Radiations could be reduced using barriers consisting of metals or materials that have the ability to either absorb the radiations and convert them to heat or reflect them. The half-value layer (HVL) is the thickness of absorbing material required to reduce the incident radiation intensity by a factor of two, and that will halve the gamma-ray intensity passing through it. The HVL is measured in cm, and decreases as the atomic number Z of the absorber increases. For all the materials the HVL increases with the energy of the gamma-rays.

By adding one or more halving thickness of the same material the intensity of the gamma rays is further reduced according to the number of halving layers added. This value is called protection factor (PF), and tells how much of the intensity of the incident gamma-ray radiation is transmitted and hits a specific target downstream of the absorber whole thickness. To this extent the PF characterizes the radiation shield of a gamma-ray incident on an absorber. In case of only one halving layer the PF is two; while if one has 4 halving layers, the PF is 16. In case the thickness of the absorber is made of 10 halving layers the PF is 1,000 and is a shield that only lets about 1/1000 of the gamma-rays radiations pass through. Generally, the expression of the PF is given by 2n, where n is the number of halving layers (65). Absorbers can be also made of different materials, each characterized by a different HVL value. In this case the total PF is given by an equivalent value determined by the individual contribution of each material.

FEMA (66) establishes that the minimum value of PF for a shelter in order a human organism can be protected by a nuclear fallout is 40. However, PF of 200 and more is recommended. The modern-day standard for PF is 1,000.

However, the risk for the health of a person is not only dependent on the radiation hitting the person, but is also a function of the exposure time. Indeed, radiation is less dangerous in the case that the time spent by the person beside the radiation source is reduced. According to the recommendations of international councils such as ICRP (67) and USNRC (68), the maximum exposure limit or effective dose (69) allowed to a person who works with ionizing radiations is 50 mSv/yr (milliSievert per year). This value however must not exceed 100 mSv for a set of 5 consecutive years. For the general public the limit is set to 1 mSv/year that is considered as a low or very low radiation dose. This value corresponds to an average allowed exposure limit per hour of 0.11 mSv (microSievert).

In case of a dose received by the whole body during one short and intense irradiation, UNSCEAR (70) has established a way of classifying exposure levels based on the thresholds above which deterministic effects, i.e. short-term biological signs or post-radiation symptoms, occur and that are felt by all individuals exposed above these thresholds. Effective doses below 200 mSv are considered to be low or weak, and below 20 mSv very low or very weak. Radiation absorbed in a medical context (excluding radiotherapy) as well as those occurring from natural sources fall into this category. Doses in this range are characterized by a lack of deterministic effects (71).

The specific activity (72) of radium-226 is given by 36.6 GBq/g (or 1 Ci/g) (73); while the dose rate for a gamma emitter point source is given by 1743.7 mSv/h/GBq and 17.43 mSv/h/GBq at a distance of 1 cm and 10 cm, respectively.

Being the quantity of radium-226 used by Reich in the Oranur experiment of 1 mg, the activity was 0.0366 GBq (or 1 mCi), and the corresponding dose rate at 1 cm and 10 cm is given by 63.8 mSv/h and 0.638 mSv/h, respectively.

In order to determine the transmitted intensity of the gamma-rays emitted by the radium-226 during the Oranur experiment at Orgonon, in January 1951, we need to know the arrangement in the premises of the orgone apparatus involved in the experiment and the materials they were made of.

The structures and the devices involved in the experiment are here below described and discussed. For each of them, it is also reported, when available, the sizes and the materials they were made of. Each layer of the materials used in the construction of the structures may be considered as an individual barrier to the propagation of the gamma rays emitted by the radium-226 situated in the small charger. As alpha particles are characterized by very short pathlengths, they are not considered in the present study as potential noxious energies in that they were totally blocked inside the small charger in which the radium-226 was contained and never reached the living systems present during the experiment. On the contrary gamma rays, being characterized by much higher pathlengths are instead considered and the possible effects on the bio-energetic systems evaluated.

A leaden tube. The needle of radium-226 from time to time was kept inside a leaden protective tube of ½” thickness (74). After the conclusion of the Oranur experiment the shielded needle was put inside a 4” wall safe made of steel and cement with the aim to protect the surrounding environment from the diffusion of an Oranur field produced by the radioactive source (75).
A small charger. The charger was a 1-fold ORAC (76). It contained the one mg of radium-226 during the Oranur experiment. No information about the size and the materials it was made of were reported by Reich. It can be assumed that it had characteristics similar to those of a small charger which Reich mentions, beginning in February 1951, few weeks after the conclusion of the experiment. The latter was one cubic foot in volume, and was internally lined by a metal sheet gauge 26 (77). As to the intermediate layer we may presume it was made of a plastic sheet (PET, supposed to be 1 mm thick) alternated to steel wool (about ½” or 12.7 mm thick). A compressed wood fibre board would have served as outer layer (½” or 12.7 mm thick) (78).
A 20-fold ORAC. It housed the small charger during the Oranur experiment. The ORAC was 5 feet square horizontally (1.524 m) (79). No information has been reported about the height. As to the materials it was made of, it may be supposed Reich used an (galvanized) iron sheet (gauge 28, or 0.397 mm thick) as inner layer; and a compressed wood fibre board, as outer layer (½” or 12.7 mm thick). As to the materials of the intermediate layers, it may be assumed Reich used plastic sheet (PET, supposed to be 1 mm thick) alternated to steel wool (about ½” or 12.7 mm thick).
The orgone room. It housed the 20-fold orgone accumulator during the Oranur experiment. The size of the orgone room was 18 ft x 18 ft (or 5.486 m x 5.486 m) (80). No information was reported by Reich about the height of the room, but is can be supposed it was about 2.2 m (deduced from the picture of the orgone room, not reported in this article). It was lined internally by an iron sheet (gauge 26 or 0.476 mm) (81); while the internal organic layer was glass fiber (½” or 12.7 mm thick) (82). It may be considered the walls of the room built by ordinary bricks (assumed to be 12.5 cm thick), while it was lined externally by a cement board (about 1 cm thick) (83).
The Students laboratory. It contained the orgone room. The size was 60 ft x 70 ft (or 18.29 x 21.34 m) (84). The walls of the laboratory were made of wood (85). However, what is important to the present study is the windows of the laboratory that were the weakest point in terms of gamma-ray propagation outside it, and through which the observers saw the formation and the propagation of the blue-purple cloud in the laboratory hall during the last day of the Oranur experiment. The windows are made of glass, single paned, around 5 mm thick. Sizes of the large windows might be deduced from figure 2. Dimensions can be assumed to be around 3.7 x 2.2 m.

Mice cage. It housed the mice that were exposed to the Oranur field during the experiment. It was located 48.5-49.5 ft (14.8-15.1 m) away from the radioactive source (86). No info is reported about the sizes and the materials the container was made of. It may be assumed it was a cage wire mesh.

The following figure 4 shows the arrangement of the radium-226, of the small charger, and of the 20-fold ORAC inside the orgone room.

Figure 4

The following table 1 summarizes the sizes (when available) of the devices and structures above discussed, and the materials and corresponding thicknesses they were consisting of.

Device or structure


Material


Size
[cm]


Thickness
[cm]


Note

Leaden tube


Lead


N/A


1.27


–

Small charger
(1-fold ORAC)


Metal (iron)


30.48 x 30.48 x 30.48


0.0476


Inner layer (gauge 26)

Plastic (PET)


30.48 x 30.48 x 30.48


0.1


Organic layer

Steel wool


30.48 x 30.48 x 30.48


1.27


Inorganic layer

Wood (fibre)


30.48 x 30.48 x 30.48


1.27


Outer layer

20-fold ORAC (87)


Iron


1.524 x 1.524


0.0397


Inner layer (gauge 28)

Plastic (PET)


1.524 x 1.524


0.1


Organic layer

Steel wool


1.524 x 1.524


1.27


Inorganic layer

Wood (fibre)


1.524 x 1.524


1.27


Outer layer

Orgone room


Iron


2,200 x 5,486 x 5,486


0.0476


Outer layer (gauge 26)

Glassfiber


2,200 x 5,486 x 5,486


1.27


Organic layer

Wallbrick


2,200 x 5,486 x 5,486


12.5


Organic layer

Cement (concrete)


2,200 x 5,486 x 5,486


1


Outer layer

Students laboratory


Glass


3,700 x 2,200


0.5


Windows

Table 1

Table 2 reports the distance between the different devices involved in the experiment.

From


To


Distance
[ft]


Distance
[m]


Note

Radium-226 needle (leaden tube)


1-fold charger (inner layer)


0.50


0.10


–

1-fold charger outer layer


20-fold ORAC inner layer


2.00


0.61


–

20-fold ORAC outer layer


Orgone room inner layer (dir. A)


6.00-7.00


1.83-2.13


Distance in the calculations is averaged to 6.5 ft

20-fold ORAC outer layer


Orgone room inner layer (dir. B)


13.00


3.96


From Figure 4

Orgone room outer layer


Mice cage location (dir. A)


40.00


12.19


From table at page 280 of OE book

Orgone room outer layer


Students laboratory window (dir. B)


34.50


10.51


Deduced from Figures 3 and 4

Students laboratory window


Observers location (dir. B)


150.00


45.72


Deduced from Figures 3

Table 2

Table 3 shows the mass attenuation coefficient, the density, and the corresponding half-value layer (HVL) of the materials the devices and structures involved in the Oranur experiment were made of for a gamma-ray incident intensity of 0.2 MeV (when not otherwise specified). Air is included in table 3 being the attenuation of gamma-ray radiations occurring during the experiment also through it.

Material


Mass attenuation coefficient
[cm2/g]


Density
[g/cm3]


HVL
[cm]


Note

Air


1.233∙10-1


1.2∙10-3


4684.7


NIST

Common brick


1.097∙10-1


1.87


3.38


Mann et al (Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 2013) (data for 0.276 MeV)

Cement (concrete)


1.282∙10-1.


2.300


2.35


NIST

Glass


1.246∙10-1


2.230


2.49


NIST

Glassfiber


1.246∙10-1


1.27∙10-2


437.9


NIST, Natindco (88)

Iron


1.460∙10-1


7.874


0.60


NIST

Lead


7.820∙10-1


11.35


0.08


NIST

Plastic (PET)


1.282∙10-1


1.380


3.92


NIST

Steel (wool)


1.800∙10-1


11.89∙10-2


32.38


Singh et al (Radioprotection, 2013) (89)

Wood fibre (Celotex)


9.571∙10-1


0.417


1.724


Ero et al (IAAST, 2012) (data for Melaina wood at0.265 MeV) (90)

Table 3



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Applying eq. (2) to the above data we can determine the value of the total gamma-ray transmission at the two end points M and Obs (Figure 3).

These values correspond to the transmitted intensity at the two above sites after the radiations had travelled through all the barriers, represented by the materials the orgone devices and the structures were made of, and through the air along the directions A and B, towards M and Obs, respectively. In doing this evaluation the following assumptions were done:

The one-mg of radium-226 was shielded and put inside the small charger in its protective ½” leaden tube;
The one-mg of radium-226 was unshielded and put inside the small charger naked.

In the calculations it has been considered for simplicity a value of the build-up factor B in eq. (2) of 1. This has been done as the type of shielding configuration, the type of materials, and the related thicknesses provided a very small increase of the transmitted dose rate. The only material that would have been given a little higher increase in the transmitted radiation intensity is lead with a value of the build-up factor about 1.06. However, this value does not change the order of magnitude of the transmitted dose rates at the two investigated end points, M and Obs, thus making the simplification much more than acceptable.

The total effective dose, the living organisms were subjected to during the whole Oranur experiment, has been determined according to the total exposure time or the total duration of the experiment that was 11 ½ hours, distributed as follows: Jan 5, 1951 = 5 hours (11.30-16.30); Jan 6=1 hour; Jan 7=1 hour; Jan 8=1 hour; Jan 9=1 hour; Jan 10=1 hour; Jan 11=1 hour; Jan 12= ½ hour (91).



Radium-226 shielded in its protective leaden tube

At the Observers site (end point Obs) the transmitted intensity of the ionizing radiations was 3.8·10-5/1000 of the original intensity emitted by the shielded radium-226. This means that Reich and his collaborators were exposed during the whole experiment to a gamma-ray intensity of about 2.4·10-3 mSv/h. A quite low value, with a corresponding PF of about 2.6·107 that is an extremely high value when compared to the maximum standard suggested today (Protection Factor, PF, of 1,000). The total effective dose Reich and the observers were subjected to during the whole experiment was about 2.8·10-2 mSv.
At the mice cage (end point M) the transmitted intensity of the ionizing radiations was 8.7·10-5/1000 of the original intensity emitted by the shielded radium-226. This means that the mice, kept constantly in the cage for all the duration of the experiment, were exposed to a gamma-ray intensity of about 5.5·10-3 mSv/h, which corresponds to a PF of about 1.1·107. The total effective dose the mice were subjected to during the whole experiment was about 6.4·10-2 mSv.

The above values are by far lower than those imposed by the regulations and tell that practically the site, where the mice were constantly kept, should not have been affected by any radiations coming from the shielded radium-226 in the small charger.

Radium-226 unshielded

At the Observers site (end point Obs) the transmitted intensity of the ionizing radiations was 3.0/1000 of the original intensity emitted by the unshielded radium-226. This means that Reich and his collaborators were exposed during the experiment to a gamma-ray intensity of about 1.9 mSv/h. This value is little higher than the hourly exposure dose limit set at 0.11 mSv/h, and corresponds to a PF of about 333 that is a little below the maximum standard value suggested today (PF of 1,000). The total effective dose, the observers were subjected to during the whole experiment, was about 22.0 mSv.
At the mice cage (end point M) the transmitted intensity of the ionizing radiations was 6.8/1000 of the original intensity emitted by the unshielded radium-226. This means that the mice, kept constantly on that site for all the duration of the experiment, were exposed to a gamma-ray intensity of about 4.3 mSv/h, which corresponds to a PF of about 147. The total effective dose, the mice were subjected to during the whole experiment, was about 50.0 mSv.

The above values are little higher than those registered at the observation site, but however, are still very low. Indeed, if we consider the total effective dose the mice were exposed to, this value is by far lower than 20 mSv (or 20,000 mSv) which is considered by UNSCEAR a very low or very weak dose for a short duration exposure. Below this dose deterministic effects, such as short-term biological signs or post-radiation symptoms, are practically absent.

Table 4 below summarizes all the above calculated data.

One-mg Radium-226


Site


Effective dose [mSv/h]


Total effective dose
[mSv]


PF

Shielded


Observers (Obs)


2.4·10-3


2.8·10-2


2.6·107

Mice (M)


5.5·10-3


6.4·10-2


1.1·107

Unshielded (naked)


Observers (OBS)


1.9


22.0


333

Mice (M)


4.3


50.0


147

Table 4

From the above analysis it is evident that the intensity of the transmitted radiations at the mice cage and at the observation point was extremely low even when we consider the case the radium-226 was put inside the small charger unshielded. UNSCEAR regulations set as upper limit an effective dose of 0.5 Sv above which deterministic reactions in the bio-energetic systems such as nausea, vomiting, etc., can occur; and of 4-4.5 Sv to get acute radiation reactions to exposure such as hematological symptoms (bone marrow damages), digestive symptoms (gastro-intestinal tract damages), neurological symptoms in the central nervous system, and death in 50% of the cases. According to the data obtained in this study, it is clear that the symptoms, the diseases, and the deaths occurred at the two end points were not the consequence at all of the gamma-ray radiations emitted by the radioactive source, being the highest intensity determined by the calculations that could hit the end points of 50.0 mSv, a value by far lower than that set of 0.5 Sv (or 500,000 mSv) in order to get deterministic reactions. Indeed, according to UNSCEAR, the symptoms experienced by Reich and his collaborators, and those observed in the mice, in addition to the deaths of some of them that occurred during the experiment, all fall into the highest categories of the effective dose one might have been exposed to, such as from medium (0.2 Sv to 2 Sv) to very high (> 10 Sv). However, even though the values at Orgonon during the Oranur experiment were lower than those set by standard, the reactions of the bio-energetic systems were very similar to those of a high radioactive exposure, as also observed by Reich (92):

“6. The deadly OR effects (DOR) act in a direction observable in leukaemia: destruction of the RBC-producing systems, bone marrow, etc.”

As a consequence, we are witnessing a controversial picture, where many people experienced during the Oranur experiment biological reactions typical from exposure to a medium effective dose; and where the mice (apart those killed for scientific purposes) had reactions (and about 20% of them died) typical from exposure to very high effective doses. But at the same time, according to the calculations, no effective doses like those set by the regulations would ever be detected at the sites where the two bio-energetic systems (mice in M, and humans in Obs) were situated.

Besides, during the whole experiment very high values of the radioactivity were recorded outside the orgone room, in the students’ hall, and in the environment outside the laboratory. Before the start of the experiment the radioactivity in the hall of the students’ laboratory was 40-50 CPM, while during the experiment values of 70-80 CPM were measured. Besides, on the outside of the walls of the orgone room several hundred CPM were detected. After the conclusion of the daily experimentation, i.e. when the radium (inside the small charger) was removed from the inside the 20-fold orgone accumulator and stored in a garage 150 feet away from the experimental site, the radioactivity dropped to 60 CPM first, and then to 30-50 CPM after airing of the premises.

No data could be instead measured by the Geiger-Muller counter inside the orgone room during the whole experiment in that the device jammed when approaching the 20-fold ORAC because of the high radioactive activity.

Again, we are witnessing a controversial situation, in which the radium-226 ionizing activity was well screened by the materials, the structures and the orgone devices were made of, in such a way not to justify the high increase of the radioactivity readings observed during the experiment. Values that then dropped to standard values typical of the background when the radium-226 was removed from its experimental location inside the 20-fold ORAC.

In addition to the above, we must also consider the formation of the blue-purple cloud in the students’ hall. Even in this case, according to the calculated values of the effective doses reported in table 4, no particular intensity could be ascribed to the gamma-ray radiations in the students’ hall for the development of a cloud of such characteristics.

As a whole and as absurdly as it could be, according to the competent authorities in the radiological fields nothing should have occurred in such experimental conditions. A conclusion that cannot at all explain the phenomena observed during the Oranur experiment. And this is above all because presently our scientific approach to the study of the natural physical phenomena is based on the Einsteinian view of the Universe. It envisages that our atmosphere is devoid of any kind of energy particles thus negating the possibility of the formation of a noxious and killing field, and of all the related phenomena from an extremely low amount of radioactive source, such as the one-mg of radium-226 could be, and furthermore in the worst scenario shielded by several layers of absorbing materials.

Indeed, the most reasonable way to explain the above phenomena is resorting to the presence of a new physical entity in the atmosphere, that was not new however to the philosophers and scientists of the past, present everywhere, with specific characteristics and whose behaviour governed by definite laws. This new physical entity might well be represented by the orgone energy units that Reich found permeating everything in nature, including living organisms, and all the cosmos. The presence of a similar energy, however, was excluded by Einstein when developing his models of the natural physical phenomena. He, indeed, hypothesized a view of our world devoid of any energetic background. However, Einstein at a certain point came to admit that his modelling could totally collapse in case the presence in the universe of an energy permeating everything was confirmed. Clark reported the reaction of Einstein to the results of Miller’s investigation carried out at Mount Wilson Observatory on the ether drift, aimed at demonstrating the presence in the Universe of a medium, the ether, through which waves could propagate, in a letter written to the American physicist Millikan in June 1925 (93):

“…. “I believe that I have really found the relationship between gravitation and electricity, assuming that the Miller experiments are based on a fundamental error,” he said. “Otherwise the whole relativity theory collapses like a house of cards.” …”

A behaviour that might highlight Einstein’s uncertainty on what he had developed, or maybe the awareness of the limitation of the theories he had conceived, be it the special theory of relativity or the theory on Brownian motion, since he had become aware of their weaknesses or limitations on being applied (94).

The following figure 5 shows the difference between the physical model of the space, and specifically, of the atmosphere, according to Einstein, and to Reich. From the figure it can be seen the model conceived by Einstein envisages the presence of air as unique component. The atmosphere is filled with the gases typical of the air, such as nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and other minor components but, for Einstein, no other energy of whatever kind is filling the atmosphere (95).

Reich hypothesized instead that, in addition to the above components, an energy is filling the atmosphere, and all the universe, too, in such a way to form a continuum. He found that this energy continuum was consisting of tiny units with distinct properties, and governed by specific laws.

Figure 5

One of the characteristics of these tiny units is the change of phase that is a function of some external factors they could be subjected to. Reich found that in normal condition these units are flowing undisturbed, with an undulatory movement, and are characterized by life-enhancing properties. In case these units are excited by external factors they start moving in a chaotic, irregular movements, with a higher degree of dis-homogeneity. Activation agents of this excitation might be any type of mechanical energy, electric and electromagnetic fields, X-rays and above all radioactivity. Reich considered the charged particles and the photons emitted by radioactive materials as the highest activation agents (96):

“Any kind of mechanical energy is capable of exciting the OR energy to greater activity: simple heat, sparks from an induction coil, friction, etc. The Oranur effect differs from other excitations of OR by its fierceness and its dangerous character.”

Under the influence of these physical parameters the free-flowing, undisturbed units start changing their paths, and moving in an unpredictable way. In parallel they observe a decrease of the life-enhancing properties they possess until they lose all the positive qualities and transform themselves in static, deadly, and life-negating units that Reich called deadly orgone energy (DOR) (97). This latter phenomenon occurs when the activating agents continue their excitation activity on the units for a period long enough to devoid them of all the dynamicity they possess. From this point on the units behave like deadly aggregates affecting the environment in which they form and creating a block to the movement of further dynamic units that are trying to flow through. In these conditions the living in the area are subjected to these blocks and start to die, be it inside a bio-energetic system or in the atmosphere. This gives rise either to diseases or desert-like conditions, respectively. The phenomenon however is reversible and, by appropriate conditions and processes, the DOR can be converted back again to dynamic, flowing, and life-enhancing orgone units (98).

A further and equally important characteristic of the dynamic orgone units is the formation of matter. Two or more flowing units can give rise to matter by superimposition, as Reich pointed out (99):

“1. Atomic energy (nuclear energy, NR) represents cosmic energy which is freed from matter through disintegration of the atom, which is the constituent of the universe in terms of classical and quantum physics. It is energy after matter. OR energy on the other hand, represents cosmic energy before matter, i.e., energy which has not been caught in or has not been transformed into solid matter. It is universally present, penetrates everything, surrounds, as the so-called OR energy envelope, our planet and most likely all other heavenly bodies (sun’s corona, Saturn’s ring, etc.). Cosmic OR energy, moving freely within the living organism, is called bio-energy or organismic OR energy.”

Figure 6 shows the different phases of the orgone units, and the hierarchic sequence from energetic units to matter units or particles.

Figure 6

The following figure 7 correlates the concentration of orgone energy units available in nature against the degree of excitation of the same units. In the graph a zero excitation degree (x-axis) corresponds to units freely and dynamically flowing undisturbed into the atmosphere or into living organisms; while an excitation degree of 100% corresponds to deadly and static units, that had lost all their movements. According to Einstein’s view, being no energetic units filling the universe, the possibility to excite these units is nil.

As a consequence, Einstein’s view of the Universe can be represented on the graph by the origins of the two axes (marked as B in figure 7). According to Reich, being that all the Universe and our planet is filled by energetic units that can be subjected to a different degree of excitation, we might find the condition for any natural concentration of orgone units to be higher than zero (that is marked as A in figure 7). This situation corresponds to a variety of physical and biological phenomena that Reich studied and accurately discussed and reported in his books. For example, the formation of matter as well as heathy conditions in living organisms and in the environment may intervene for the dynamic and undisturbed flow conditions of the orgone units. The development of diseases in the living, as well as the occurrence of drought and aridity in the environment, may occur for a low to high degree of excitation of the orgone units. Meanwhile, death of the living in organisms (tumour, etc.) as well as desert-like conditions in the environment may intervene for extremely high excitation of the orgone units (that in this stage might have lost all their dynamicity and have transformed themselves into a static accumulation of deadly units or DOR). However, according to Reich the concentration of these orgone units can be artificially increased by using particular devices he called orgone accumulators. In this orgone-rich environment (marked as C in figure 7) the orgone units can be excited to a various degree (from nearly 0 to as high as 100) by amounts of the activating agent smaller than those required in standard conditions. Reich observed that in these operational conditions the excited orgone units might be characterized by the following functions: 1) therapeutic qualities, atmospheric healing and perhaps higher state of consciousness (100) at zero or very low degree of excitation; 2) motor force, and antigravity, at low to medium degree of excitation; and 3) Oranur sickness and death of the living for medium to high degree of excitation.

Figure 7

Reich hypothesized that the Oranur reaction produced by the excitation of the orgone units of the energetic continuum might be a sort of nuclear fission. However, he treated the argument very cautiously (101):

“11. I did not work with fission and I did not produce fission during the Oranur experimentation. It is not sure that fission actually takes place in infested material, but this might possibly be the case. Therefore, I prefer, in the interest of the great medical possibilities of OR energy research, in the interest of the people and for my personal security to report these things, and to urge emphatically that all red tape be cut through in order to look into these processes on a scale appropriate to their scope, dangers and hopes. Fullest clarity and having the cards in the open, above the table, are now crucial obligations: IF FISSION OF ORDINARY MATERIAL OCCURS, ITS DISCLOSURE WAS INCIDENTAL TO AN EXPERIMENT WHICH STARTED WITH AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GOAL IN MIND.”

Notwithstanding this, according to Sharaf, Reich was really convinced that the Oranur reaction, produced by the excitation of the orgone units in the orgone-rich environment of the orgone room, was a special kind of nuclear fission. However, whether this was confirmed, it might have created to Reich many legal problems (102):

4. ….. R. has written a complete report on the 1st Oranur experiment which he now plans to send to the AEC. He is particularly thrilled with the thought that the action of the atomic bomb may now be comprehensible and that the nature of disease in general may have been really approached. His work hypothesis is that in both cases it is the OE that is affected by the trigger action of in one case nuclear radiation and in the other whatever the particular noxae may be.

………………

R. said on March 20th when he re-read the law, that legally he has a death penalty over his head, since the law states that anyone who works with nuclear radiation to create nuclear fission without the permission of the AEC is subject to the death penalty. And, he has, he says created fission through NR during the first OR experiment. He did not set out to do that, and he has created fission in a quite different sense than the AEC understands that term, but the emotional plague out to get him might not take into account such considerations. He is forced to submit the report on the experiment to the AEC before he can publish it, to safeguard himself legally. But that involves its dangers, too: The AEC could use the results in their own fashion which might be in conflict with R.’s intention not to reveal a deadly quality of OE, and (2) the AEC did not witness the experiment and does not understand the methodological background and the physical findings against which the experiment was made and in the light of which it must be examined. At the same time he cannot not report on the findings nor publish them without the AEC’s permission. He cannot keep what has happened a secret, even if he wished to, and to keep it a secret would kill off the possible great immunization and other medical benefits to be derived from it. He must take into consideration the use of ORANUR destructively by the Russians who, with their own particular kind of cleverness, might make quicker use of it than the US. Added to these great complications, he would like to substantiate his findings with further experimentation but cannot know how to proceed without endangering the workers and possibly the population. Yet he cannot expect anyone else to carry it on since no one else has the knowledge and the background to proceed intelligently with it.

Practically, he has decided to simply state the dilemma – including the death penalty – openly and clearly to the AEC, and thereby take preventive measures against any boomerang and put the responsibility on someone else’s shoulders besides his alone.”

This particular kind of nuclear fission was due to a clear and distinct state of the orgone units of the energy continuum that behaved differently from their undisturbed, dynamic state. In this case the nuclear atom activity functions as a trigger for this unconventional fission, being the target energetic units and not matter. However, Reich did not confine the quality of the orgone units to be excited by external agents only in the physical realm. He thought that if everything in nature is characterized, as basic component, by units of orgone energy aggregated in different way to form particles of matter, a reaction to these activating agents may arise also in the biological and emotional realm of the living systems, in that the units are equally excited, and running wild, inside living systems as they are in the environment. This might explain the reactions and the diseases experienced at Orgonon during the Oranur experiment and also by Reich and his collaborators, and those occurred on the mice in the cage inside the students’ hall. In case the excitation of these orgone units is extremely high death can occur, as in the case of the experimental mice in the Oranur experiment. According to Sharaf (103):

“I. During the explosive reaction of orgone energy to radium (Jan. 5th to around Jan. 13th – (an exact date of the end of the reaction is impossible to delimit), Reich was constantly fascinated – to use a favourite word of his – “enchanted” by the similarity of the cosmic orgone energy’s response (outside membranes) to the response of the same energy within membranes (emotional response) when either is made ”mad” by the provocation of malicious, deadly “radiation,” be it from radium as in what is to date the classic experiment in the physical realm or be it from other human beings in the emotional realm. Let us list those similarities briefly as Reich has discussed them during the recent weeks:

1. In both cases, the orgone energy gets “mad” and turns hateful. The orgone energy in the laboratory got “mad” at the radium and turned malicious itself in part; …
2. The response of the orgone energy increases with the number of times the disturbing “radiation” is presented. This increase takes place in a functional, non-mechanical manner, the details of which in both the physical and emotional realm remaining still to be elaborated.
a. Physical realm: The observers felt the response of OE to NR hardly at all the first day the radium was brought in the lab, more on each day, until the reaction became so severe that the experiment was temporarily halted.
………..
3. Aroused orgone energy – in both the physical and emotional realms hits other energy systems in their weak spot(s).

a. Physical realm: There is evidence (lack of ionization, change in GM count) to show that aroused orgone energy changes and weakens nuclear radiation. Exactly how it does this and to what extent remains to be worked out. As the period of Jan. 5th to Jan. 11th amply demonstrated, concentrated, aroused atmospheric orgone energy also hits observers, and tends to hit them in their biophysical, weak spot ….” (Italics is mine, RM)

However, Reich observed that the exposure of the organisms to the excited orgone units had the characteristic to hit the weakest points and also to surface latent diseases. And after a period of no exposure and rest the organism positively reacted to this turmoil and messy state, and healed from the symptoms it had showing a good final overall health. Reich was very confident of the therapeutic qualities of small and controlled Oranur fields and he went on to hypothesize it might heal also cancer (104):

4. ….. Disease is, to this thinking, disease of the organismic orgone energy which is disturbed by and fights against the noxa. He is also very encouraged by the come-back people make after suffering from the Oranur malaise: They feel better, stronger, clearer afterward. He believes that when the question of dosage is worked out, Oranur project may yield a powerful new medical weapon – “the most powerful medical weapon there has ever been,” [Reich to Sharaf] as he once expressed it. The specificity of the reactions to ORANUR, the way each individual suffers in his particular biopathic weak spot, is one of the most fascinating aspects of the whole experiment. “I have the feeling that it gets the biopathy by the throat and drags it out and that’s what we want,” he expressed it recently. He has the feeling that the accu sparked by very minimal dosage of NR may be especially effective in cancer.”

Reich, according to the results acquired both during the January experiment and in the next few months suggested a possible way to produce a controlled Oranur field, and reduce the DOR effects so as to restrict, as much as possible, the development of the noxious and nefarious field (105):

“On the other hand, when NR material was not sufficiently shielded, it had an even chance to irritate and trigger OR energy into DOR action. …. Now it seemed clear that in order to reduce the DOR effect, one had to put the NR material into heavy shielding and thus confined, into the charger, OR would get at NR, but not NR at OR. We decided right away to build a housing for the safe to put the NR material into the safe again and to put the safe, containing NR, in the vicinity of the charger. This would secure the Oranur effect without the DOR element if we were on the right track of reasoning.
The further elaboration of this problem must wait until the second Oranur series of experimentation can be carried out.”

The following figure 8 is representing a scheme of the above suggested layout, where the radioactive material is put, shielded by its ½” leaden tube, inside the 4” steel and concrete walls safe. In turn, the safe is put close to a one-fold small charger, and both are situated inside a housing.

Reich did not specify the architectural design of the latter but it is reasonable to think that it had not the characteristic of an orgone accumulating device. Such arrangement would have had the function of preventing the nuclear source transmitting the radiations outside the safe, thus avoiding the possibility to create an unwanted and uncontrolled excited orgone field in the surrounds of the triggering unit (safe and small charger) that could be directly excited by the photons emitted by the source ad transmitted outside the container. At the same time the orgone energy units concentrated inside the leaden tube and the safe could be excited by the action of the radiations of the nuclear source, and hence form the core required to start the Oranur reaction. Once the reaction was produced it could be transmitted outside the safe to the nearby orgone units with a chain-like propagation. To my best knowledge Reich never carried out such second Oranur experimentation.

Figure 8

Southgate recently replicated the Reich’s Oranur experiment by using a very small amount of radioactive material (106). He used 0.26 mg of americium-241 that corresponds to an activity of 0.9 mCi (or 33.3 kBq), a value about 1,100 times less than that used by Reich in the original experiment (about 36.6 MBq or 1 mCi) (107). The americium-241, kept in its original plastic case, was put for some weeks either inside a powerful orgone cabinet, where many smaller orgone apparatus were present, or around it at different distances. He monitored the behaviour of the Oranur field, by radioactivity measurements with a Geiger-Muller counter, and of the orgone field by a Life Energy meter.

He found the formation of an Oranur field all around the orgone cabinet with an extension of at least 18-24 ft (5.5-7.3 m) substantiated by a parallel increase of the radioactivity and orgone field readings (108). He also observed a direct relationship between the Oranur field and the intensity of the orgone field, in that higher concentrations of orgone energy units, when subjected to the action of the radioactive source, were accompanied by higher values of the radioactivity. Southgate observed also that the Oranur conditions persisted even after the removal of the americium-241 at the end of the experiment and that the cabinet and the orgone devices, contained inside the cabinet, maintained its Oranur charge for much longer periods.

It is to be noted here that Southgate did produce an Oranur field by an extremely small amount of radioactive material, with an intensity as low as 0.9 mCi. The possibility of the creation of an Oranur field from such a low radioactive source was already predicted by Reich (109):

“EVERYONE IS STRICTLY WARNED AGAINST USING AN OR ACCUMULATOR WHILE AN NR SOURCE OF THE STRENGTH OF A MILLICURIE OR AN XRAY MACHINE IS LOCATED WITHIN THE OR ENERGY FIELD. The longer the trigger effect is allowed to act upon the OR atmosphere, and the more OR accumulating devices that are present, the stronger will be the effects. Stronger effects will also result with regular repetition of the trigger action. In a highly concentrated Oranur atmosphere, the presence of even as little as a microgram or less of any NR source for even as little as a few minutes will suffice to produce severe effects.”

At this point it is more than reasonable to hypothesize that in Reich’s original Oranur experiment the increase of the radioactivity readings; the biological reactions Reich and the observers, and the experimental mice experienced; the deaths of part of the experimental mice; and the formation of the blue-purple cloud in the students’ laboratory, were all the consequence of the Oranur field originated from inside the charger and triggered by the radioactive activity of the small amount of radium-226.

And all the above reactions were not the results of the ionizing radiations of the gamma-rays in those areas, in that the intensity transmitted through all the materials, the 20-fold ORAC, the orgone room, and the students’ laboratory building were made of, was so low in magnitude to be considered safe and without consequences to the health of the living organisms.

It is evident that the only function the one-mg of radium-226 had, was to trigger and create a chaotic movement of the orgone units available in the closeness of the radioactive source. It can be presumed that all the orgone units inside the small charger were excited to a very high degree by the activity of the radioactive source thus producing an uncontrolled, mad or amok, according to Reich’s wording, movements. However, it is well known that no phenomena like those observed and listed above can be produced by one-mg of radium-226 in standard conditions, namely when the concentration of orgone units is not increased by any accumulating orgone devices and is the one typical of the natural background in the atmosphere. This condition corresponds to the point along the vertical line A in figure 7 for a zero degree of excitation. In this case a tiny amount of radioactive material does excite the orgone units, but these units are available in the atmosphere in low or very low concentrations thus making not possible to reach a critical core of excited units that can be transmitted to nearby units, in a chain-like reaction. Indeed, it should be highlighted that the excitation is a typical consequence anytime the orgone units come into contact with a radioactive source, but a reaction can occur and be transmitted only in the case the concentration of the orgone units in the environment, in which the radioactive material is located, is high enough for the excited orgone units to reach a critical conditions through which the uncontrolled, and chaotic movements are transmitted in the space to nearby units thus triggering a chain-like reaction until to the point when the excited units have a less-than-critical value no longer enough to further transmit the excitation to nearby units. At this point the Oranur reaction and the associated field gradually vanishes.

As it is well known, the easiest way to obtain very high artificial concentration of orgone units is to resort to orgone-accumulating devices such as those used by Reich at Orgonon. By these devices the concentration of units in the inside is much higher than that in standard environmental conditions. When the concentration of orgone units in the environment is close to standard, background values (vertical line A in figure 7), the excitation of the orgone units by a tiny amount of a radioactive source is low and not enough to start an Oranur reaction, even though the units in the closeness of the triggering source are somewhat excited but to a lower degree than needed to trigger a chain-like reaction. However, the development of a high Oranur field does occur also at standard concentrations provided that an extraordinarily high amount of radioactive source is used as in the case of an atomic bombing explosion.

According to the above, the extension of the Oranur field is thus function of the concentration of orgone units in the environment, of the amount of activating material, i.e., the radioactive source, and of the exposure time, or in other words the triggering effects of the radioactive material might be function of the total effective dose the orgone units are exposed to. Hence, it can be postulated the degree of excitation of the orgone energy units is function of the amount and of the intensity of the alpha, and beta particles; and of the X-rays, and gamma rays emitted by the radioactive source. And, the maximum excitation should occur inside the environment where the shielded radioactive source is contained.

In case of the presence of ionizing radiations downstream of a set of absorber materials (when a radioactive source is unshielded or not properly shielded), they are triggering different nuclei of highly excited orgone units that in turn are creating an additional and overlapping effect to the primary one with an unpredictable intensification of the Oranur reaction and effects.

Hence, it can be inferred that the maximum excitation of the orgone units, were subjected during the Oranur experiment at Orgonon, might have occurred either inside the leaden tube (in case the one-mg of radium-226 was shielded) or inside the small charger (whether put naked). After the orgone units started to be excited by the alpha particles and gamma rays of the radium-226, the excitation was transmitted to the nearby orgone units outside the small charger, as if the dynamic, undulatory movement of the orgone units was in some way affected and changed by the excitation of the first units. In this way dynamic orgone units were changed into Oranur orgone units even though in an area where no ionizing radiations were available, or available with a small intensity. And once the Oranur effects took place, it travelled through the air as if infesting, chain-like, one area after another. At Orgonon, such infestation has been found as far away as two miles from the place of the original effect (110). This phenomenon developed also, during the research carried out by Southgate even though to a much lesser extent. He found that the propagation of the excitation of the Oranur units extended to at least 18-24 ft. Besides, Reich found that also materials such as rocks, metals and especially material arrangements which had the faculty of accumulating orgone energy, continued to be active long after the originally triggering radioactive material has been removed. This peculiarity was confirmed also by Southgate.

If we assume that the concentrations of orgone units in the two orgone set-ups in Reich’s and Southgate’s experiment might be of the same order, the extension of the Oranur field might be considered directly proportional to the total effective dose released during each experiment.

We know that the total effective dose the one-mg of radium-226 produced at 1 cm distance during the Oranur experiment at Orgonon in 1951 was:

effective dose Ra-226 = 1,743.67 mSv/h/GBq ∙ 0.0366 GBq ∙ 11.5 h = 733.9 mSv

while the observed extension of the Oranur field that developed around the experimental 20-fold orgone accumulator was 2 miles (or 3218.7 m). On the other hand, the dose rate delivered at 1 cm distance by the 0.26 mg of americium-241 during the Southgate’s experiment was:

dose rate Am-241= 39.72 mSv/h/GBq ∙ 33.3∙10-6 GBq = 1.32 ∙10-3 mSv/h

Southgate kept the americium-241 continually either inside the orgone set-up or just outside it for 35 days (840 hours). Hence, the effective dose was:

effective dose Am-241 = 1.32 ∙10-3 mSv/h ∙ 840 h = 1.11 mSv

A value that is 733.9/1.11 = 661.2 times lower than the one that characterized the original Oranur field at Orgonon.

According to the above the extension should have been 3218.7/661.2 = 4.87 m or 16.0 ft. A value that is very close to the range of 18-24 ft experimentally determined by Southgate in his measurements. Besides, being the americium-241 used in the experiment contained in its PVC plastic casing (2-3 mm thickness), the intensity of the ionizing radiations transmitted outside it was about 87% (111). That means the radiations emitted by the amerciunm-241 were only partially shielded by the PVC case during the whole experiment.

At this point, being the total effective doses delivered in the two above experiments and the related Oranur field extensions quite comparable, and considering also the fact the americium-241 was only partially shielded by its plastic container, we can argue that the one-mg radium-226 in the original Oranur experiment was put inside its charger unshielded, or not protected by its ½” leaden tube.

And this adds and strengthen the results of the literature review where it does seem Reich put the radium-226 source inside the small charger naked. This might explain the development of the toxic and nefarious Oranur field even if the radium-226 was kept inside the orgone room for a total of 11.5 hours only.

If the above considerations hold true, with all the assumptions and approximations introduced, it might be argued that a radioactive source activity of 1 Ci (corresponding to 1 g of radium-226) put naked in a similar orgone set-up might infest an area with an extension of more than 3,000 km. Besides, we may assume the movement of the Oranur reaction is occurring not only horizontally but also in all the other directions, and hence the spreading of a similar reaction might occur with a sphere-like path with a radius of at least 3,000 km. According to the above hypothesis an Oranur reaction and the associated Oranur field can propagate into the atmosphere to a distance as high as to reach a good part of the thermosphere (112). Besides, the propagation of the reaction in the underground may similarly reach extraordinarily deep depths that, however, cannot be estimated being the propagation of such reaction inside the mantle’s formations (lithosphere, asthenosphere, etc.), that are characterized by different densities and states, not known.

A recent case that might be the consequence of an Oranur reaction might be the short-term radioactive contamination of the atmosphere by ruthenium-106 (113) that had been detected in many European countries in the period from the end of September to mid-October 2017 (114). The presence of the radioactive element was observed in the atmosphere of 31 countries of the European continent at levels ranging from a few mBq/m3 to more than 140 mBq/m3. The concentration levels detected in the air in Europe were however of no consequence for human health and for the environment. The first observations were made in Russia on September 23 at Kyshtym, on September 25 at Argayash and on September 26 at Bugulma and other nearby monitoring stations. All the above stations were located in the south of Urals. It was observed that the detection of ruthenium-106 was also accompanied, in some European stations (Sweden, Czech Republic, and Austria) by the detection of ruthenium-103 (115), with a ratio ruthenium-106/ruthenium-103 of about 4,000. IRSN carried out a study in order to determine the possible location of the source, to assess the total activity released and the release duration, and to understand the process that might be at the origin of the release of ruthenium-106 (116). Based on meteorological conditions and the measurement results available in the European countries a simulation to estimate the above parameters, i.e. release zone, the quantity of ruthenium-106 released, and the period and the duration of the release was carried out by IRSN. They came to the conclusion that a terrestrial release emitted from the regions located between Volga and Ural might explain the contamination of the atmosphere detected in Europe. The activity of ruthenium-106 released was estimated to range between 100 and 300 TBq. The release would have occurred between September 25 and September 28, with a duration of no more than 24 hours. In doing an evaluation of the type of event that might have led to the large atmospheric contamination the following were considered to be involved: 1) a nuclear reactor involving irradiated fuels or targets; 2) operations on targets used in the production of sources, for instance in the medical field (activity of the order of MBq); 3) source of ruthenium-106 used in the medical field; 4) source of ruthenium-106 used in other fields other than the medical one; 5) spent fuel treatment, including production of sources from fission product solutions. Nevertheless, IRSN envisaged also as a possible explanation of the contamination unknown events related to irradiated fuel treatments.

IRSN found that the most plausible hypothesis to explain the observations might be related to operations in a spent fuel treatment facility located in South Ural region.

The following figures 9 shows the corrected concentration in the atmosphere of ruthenium-106 for each monitoring station in Europe and Russia over the whole sampling period during which ruthenium was detected (117). Correction was required in order to compare ruthenium-106 activities amongst different monitoring stations. In the figure it can be observed a decreasing gradient of ruthenium-106 concentration in the atmosphere from East to West.

Figure 9

The following figure 10 shows that the most reliable area of the potential release, represented by the darker colours, might be located between Volga and Ural regions (118).

Figure 10

According to the results of the IRSN study the estimated source term (from 100 to 300 TBq that corresponds to the ejection of typically 1-4 grams of ruthenium-106) corresponded to an event involving a few cubic meters of fission product solution. However, the study discarded the hypothesis that the source term could be compatible with the activity of medical sources, such as those used in the treatment of ocular cancer, being this latter equivalent to several thousands of such sources, and hence very improbable to occur.

If the analysis, the discussion and the results related to the development of an Oranur field reported in the first part of the present article stand, it seems that the situation occurred in the last Fall in western Europe may have all the ingredients of an Oranur reaction and of an associated Oranur field produced by a high concentration of orgone energy units. Indeed, to the type of events theorised by IRSN, as a tentative explanation of the phenomenon, we may add one more by hypothesising that the radioactive field, detected in the European countries and in Russia, might have been produced by an amount of ruthenium-106 kept in an orgone accumulating set-up such as that of the same type we observed in Reich’s and Southgate’s experiments.

If we suppose the concentration of orgone units is of the same order to those discussed above, a possibility not much far distant from the reality, and the radioactive field has been produced by an Oranur reaction, the extension of the Oranur (radioactive) field might be considered directly proportional to the effective dose delivered by the amount of ruthenium-106 involved in the reaction. From figure 9 we can see that the modelling carried out by IRSN suggests an extension of a high radioactive field, that might have been produced by the Oranur reaction and where safety measures had to be taken in order to protect the population from radiation exposure, of few kilometers from the release location (between Volga and Ural regions) (119). We can estimate this high radioactive field extension ranging between 5 and 10 km. While the extension of the overall radioactive cloud that spread over West Europe can be estimated in about 3,000-3,500 km (120).

We know that at Orgonon Reich observed an extension of the Oranur field, produced by the 1 mg of radium-226 situated in the orgone-rich environment of the orgone room, of 3218.7 m with an effective dose at 1 cm of 733.9 mSv. The effective dose of ruthenium-106 that might have produced an Oranur field with an extension of about 7,500 m (average value) is given by:

3.2∙103 : 733.9 = 7.5∙103 : x

where x is the effective dose of ruthenium-106 in mSv. Determining x from the above proportion we have:

Being the gamma constant at 1 cm for the ruthenium-106 (rhodium-106) of 1381.58 rem/h/Ci or 3.77∙102 mSv/h/GBq, and the supposed duration of the reaction of about 24 hours, we can determine the released activity of ruthenium-106, as follows:

Being the specific activity for ruthenium-106 given by 1.22∙105 GBq/g (121), the amount of ruthenium-106 that triggered the Oranur reaction can be calculated as follows:

The above released activity of 0.19 GBq (or 190 MBq) is undoubtedly an extremely low value, especially when compared to the released activity of 100-300 TGq estimated by IRSN. And the calculated amount of ruthenium-106 of around 1.6 mg is perfectly compatible with what might have been provided, if my analysis is correct, by amounts of ruthenium-106 used in the medical field for radiotherapy of the eye tumour where the activity is ranging between few MBq and several tens of MBq.

The following table 5 reports a summary of the most important data related to the two Oranur experiments available in the literature (Reich, 1951; and Southgate, 2018), and those concerning the atmospheric contamination occurred in the Fall of 2017 (IRSN report, 2018). It has to be emphasized that the data concerning the 2017 atmospheric contamination have been determined by assuming that the spreading of the radioactive cloud was the result of an Oranur reaction triggered by an amount of ruthenium-106 put inside a high orgone accumulating set-up. However, confirmation of the above hypothesis might be obtained only by farther and controlled experiments performed by Research Institutes with proved skills both in nuclear and orgonomic fields. Primary and secondary Oranur fields in table 5 are referring to the fields developed around the experimental site characterized by very high radioactive readings, and by low or very low readings, respectively.

Event


Radioactive source


Amount

[mg]


Released effective dose
[mSv]


Oranur field
(primary)
[m]


Oranur field (secondary)
[km]

Reich (1951)


Ra-226


1,000


733.90


2,318.7


483-966

Southgate (2018)


Am-241


0.26


1.11


5.5-7.3


(12.2-15.2)∙10-3

IRSN (2018)


Ru-106


1.60


1,720.00


7,500.0


3,000-3,500

Table 5

At this point it is reasonable to think that the ionizing radiation emitted by a radioactive source has the highest influence and degree of excitation on the orgone energy units. All the fields of science and technology that envision the use of a radioactive material might unknowingly create an Oranur reaction, and an associated Oranur field, at different degree of potency and extension in case the user or the recipient, whatever orgonotic system it may be, is characterized by a concentration of orgone energy units higher than that of the background values. The recipient may be a living organism or the same environment. In case of a human organism, all the exams and cures based on the use of a nuclear source might produce an Oranur field inside the organism with all the side-effects typical of the Oranur sickness, such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, thirst, flu-like conditions, gastro-intestinal problems, etc. CT scan, carried out by using an intravenous contrast medium could be a typical example of a possible production of an Oranur reaction inside the body. Being the contrast medium absorbing X-rays that are taken and diffusely distributed in the organism, it might produce a diffused Oranur field and a collateral Oranur sickness of a degree proportional to the released activity and above all to the amount of orgone units available in the organism. And this situation may hold for all the other exams, and cures that involve the use of a tiny radioactive source that injects, either locally or diffusely, charged particles or photons in the organism.

Similarly, the use either of a small or a massive amount of a radioactive source in the environment can create an Oranur reaction and a related field that is depending on the amount of the released activity and on the quantity of orgone energy units available. In the latter case all the living beings in the environment are subjected to the same Oranur field and may develop various Oranur sicknesses whose seriousness is function of the amount of concentrated orgone units each living system is characterized by.

CONCLUSIONS

From what is above reported and discussed the following conclusions can be drawn.

Many of the peculiarities of Reich’s Oranur reaction and of the development of an associated Oranur field has been recently confirmed by an independent research experiment (Southgate, 2018) where an Oranur field produced by a tiny radioactive source (0.26 mg of americium-241) has been detected all around the experimental site by GM counter and field meter measurements.
It is plausible to assume that the radium-226 used by Reich during the Oranur experiment at Orgonon in January 1951 was put inside the small charger naked (unshielded). This can be argued both from a literature review and from the similarities with the results of Southgate’s experiment.
Higher concentrations of orgone energy units, that can be found both in natural and artificially-produced conditions, can be excited to a various degree by a tiny amount of a radioactive source. Once the Oranur reaction starts it propagates to the nearby units in the space until it vanishes when the energy of the excited orgone units is no longer enough to transmit the excitation to nearby orgone units. From an analysis of the results of the Oranur experiments available in the literature, it seems the extension of the Oranur field might be directly proportional to the effective dose released by the radioactive material used in the experiment, and to the concentration of energy orgone units available in the experimental orgonotic system.
The higher the concentration of orgone energy, either in an open or in a closed orgonotic system, the lower the amount of radioactive material required to obtain the same results. In case of a natural standard concentration of orgone energy units, typical of the environment, the amount of radioactive source to obtain the same results is by far higher.
The Oranur sickness a living system is developing is not due to the charged particles and the photons emitted by the radioactive source that hit the system, but is given by the reaction of the orgone energy units contained in the system to the ionization action of the radiations that transform the qualities of the orgone units, originally characterized by a dynamic, undulatory and homogenous movement, into a highly chaotic and dis-homogeneous flow. This change of state, at the end, give rise to the typical sickness encountered during the reaction.
Oranur field properly contained and controlled might have technological applications such as 1) reducing the decay constant of a radioactive element; 2) energy production (motor force) and antigravity; 3) cure of diseases; 4) and development of higher consciousness states, just to name a few known to date (122).
The results obtained in the Oranur experiment are the prime and the best evidence that the Universe and our atmosphere is not empty but filled with a continuum consisting of energetic units or, as Reich called it, orgone energy units whose presence, however, dates back to immemorial times where philosophers and scientists mentioned and discussed it for the first time.
According to the above consideration, Einstein’s view and models of the cosmos seem inadequate to represent and explain all the phenomena and the physical realities of our world and need a substantial revision. An update of those models, by introducing the effects of the presence of an energetic medium, is then more than needed.
Being an Oranur reaction relatively easy and inexpensive to produce; the extension of the resulting Oranur field go beyond national boundaries; and the associated damages it can produce on living systems and on the environment very high, it should be mandatory that worldwide Radioprotection Governmental Bodies and Competent Authorities, Health Agencies, and Research Institutes must take the responsibility to update their scientific view of the natural and physical phenomena by re-evaluating Reich’s works, and carrying out strictly controlled laboratory experiments in order to explore and verify all the pros/cons of an Oranur reaction and its associated field, and take appropriate measures so that to guarantee the

safety and the health of the human beings and of the environment of the whole planet.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wish to thank Leon Southgate for the critical review of the final manunoscript.

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References

Reich W, The Anti Nuclear Radiation Effect of Cosmic Orgone Energy, Orgone Energy Bulletin, Orgone Institute Press, Maine, Vol 3, N° 1, January 1951.
Reich W, General Meeting – January 3, 1951, HMS, Boston, Box 11 – Material Evidence for Court (Never Presented: Oranur & Orop desert) – Conspiracy.
Reich W, General Meeting – January 3, 1951.
Oranur was coined by Reich as an acronym for Orgonomic Anti Nuclear Radiation.
Reich discussed the properties of the Orur or Oranur radium in detail in his last book Contact with Space (Core Pilot Press, Usa, 1957). Currently the book is published by the Wilhelm Reich Museum. A critical review of the properties of the Orur and its applications can be found in Maglione R, The Legendary Shamir, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, Milan, 2017, pages 323-363.
Reich W, Reich W, The Oranur Experiment: First Report (1947-1951), The Wilhelm Reich Foundation, Rangeley, Maine, 1951, page 274.
The Oranur experiment took place at Orgonon’s laboratories, in Maine, in the first half of January, 1951.
Reich W, Reich W, The Oranur Experiment: First Report (1947-1951), The Wilhelm Reich Foundation, Rangeley, Maine, 1951, page 277. Reich does not describe here the characteristics of the small orgone charger he used. It can be presumed it was a small 1-fold orgone accumulator of the same type used later on to contain the radioactive source utilized in the Oranur experiment. Besides, it is known from the literature that zinc sulphide is not a radioactive chemical substance and exhibits properties of phosphorescence when struck by charged particles. According to Wilcox (The Oranur Experiment, March 30, 2002, paper available online) what Reich measured was not just plain zinc sulphide, but was some other, radioactive substance mixed in with it in order to have been radioactive. Wilcox hypothesized that what Reich referred to as "radioactive zinc sulphide" was the same concoction used in radium wristwatch dials, namely, zinc sulphide with radioactive radium mixed in, in order to make the zinc sulphide glow in the dark, and possibly with also the addition of a little bit of silver.
Reich W, Ibid, pages 274-275. Here Reich does not specify whether the radioactive zinc sulphide, was kept inside the small charger naked or inside the ¼” lead shielding.
Reich W, Ibid, page 336.
Application for the radioisotopes procurement to Radioisotopes (RI) Branch of AEC (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) was done by telegram on December 4, 1950 by Reich (OIRL). Response to Reich by RI Branch AEC was done by letter on December 6 (application) and December 15 (procurement), 1950. Later Reich ordered two mg of radium-226 needed for the experiment to the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp, NYC. The company responded by letter on January 3, 1951 (Reich W, Ibid, page 339). The two units arrived at Orgonon two days later. According to Eden, in the middle of December 1950 Reich applied to the AEC for 20 mCi of phosphorus-32 (P-32). The ordered nuclear material either was delayed or never arrived at Orgonon. Reich thereupon ordered two mg of pure radium from a private laboratory (he does not specify which it was) that arrived at Orgonon on January 5, 1951 (Eden J, Orgone Energy. The Answer to Atomic Suicide, Exposition Press, Inc, New York, 1972, pages 94-95). It is interesting to note here that Eden reported that on the same day of the arrival one of the two units of radium kept in its lead container was placed in a garage some distance from the laboratory.

The second unit was placed in a strong orgone energy accumulator that was itself located in the orgone room without specifying whether it was shielded by its lead container as he clearly reported for the control unit (Eden J, Ibid, page 95).
The students’ laboratory is the premise which contained the orgone room and where the Oranur experiment was carried out. The orgone room was a 1-fold orgone accumulator with size of 18 x 18 ft (around 5.5 x 5.5 meter).
According to Reich, on the basis of many subjective as well as objective observations, the whole region of the 280 acreage at Orgonon possessed a much higher level of orgone energy than any other region, due to the continuous work that had been carried out there for many years (Reich W, Ibid, page 310). As a consequence of this, due to the radioactivity being proportional to the content of orgone energy units, the natural background at Orgonon just before the Oranur experiment was at least twice the natural background the area possessed some years earlier (before Reich started all his research activities with orgone devices), i.e. 8-15 CPM (Reich W, Ibid, page 226).
Reich W, Ibid, page 275.
Reich W, Ibid, table at page 280.
Reich W, Ibid, figure 12 at page 279.
Journal of Orgonomy, Vol 11, N° 1, May 1977, Orgonomic Publications, New York, Usa, figure at page 2.
Reich W, Ibid, page 279.
Reich W, Ibid, page 275.
Reich W, Ibid, page 281.
Reich W, Ibid, page 282.
Reich W, Ibid, page 281.
Reich W, Ibid, page 283.
Reich W, Ibid, pages 283-284.
Reich W, Ibid, pages 283-284; and 287-288.
Reich W, Ibid, page 337.
Reich W, Ibid, page 300.
Reich W, Ibid, pages 298-299.
Reich W, Ibid, page 296.
In The Oranur Experiment book at page 309 Reich stated that all the nuclear materials that were used in the Oranur experiment were put inside a safe with heavy 4” walls of steel and cement and put half a mile (around 805 meter) away from the laboratory.
Reich W, Ibid, pages 309 and 317.
Reich W, Ibid, page 312.
Sharaf M, Historical Notes. Some Notes on Oranur – March, 1951, a 7-page typed letter dated March 15, 1951, Reich’s Archive, HMS, Boston, Box 11 (Material Evidence for Court).
Reich W, Ibid, page 331.
Reich W, Ibid, page 292.
Reich W, Ibid, page 331.
Reich W, Ibid, page 332.
Reich W, Ibid, page 334.
Measurements were done by a Tracerlab SU-5 GM counter.
Reich W, Ibid, page 317.
Reich W, Ibid, page 318.
These mice were not those used in the Oranur experiment three months earlier.
Reich W, Ibid, page 320.
Reich W, Ibid, page 321.
The sizes of the inner space of the safe were 40 x 40 x 50 cm.
For a same amount of radium-226 in standard environmental conditions (never been affected by exposure to high orgone charges) the reading at 1 cm naked was about 16,000 CPM.
Reich W, Ibid, page 323. Reich does not specify here whether the nuclear material was put inside the great charger naked or inside its lead shielding.
Reich W, Ibid, page 324.
Reich W, Ibid, page 323.
Measurements were done by a Tracerlab SU-5.
Reich W, Ibid, data averaged from those reported in the table at page 323.
Reich W, Ibid, page 325.
Reich W, Ibid, page 327.
Reich W, Ibid, page 328.
Reich W, Ibid. See for instance reference to the experimental activities at pages 278, 281, and 283.
Reich W, Ibid, page 280.
Reich W, Ibid, page 281.
Maglione R, the Legendary Shamir, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, Milan, 2017, pages 114-158.
An alpha particle is a nucleus of a helium atom, with the two orbiting electrons missing. It is characterized by a positive electric charge. This kind of particle loses energy quickly as soon as leaving the radioactive element.

Ultimately, all alpha particles may find two electrons in the environment and become atoms of helium gas. If radium-226 is kept in a closed container the alpha-particles can combine with the electrons emitted by the metal walls of the container as a consequence of the ionization effect of the gamma-rays of the radioactive source on the metal. The phenomenon may occur when the metal, the walls of the container are made of, is available in nature in different isotopes and is unstable. In this case the alpha particles may find two electrons in the closed environment and form an atom of helium in the gas state (Gofman JW, Radiation and Human Health, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, Usa, 1981, page 27).
Radioactive Material Safety Data Sheet, Stuart Hunt & Associates, Alberta, Canada.
Reilly D, Ensslin N, Smith H (Edited by), Passive Nondestructive Assay of Nuclear Materials, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC, 1991, pages 31-42.
The build-up factor (B) has been introduced in the classical Lambert-Beer equation to take into account conditions of poor geometry, i.e. for a broad beam or for a very thick shield, in that the classical equation of the emerging intensity (for B = 1) underestimates the intensity of the radiations transmitted by a shield thickness. The build-up factor assumes that under conditions of poor geometry a significant number of photons may be scattered by the shield into the detector, or photons that had been scattered out of the beam may be scattered back in after a second collision, so it includes both the contribution of the primary and the scattered radiations, at any point in a beam. It is always greater than 1, and have been calculated for various gamma energies and for various absorbers. In general, it is a function of the attenuation coefficient, the thickness of the shielding material L, and the energy of the gamma radiation.
Reilly D, Ensslin N, Smith H, (Edited by), Ibid, pages 27-28.
Reilly D, Ensslin N, Smith H, (Edited by), Ibid, page 30.
Jorgustin K, Nuclear Radiation Shielding Protection, October 16, 2016. Available at https://modernsurvivalblog.com
Acronym for Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Acronym of International Commission on Radiological Protection.
Acronym of United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The effective dose determines how dangerous an individual’s exposure to radiations can be. It takes into consideration not only the nature of the incoming radiation but also the sensitivities of the body parts affected. The unit of effective dose is the sievert (Sv), the same unit as is used for the equivalent dose absorbed locally by an organ, a gland or any other part of the body. Examples of effective dose are the doses resulting from a year exposure to natural radioactivity, radioactivity encountered in the workplace, radiation emitted by medical testing and finally accidental exposure to radioactivity. In an European country like Italy, the population is exposed each year to an average effective dose of about 4.5 mSv per capita. This value is the combination of different contributions such as natural radioactivity (2 mSv), of radioactivity of medical origin (1.2 mSv), and radiation linked to other human activities including nuclear (1.3 mSv). Italian regulations set at 1 mSv per year maximum admissible effective dose resulting from human activities outside the radioactivity from the above expositions.
Acronym of United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
Severe exposures to high levels of radiation such as medium (0.2 Sv to 2 Sv), high (2 Sv to 10 Sv) and very high (>10 Sv) effective dose can be instead life-threatening. Absorption of a dose between 0.5 and 2 Sv will result in a light reaction involving nausea, asthenia and vomiting between 3 and 6 hours after the exposure. Somewhere between 4 and 4.5 Sv lies the so-called DL50 level, which is the point at which exposure will be fatal in 50% of cases.

Patients whose entire bodies have been exposed to doses of this magnitude will exhibit Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), a condition whose severity will depend on the dose absorbed, the exposure time, the type of radiation involved and the distribution of the radiation through the body. ARS is characterized by hematological symptoms (bone marrow damages), digestive symptoms (gastro-intestinal tract damages) and neurological symptoms in the central nervous system. Finally, exceptional measures for radioprotection of the population are taken and implemented in case of accident or radiological emergency such as in nuclear accidents. Intervention levels expressed in terms of doses are used as benchmarks for governments to decide on a case by case, the actions to put in place:
– sheltering the population in a safe place, if the predicted effective dose exceeds 10 mSv;
– evacuation, if the predicted effective dose exceeds 50 mSv;
– administration of stable iodine, when the thyroid dose is likely to exceed 100 mSv.
Specific activity is the activity per quantity of a radioactive source and is a physical property of that radionuclide. Activity is a quantity related to radioactivity, and is a measure of the number of disintegrations occurring per second in a particular radioactive isotope, or how many rays are emitted in that time. The units of activity are the becquerels (Bq), where 1 Bq is the activity of a substance that has one nucleus decaying per second. Generally, becquerels are small units, and kilo (kBq), mega (MBq) and giga (GBq) becquerels are more frequently used. Its related and more common unit is the Curie (abbreviated Ci) which is 3.7 x 1010 transformations per second. Since the probability of radioactive decay for a given radionuclide is a fixed physical quantity, the number of decays that occur in a given time of a specific number atoms of that radionuclide is also a fixed physical quantity. Thus, specific activity is defined as the activity per quantity of atoms of a particular radionuclide. It is usually given in units of Bq/g, but another commonly used unit of activity is the curie (Ci) allowing the definition of specific activity in Ci/g.
Delacroix D, Guerre JP, Leblanc P, Hickman C, Radionuclide and Radiation Protection Data Handbook, Nuclear Technology Publishing, Ashford, England, 2002, page 147.
Reich W, Ibid, page 278, and page 319.
Reich W, Ibid, pages 309-310.
Reich W, Ibid, page 278.
Reich W, Ibid, page 295. It should be pointed out here that the one-cubit-foot OR charger is not the one used to contain the experimental one-mg needle of radium-226 of the Oranur experiment. Indeed it contained a scintilloscope for alpha particles observation which was characterized by a fraction of a microgram of radium.
The choice of the materials, the 1-fold ORAC would have been built, was done according to those described in the following available documentation:
1) The Orgone Energy Accumulator – Its Scientific and Medical Use (Orgone Institute Press, 1951), which Reich suggests to refer in order to select the best materials to be used for the construction of an orgone accumulator (Oranur Experiment, page 336). At page 16 of the above booklet Reich suggests to use iron as metal material, and plastic as organic material;
2) Construction and Use of the Orgone Accumulator (Orgone Institute Research Laboratories, Inc., 99-06 69th Avenue, Forest Hills, NY), a 2-page document available at the Reich’s archive, HMS, Boston, Box 28. In this latter document the construction plan of an accumulator, 4 ft height, and with a cross section of 5 ft2 (opening door’s side 2 ft, and width 2 ½ ft) is described. Suggested materials for the outer layer are Upson board (high-density wood fibre sheet), Beauver board (compressed wood fibre sheet), and Celotex (textured fibre sheet) with thickness between ¼” and ½”.