Life and Death Rays Life and Death Rays Radioactive Poisoning and Radiation Exposure Alan Perkins First edition published 2021 by CRC Press 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by CRC Press 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487–2742 © 2021 Alan Perkins CRC Press is an imprint of Informa UK Limited All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access www. copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978–750–8400. 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Contents Preface.......................................................................................................................xi Acknowledgements ................................................................................................xiii About the Author .....................................................................................................xv Chapter 1 The Poisoned Chalice ...........................................................................1 1.1 Poisoning of a Russian Defector ................................................1 1.2 Poisons and Poisoners................................................................2 1.3 Environmental and Inadvertent Poisoning ................................3 1.4 Deliberate Poisoning .................................................................5 1.5 Thallium: the Poisoner’s Poison ................................................6 1.6 Treatment of Thallium Poisoning ............................................10 1.7 Thallium Radiation Poisoning .................................................11 1.8 Poisoning With Tritium (Hydrogen-3) .....................................15 1.9 Poisoning With Phosphorous-32 ..............................................16 1.10 Irradiation With Sealed Sources .............................................17 Chapter 2 Designer Poisons ................................................................................19 2.1 Poison Laboratories .................................................................19 2.2 Laboratory No 1 ......................................................................20 2.3 Unit 731 ...................................................................................23 2.4 Edgewood Arsenal and ULTRA .............................................24 Chapter 3 Mysterious Rays .................................................................................29 3.1 Radiation, Matter and Energy .................................................29 3.2 The Wondrous Roentgen Rays ................................................31 3.3 Ill Health and Safety ................................................................36 Chapter 4 Radiant Health ....................................................................................43 4.1 X-ray Vision .............................................................................43 4.2 Electromechanical Medical Appliances ..................................45 4.3 If the Shoe Fits.........................................................................49 4.4 Beauty and the Beast ...............................................................51 4.5 Mass Irradiation for Health and Hygiene ................................53 Chapter 5 Kill or Cure ........................................................................................59 5.1 A State of Decay ......................................................................59 5.2 Alpha, Beta and Gamma Radiation.........................................60 5.3 Radioactivity and the Birth of the Atomic Age .......................61 vii viii Contents 5.4 Radium, the Element of Life and Death ..................................66 5.5 The Qray Electro-Radioactive Dry Compress ........................70 5.6 Sunshine in a Bottle .................................................................71 5.7 The Poisoned Paintbrush .........................................................79 5.8 Radiotherapy............................................................................83 Chapter 6 Chain Reactions .................................................................................87 6.1 Embracing the Atom................................................................87 6.2 The Manhattan Project ............................................................89 6.3 The Philadelphia Incident ........................................................93 6.4 Tickling the Dragon’s Tail .......................................................94 6.5 Stirring Up Trouble .................................................................99 6.6 Dawn of the Atomic Age .......................................................100 Chapter 7 Nutopia .............................................................................................103 7.1 Human Radiation Experiments .............................................103 7.2 Testing Times ........................................................................104 7.3 Ultium, Extremium and Plutonium .......................................108 7.4 An Unexpected Bitter Taste ...................................................110 7.5 The US Plutonium Studies ....................................................110 7.6 UK Human Tissue Studies ....................................................117 Chapter 8 From Tracers to Treatment ...............................................................119 8.1 The Marked Card ..................................................................119 8.2 Atomic Golf Balls .................................................................121 8.3 Track and Trace .....................................................................121 8.4 The Nuclear Cloud’s Silver Lining ........................................123 8.5 Nuclear Medicine ..................................................................125 8.6 Technetium, the Missing Element .........................................129 8.7 The Antimatter Scan .............................................................132 Chapter 9 A Series of Unfortunate Events ........................................................137 9.1 Accidents Happen ..................................................................137 9.2 The Windscale Fire, 1957 ......................................................137 9.3 The SL-1 Meltdown, 1961 .....................................................141 9.4 Three Mile Island Accident, 1979 .........................................141 9.5 The Chernobyl Disaster, 1986 ...............................................142 9.6 The Tokaimura Accident, 1999: a Fate Worse Than Death ..146 9.7 The Fukushima Daiichi Disaster, 2011 .................................150 9.8 Military and Medical Mishaps ..............................................151 Contents ix Chapter 10 Home and Away ...............................................................................155 10.1 Radon Alert ...........................................................................155 10.2 Home Truths ..........................................................................157 10.3 The Radioactive Boy Scout ...................................................159 10.4 The Kramstorsk Tragedy .......................................................161 10.5 Environmental Radiation.......................................................162 10.6 Cosmic and Space Radiation .................................................163 10.7 Radioactive Food for Thought ...............................................163 10.8 Geological Radiation .............................................................164 10.9 The Most Radioactive Place on the Earth .............................164 Chapter 11 Biological Effects and Medical Treatment .......................................167 11.1 Biological Effects of Radiation .............................................167 11.2 Radiosensitivity .....................................................................172 11.3 Treatment of Radiation Casualties ........................................175 11.4 Treating Radiation Casualties ...............................................177 11.5 Beer and Dragon’s Blood .......................................................178 Chapter 12 Spies, Subterfuge, Missions and Murder ..........................................181 12.1 Spy Dust ................................................................................181 12.2 X-ray Surveillance .................................................................188 12.3 The London Polonium Poisoning ..........................................189 12.4 Polonium-210 .........................................................................195 12.5 Deployment, Diagnosis and Detective Work .........................197 12.6 Other Polonium Poisonings ...................................................202 12.7 Security of Radioactive Materials .........................................204 Glossary ................................................................................................................205 Bibliography .........................................................................................................213 Appendix 1: Table of SI Metric Prefixes ............................................................219 Index ......................................................................................................................221