By 1958 the United States had tested twenty-three nuclear bombs on Bikini, climaxing with the Hydrogen bomb test – codenamed Bravo. ibid.
Radiation is still dangerously present in the eco-system. No-one knows for sure how this will affect island and marine wildlife in the long run. ibid.
In August 1945 the city of Hiroshima was destroyed in about nine seconds by a single atomic bomb. The man responsible for building the bomb was a gentle and eloquent physicist named J Robert Oppenheimer. The Day After Trinity, 1980
‘You may well ask why people with kind hearts and humanist feelings – why they would go and work on weapons of mass destruction.’ ibid. Hans Bethe
At the age of twenty-five he accepted an unusual dual professorship. ibid.
His left-wing activities did attract official attention. ibid.
Oppenheimer’s first job was to convince scientists and their families to join him for the duration of the war in a place he was not allowed to identify. ibid.
Oppenheimer had gathered the elite in physics, mathematics and chemistry to build the atomic bomb. ibid.
By 1944 he was in charge of a walled city of six thousand. ibid.
The professor and the general made an unlikely team. When Groves took charge of the Manhattan Project in 1942 there was barely enough plutonium in the world to cover the head of a pin. And very little uranium 235. ibid.
11th July 1945: an unmarked Pontiac sedan arrives at the MacDonald Ranch carrying the world’s entire supply of plutonium – about ten pounds. The courier demands a receipt. Approximate value – one billion dollars. ibid.
Young technicians were horrified to overhear Enrico Fermi taking side-bets on the possibility of incinerating the state of New Mexico. ibid.
More than a million civilians dead – the Japanese fought on. ibid.
Hiroshima, August 6th 1945 ... more than 100,000 killed, 40,000 injured, 20,000 missing. Burns, blindness, radiation sickness. It took only nine seconds. ibid.
He [Oppenheimer] argued adamantly and publicly for the international control of atomic weapons. ibid. commentary
The arms race began in earnest. ibid.
Teller had urged ... the hydrogen bomb. ibid.
A disbelieving America saw the Russians explode a hydrogen bomb in the same year. ibid.
As many as five agents shadowed him [Oppenheimer] in a single day. ibid.
The Atomic Energy Commission found Oppenheimer a security risk. ibid.
There have been more than 1,200 atomic explosions on the face of the Earth. ibid.
Gamma radiation is the most dangerous type of radiation known. It’s also the tell-tale sign of an atomic weapon. Stephen Hawking’s Universe: Into the Universe, PBS 1997
There’s a well-respected theory that they are produced by a special kind of supernova called a gamma-ray burst. What’s more there might be one quite nearby. ibid.
We know that there are micro-organisms on Earth that have evolved to have the ability to withstand intense levels of radiation. There are bacteria that grow on the cooling rods of nuclear reactors. Richard Hoover, NASA
They were super powerful explosions of high energy radiation called Gamma Ray Bursts. And they were coming from exploding hypernovas. How the Universe Works s1e5: Supernovas, Discovery 2010
They are the brightest thing in the known universe. ibid.
Report on search for radiation experiment records 1944 – 1994. US Department of Defense online headline report 13th July 2007
And it’s not just nitrate levels; radiation plays a part too. The Truth Behind ... Crop Circles
The federal government secretly commissioned secret radiation experiments against thousands of non-consenting patients; hundreds of hospitals in the US injected healthy men, women and children with uranium and plutonium at dosages ranging from non-therapeutic to lethal, killing many of the test subjects. Alex Jones, Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement, 2007
Kiev residents celebrated May Day under a radioactive drizzle, unaware of the danger. The Russian Woodpecker, caption, 2015
Radiation levels remain ten times normal. ibid.
Home to one of the largest nuclear rectors in Europe. 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.
It’s teeming with wildlife. Against all odds nature appears to be making a comeback. Life After: Chernobyl, Discovery 2017
A herd of Przewalski’s horses incredibly endangered … numbers have been dropping rapidly … the contamination in their bodies is extremely high. ibid.
One of Chernobyl’s iconic animals: a strange change in the growing wolf population: ‘an attack on humans … wolf attacks on humans are extremely rare … fear radiation is changing wolves’ behaviour.’ ibid.
Over 150 people are now living in this toxic wasteland. ibid.
The trees are not decomposing … If this sets on fire, all that radioactive material goes up in the air. ibid.
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There is no core. It exploded. Chernobyl I: 1.23.45, plant worker in control room, Sky Atlantic 2019
Explosion in the main building between the third and forth blocks. ibid. emergency call
Call in the day shift. We have to keep water flowing into the core. We need electricians, mechanics, bodies. ibid. Dyatlov in control room
Of course no-one can blame me for this. How can I be responsible? I was sleeping. ibid. Bryukhanov
Yes, comrades. We will all be rewarded for what we do here tonight. ibid. old dude
These are radiation burns. Their clothes are contaminated. Help me. Get it all off. Chernobyl II: Please Remain Calm, doctor local hospital
An RBMK reactor used Uranium 235 as fuel. Every atom of U235 is like a bullet travelling at nearly the speed of light penetrating everything in its path … Winds will carry radioactive particles across the entire continent … Most of these bullets will not stop firing for 100 years. ibid. Legasov, nuclear specialist to Soviet Central Committee
You are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before. ibid.
They’re dropping sand and boron on the fire. ibid. nuclear physics lady
The whole world knows. The wind has been blowing toward Germany. ibid. Shcherbina
The meltdown has begun. Chernobyl III: Open Wide, O Earth, Legasov
He’s somebody else now, do you understand? He’s dangerous to you. ibid. nurse to wife of patient
Gorbachev: How many deaths?
Legasov: Thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands. ibid.
Do you know how old I am? I’m 82. I’ve lived here my whole life, right here in that house, this place. What do I care about safe? Chernobyl IV: The Happiness of All Mankind, old woman
Under no circumstances can men go up there [roof]. ibid. Legasov
As much vodka as you want. Plus a thousand roubles. ibid. animal control squad soldier
Someone has to start telling the truth. Chernobyl V: Vichnaya Pamyat, Ulana
I understand my duty to the state. But you gave us assurances. Reactors would be made safe. It’s been months. No changes have been made; no changes discussed. ibid. Legasov to Charkov
Legasov: I went willingly to an open reactor. So I’ve already given my life. Isn’t that enough?
No, I’m sorry but it is not. ibid.