Vela Incident, during which there were two nuclear tests in the South Atlantic, can be called the most famous nuclear mystery.
It was September 22, 1979, with much talk about the fact that it could be a joint nuclear test Israel and South Africa.
However, apart from this incident, the world's nuclear science is no shortage of mysteries and strange occurrences.
10. Death of scientists - nuclear in India and Iran
Over the past 10 years, the death toll of scientists - nuclear in India has grown considerably. While the authorities ignore it or talk about their death, something inexplicable, many local residents testify that killed the best representatives of the profession, with under questionable circumstances.
Two senior engineers of the first nuclear submarine India were found dead on railway tracks. It is believed that they were poisoned, but their bodies left on the rails to the death look like a suicide.
But the police have come to a different conclusion. They rejected the claim, saying it was "two ordinary accident."
Another nuclear scientist was strangled in his sleep. Some investigators have tried to "write off" the incident of suicide, although the evidence to show that the murder was a lot. However, no arrests have been made.
Two other scientists burned in their own laboratories, even though they have not worked with combustible materials when the fire broke out. One scientist was kidnapped by a group of armed men, but he managed to escape.
Again, the authorities were quick to brush aside all the incidents. A parallel can be made with the death of Iranian scientists - nuclear, which have attracted much more media attention.
Iranian scientists killed by a car bomb. The authorities blamed on Israel, which denies any involvement. Some experts point to the US, which also said its full innocence to death.
Secrets of nuclear weapons
9. The mysterious drones over the French nuclear power plants
In 2014, over 13 of the 19 nuclear power plants in France were seen drones of unknown origin. Air region over the territories controlled by the French Air Force, but the aircraft were so small that initially passed unnoticed.
Despite the fact that the French government has said about the absence of any threat to the power authorities have spent one million euros on it to create a system to detect and eliminate any of these drones.
However, nobody knows who launched these drones. Officials think that they solve the case, when three people were arrested, ready to launch a drone near the train station in the center of France. But they had a simple, cheaper version of the aircraft.
However, these people are now threatened with imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.
Discovered drones are believed to be worth at least several thousand euros each, and was unable to catch them even with a concerted effort.
With one of the drones was sent an army of helicopters, however, the device is clever enough to get away from them.
Drones and their creators have raised concerns about the vulnerability of nuclear facilities in France. Some point toGreenpeace, who earlier in his work used the drones, and who openly express their opinion on the nuclear program in France.
However, the organization is only one of several suspects, because at present there is no direct evidence to support any of the theories.
Interesting facts about nuclear weapons
8. What is the range of fog?
When the US Navy decided to engage in the restoration of its warheads W76, which are a significant part of their arsenal, they are faced with a serious problem.
After opening the warheads they have discovered the secret material, code-named "Ridge fog" that had to be replaced.
However, no one knew how to do it.
Peaks mist created in the 1970s and 1980s, and there were very few details about the process. Anyone who has done this, has long been working in this field. As a result, attempts to create a new material in vain spent $ 23 million.
But after more was spent on the 69 million to restart production process ridge mist. It all ended well.
Despite the fact that the ridge of the fog - it's quite an important phenomenon in the Navy to invest in process 92 million taxpayer dollars, no one except the participants of the project does not know exactly what it is.
Experts suspect that this kind of airgel, which operates as a link in the warhead, helping parts of the device in contact with each other and transmit to each other's energy.
However, whatever was the ridge of fog, it is a reminder that even the most important part of any technology can become a victim of time.
7. The mystery of Karen Silkwood (Karen Silkwood)
In 1974, 28-year-old Karen Silkwood was a lab assistant at the plutonium plant Kerr-McGee. It was believed that the factory, there are problems with quality control, as well as safety procedures, and its elected trade union committee for presentation to the Commission of the United States Atomic Energy a report on the state of affairs.
With a folder of documents clarifying questions, Silkwood was heading to a meeting with the New York Times journalist 13noyabrya. However, before reaching the venue, she turned off the road and crashed into a concrete wall. The woman died, and the documents were not found.
As a result of the investigation the police found in her blood alcohol and sedatives, it forced them to conclude thatKaren had fallen asleep at the wheel.
However, a private detective, who has studied the matter, found a dent on the back of her car and suggested that it could get off the road.
An autopsy showed the girl that her body was suffering from serious radiation poisoning. The search apartments Karen showed that in her kitchen, bathroom and even a sandwich in the refrigerator has accumulated a huge amount of plutonium.
Lawyers plant suggested that she was emotionally unstable and dependent on sedatives, as a result of receiving that she poisoned herself.
However, regardless of whether or not Karen madman who poisoned herself, or she was killed informants, the plant closed a year after the death of the woman, because the major companies buying his fuel rods began to complain about the poor quality of the products and just I stopped buying them.
Silkwood Case also closed.
6. Nuclear anxiety 1969
In 1969, the Nixon administration secretly brought US nuclear forces on high alert without explanation. The reason was so much secretive that even the chief of the Joint Staff, did not know about anything.
Even today, no one can really explain why the administration then made a potentially destabilizing step.
Declassified documents indicate a relationship with the Vietnam war, meaning that the administration had decided to "flex its muscles" to demonstrate their willingness to go to any measures necessary to end the war.
This is consistent with Nixon "madman theory", which says that the president was quite dubious approach to external relations.
According to the theory, so Nixon managed to look the part of a madman so hostile to the communist bloc countriesdid not provoke it because of the fear of a nuclear response. Nuclear alert looked like Nixon prepares to attack North Vietnam to persuade Moscow to enter into negotiations with Hanoi.
According to others, the anxiety has been created in order to keep the Soviet nuclear attack on China during the debate on the Sino-Soviet border. Documents show that the Soviet leaders actually considered at the time a preemptive strike against Chinese nuclear facilities.
Since even senior military echelon then "not light", Henry Kissinger (Henry Kissinger) is one of the few survivors, who knows what happened. However, even in his memoirs no clear answer does not.
Henry Kissinger
Nevertheless, regardless of the true causes of the alarms, it apparently had little effect on the external relationships.
Mysteries of radioactive materials
5. spies stealing US uranium?
Before and during the Cold War Corporation for nuclear materials and equipment (NUMEC) was active in the nuclear facility in Apollo, Pennsylvania. The facility was closed in 1983.
But in the mid-1990s, there was a leak of radiation in the area. The owners NUMEC still paying millions in compensation to local residents, filed a lawsuit in connection with the development in their background leakage of various cancers.
But even while the object owned NUMEC other potentially damaging affair. Every nuclear facility because of infiltration debit a certain amount of material on the natural decrease.
However, records have disappeared NUMEC including hundreds of kilograms. Some experts have suggested that the reason leaking through the vents. Others say that the leak was only on paper, and is the result of poor accounting.
Meanwhile, several experts and intelligence officials have another theory. They believe that the uranium was stolen Mossad spies. In 1960, Israel carried out covert operations around the world in order to protect nuclear materials.
Creator NUMEC Zalman Shapiro (Zalman Shapiro) are actively in contact with Israeli intelligence bureau. Several times he had even incognito visit the center.
Organization of AEC, which is responsible for monitoring and control of uranium and plutonium from private plants, smothered in the bud any investigation related to the participation of Israel, because they did not want to wash dirty linen in public.
Later, the director of the CIA launched its own investigation because environmental samples near one of the Israeli reactor contents showed a rare type of uranium that could only come from NUMEC.
The investigation of the CIA revealed that Shapiro in contact with one of the most important spies of Israel, as well as many other important people from the intelligence community. The former employees claimed that they saw tanks that probably were filled with nuclear material at the loading site object NUMEC.
Present and documents showing that the material is sent to Israel.
When an object NUMEC, finally put out of operation, it was found the missing 90 kg of uranium, but spent long study found that between 1957 and 1968 had disappeared 269 kilograms of uranium.
During the next nine years it disappeared 76 kilograms more , despite the fact that the number of processed uranium increased. This is much larger than any reasonable limits of natural attrition.
In the end, the investigation petered out, leaving only speculation as to what happened.
4. Polonius killed Yasser Arafat?
In 2006, the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium - 210, which made it "combat" a substance known. The substance was easily detected in the male.
This radioactive material is also at the center of a possible assassination, which occurred two years before the death of Litvinenko.
Alexander Litvinenko
When Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in 2004 in France, his personal physician was extremely dissatisfied withthe refusal of French doctors to diagnose the disease, which led to his death.
The official statement means that Arafat died of a 'mysterious disease of the blood. " His wife wished to conduct the burial without an autopsy. However, Arafat's death occurred shortly after a sharp deterioration in health, so many Palestinians suspected poisoning.
In 2012, Al-Jazeera has been investigating the possibility of poisoning. Swiss tests found traces of polonium - 210 in his personal things, but experts stressed that the symptoms that accompanied Yasser last days and hours of life do not correspond to those that occur in cases of poisoning by polonium.
Following the discovery of polonium in a large number of Palestinians accused Israel of involvement in the case.Israel, in turn, argues that the polonium was specifically is laid, as the half-life - 138 days, so after so many years after the death of Yasser, he just did not may be present in such amounts on his clothing.
In spite of everything, the body was exhumed.
Independent studies conducted in different countries. After the remains tested Russian scientists, they decided that the theory of poisoning by polonium is unfounded.
Swiss scientists, however, have found high levels of polonium on the pelvic bones and ribs Arafat. They claimed that the skull and limb bones, which were analyzed in Moscow, are unsuitable material for analysis, because in these parts of the body does not concentrate the highest levels of the material.
Some of the samples were sent to the French laboratory, which experts also eliminate the possibility of poisoning.
So have a lot of conflicting findings, there is no clear answer, and no one understood Arafat died of natural causes, or whether it is still poisoned by polonium.
Nuclear World: secrets
3. Mystery of the container to Genoa
Millions of identical cargo containers regularly pass through the port of Genoa. Many of them are filled with scrap metal, because the demand for cheap sources create a huge international business.
With so many containers, traveling around the world, it is not difficult to transport anything anywhere, from drugs to illegal immigrants.
However, one of these containers, in particular, brought a huge amount of trouble the port.
All containers are scanned for radiation, but installed scanners still ignore the detected low levels, because many everyday objects are slightly radioactive.
While the presence of such scanners facilitate commercial shipping, the omission of a kind items with low radioactivity is dangerous, because items such as a nuclear bomb, for example, also emits a low level of radiation.
In 2010, however, a freight container emitted high levels of radiation so that the scanners could not even show its importance: Arrow going wild.
It was calculated the address of origin of the container - Bermuda-based company to deliver the goods Textainer.Asked about the toxicity of the cargo, the company said that the container has been leased to the company for the delivery of Mediterranean (Mediterranean Shipping Company).
After that he went to Saudi Arabia under the control of Sun Metal Casting, scrap metal dealer in the Arab emirate of Ajman. Authorities Genoa simply stated the fact of the highest content of radioactivity emanating from cobalt - 60,however, apparently no one wanted to do.
Genoa tried to send the container back to Saudi Arabia and then to the United Arab Emirates, but both countries refused to accept it. Since it has not been able to send, he stayed in the port for about a year, which eventually led to protests and strikes of port workers.
As a result, it was decided that the port and the Italian government dispose of it, dividing it into two charges - 700 000 dollars.
When cobalt was found, it was a small cylinder is likely to be used in any medical device or machine that sterilizes food.However, the origin of cobalt, as well as the way it was in the container, will forever remain a mystery.
Mysteries of nuclear tests
2. Nazi atomic bomb
The world would be very different if the Nazis had succeeded in creating a nuclear bomb. The United States took 125,000 people and $ 30 billion to build its first two nuclear weapons.
The Germans at the disposal was only a small portion available to the US budget, but German physicists were among the best in the world. Since the dissolution of the project of the Nazi nuclear weapons question and remains unanswered: why the Nazis did not manage to succeed in this field?
There is a theory that the head of the atomic project, Werner Heisenberg (Werner Heisenberg) deliberately sabotaged the project because he knew what eventually could lead nuclear weapons. It is believed that people working in the project are reluctant to do their job for the same reason.
The theory is interesting, but, oddly enough, her little followers. In a letter to Heisenberg he says that he wants to declare his unwillingness to complete the bomb at a meeting with his mentor Niels Bohr (Niels Bohr).
Indignant Bohr "answered" next unsent letters, each of which has said that Heisenberg is trying to prevent the construction of a bomb. But among the German physicists who worked on the project, few were of high moral principles. And yet the majority of people with this theory do not agree.
In addition to the sabotage theory, there are other possible explanations as to why Germany was not able to finish up his bomb before the United States did. On the one hand, the German cities were not in the "best shape", while the United States invested huge sums in the Manhattan Project (the code name for a project to develop an atomic bomb).
German industry also suffered a great deal, which means that it could not supply all the necessary materials to build a nuclear bomb.
According to others, the German team just did not work hard. They also suffered from a well-known Nazi anti-Semitism. In the "Jewish physics" looked down upon. In addition, many leading Jewish scholars fled to the US and joined the Manhattan Project.
Some believe that the final nail in the coffin of the project has been hammered by the German arrogance. When they are faced with difficulties, they thought it was impossible to create a bomb.
However, records show how strong was their surprise when they learned of the bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Secrets of weapons of mass
1. What happened to all the missing nuclear material?
Between 1993 and 2013 around the world recorded 2477 complaints about criminal or unauthorized incidents involving nuclear material.
Among them, 424 are associated with illegal possession and criminal activities 664 - theft or loss 16 - unauthorized possession of highly enriched uranium or plutonium, 16 - efforts of the international sale of uranium and plutonium.
However, this is only the official information provided by Member States of the International Atomic Energy Agency (International Atomic Energy Agency). Where are all the missing nuclear material is missing and could not be explained?
In the worst case - a terrorist organization that creates portable nuclear devices. But many are also concerned about the creation of "dirty bombs", which are designed to intentionally spread a huge amount of radiation on the planet.
Despite the opinion of experts who believe that radiation from such bombs is only associated with an increased risk of cancer, fear and economic consequences could be much more serious.
Even if someone will catch and radioactive material, experts say that the damage from a dirty bomb would be small, because the resources necessary for its creation and transportation needs are huge.
Apart from the fact that the lost material can be used to make a bomb, there are fears that people may inadvertently find radioactive metal and behave properly with him.
For example, in Thailand in 2000, one man found a locked box, and decided to open it in the hope of finding there is something valuable. However, the inside was pieces of radioactive metal. In a short time, the box had to learn a few people. All of them received a lethal dose of radiation from cobalt.
In Mexico in 2013, recorded four thefts of radioactive material, in one case, the capsule of iridium-192 was abducted by accident.
In addition to lost or stolen nuclear material, countries with high levels of poverty that have nuclear programs have additional risk from accidental explosions, from the clumsy thieves and ordinary civilians.
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