The energy produced by nuclear reactions, even when released as photons (“hard” X-rays or gamma rays) is at least four orders of magnitude greater than photons in the visible spectrum. The conception of a nuclear reaction or materials undergoing nuclear decay glowing is a conceit of comics and films like Kiss Me Deadly. When you see objects glowing from radioactivity such as radium dials on an old watch or tritium sights, it is because the radiation source is being used to excite a phosphorescent material that produces visual light as a secondary reaction, or the aforementioned Čerenkov radiation in nuclear reactors.
Note that the ‘flash of light’ experienced by Burgoski or the optical anomalies astronauts experience due to cosmic radiation is not due to visible light but instead direct stimulation of the optic nerve or brain tissue involved in visualization. A prompt criticality might release enough high energy radiation to produce a localized ionization effect in the air but if you are close enough to observe the effect you’ve probably absorbed a lethal amount of gamma radiation.
Most nuclear reactions that are not producing amounts of radiation that are less than quickly lethal, or those primarily producing non-ionizing neutron radiation will not produce any visible light unless they are activating a phosphoresent source.
A brief bright flash accompanied by intense radiation. Much less light and thermal effect, much more radiation including radiation waves that could disable electronics around a significant chunk of the planet.
As noted in your quote, that “Demon Core” took two lives in two separate accidents. Slotin was doubly careless because his colleague had already died in September of the previous year with the same core.
And most folks have seen this demon core in action: I believe it’s the one that was used in the bomb at Bikini Atoll where they had all of the ships surrounding the island…Ah yes… this one.
Article with video from Popular Mechanics showing the TRIGA research nuclear reactor at UT-Austin experiencing a power spike to 1484 MW in 3.94 microseconds. I have to imagine the short duration of the burst contributes to the high power output measurement. Still, it’s loud and bright.
SPERT - Destructive Test - YouTube Video of a SPERT power excursion test. Basically a steam explosion, albeit using a nuclear reactor to do so.
EDIT: Oh, almost forgot. No need to get exotic. The Sun should count as a non-weaponized (sit down, Archimedes) nuclear reaction that can blind.
Light emitted from the Sun (and other stars) is not direct output from the nuclear fusion processes in the core but incandescence of the outer layers (primarily the photosphere) heated by X-rays, which is why it is mostly infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light rather than hard X-rays.
Right, when we look at the sun, the nuclear reaction is taking place over three hundred thousand miles beneath what we can see. The surface and non-fusing convective layers below it are simply roiling plasma that bear the excess heat up out of the core — an excess that adds up by volume to about the heat output of a fairly good compost heap.
