Written by Mr. Mouseburger 31st Mar 2006
Kindly submitted by Mr Briggs Inc.
At the climax of Dr. No, James Bond, shortly after surviving a gruelling maze of pipelines, infiltrates the Dr. No’s laboratory disguising himself as just another nuclear technician.
Just as Dr. No's plan speeds into action, Bond sabotages several important machines by randomly twisting dials and making a general wreck of things, which, in turn, causes the secret lair on the island of Crab-Key to become a ticking time bomb. When realising this, Dr. No, instead of making his escape with the rest of his technicians, decides to engage Bond in hand-to-metal-hand combat atop a dangerous lift that teeters excitingly above a pool of radioactive water. Dr. No throws his lethal steel hands around, but Bond manages to dodge the swipes with ease.
It is as the lift descends that the two begin violently throttling each other. Before he comes into contact with the deadly radioactive material, Bond manages to escape Dr. No's grasp and climbs back up the lift. However, Dr. No's hands, while useful in a fist fight, are foolishly not built for climbing and he struggles to climb back up the framework of the lift. All his efforts are to no avail as he slowly sinks into the toxic water, to his death.
I think this is in the wrong catagory. Whilst it was a nuclear reactor, it was not radioactive water as such, but boiling water used to cool the fuel rods. THe cause of Dr. No (longer alive) was boiling to death, not irradiation.
Even if this is true, thermal radiation still played a part
Yeah man, but thermal radiation is just heat. Hence the name 'radiator'. Nuclear radiation consists of alpha and beta particles, gamma and x-rays..
And it's totally true! It was just boiling cooling water he slipped into. I'm not having a dig at this most excellent site, just a concerned party trying to enhance it
[en.wikipedia.org]
Yes, I know some friendly debate is healthy, but as it is a debate I must persist! If "Radiation" does not cover the rare boiling deaths then what does?
Major Tom has a point about this just being a "Boiling" death, but we don't have a category for that yet, and "Combustion" doesn't cover it.
I was under the impression that the water in these "Pool Reactors" doesn't just work as a heat sink, but also as a radiation shield to block neutrons. In other words, going swimming in it isn't advisable, as the closer you get to the submerged radioactive core, the more neutron bombardment you suffer (which is why plant operators use lead lined swimming speedos during their leisure breaks).
It's also unclear to me whether Dr No's reactor uses "heavy" or "light" water. If the former, then the pool is filled with deuterium, which is moderately toxic in itself - although it would still only barely qualify as "Radiation" in a strict sense.
Anyway, the point is we could argue that No is being blasted with (weak) neutrons if he's paddling in the water, so the category just about applies.
Finally, the water in these "Pool Reactors" isn't supposed to be boiling away unless the core is in an emergency meltdown mode, so the level of neutron bombardment would be far more than in a normal situation
Yeah... well maybe it is a bit of radiation too.. just a little tickle
Ironic? His hands were his downfall.
Yesh, indeed his hands failed him. All he made some scratch marks..