What’s the Demon Core? Revisiting the Fateful Incident That Killed 2 Scientists

A plutonium pit accidentally killed two dedicated scientists, earning it the nickname the "demon core." The fateful incidents happened due to a breach of safety protocols.

What Is The Demon Core?

The atomic bomb, weighing 6.2 kilograms, with refined plutonium and gallium, was set to be detonated in Japan during the Second World War. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945. The Japanese radio broadcast Emperor Hirohito conceding to the Allies' demands, ScienceAlert reported.

Following Japan's surrender, the scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico halted their work on the plutonium core dubbed "Rufus" as it was no longer needed in the war.

However, two scientists still visited the Los Alamos site to continue the project. Unfortunately, something unexpected happened that cost them their lives.

Demon Core Incident

On the evening of Aug. 21, 1945, Harry Daghlian went to the Los Alamos facility by himself to work on his project. He was constructing tungsten carbide reflective brick walls around a plutonium core when his equipment alerted him that the plutonium was at risk of entering a supercritical state, per the United Energy Workers Healthcare.

Harry immediately removed a brick in a flash but dumped it on the plutonium core. As a result, the core became supercritical and produced a heat wave and blaze of light.

Harry claimed that his hand started to tingle when he picked up the dropped block. His body has just been exposed to too much radiation at this point. He endured a miserable 25 days with a burned and blistering hand.

One year later, Harry's friend Louis Slotin continued to work on the same plutonium core. Slotin was attempting to cover the core with a dome. Since some neutrons were intended to escape, the dome was never expected to close completely. A little space was maintained by inserting a screwdriver between the dome's sides. The dome closed when the screwdriver slipped out, swiftly returning the core to a supercritical state.

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This time, additional scientists were present, and one observed the similar blue light and heat wave that Harry mentioned. Even though the flash lasted less than a half-second, it exposed these scientists to radiation dosages. However, Louis was closest to the core, and in his case, it was fatal. He lived for nine days more before he passed away.

While this narrative is very dark and sad, the silver lining was the development of additional safety standards, including no more "hands-on" experiments. These incidents led to renaming the plutonium core from "Rufus" to "The Demon Core." From then on, only equipment was permitted to touch the radioactive core.

Daghlian and Slotin died in similar accidents involving the same plutonium core. Both deaths occurred on Tuesdays, the 21st of each month, and they also died in the same hospital room.

However, those are only coincidences. There was nothing demonic about the demon core. If there is evil present, it is not in the plutonium core but instead in the haste with which humans created those horrible weapons, according to ScienceAlert.