Nuclear Power | The Episodic Table of Elements

92. Uranium: Two Untold Tales (Live At Harvard)

May 29, 2023

6:00 am

16 Comments on 92. Uranium: Two Untold Tales (Live At Harvard)

Alsos, Belgium, Church Rock, Congo, Edwin Kemble, Espionage, France, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, George Kistiakowsky, Georgius Agricola, Germany, Harvard, Indigenous Americans, Italy, Leslie Groves, Mining, Moe Berg, Navajo Nation, Nazis, Nobel Prizes, Nuclear Accidents, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Otto Hahn, Paracelsus, Radioactivity, Samuel Goudsmit, Shinkolobwe, The Manhattan Project, Three Mile Island, United States, Werner Heisenberg, World War II

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

America’s worst radioactive accident isn’t Three Mile Island, and the Nazi nuclear physicist wasn’t assassinated by the famous baseball player.

Continue reading “92. Uranium: Two Untold Tales (Live At Harvard)” →

The exterior of Primo Autobody Repair shop.

90. Thorium: Bright Lights, Big City

February 22, 2022

8:30 am

19 Comments on 90. Thorium: Bright Lights, Big City

Alsos, Alvin Weinberg, Auergesellschaft, Candoluminescence, Carl Auer von Welsbach, Illumination, India, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Leslie Groves, Mythology, Nazis, New York City, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Oak Ridge National Labs, Radioactivity, The Manhattan Project

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sure, thorium could provide practically limitless clean energy, but then we couldn’t build weapons of mass destruction.

Continue reading “90. Thorium: Bright Lights, Big City” →

46. Palladium: The Old Razzle Dazzle

September 23, 2019

6:00 am

Leave a comment on 46. Palladium: The Old Razzle Dazzle

Astronomy, Automobiles, Cold Fusion, Etymology, Martin Fleischmann, Movie Science, Music, New York City, Nuclear Power, Platinum Group, Poetry, Protocol, Richard Chenevix, Stanley Pons, William Hyde Wollaston

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Those people who’ve been involved with palladium’s history seem to harbor a dubious predilection for stretching the truth.

Continue reading “46. Palladium: The Old Razzle Dazzle” →

44. Ruthenium: The Glow Cloud

August 26, 2019

6:00 am

2 Comments on 44. Ruthenium: The Glow Cloud

Borexino, Catalysis, Etymology, Geoffrey Wilkinson, Gottfried Osann, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Karl Klaus, Mars, Mayak Facility, Nuclear Accidents, Nuclear Power, Parker 51, Platinum Group, Russia, Sabatier Process

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Element 44 is technically not named for Russia… but perhaps it should be.

Continue reading “44. Ruthenium: The Glow Cloud” →