A boy and his homemade nuclear reactor

I spent several days trying to verify this. Harper's did reluctantly admit to having published it. However a search of government records, newspaper accounts, etc did not corroborate the story. There were roughly similar incidences that were some proximate in time and geography. From my research it appears something did happen but it was not nearly as good a story as the version presented above.

Well, rather extensive articles have been printed about the story in the last decade. One in particular was in Reader's Digest within the past few years. It did have photos of newspaper articles about the lad as I recall. If you are really interested in checking further, perhaps the Digest would be a place to start.

-- Dennis

It must be true - the CSM freaked:

And, for those who eschew googlegroups, here's the original link:

Also, to "president": Do not click the broken reply link at the bottom of the post - click the show options link at the top, then click _that_ reply link - that way, it quotes context. Then, trim as needed and bottom-post. Thanks.

Cheers! Rich

I thought for a moment I was going to find a picture of your son crouching over his homebrew reactor :-D.

Chris

See

I really like the story. It is a great story. I just tried to follow it up with EPA records, Atomic Energy records, Detroit Free Press, etc. I didn't have much luck. I couldn't find the town. I did find one incident that was somewhat similar. It may have been a boy scout running the business painting radium dials.

Neither the state or the federal EPA have any record that matches his very well. Some stories say that the names and site were changed to protect the people involved but that is illegal.

Bear Lake Radiation Site, Michigan In 1994 EPA Region 5 and the Michigan Department of Public Health discovered a home in Bear Lake, Michigan, that was heavily contaminated with radium as the result of a home business that repaired and repainted radium aircraft dials.

In 1995, under an emergency, time-critical removal action, EPA relocated the family an attempted to decontaminate their possessions, home , and land. The possessions could not be decontaminated and were disposed of as radioactive waste. The home was demolished and the debris and large volumes of soil from the property were also disposed of as radioactive waste.

Commerce Township, MI is 228 miles away.

I can't find any "golf manor" in Michigan.

Based on the articles details, this guy never had a chance. Wrong materials and insufficient knowledge. But like a stupid rat he could collect enough material to poison himself.

Exactly. The article says: "Ignoring safety, David mixed his radium and americium with beryllium and aluminum, all of which he wrapped in aluminum foil, forming a makeshift reactor core. He surrounded this radioactive ball with a blanket of small foil-wrapped cubes of thorium ash and uranium powder, tenuously held together with duct tape."

A container of random radioactive stuff (while possibly dangerous) is no more a "nuclear reactor" than a cardboard box filled with random mechanical and electrical parts is a CNC machine. To produce a nuclear chain reaction, you need to have a critical mass of some pretty specific stuff, coupled with a proper design. Anything less, and all you have is a pile of (possibly) radioactive crap.

Vaughn

Granted, calling the mess a "reactor core" is loverly for inciting "OH MY GOD!" reactions, since it isnt' even close - but John Q. Public isn't likely to make it past "nuclear" without starting to cringe and whine about there needing to be a law. The Detroit Free Press/Detroit News has

*LONG* been known by those familiar with them for trying to get *EXACTLY* that sort of reaction. (no pun intended)

HOWEVER...

His goal with this "core" wasn't either a chain reaction *OR* fission - He was attempting (in a rather clever fashion, no less) to use the thing to irradiate, and thereby "hop up", his thorium and low-grade uranium for later use as a fissionable when he actually started on the "let's see if we can make a scale model nuclear reactor" part of his project.

If you take the time to read through the article completely, you'll find that David was never successful in constructing a working reactor with functional nuclear fuel. He was "busted" before he even made an attempt in that direction. However, he was *EXTREMELY* successful at putting together most of what he would have needed had he been able to continue his experiments. Even money says that if he'd been left alone, he would have succeeded quite well, earning that merit badge (and then some) and possibly even making a breakthrough such as will never be made in today's "Oh no! It's nuclear/radioactive! Shut it down, lock it up, bury it deep, and shoot the guy that put it together" environment.

I give the kid LOTS of credit - He set out to achieve a goal, and was doing a damn fine job of making it happen using easily available materials and technology.

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn\'t on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn\'t contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry...  for more info

materials

enough

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you

From my reading of the incident, he was not interested in producing a hot chain reaction and knew he did not have a critical mass. He was interested in irradiating some of the material in the reactor to produce U-233 from the thorium and Pu-239 from the U-238, which are themselves radioactive and easier to fission. Hence the "breeder" designation.

That's right Don. He was not putting together a nuclear chain reactor, he was putting together a breeder and he succeeded. He was able to change the materials in desired direction, as evidenced by dramatic rise in radiation level as his breeding process went on.

While I applaud his achievement and "social engineering" skills, he made some unforgivable mistakes in containing radiation.

Not my cup of tea, but very admirable.

i

But a bucket of crap is all you need to make for a very messy bomb / contamination thing. Thus - having a full blown state of the art this or that isn't needed.

Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Vaughn Sim>

foil,

tenuously

a

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To me he seems like some sort of fixated dimwit.

You're going to make a call like that based on a newspaper article, from an outfit known for slanting things for the greatest "Oh shit, the sky is falling" reaction???

Hooo, brother...

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn\'t on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn\'t contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry...  for more info

He had a Geiger counter and knew about lead shielding but still was such a slob that he started getting readings from down the street?

(shrug) He was really interested in something that he didn't fully understand. Something hazardous that can blow up on you at any given time, sure, but not that unusual. Kinda like men being interested in women.

....but less dangerous....

" snipped-for-privacy@carbideprocessors.com" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

I found it on the Detroit Free Press site with no trouble. Click on Archives, then select 1995 for the year and type in David Hahn. You get:

EPA CLEANS OUT TEEN'S RADIOACTIVE LAB July 1, 1995 ?? 424 words ?? ID: 9501240819 A Clinton Township teenager had been experimenting in his garden-shed laboratory for four years before the Environmental Protection Agency hauled away 39 barrels of low-level radioactive material this week.. It took three days and $50,000 for EPA workers in protective suits to empty the shed, in his mother's Pinto Drive backyard in Commerce Township, of the containers. . David Hahn, 18, who lives on Cooper Drive in Clinton Township, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

If you want to read more you have to buy it.

I found the town on Microsoft Streets and Trips with no trouble. I even found the street.

Thanks, a real interesting thread. And just in time for Easter, I I've found what must be a neighbor and his rabbit: