In the Shadow of the Manhattan Project : Radium, Fraud, and Secrecy at Eldorado

In early 1945, the Canadian government learned about financial irregularities at Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited, which had supplied uranium to the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. Fraud worth millions in stolen radium and corporate opportunities was uncovered, yet secrecy prevailed through decades of criminal investigations, abandoned prosecutions, and civil lawsuits. In the Shadow of the Manhattan Project tells this remarkable story.

Set against the backdrop of the Second World War and high-level wartime diplomacy, this book explains why radium was worth stealing and how three well-positioned, trusted employees almost got away with it. Decades later, environmental contamination from the stolen radium was still being discovered, from downtown Toronto to soil in the suburbs.

This cautionary tale explores how greed, notions of national security, and weak oversight created the perfect conditions for fraud and hobbled legal responses to brazen corporate malfeasance.