We Made It Ourselves, and It Kills for 24,000 Years | The History of Plutonium

Subscribe to ‪@VEINMaterial‬ 🧱 If this documentary was worth your time, consider buying me a coffee. Every coffee goes directly toward researching, writing, and producing the next story, so I can keep making documentaries like this. Thanks for watching, and for supporting independent storytelling. https://buymeacoffee.com/VEIN.Material The full history of plutonium — the man-made element that didn't exist on Earth until 1940 and remains lethal for 24,000 years. This video traces plutonium from its creation in a Berkeley laboratory to its role in ending World War II, its deadly early accidents, and the massive Cold War industrial complex built to manufacture it. It explores how casual early handling of the element led to fatal lab accidents, how industrial-scale production left behind some of the most contaminated sites on Earth, and how humanity is now grappling with the impossible task of warning future civilizations about waste that will outlast language itself. What's covered in this video: How Glenn Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Joseph Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl created plutonium at Berkeley using a cyclotron in 1940-41. The strange story behind plutonium's name, tied to the planet Pluto and the Roman god of the underworld, and its joking "Pu" symbol. The rapid four-year path from a few invisible atoms to the Trinity test and the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The "demon core" accidents involving physicists Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin, who each died after criticality accidents with the same plutonium sphere. The construction of the Hanford site in Washington State and its role producing plutonium through decades of Cold War weapons manufacturing. The environmental fallout of Hanford and Rocky Flats, including radioactive waste, contaminated groundwater, downwinders, and the 1989 FBI raid on Rocky Flats. The staggering 24,100-year half-life of plutonium-239 and what that timescale means compared to human civilization. The real scientific effort to design warning markers and messages meant to be understood by humans 10,000 years in the future. Watch Next: The History of Lithium — Banned as a Poison, Now in Every Pocket on Earth    • The History of Lithium — Banned as a Poiso...   The Explosive That Terrified the Man Who Made It | The History of Nitroglycerin    • The Explosive That Terrified the Man Who M...   The History of Uranium — They Called It Worthless Until It Ended the World    • The History of Uranium — They Called It Wo...   Mentioned in this video: Glenn Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Joseph Kennedy, Arthur Wahl, Berkeley, cyclotron, uranium, neptunium, Pluto, Richard Feynman, Harry Daghlian, Louis Slotin, Enrico Fermi, demon core, Los Alamos, Trinity test, Nagasaki, Hanford, Columbia River, Queen Marys (separation plants), downwinders, Rocky Flats, Denver, Federal Bureau of Investigation, plutonium-239, New Mexico deep repository