The video was authentic and showed Galen Winsor, a figure known for his unconventional views on nuclear energy and radiation safety. Winsor believed the fear of nuclear radiation was exaggerated.
What's False:
However, Winsor was not a "renowned physicist," but rather had a degree in chemistry and worked as a nuclear chemist.
What's Undetermined:
We were unable to verify the substance Winsor consumed in the video or confirm whether it was broadcast live on television.
A viral video has circulated on social media for years , allegedly showing a "renowned physicist" named Galen Winsor who purportedly ate uranium on live television in 1985 to prove it was harmless.
This claim has been shared across platforms like Instagram and Facebook , often accompanied by statements asserting Winsor's belief that the dangers of radiation were exaggerated. For instance, one Instagram post with the video read:
Galen Winsor was a renowned physicist in the United States. He designed and worked on many nuclear power plants. Winsor believed that the fear of radiation has been exaggerated. So that a few powerful people can control power resources, like coal, oil.
To prove his point, Winsor ate Uranium live on camera. He swam in the reactor cooling pools to convince the public and also drank the nuclear reactor water to prove his point. Winsor died in 2008, at 82, due to an unknown cause.
One Facebook user captioned the video: "Galen Winsor claimed people were 'too afraid' of radioactivity and this was a thought many held during this period. But this 'thought' ended in the worst possible way with nuclear disasters and thousands of people suffering to this day because of them."
In short, the footage was authentic and originated from a video titled "The Nuclear Scare Scam" that featured Winsor, a figure known for his unconventional views on nuclear energy and radiation safety — including that the fear of nuclear radiation was exaggerated.
However, we were unable to independently verify the substance Winsor consumed in the video or confirm whether it was broadcast live on television. Therefore, we rate the claim that the video shared on social media showed a renowned physicist who ate radioactive uranium on live TV in 1985 to prove it was harmless as a "Mixture" of true, false and undetermined information.
The clip that circulated on social media originated from a longer recording titled "The Nuclear Scare Scam," available on the YouTube channel of EIKE - European Climate and Energy Institute, a German group that rejects the idea of human-caused climate change:
Galen Winsor is a nuclear physicist of renown who worked at, and helped design, nuclear power plants in Hanford, WA; Oak Ridge, TN; Morris, IL, San Jose, CA; Wimington, NJ. Among his positions of expertise he was in charge of measuring and controlling the nuclear fuel inventory and storage. Galen Winsor has traveled and lectured all over America, spoken on national talk radio, and made several videos exposing the misunderstood issues of nuclear radiation. He shows that fear of radiation has been exaggerated to scare people … so a few powerful people can maintain total control of the world's most valuable power resource. Filmed by Ben Williams in 1986.
The caption of the video that was originally uploaded to the Ben Williams Library website also indicated that it was published in 1986.
Who Was Galen Winsor?
Our research confirmed that Winsor was indeed a real figure, according to multiple newspapers from the 1980s.
Winsor was known for his unconventional views on nuclear energy and radiation safety. He worked on several nuclear power plants in the United States and became a vocal critic of what he perceived as excessive fear surrounding radiation.
For instance, Winsor was quoted in an article published on Oct. 27, 1985, in The Daily Herald of Provo, Utah, with the title "Former Industry Worker Attacks Federal Rules on Nuclear Waste," we found via the Newspapers.com archive:
(Newspapers.com)
The article said Winsor had eaten uranium oxide at a recent lecture (emphasis ours):
Galen Winsor isn't afraid of radiation. He carries uranium in his briefcase and even eats it.
He ate uranium oxide at a lecture he gave Friday. That speech was sponsored by the Utah County Speakers Bureau and the John Birch Society.
"What I've just done makes me high level nuclear waste," Winson said as he took a tongue reading with his geiger counter.
"According to federal regulations, they will have to bury me 3,000 feet in Carlsbad, N.M."
Ray Carlson introduced Winsor, saying, "if it weren't for his credentials, his message would be almost unbelievable."
Winsor told the crowd a cowboy from Nevada never passes a warm water poll [sic]. As manager of safety, he swam in a pool cooling high level nuclear waste at a nuclear reactor, and even used spent nuclear fuel to heat his pool at home.
That article, as well as one published in the same newspaper several days earlier, said Winsor had 33 years of experience working in the nuclear industry.
The Oregonian in Portland also reported in 1985 that Winsor ate uranium, providing a photograph showing a similar scene to the one in the viral video (emphasis ours):
[...] Galen Winsor, who has a dramatic way of making his point that radioactive substances don't hurt you: He eats them.
"It's just another form of sun-tan," the Richland, Wash., resident said, as he poured a small pile of uranium oxide into his palm , stuck out his tongue and coated it with the yellow powder that, unrefined, is the first chemical step toward nuclear reactor fuel.
"I do this in front of audiences, and they go wild," Winsor said, swallowing and grinning with the pride of one who has just roped an intractable steer.
(Newspapers.com)
The article reported that "state and federal officials who investigated the legality of Winsor's private stock of uranium, are more than a little skeptical about his claims — they regard him as an irresponsible nuisance," highlighting that Winsor probably exposed himself to a very small dose of radiation from the uranium:
"Winsor's activities are troubling but, technically speaking, quite legal," said Nancy Kerner, supervisor of the waste management unit of the radiation control section of the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services.
Since the uranium Winsor eats is insoluble and probably "exposes his gut to a few millirem, it's probably not that bad," Kerner said, "but it's irresponsible."
Winsor was also mentioned in other articles, such as "Winsor tours for Birch Society" in the Tri-City Herald in Pasco, Washington, (1984), "Physicist to Speak Against Undue Nuclear Regulation" in New Jersey's Press of Atlantic City (1984), and "Health Physicist Talks About Energy Production Monday" in California's Pacifica Tribune (1985).
Winsor's name does not appear in scientific journals. He was briefly mentioned in a booklet, "Stories from physics 8: Quantum, Nuclear and Particle Physics," published by the Institute of Physics at the King's College London:
Radioactive swimming
In the early days of the American nuclear industry, during the 1940s, the rules for the handling of radioactive materials were laxer. Galen Winsor was a safety officer at the Hanford Nuclear Site, the location of the first full-size plutonium-producing reactor. When Hanford's reactors were decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, the site housed 177 storage tanks, containing 200,000 m3 of high-level radioactive waste. Winsor swam in the pool where spent fuel rods were kept and the water was heated to 38°C. He further claimed to have drunk a glass of water from the pool every day without ill effects. By contrast, since the 1980s, former workers have been attempting to gain compensation for symptoms caused by alleged exposure to radiation due to lax safety measures at the plant.
Winsor's obituary, originally p ublished by the Tri-City Herald in July 2008 and available via Legacy.com , said he had a degree in chemistry and worked as a nuclear chemist:
On July 19, 2008, Galen Hulet Winsor went peacefully from his mortal life to return to his Father in Heaven, there to be reunited with his eternal companion, LaDene Mikkelsen Winsor, who preceded him in death 15 years earlier.
[…]
He graduated from Lincoln County High School in 1944 and joined the Navy that September. He served a tour in the South Pacific and was a radio operator on Guam where he was wounded by a sniper.
After leaving the service, he attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, where he graduated with a degree in chemistry. There he met LaDene and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on August 29, 1947.
They moved to Richland, WA, in August of 1950 where he worked for General Electric at Hanford as a Nuclear Chemist. He helped build and run processes involving extracting Plutonium.
[…]
In December 1964, the family moved to San Jose, CA, where Galen was involved in designing a commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.
[…]
In May of 1969, he moved to Joliet, IL, where the Midwest Fuel Recovery Plant was built.
[…]
GE then had Galen manage a uranium ore facility in Nucla, CO. Galen accepted a job with United Nuclear in October 1976 and moved back to Richland.
"He has had many jobs and projects that promoted and advocated nuclear energy even after retiring," the obituary concluded.
What We Know and Don't Know
In summary, the video in question is authentic and features Winsor, a nuclear chemist known for his unconventional views on nuclear energy and radiation safety. Winsor believed that the fear surrounding nuclear radiation was exaggerated, however, contrary to claims in wildly spread social media posts, he was not a "renowned physicist" but rather held a degree in chemistry and later worked as a nuclear chemist.
It remains undetermined whether the substance Winsor consumed in the in-question video was uranium or whether the event was broadcast live on television.
We have investigated other claims regarding radioactivity, including:
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