Dr Derek opens this video visiting what I consider pretty much hallowed ground, the Trinity test site in New Mexico. It's hallowed because it's horrible, but it's one of my bucket list sites to visit. Someday...
From there, Dr Derek goes on to tell the story of how Kodak figured out that the US government had exploded a nuclear bomb in the US desert by exploring the source of radioactive contamination in strawboard used to package x-ray film that they sold and that had begun to become fogged (exposed) in spite of it having never been used.
The Kodak scientists figured out that the beta radiation being emitted by whatever was in the strawboard had to have come from cerium-141, something that the exploring scientist knew had to be from a nuclear explosion based on his experience having worked on the Manhattan Project himself.
And then Dr Derek goes on to follow some of the more significant dangers of radioactive fallout from those above-ground nuclear tests - images of which you can see in the marvelous book 100 Suns by Michael Light.
The incestuous relationship between the government and Kodak was certainly problematic, and I'm glad that Dr Derek covers that aspect of our nuclear history.
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