The Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb wasn't without its own dangers. Experiments on a so-called "demon core" of plutonium caused the deaths of two Manhattan Project physicists. Both ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Jim Clash writes about extreme adventure and classic rock. The "Baker" nuclear shot, part of Operation Crossroads and detonated ...

Built as a backup plutonium core for a possible third atomic bomb against Japan, the object later known as the Demon Core ...

Federal officials have set a deadline of 2030 for increased production of the plutonium cores used in nuclear weapons. (Airman 1st Class Braydon Williams/U.S. Air Force) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A top ...

Despite the cheerful smiles on their faces, history records that the little box killed an estimated 80,000 civilians after it was detonated on August 9, 1945 over Nagasaki. Fat Man was detonated over ...

Feb. 19—Los Alamos National Laboratory reached what federal officials say is a key milestone in developing its first plutonium pit that can be placed in a nuclear warhead as it seeks to produce 30 of ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Atomic bombs work via a process called nuclear fission that involves atom splitting. Shortly after scientists discovered nuclear ...

In 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, the physicist Louis Slotin stood in front of a low table at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, concentrating intensely on the object in front of him.

The so-called Demon Core was a cursed object, a 6.2 kilogram mass of plutonium intended to be installed in a nuclear weapon. Instead, slapdash experimental techniques saw it feature in several tragic ...