Kodak and nuclear testing

mooseontheloose · Oct 3, 2020

An interesting video about how Kodak figured out that secret nuclear tests were being done in the U.S.:

I wasn't sure if this was the best place to put it, as it could easily be part of an ethics discussion, but it really is about film, so...

pentaxuser · Oct 3, 2020

Thanks for that I certainly found it one of the better videos I have seen in terms of presentation that covers in easy to understand terms the role of Kodak in detecting the first nuclear tests so I agree it was solely about the role of Kodak film in detecting radio active fallout. It is not political

However it remains to be seen how long it remains treated solely as an interesting, neutral and instructive video and does not get moved to the Soapbox.

pentaxuser

David Lindquist · Oct 3, 2020

Very interesting in a lot of ways. Thank you very much for posting this.

David

wyofilm · Oct 3, 2020

Very interesting video! Viewers should remember that modern biology was in its infancy when these tests were being conducted. Even understanding that DNA was the carrier of genetic material wasn't known until the mid 40's early 50's. Watson and Crick's double helix structure was even farther into the future.

laser · Oct 3, 2020

As far as I know Kodak Park continues to routinely monitor air quality for radioactivity,
Bob Shanebrookwww.makingKODAKfilm.com

AgX · Oct 3, 2020

The days of nuclear weapon testing were a period of alertness in the photographic industry due to the effect of fall-out on raw stock.

Donald Qualls · Oct 3, 2020

"The conclusion of the Nuclear Energy Commission was that humans are less sensitive to radiation than film."

Even with what we know now, you could make a good case for this. Of course, film picks up fog, usually overall, occasionally (for fresh fallout) in spots like the original detection, while humans subject to long term internal alpha exposure pick up cancers. The sensitivity of the detection isn't (and never was) the whole story, and for almost half a century, every government on Earth ignored the consequences of that sensitivity.

Ignorance causes harm. Yet the 1997 extension on nuclear testing was more about public awareness than about public safety.

Always question authority.

Sirius Glass · Oct 3, 2020

Thank you for posting that. I remember those discussions in the 1960's.

mooseontheloose · Oct 4, 2020

I find it interesting that the fallout stopped at the Canadian border - I guess that invisible wall we've had up all these years really did work.

This video also reminded me of the photographer Igor Kostin, who photographed the Chernobyl disaster from a helicopter. Not only did his cameras fail while doing so, but virtually all of the film was fogged due to massive exposure to radiation in the short amount of time they were airborne (he and the pilot also got sick from radiation poisoning).

@Donald Qualls:

"The conclusion of the Nuclear Energy Commission was that humans are less sensitive to radiation than film."
Ignorance causes harm. Yet the 1997 extension on nuclear testing was more about public awareness than about public safety. Always question authority.

Agree. I think one of the consequences of governments around the world trying to cover up nuclear tests/disasters is that it really leads to public distrust and fear. Since we are exposed to radiation all the time, every day, we don't really think about our sensitivity to it until cancer or other problems rear their ugly heads, often years later, when it's hard to know exactly what the cause was.

drpsilver · Oct 4, 2020

03 Oct 2020

Rachelle:

Thank you for posting this. It was very educational and interesting. I have visited White Sand National Monument near the Trinity Site. Lots of history to be learned, photographs to be made, and "unexploded ordnance" to avoid.

Regards,
Darwin

Sirius Glass · Oct 4, 2020

mooseontheloose said:
I find it interesting that the fallout stopped at the Canadian border - I guess that invisible wall we've had up all these years really did work.

This video also reminded me of the photographer Igor Kostin, who photographed the Chernobyl disaster from a helicopter. Not only did his cameras fail while doing so, but virtually all of the film was fogged due to massive exposure to radiation in the short amount of time they were airborne (he and the pilot also got sick from radiation poisoning).

@Donald Qualls:

Agree. I think one of the consequences of governments around the world trying to cover up nuclear tests/disasters is that it really leads to public distrust and fear. Since we are exposed to radiation all the time, every day, we don't really think about our sensitivity to it until cancer or other problems rear their ugly heads, often years later, when it's hard to know exactly what the cause was.

Canada's boarder guards kept it out!

reddesert · Oct 4, 2020

That's a good video.

Of minor importance compared to the cost in human lives, but somewhat similar to Kodak's issues with fallout-contaminated paper: scientific and medical devices that need to be sensitive to low levels of radioactivity, have to be made out of materials that have no more than tiny amounts of radioactivity. In the post-atmospheric nuclear test era, a principal offender is steel because it is contaminated by radioactive elements from the air during manufacture. So there continues to be a known need, and market for, "low-background steel" made before 1945. Most of this, AFAIK, is salvaged from old sunken ships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel

mooseontheloose · Oct 5, 2020

reddesert said:
That's a good video.

Of minor importance compared to the cost in human lives, but somewhat similar to Kodak's issues with fallout-contaminated paper: scientific and medical devices that need to be sensitive to low levels of radioactivity, have to be made out of materials that have no more than tiny amounts of radioactivity. In the post-atmospheric nuclear test era, a principal offender is steel because it is contaminated by radioactive elements from the air during manufacture. So there continues to be a known need, and market for, "low-background steel" made before 1945. Most of this, AFAIK, is salvaged from old sunken ships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel

Actually, I think I read that elsewhere as well (maybe in the comments for the video on YouTube).

halfaman · Oct 5, 2020

Safety first was not the motto those days...

Kodak and nuclear testing

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