Today's nuclear industry was born in a world of secrecy duringWorld War II, as America searched for a way to create the worlds first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction, a process that would allow for the creation of the most powerful bombs ever built.The Manhattan Project was the code name for the mission, and it would lead to a search for someone who could refine massive amounts of uranium.
Edward Mallinckrodt Jr, who ran a small chemical company in St. Louis, Missouri, would agree to take on the job.The Mallinckrodt workers would become some of the most contaminated nuclear workers in history, and the city of St. Louis would be left dealing with the fallout of creating some of the worlds first nuclear waste 70 years later.The questions of how to best keep workers and the public safe from these dangerous materials is as challenging today as it was in the past.