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From Hiroshima’s first operational strike to the Demon Core’s deadly lessons, this is how nukes, missteps, and raw physics still terrify a very modern world.

Why Nukes Still Keep Putin Relevant

Humanity has a weird love-hate relationship with nuclear weapons. They are at once everywhere and nowhere. The spectre of nuclear war shapes geopolitics unlike anything else. However, nobody really knows what that would look like.

1950s atmospheric nuclear test fireball rising during Operation Upshot Knothole, illustrating nuclear blast effects — We still don’t really know how a serious nuclear exchange might play out, because we are all too rightfully terrified to try it. Public domain.

The Trump Card

Nukes are the only reason anybody on Planet Earth still takes Vladimir Putin seriously. Russia has a population of around 146 million. Russia’s gross domestic product falls just behind that of Italy and just ahead of that of Canada. Germany’s economy is twice as vibrant as that of the Russian Federation.

Ours is ten times larger. Were it not for the 4,309 operational nuclear warheads that Putin maintains, Russia would be rightfully viewed as a Third World backwater goat-spit of a nation. Absent those nukes, the world would have long ago banded together and spanked the Russians right out of Ukraine. However, nuclear war scares absolutely everybody, and for good reason.

Vladimir Putin meets Barack Obama during a bilateral session, geopolitics shaped by nuclear arsenals — Here we see Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meeting with Barack Obama. Putin is an objectively horrible person. Public domain.

Nuclear weapons have only been used twice in real combat, and that was back in 1945. Both of those bombs were essentially prototypes.

North Korea conducted the world’s last live nuclear test in 2017. Imagine how much the world has changed since 1945. Back then, telephones were the size of shoeboxes and were tethered to the wall.

Now they are smaller than a box of wooden matches, ride in your pocket, and will let you talk to people in Norway from a subway in Istanbul. Nuclear weapons evolved just as transformationally; it is simply that nobody tries them out anymore.

Hiroshima: The First Operational Atomic Strike

On 6 November 1945, we dropped the world’s first operational nuclear weapon on Hiroshima, Japan. The Hiroshima bomb was a gun-type design powered by uranium-235. In this case, a slug of uranium was fired along a short barrel to impact a target made from the same stuff.

Little Boy uranium gun-type bomb prepared for loading into B-29 Enola Gay before Hiroshima mission — This is a photograph of the world’s first operational atomic bomb as it was about to be loaded into the B-29 Enola Gay for the attack on Hiroshima. Public domain.

This violent kinetic reaction created a critical mass that resulted in a nuclear detonation. The Hiroshima bomb had a nominal yield equivalent to around 15,000 tons of conventional TNT explosive. It killed 70,000 people at the time of detonation and claimed about the same number later from residual effects.

Nagasaki: When Smoke Saved Kokura

Three days later, we deployed a second nuclear device over Nagasaki. Curiously, Nagasaki was not the primary target. The second atomic bomb strike was to be directed at Kokura, but thick smoke over the target spared that city. The aircraft commander, a 25-year-old Army Air Corps pilot named Charles Sweeney, made the call on the fly to switch targets to Nagasaki.

B-29 crew photo from the Nagasaki mission with pilot Charles Sweeney at center of frame — Charles Sweeney is the guy in the dark jacket. He was only 25 years old when he commanded a mission to obliterate an entire Japanese city. That’s what it took to win the war. Public domain.

This second bomb was an altogether different design that was markedly more complicated than the first. This weapon was powered by plutonium-239. Plutonium-239 does not occur in nature.

This isotope is a byproduct of the reaction that occurs when uranium-238 captures a loose neutron inside a nuclear reactor. Plutonium-239 is more easily produced than uranium-235. However, it is tougher to get plutonium-239 to go off uniformly.

The second bomb used an altogether different mechanism. A series of chemical explosive charges configured similarly to the individual components of a soccer ball were arrayed circumferentially around a plutonium core.

When carefully detonated at exactly the same moment, this created an immense imploding pressure wave that drove the plutonium to critical mass and resulted in a nuclear detonation. This nuclear strike killed 74,000 people at the moment of detonation and claimed a further 70,000 souls by the end of the year.

Manhattan Project Money, Pressure, and Mistakes

The Manhattan Project was the program that created these two weapons. It cost $2 billion in 1945. That would be about $30 billion today.

The Manhattan Project was the second-most expensive military undertaking of World War 2. Curiously, the most expensive was the production of the B-29 Superfortress bomber that delivered the weapons. The overall cost of the B-29 program was closer to $3 billion.

B-29 Superfortress bombers on 1944 assembly line, costlier than the Manhattan Project itself — The development of the B-29 Superfortress bomber was actually the single most expensive engineering enterprise of World War 2. Public domain.

Nuclear research in 1944 and 1945 was moving at light speed. We desperately needed the A-bomb as a tool to end the war. We knew that every other major combatant nation on Planet Earth was rabid for this capability. Whoever first deployed nuclear weapons at scale would undoubtedly emerge victorious. That pressure to produce resulted in some tidy little tragedies.

How Atomic Energy Gets So Big From So Little

Nuclear energy is just crazy weird if you think about it. The laws of conservation of mass and energy posit that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed; they just change forms. When you strike a match, the fuel in the match doesn’t actually cease to exist. It just changes into hot gases, smoke, ash, and the like. Those laws no longer apply when it comes to nuclear reactions.

Side-by-side illustrations of Hiroshima Little Boy and Nagasaki Fat Man nuclear bomb designs — The Hiroshima bomb is on the left. The Nagasaki weapon is on the right. Public domain.

When the first bomb detonated over Hiroshima, about 0.7 grams’ worth of uranium—roughly the same weight as a small paperclip—was instantly transformed into pure energy. That uranium no longer existed within the physical universe.

It had actually been turned into energy in accordance with Einstein’s E=MC2. If my math is correct, that paperclip’s worth of uranium released as much energy as two million conventional 155mm high-explosive artillery rounds all going off at one time. Wow…

The Demon Core: A Softball-Sized Killer

The thing about radioactive material is that you really don’t want to get any of it on you. The half-life for plutonium-239 is 24,110 years. That means it takes 24,110 years for half of a quantity of radioactive plutonium-239 to degrade into something less lethal. That stuff is unimaginably dangerous.

Physicists Louis Slotin and Harry Daghlian pose with colleagues while assembling a nuclear device during Manhattan Project work — Harry Daghlian is second from the left. Louis Slotin is second from the right. Here, the two men are helping assemble a nuclear bomb. Both physicists died horribly after being accidentally exposed to vast quantities of radiation. Public domain.

Back in 1945, we had little clue what we were doing. The eggheads who made it called this particular sphere of plutonium gallium alloy Rufus. Rufus was 8.9 cm in diameter. That’s roughly 3.5 inches. For the sake of comparison, a regulation softball is 3.8 inches across.

Plutonium is really dense. This softball-sized chunk weighed 14 pounds. As plutonium corrodes readily in the presence of oxygen, this sphere was coated with nickel to help retain its stability. Rufus eventually became known as the Demon Core.

We built this monster to power the third atomic bomb that was obviously never dropped on Japan. When Japan capitulated, the core was retained at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico for research. One of the questions that needed to be answered was exactly how close this thing was to criticality just sitting on a table.

Daghlian’s Accident: A Brick, A Spark, A Fatal Dose

Plutonium naturally releases neutrons. Focusing these neutrons back into the material is what causes the mass to go supercritical and explode. How much of that neutron flux was required to get the party started was important to know.

On 21 August 1945, a 24-year-old physicist named Haroutune “Harry” Krikor Daghlian was studying just that. To do so, he stacked tungsten carbide bricks circumferentially around the magic ball. Tungsten carbide is an effective neutron reflector. While he was occupied doing this, a 29-year-old military security guard named Robert Hemmerly sat at a desk some dozen feet away.

Los Alamos plutonium sphere with tungsten carbide neutron reflector bricks arranged around the core before accident — This was the situation that led to the death of Harry Daghlian. Daghlian inadvertently dropped one of the tungsten carbide blocks shown here and created a catastrophic radiation release. Los Alamos photograph.

As Daghlian carefully stacked these heavy bricks around the core, he accidentally let one slip out of his hands. This thing bounced off the plutonium sphere, creating an impressive shower of sparks.

He immediately moved the offending brick back to its intended spot. 25 days later, Harry Daghlian died of acute radiation syndrome. Private Hemmerly succumbed to acute myelogenous leukemia in 1978, 33 years after the accident. Hemmerly was 62 at the time.

Tickling the Dragon’s Tail: Slotin’s Fatal Slip

On 21 May 1946, a physicist named Louis Slotin was tending to Rufus alongside seven assistants. They were, likewise, studying the effects of neutron reflectors on critical mass. Slotin was actually scheduled to leave Los Alamos. He was only present to demonstrate the technique to Alvin Graves, another physicist who was planning to use this core during Operation Crossroads, the nuclear tests at the Bikini Atoll.

Beryllium neutron reflector hemispheres positioned over plutonium sphere during criticality experiment at Los Alamos — The beryllium spheres shown here acted as neutron reflectors to energize the plutonium fuel. Note the lack of gloves. Additionally, somebody was obviously drinking a Coke around this stuff. Public domain.

In this case, the reflectors were a matching pair of machined beryllium spheres. The astute film nerd will recall the comic reference to beryllium spheres in the epic sci-fi farce Galaxy Quest. Galaxy Quest is one of my favorite movies. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. You’ll thank me later.

Galaxy Quest beryllium spheres joke reference screenshot nodding to real criticality experiments — Galaxy Quest is nature’s perfect movie. There is an oblique reference in the film to early nuclear research.

Anyway, the protocol required that these spheres be arranged around the plutonium core using shims to maintain a slight separation so the mass did not become critical. However, Louis Slotin was a rebel. Arcane workplace safety rules didn’t apply to him.

Slotin had done this many times with several different cores, often while dressed in blue jeans and cowboy boots. His technique was to wedge a flat-tip screwdriver in between the beryllium spheres and twist as needed to adjust the spacing. When the esteemed nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi heard about this, he predicted that Slotin would be dead within a year. A colleague named Richard Feynman referred to this unorthodox technique as “Tickling the dragon’s tail.”

Recreation of Slotin’s screwdriver technique holding beryllium hemispheres apart over the Demon Core — One quick slip with a screwdriver was all it took to kill Louis Slotin. Public domain.

As he lowered the top sphere, Slotin’s screwdriver slipped. The two spheres were in contact for less than a second before Slotin flipped the top half onto the floor. Slotin was crouching over the apparatus at the time, so his body shielded most of the rest of his team from the explosive neutron burst.

Diagram of personnel positions around Demon Core during Slotin criticality accident showing dose exposure — The relative locations of the people around the core determined their radiation dose. Public domain.

Slotin was 35 at the time. He died of acute radiation poisoning nine days later. Of the remaining six people present, Marion Cieslicki succumbed to acute myelocytic leukemia 19 years after the accident in 1965. Surprisingly, the rest all died of fairly reasonable causes.

Mapping of where each team member stood during Demon Core accident to reconstruct radiation exposure — Investigators created this map showing where everyone in the room was standing when the accident occurred. Public domain.

What A Real Nuclear Exchange Might Mean Today

The Hiroshima bomb had a nominal output of 15,000 tons of TNT. The Russian Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, was 3,000 times more powerful. The W88 warhead that currently rides atop modern American nuclear missiles produces 475 kilotons of explosive force, roughly 32 times that of the Hiroshima bomb.

Tsar Bomba detonation fireball rising, largest nuclear test in history at 50 megatons — The Russian Tsar Bomba detonated in 1961 with the explosive force of 50 million tons of TNT. An air burst, the force of the detonation actually reflected off the earth and lifted the fireball farther up into the air. The resulting mushroom cloud rose to a height of 42 miles, and the blast wave circled the globe three times. Fair use.

I read recently that somebody believed that the US would return to its current GDP roughly a decade after a global nuclear exchange. Other really smart folks think a serious nuclear war would end all life on Planet Earth. Personally, I’d just as soon we not answer that question any time soon.

Written over 3,000 years ago, the ancient adage “Iron sharpens iron” is traditionally attributed to King Solomon via the Book of Proverbs. (Proverbs 27:17)

The imagery reflects ancient blacksmithing practices where one iron tool was used to file, hone, or carve an edge on another. In traditional wisdom, it symbolizes mutual improvement, constructive challenge and character development through community.

Steve Tarani self defense skills iron sharpens iron — Steve Tarani breaks down real-world defensive tactics that actually work when things go sideways.

Today, elite athletes, shooters, martial artists and warfighters use this same concept to make themselves better prepared for engagement with others. When applied to self-defense, there are three such pieces of iron that can be used in developing your skills to survive a violent physical altercation. What are these three and how can you use them to both sharpen your skills and strengthen your resolve?

The First

The first piece of iron is discipline, where you challenge yourself. Some people say follow your passion; others say find your motivation. Even if you can somehow muster both, when passion eventually wanes, and motivation dissipates, all that remains is discipline. In the long run, long after emotions fade, discipline will carry you the distance.

Discipline isn’t something you’re born with; it’s something you earn through consistent, intentional action. Its potential is available to all of us, but it is made manifest by those completing two halves.

man training with Springfield AR-15 for self defense based on Steve Tarani teaching — Learning self-defense skills isn’t about looking cool — it’s about building competence under pressure.

In shooting and defensive tactics, discipline begins with a clear purpose: a goal strong enough to push you forward when motivation evaporates. From there, it’s forged through repetition. Showing up to practice, completing each drill with intent, and maintaining the fundamentals even when no one is watching gradually hard-wires discipline into behavior. Over time, these daily choices turn into personal habits. What once required effort becomes unconscious competence.

The other half of discipline comes from environment and accountability.

man on shooting range training with Springfield 1911 pistol based on the instruction of Tarani — Effective personal protection training requires more than just memorizing techniques. It demands disciplined practice, honest feedback, and the willingness to fail forward.

Training partners, coaches, and teammates create pressure and support that sharpen your performance. They leverage mistakes, raise expectations, and challenge you to raise the bar. Through this process, you learn to become comfortable being uncomfortable and act with purpose instead of emotion. Discipline fully develops when you repeatedly choose the long-term result over short-term gratification, until that choice becomes part of who you are.

The Next Step

Next is being challenged by others. Placing yourself in a competitive environment will expose the gaps you didn’t know you had. Whether it’s sparring rounds, timed drills on the range, rolling on the mat, or pressure-based scenario work, competition forces you to confront reality. You learn very quickly what holds up under stress and what falls apart the moment adrenaline or uncertainty shows up.

man and woman training on the shooting range with Springfield Armory pistols using Tarani teaching techniques — When adrenaline hits, and your plan falls apart, your body defaults to what you’ve drilled a thousand times. That’s why iron sharpens iron matters — you need training partners who won’t let you get sloppy with the fundamentals.

Other people, especially those who are more skilled and experienced, become the second piece of iron. Their presence pushes you to elevate your performance, tighten your fundamentals, and lose the excuses. When you face someone who gives you honest resistance, you sharpen not only your technique but your mental game, adapting in real time and discovering a higher gear you didn’t know you had.

This type of challenge is not about ego; it’s about exposure and growth. Controlled pressure reveals weaknesses so you can address them before they become liabilities in real-world conditions.

When you’ve hammered the rounds with people who can push you to your limits, when you’ve performed under watchful eyes or against the clock, you develop a calmness that only earned experience can create.

You learn to stay composed, think clearly, and execute under pressure because you’ve already faced environments that demanded it. Confidence is the sharpening effect of this second iron: the honest challenge of others who make you better by refusing to go easy on you.

Where It Counts

The third piece of iron is adversity itself: the unexpected, the uncomfortable, and the uncontrollable. While discipline builds your foundation and other people refine your skill, real adversity is what hardens you. This includes training sessions where everything feels off, drills you fail repeatedly, physical fatigue that tests your will, or situations where stress and uncertainty overwhelm your plan “A”.

two training partners at the police department implement Steve Tarani training techniques on the range with Springfield SAINT rifles — Most people think self-defense skills are about winning fights. Wrong. They’re about surviving chaos long enough to get home, and that requires facing uncomfortable truths about your actual capabilities.

Most people tend to avoid adversity, but in self-defense and performance shooting, adversity is the most legit instructor you’ll ever have. When things do not go your way, when the environment is chaotic or stacked against you, that struggle forces adaptation. It teaches resilience, problem-solving under duress and the ability to regain composure when the situation is anything but comfortable.

man and blonde woman at the shooting range training with Springfield Armory firearms — Discipline beats motivation every single time because motivation disappears the second things get hard. Building reliable defensive responses means showing up consistently.

Adversity sharpens you by stripping away what doesn’t work. Under stress, you can’t BS your way through or negotiate with reality. You must respond. You discover your real thresholds, your real habits, and your real mental focus.

Over time, facing adversity builds a deep, internal confidence: not the kind based on perfect conditions, but the kind rooted in having survived and adapted to imperfect ones. In self-defense, this matters more than any drill or trophy.

Conclusion

Violence is chaotic, unfair, and unfolds fast. The person who has trained through adversity, who has stumbled, adjusted, and kept moving, is the person far more likely to stay in the fight when it counts. This final piece of iron ensures that when life hits back, you don’t break; you respond with resilience and skill.

man teaching woman how to shoot a pistol on the shooting range with Steve Tarani techniques — Real self-defense skills aren’t flashy techniques you see in movies. They’re unglamorous, repeatable actions that work when you’re exhausted, scared, and operating on pure instinct.

The ancient Spartans viewed adversity as a gift from the gods. Hardship was seen as the raw material from which strength and courage were shaped. They believed that only through struggle could a warrior discover their true limits and expand them. Comfort softened a person; adversity revealed them. Every challenge, every setback, every grueling test was considered an opportunity to strip away weakness and build a level of resilience that couldn’t be taught any other way. It runs parallel to the U.S.M.C. mantra, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

To our ancestors, iron sharpening iron wasn’t something to endure reluctantly, but a divine gift to willingly embrace. It was the crucible that burned away hesitation and fear, leaving behind the disciplined, skilled and unshakeable. It was what made you worthy of the shield you carried and the trust of those you protected.