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I've read about this in a few different mediums before and no it's not just that protocols weren't that important.

The guy doing this experiment was *notorious* for it and multiple other manhattan project people had already told him he was going to die if he kept doing it. But he had the kind of bravado and personality that he kept doing it.

So to be clear: all of the other people whose risk tolerance levels already had them handling weapons-grade plutonium as a career ALSO thought this guy was insane for doing this.

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vundercind 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

He took a dip in a pool with a functioning nuclear pile some time before that just to avoid having to shut the thing down before doing some maintenance, taking a pretty big dose. He was a daredevil and had the kind of bravado of someone on a work site who scoffs at PPE and rolls their eyes when you tell them they need to wear a damn helmet. Those types usually end up having a bad time eventually.

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cpeterso 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> He took a dip in a pool with a functioning nuclear pile

xkcd published a What If? video about the consequences of swimming in a nuclear fuel pool: https://youtu.be/EFRUL7vKdU8

	▲	immibis 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		A pool containing nuclear fuel is different from a pool containing a running nuclear reactor with no other shielding, though.
	▲	kqr 3 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		A "pile" is not just a description of the thing, it is an actual formal term (old one!) meaning "reactor". So not just a bunch of radioactive matetial.
	▲	itishappy 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Here it is in written form. The punchline is worth the read/watch. https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

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gopher_space 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> Those types usually end up having a bad time eventually.

It's entirely possible to build up skills allowing you to avoid using PPE, but every kid who sees you is being put at risk just so you can swing your dick around.

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MeetingsBrowser 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

What skill do you develop to avoid the need for a helmet? Is it like a spidey sense, or do you hit yourself in the head so frequently your skull thickens enough to protect your brain from falling objects?

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lapetitejort 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

I would like to learn the skill to dodge harmful prolonged sound waves. A technique similar to the safety squint, but with your ears?

	▲	Lanzaa 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The equivalent of safety squints for your hearing would be conscious control of the tensor tympanic muscle. As with safety squints, I don't think there has been much study on the effectiveness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle

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doubled112 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Don't mind me, boss. Just hitting my head off of this pipe to build up a resistance to physical trauma.

	▲	Terr_ 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		"Just some good old Heterotopic ossification, y'know? More bones, more safety." (That said, repeated head trauma does tend to thicken the skull, although any practical benefits are extraordinarily questionable.)

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GuB-42 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It tends to be the opposite. Kids are usually fine, if they cross a construction site once, they would be really unlucky to have something fall on their head, even if they are careless. Professionals who work on site for thousands of hours will have something fall on their head eventually, even if they are careful. That's just probabilities. Take 10 times the risks for 1/10000th of the time and you are still 1000 times less likely to get injured.

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6SixTy 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

OSHA 30 hour here: no the f** it isn't. You only lose an eye once before it's just gone. Hearing can only get worse. Some stuff will just kill you, some more slowly than others. Only literal children can bounce back from a what would otherwise be a fatal injury, but that's a very narrow slice of how you can get hurt.

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0x457 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's entirely possible to build up skills allowing you to avoid using PPE

Yes, but you only need to mess up once and your skill doesn't save you from other people mistakes.

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marcosdumay 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No, it's not.

Humans don't have perfectly consistent attention, and by the time you think you have any skill like that your attention is even less consistent than before you started "practicing".

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quickthrowman 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

No it isn’t. Over an 80,000 hour career in construction/other dangerous field, you will eventually have an incident that will make you thankful for PPE.

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michaelt 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> multiple other manhattan project people had already told him he was going to die if he kept doing it

To me it seems quite reasonable that the people hired

to work on a bomb intended to kill 150,000 people in one go

against the backdrop of a war where 70-85 million died

might not place the greatest value on health and safety, and the sanctity of human life.

	▲	Joker_vD 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		On other human lives. They'd probably damn well care about their lives; otherwise, they wouldn't even make an effort to create "better weapons".