the potential for nuclear war and the after effects of nuclear weapons are far from our minds. Today, many people only have a general idea of the unimaginable effects of nuclear weapons.
The past five years have seen a reversal of policy, and once again nations are turning to nuclear proliferation. Currently, there are 26,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Nations such as North Korea, Iran, and Syria are possibly developing nuclear weapons, and these potential rogue nations combined with unsecured nuclear stockpiles lead to a possibility for nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists.
Most of us feel relatively safe from the threat of nuclear weapons, but no weapon has ever been created that has not been used. As long as WMDs exist, there is the potential for nuclear warfare.
Watch our nuclear explosion video (above) to see the effects of nuclear weapons, and what might happen if a nuclear bomb is dropped on a major U.S. city.


Grand Marais man working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Robert Saethre, a 1983 graduate of Cook County High School, is now working as an electrical engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He works in the Spallation Neutron Source section at the lab, a group leader for the lab’s accelerator.
WTIP’s Rhonda Silence reached out to Robert to learn more about his engineering career and about his interesting work at Oak Ridge National Labs. Here’s their conversation.
Where are they now? is supported in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.


Gamma ray spectrometry is the study of the interaction between nuclear radiation and geological material. The emission of gamma rays occurs when an excited atomic nuclei undergoes an energy state change. The cause of the energy state changes is typical ‘natural’, which is to say the geological material contains atomic isotopes which have been present, or steadily decaying, since the formation of the material. In some instances an active source is used to incite the emission of Gamma rays through radioactive decay. The latter is highly regulated and typically only undertaken in easy to controlled environments, for instance liberators or boreholes.
Through recording the number of gamma ray photons in a given time frame and there energy it is possible to classify rock formations and infer how the rock was formed.
Modern microprocessors enable portable gamma ray spectrometers to preform autonomous background compensation algorithms, and flash memory permits systems to store calibration spectra, meaning there is no longer the need to carry radioactive calibration samples. Advances in manufacturing have also improved the quality of NaI and BGO crystal detectors reducing the length of time required to perform a measurement.
Gamma ray spectrometry is well established for mineral exploration and in the oil and gas industry. More recently the impact of industrial practices is being considered and gamma ray spectrometry is being used to classify contaminated brownfield sites prior to redevelopment.


Chip Shot: Intel® Xeon® Processors to Power DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s New CTS-1 Supercomputing Clusters
Via Intel Newsroom
Oct 21, 2015
Penguin Computing today announced with Intel that the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will install Penguin Computing's Tundra™ Extreme Scale (ES) series, powered by Intel® Xeon® processors, to bolster computing for the NNSA's mission of ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the nation's nuclear stockpile. The systems are being procured under NNSA's tri-laboratory Commodity Technology Systems program, or CTS-1, as part of the NNSA's Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program and will serve Los Alamos, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. The Tundra ES series, an instantiation of the Intel® Scalable System Framework, is based on a high-density Open Compute architecture and features Intel Xeon E5-2695 v4 processors to deliver a peak performance range of 7-9 petaflops. When complete, these supercomputing clusters will be one of the world's largest Open Compute-based installations. For more information, check out the Penguin Computing release.
Sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos, plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox.


Controlled fusion ‐ a process seen in stars like our Sun, provides an inexhaustible energy source. At the same time, harnessing fusion energy in a power plant is an ultimate physics and engineering challenge. For instance, materials facing hot plasma in a power plant must withstand extreme power loads often reaching 20 MW/m2. Tungsten is presently used in most modern fusion facilities and is foreseen for a power plant. However, the harsh environment of a power plant can limit the lifetime of tungsten components. Therefore, options must be explored to coat the existing plasma‐facing materials with tungsten or to “repair” the damaged tungsten elements in a fusion device directly, without removal of a damaged component.
The present work is aimed at investigating tungsten coatings produced using the plasma spray technology at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The work will comprise investigations of coating integrity, microstructure, porosity, and adhesion to the substrate. Optical and electron scanning microscopy, combined with a focused ion beam for 3D analysis, metallography and other techniques will be used in the study.
Further, the exposure of most stable and reliable coatings in realistic plasma environment should be conducted in the frame of the master thesis activity. Samples will be exposed to the stationary plasma in the unique linear plasma device PSI‐2 at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The work will be performed in the close collaboration with the specialists of world‐leading Jülich Thermal Spray Center.
This master thesis work is a part of a larger project on the development of a robotic system for tungsten coatings inside fusion devices. When successful, the system developed can be applied in the current most modern fusion devices worldwide, including the stellarator Wendelstein 7‐X, the world’s largest stellarator situated in Greifswald, about 200 km north from Berlin.
Prof. Dr. Andrey Litnovsky
Tel.: +49 (0)2461 61 5142
Institute of Energy and Climate Research
Plasma Physics IEK-4


Nuclear Week in Parliament
Following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Nuclear Week in Parliament has been rescheduled for the week beginning the 30th of January 2023.
KBR are delighted to once again be sponsoring and attending Nuclear Week in Parliament 2022.
The purpose of Nuclear Week in Parliament is to promote the opportunities that nuclear energy presents within Parliament, to bring together key stakeholders and decision-makers to hold productive conversations and to help drive forward the UK nuclear industry.
During the week, key events will be taking place, such as the Nuclear Energy APPG Welcome Reception and the British Nuclear Showcase Reception, which KBR look forward to attending.
On Tuesday 13 September, KBR will be showcasing at the Nuclear Skills and Apprenticeships Fair. This is a chance to showcase to parliamentarians the opportunities that nuclear presents for jobs, skills and levelling up. Exhibiting companies, such as KBR, will bring along early careers professionals to engage with attending parliamentarians.


Governors of Oregon, Washington seek more Hanford funding
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The governors of Washington and Oregon are asking President Donald Trump to increase the funding for Hanford Nuclear Reservation cleanup efforts.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, both Democrats, made the request to the Republican president in a letter released on Friday.
The letter noted an incident earlier this month when the roof of a tunnel containing radioactive waste partially collapsed at Hanford.
The governors say the incident is a reminder of the challenges and urgency needed in cleaning up the Hanford site.
Cleaning up the former plutonium production site is expected to last until 2060 and cost more than $100 billion, above the $19 billion already spent. The president has proposed spending $2.3 billion on Hanford cleanup this year.
Hanford is located near Richland.


In 1896, French scientist Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts gave off energy. But he couldn't figure out exactly what was going on.
Marie Curie, a Polish scientist living in France, called these rays "radioactivity". Marie's husband Pierre Curie was a noted chemist. Working together, the Curies discovered two other radioactive elements in 1898: polonium and radium.
By 1903, they worked out what was happening. Certain types of atoms are unstable. They decay over many years and eventually become different and stable elements.
For example, uranium-238 decays into thorium-234 over 4.5 billion years. It then takes about another 341,000 years to turn into a stable element called lead-206.
While the nucleus is changing, invisible radioactive radiation is released. As these rays carry a lot of energy, they can be very useful - or very dangerous.
Positive uses include using radioactive radiation to kill cancer cells. This is called "radiotherapy". It's also used to sterilise medical equipment, detect blood clots, and to treat food.
But radioactive radiation can also kill and mutate body cells, causing internal bleeding, infertility, cancer and many other health problems.
Back in the early 1900s, nobody realised how dangerous radioactive elements are. Marie Curie died as a result of leukaemia caused by the action of radiation.
- Marie Curie was born Marie Skodowska on November 07, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland.
- Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize twice. In 1903, she shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie. She was also the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
- Pierre Curie was killed in a street accident in 1906.
- Irradiation involves the use of radioactive radiation to kill bacteria in food.
- A Geiger Muller counter detects radioactive radiation. A sphygmomanometer measures blood pressure.


UN to demilitarise Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - Kyiv reports
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said his government was working with the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency to create a safety zone around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Kyiv remained “in close contact” with Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said at a joint press conference with his Slovak counterpart, Rastislav Káčer, in Kyiv.
Kuleba said: "Of course, we are all interested in ensuring that all nuclear power plants, not only the Zaporizhzhia NPP, are safe. This is extremely difficult to achieve without stopping Russian missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine, but we are moving forward step by with mutual understanding with the IAEA.
There is a rule in diplomacy that nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed.
Ukraine’s state nuclear energy firm Energoatom earlier today repeated Kyiv’s claims that Russia was using the site as a de facto weapons depot."
Energoatom said Russia had brought multiple rocket launchers to the site and stationed them near the plant’s power unit No 6.
It went on to claim that Russian forces planned to use them to launch attacks against Ukrainian positions and bridges on the western bank of the Dnipro River.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has come under repeated shelling since Moscow seized it shortly after launching its invasion in February, prompting the IAEA to call for a demilitarised safety zone around the plant.


This book presents different views on nuclear disarmament and arms control and a brief history of nuclear non-proliferation policy and the nuclear test ban issue. It describes the preparations for and results of the 1990 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and the 1991 Partial Test Ban Treaty Amendment Conference. With a view to 1995, it assesses the chances for consensus or dissension regarding regarding nuclear proliferation and the test ban, and the
prospects for an extension of NPT. It concludes by examining the future and the threat of a new North-South divide over these issues.


How Does a Radon Detector Work?
A radon detector is a device that measures the concentration of radon gas in the air. There are different types of radon detectors available, each with its own working principles. Here, we will discuss two common types: passive and active radon detectors.
- Passive Radon Detectors: Passive radon detectors are simple devices that do not require power to operate. They rely on natural processes to measure radon levels over a specific period, usually a few days to several months. The most common types of passive detectors include charcoal canisters, alpha track detectors, and charcoal liquid scintillation detectors.
- Charcoal Canisters: Charcoal canisters contain activated charcoal that absorbs radon gas. Over a designated period, radon diffuses into the canister, and the charcoal captures the radon atoms. After the exposure period, the canister is sealed and sent to a laboratory for analysis to determine the radon concentration.
- Alpha Track Detectors: Alpha track detectors consist of a small piece of plastic or film. As radon particles decay, they release alpha particles. These particles leave tracks on the detector’s surface. After the exposure period, the detector is sent to a laboratory where the tracks are counted to estimate the radon concentration.
- Active Radon Detectors: Active radon detectors are electronic devices that continuously measure radon levels. They require a power source to operate and typically provide real-time or near-real-time readings. Common types of active detectors include continuous radon monitors (CRM) and electret ion chambers.
- Continuous Radon Monitors (CRM): CRMs use sensors, such as ion chambers or silicon photodiodes, to detect and measure radon levels. These detectors provide ongoing readings, allowing users to monitor radon levels in real-time. Some CRMs also measure temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure to account for environmental factors that may influence radon levels.
- Electret Ion Chambers: Electret ion chambers contain a special electrically charged element (electret) that ionizes the air when radon particles pass through it. The resulting electrical charge is measured and used to estimate radon concentrations. Electret ion chambers can provide continuous monitoring and often have built-in memory for data logging.
Regardless of the type, it is crucial to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and guidelines for proper placement and duration of radon detector exposure. After the monitoring period, the detectors may need to be returned to a laboratory or data can be downloaded from electronic detectors to analyze the radon levels accurately.
In summary, radon detectors work by either passively absorbing radon for later analysis or actively measuring radon testing home inspection levels in real-time. They provide valuable information about the concentration of radon gas, helping individuals and organizations make informed decisions about radon mitigation and ensuring a safer living or working environment.


In 1986, a terrorist group detonated an Improvised Nuclear Device in Indianapolis, which resulted in the total devastation of a 20 block area; at least, that was the parameter of the training exercise laid out by the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST).
Last month, the National Security Archive posted declassified documents that provided a background on NEST, along with the training exercise known as Mighty Derringer.
The documents give specific details about how the participants handled the fictional scenario along with whether or not the exercise was successful.
NEST was created because of a very real, possible nuclear threat in 1974.
The Potential Threat
According to Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST: America’s Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad by Jeffrey T. Richelson, the FBI received a ransom letter in 1974. The letter demanded that $200,000 be delivered or a nuclear bomb would be detonated somewhere in Boston, MA.
The terrorists were holding the entire city of Boston hostage. Richelson contends that the FBI put together $200,000 in counterfeit bills, but no one showed up at the designated drop site. It seems that the entire event was a hoax.
Hoax or not, at that point authorities realized that the country needed an emergency response team in the event of a nuclear emergency. As a result, later that year, President Gerald Ford called for the creation of NEST.
The Nuclear Emergency Support Team’s first test was in 1976. According to a story that ran in a February 8, 1982 issue of the Spokane Review, a terrorist group calling themselves “Omega” threatened to detonate barrels of plutonium-contaminated water if they did not receive $500,000 in cash. NEST was dispatched and the team flew to Spokane from Nevada.
Once again, a phony case of bills was prepared in hopes of tricking the extortionists into thinking the money was there. NEST searched the city, but could not find the device.
The emergency response team advised the FBI to make the drop. No one from Omega showed up. Once again, the threat was another hoax. However, one thing was clear; the fledgling response team needed more training.
That training came in 1986 when NEST executed Mighty Derringer.
The Mighty Derringer Exercise
The exercise revolved around a fictional terrorist group detonating a bomb in the city of Indianapolis. The exercise revolved around the group smuggling a stolen nuclear device into America. The result was a 1 kiloton detonation in the city.
In previous exercises, the bomb was usually found and disarmed; however, officials decided to take the training up a notch.
Overall, it seems that NEST and other participating agencies passed the training exercise. However, Mighty Derringer did uncover some weak points in procedures dealing with a large scale nuclear disaster.
According to the National Security Archive, one of the documents stated, “…the joint procedures for withdrawing the HRT and survivors, securing the perimeter, and clearing access to the device need clarification.”
So even though it was a successful exercise, some work still needed to be done. Since the Mighty Derringer exercise, training for a nuclear event has become a mainstay in federal emergency response training.
The Status of NEST Today
Presently, NEST has the capability to deploy 600 emergency responders in the event of a nuclear emergency, and maintains a small fleet of aircraft. The small fleet consists of four helicopters and three small planes, all equipped with nuclear detection equipment.
In recent years, it has been reported that NEST runs covert nuclear searches as directed by the government. In 2005, David Kaplan reported that radioactive samples were taken by a joint effort between the FBI and NEST. Such searches are conducted in Washington D.C. and other large cities around the country.
Many claim that some of these searches may be illegal because they are often conducted without a specific threat or a warrant being issued.


Thomas McKone, Leader of the Environmental Chemistry, Exposure, and Risk Group of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, has been quoted extensively in the news media on the transport and health risks of radiation from Japan.
McKone will be a speaker at the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association webinar on April 6 at 12:00 Pacific Time titled "Public and Worker Health Impacts From the Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident."
A sampling of other recent coverage featuring McKone:
CBS News "Food radiation fears move to forefront."
Discovery News "Radiation Release: How Bad Could It Get?"
Los Angeles Times "Japan's nuclear cleanup."
Christian Science Monitor "Japan nuclear crisis: Will radioactive food reach US supermarkets?"


The Ultimate Evil
The Fight to Ban Nuclear Weapons
This book presents the case for a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons.
More than half a century after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a new effort is being made to persuade the nations of the world to rid themselves of nuclear weapons.
This book presents the case for a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. Demystifying the jargon surrounding the subject of nuclear disarmament, the book explains the political, strategic, economic, and legal reasons for many nations' involvement with nuclear weapons, and sets out the ethical and political reasons for banning them.
The Ultimate Evil: The Fight to Ban Nuclear Weapons describes the key events of the disarmament campaign and shows how the goal of disarmament can be reached.