Life and Death Rays: Radioactive Poisoning and Radiation Exposure

247 Pages·2021·9.489 MB·English

by  Alan Perkins

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. For works that are not available on CCC please contact
[email protected]

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and

are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-0-367-46336-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-45649-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-02824-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Pauline, Heather and Frances
Thank you for everything.

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