On March 28th 1979 a series of human and mechanical errors at the Three-Mile Island plant exposed the core. It reacted with steam and produced hydrogen which exploded. None of the emergency teams could understand what was going on inside the reactor. ibid.
There were protests against nuclear power throughout the world. In the public’s imagination it was transformed from something good to something bad. Much of the anger was turned on the nuclear scientists. It emerged they had deliberately concealed many of the risks and uncertainties they had discovered. ibid.
What if we were to learn there exists a new form of clean energy in virtually unlimited supply? Phenomenon: The Lost Archives: Heavy Watergate: The War Against Cold Fusion, 1998
University of Utah 23 March 1989: Two distinguished chemists, Dr Martin Fleischmann and Dr Stanley Pons announced to the amazement of the world that they had detected a nuclear-like reaction that could turn water into a powerful new fuel – their discovery became known as Cold Fusion. ibid.
One of the greatest tragedies in the history of science. ibid.
MIT bombshell knocks fusion ‘breakthrough’ cold. ibid. Boston Herald front page
Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century. ibid. John R Huizenga
Cold Fusion pioneers carried on. ibid.
How can you lose something as conspicuous as an atomic bomb? Phenomenon: The Lost Archives: Irretrievably Lost: The Search for the Savannah Warhead
On February 13th 1950 America loses its first atomic bomb … in the Pacific. ibid.
1956: Over the Sahara desert but no trace of the bomber, its crew or its nuclear cargo is ever found. ibid.
Some crashes were different; some involved nuclear bombs. ibid.
I know, we’ll build more nuclear weapons. To counter the threat posed by East … Easter Island. Spitting Image s7e2, ITV 1989
The XXXX Files … Between 1970 and 1975 Sellafield has lost 104 kilograms of plutonium. Enough to make twenty-six nuclear bombs. Nobody knows where it has gone. The truth is out there. Spitting Image s18e3, ITV 1996
In an urban society everything connects … Our lives are woven together in a fabric; but the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable. Threads, BBC 1984
Soviet move ‘threat to peace’ says USA. ibid. Sunday Times
Britain has emergency plans for war. If central government should ever fail, power can be transferred instead to a system of local officials dispersed across the country. ibid.
Squadrons of American B-52 bombers have been arriving at US bases in Turkey … ibid. news
The United States’ ultimatum delivered to Moscow last night. ibid. news
You cannot win a nuclear war. ibid. demo speaker
We shall completely destroy Japan’s powers to make war. White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Truman, HBO 2007
On August 6 and 9, the new bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only times nuclear weapons have been used in war. ibid. caption
She [Kiyoko] is the only survivor of a school of 620 students. ibid.
The bright flash; we were hit by the blast. I was six years old. ibid. survivor
Everything was enveloped in this enormous flash. ibid. survivor
It wasn’t a cloud: it was a pillar of fire, a huge pillar of fire. ibid.
Their skin was shredded and hanging off their bodies. ibid.
All Hiroshima was on fire … The river was full of dead bodies; we stayed there. ibid.
Winds from the explosion reached 1,000 miles per hour. ibid. caption
My face was like a black ball. ibid. survivor
The pain was so intense I’d pass out. ibid.
With nowhere to go survivors returned to the devastated cities. ibid. caption
They found a high incidence of cancer, particularly leukemia. ibid.
You are now in a place where we have borrowed something from you to protect you and we have taken great pain to be sure that you are protected. We also want you to know that this place should not be disturbed. And we want you to know that this is not a place for you to live in. You should stay away from this place and then you will be safe. Into Eternity, 2010
Onkalo must last 100,000 years. ibid.
Q. How much [nuclear] waste exists in the world today?
A. … Between 200,000 and 300,000 tons. ibid.
So we are storing the waste today the background in water pools … We can’t keep this waste for ever in water pools. ibid.
We will fill the chambers of Onkolo with the nuclear waste from Finland … never to be opened again. ibid.
The world’s worst nuclear accident happened on April 26 1986. An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine sent 190 tons of radioactive uranium and graphite into the air. 600,000 liquidators were conscripted for the clean-up and were exposed to massive doses of radiation. Since the accident over 13,000 liquidators have died. The people of Chernobyl were exposed to radiation 90 times greater than that from the explosion of the atom bomb at Hiroshima. Over 400,000 people were evacuated. More than 2,000 villages in the area were demolished. Chernobyl Heart, 2003
For thyroid cancer treatment Belarussians come to Minsk. ibid.
At twenty-three minutes past one on the morning of April 26 1986 the world was seconds away from its worst-ever nuclear accident. Reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union exploded. Zero Hour: Disaster at Chernobyl, Discovery 2004
Many see it as the first step in the break up of the communist regime. ibid.
A potentially fatal flaw in the reactor’s design. ibid.
The water shortage continues to set off alarms. ibid.
They are the victims of years of cover-ups and negligence. ibid.
Steam pressure builds at the core’s invisible hotspot. ibid.
A fire had broken out at Windscale, the country’s first nuclear reactor. Britain was on the brink of an unprecedented disaster. The fire threatened to destroy the special relationship before it began. Facing humiliation, Macmillan decided to keep the truth about Britain’s worst nuclear disaster secret. Windscale: Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Accident, BBC 2007
Windscale was a symbol of the new Britain. A symbol of hope. It was a massive engineering project. ibid.
4,000 tons of graphite were used to build the two reactors. The walls were seven feet thick. ibid.
It was built to make bombs. ibid.
Britain must have its own bomb … Attlee turned to the one man he knew was capable of building a bomb … William Penney. ibid.
They were nicknamed the Bold Bad Barons: Penney, Cockcroft and Hinton would mastermind Britain’s atomic project. ibid.
Windscale’s graphite core would be cooled not with water but with air. ibid.
1952: it was a horrendous deadline to meet. ibid.
In Whitehall meeting the deadline for the bomb was more important than the safety of the reactor. ibid.
The uranium cartridges weren’t producing enough plutonium … The warnings were ignored. ibid.
The reactor had begun behaving unpredictably. ibid.
17th October 1956: a new reactor – Calder Hall – opened just yards from Windscale. ibid.
The public were promised electricity that would be too cheap to meter. ibid.
Readings taken around Windscale had produced alarming results. ibid.
It wasn’t a burst cartridge, it was a fire. ibid.
In trying to cool the core they had fanned the flames of the fire causing it to spread throughout hundreds of channels … Radioactivity pouring out of the chimney. ibid.