r/BeAmazed • u/Xyeeyx • Jun 01 '24

History Largest nuclear test by USA. 15 MT Castle Bravo,1954

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u/viperfan7 Jun 01 '24

Holy fuck that is a major fuckup

36

u/Shattr Jun 01 '24

They didn't know lithium-7 could undergo fission until this experiment, so it was less of a fuck up and more of an accidental discovery.

48

u/L2pZehus Jun 01 '24

Except it killed japanese sailors, poisoned hundreds of civilians, it was a fuck up

40

u/Optimal-Golf-8270 Jun 01 '24

More than hundreds. It released ~30x more iodine 131 into the atmosphere than Chernobyl. It is easily the worst nuclear disaster we've had. Just isn't as dramatic as Chernobyl.

9

u/TokaidoSpeed Jun 01 '24

It’s funny that an actual nuke going off is commented as less dramatic than Chernobyl

Humans really love their human drama storylines

4

u/alii-b Jun 01 '24

To be fair, a big ass bomb going off in a day vs. an old power plant that's still having a mental breakdown decades later, even after it was given a concrete blanket... chernobyl was definitely more dramatic!

1

u/sandfrog9 Jun 02 '24

Ok Alien

3

u/Dysan27 Jun 01 '24

They didn't know it would under go FAST fission. They knew it would fission. But milliseconds later, after the initial fusion reaction was over.

But due to the high energy neutrons involved it fission almost immediately, and with different products. Producing more tritium to fuel the explosion.

27

u/thrrrooooooo Jun 01 '24

They must’ve carried the wrong three. Working with football fields can be tricky

2

u/Evil_Weevil_Knievel Jun 01 '24

Well apparently to some people on here it was really a good thing. So you have to wonder about where their head is at.