Don’t Mess With The Demon Core

It wasn’t always called the Demon Core. In fact, this small sphere measuring just 3.5 inches across originally had the much more benign name of….. Rufus.

But what is it and why the name change?

What’s In A Name?

1942 is where our story begins. December the 28th and the start of the Manhattan Project to be precise. If you haven’t heard of the Manhattan Project, let me bring you up to speed.

The Manhattan Project was the codename for the atomic bomb research that ultimately resulted in the dropping of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” over Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. Killing 200,000 people and ending Japan’s resistance in World War Two.

What people don’t know is that the third bomb planned to be dropped would be Rufus, the Demon Core. When this ultimately turned out to be unnecessary, Rufus was sent to the lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico to be researched.

While there, in two separate incidents, it would claim the lives of two prominent scientists, earning it the moniker “Demon Core”.

Experiments Pushing Criticality

I’m not about to go deep into the science surrounding atomic reactions. This link will give a better explanation than I can. Suffice to say, criticality experiments are fraught with danger. If the core is able to go critical for even a millisecond, a massive amount of deadly radiation is released.

Due to this, experiments surrounding criticality were famously described by the physicist Richard Feynman as tickling a sleeping dragons tail. Between 1945 and 1999 there have been 60 criticality accidents, killing 21 people. That’s the danger level here.

Harry Daghlian

Harry holds the dubious honor of being the first ever death due to a criticality accident. On the 21st of August 1945, Harry was conducting an experiment where he placed tungsten carbide “bricks” around the as yet to be renamed Demon Core. Doing so reflects neutrons from the core, reducing its mass and edging it towards criticality.

About to place the last brick into place, Harry was made aware by a counter that doing so would send the core critical. Pulling the brick back, he dropped it onto the core, sending it critical. Harry was forced to partially disassemble the bricks to halt the reaction. Unfortunately for him, the few seconds critical would be enough to deliver a lethal dose of radiation.

Harry received immediate intensive medical care, all to no avail. He fell into a coma and died of his injuries on September the 15th 1945. Just 25 days after the accident.

Louis Slotin

Our second Demon Core victim. Just months after Harry, on the 21st of May 1946, Louis was conducting an experiment where a sphere of beryllium is placed around the core to reflect neutrons. Usually, a shim was used to make sure the two halves of the beryllium don’t touch, or you get a criticality incident.

Louis however, was using a screwdriver to hold the two pieces apart. Predictably, at 3.20pm, the screwdriver slipped. Immediately the room was bathed in the blue glow of air ionization given off by Cherenkov radiation.

A blast of heat washed over Slotin accompanied by a metallic taste in his mouth and severe burning in his left hand. His fate was sealed.

The Army flew his parents to be with him. They arrived four days after the accident. By the fifth day, Louis condition had begun to deteriorate rapidly.

He died alone just 9 days after the accident after a total loss of bodily functions.

What Became of the Demon Core?

The core was planned to be used in the Operation Crossroads tests. These tests happened at Bikini Atoll, a beautiful untouched paradise. As Bob Hope put it: “As soon as the war ended, we located the one spot on earth that hadn’t been touched by the war and blew it to hell.”

And yes, it is where Bikini Bottom in Spongebob comes from, just in case you were wondering.

But back to the Demon Core. After the incidents involving it, it was slated to be used in tests after cores Able and Baker. However, because of the untold damage done by these tests the core was melted down and recycled for use in other cores.