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After reading the wiki, this is sort of macabre:
On the day of the accident, Slotin’s screwdriver slipped outward a fraction of an inch while he was lowering the top reflector, allowing the reflector to fall into place around the core.
Slotin received a lethal dose of 1,000 rad (10 Gy) neutron and 114 rad (1.14 Gy) gamma radiation in less than a second, while the position of Slotin’s body over the apparatus shielded the others from much of the neutron radiation. Slotin died nine days later from acute radiation poisoning.
But why he no wear lead suit?
Given that it had already tasted human blood.
Ducking demon core.
You know, something I always wondered was what would have happened if the core was allowed to stay in Prompt Critical configuration?
The design provided the extreme rate of fission at T=0, which in a bomb is when it gets compressed (the density increases). But that density is relatively uniform, the demon core didn’t change properties.
Normally I’d suspect it would just melt, but since it was in a neutron reflector, it should increase the rate of fission as T>0. Hence the chain reaction.
