The Duct tape and tin foil nuclear reactor that a kid built!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was waiting to fall asleep just now, and so I looked up what I thought was an odd subject. Well, one thing lead to another and I came across this story of how a Boy Scout built a VERY DANGEROUS nuclear breeder reactor in his mom's back yard shed-irradiating his neighborhood in the process. How? Well by using mostly common items with low level radioactivity. Old clocks, lantern mantles, broken smoke detectors, aluminum foil, duct tape, etc. Why someone who is obviously intelligent would try this is beyond me. I thought I was adventuresome when I rebuilt an automatic transmission at that age! Anyhow, here's the link for anyone who is interested in reading the story. It's mostly text, but even so my jaw dropped just reading it. ( I have a small amount of knowledge about the subject and could see how dangerous it was-especially in light of the use of Radium. A small 60 yr old radium painted clock is the only thing I have that will peg my antique geiger counter.)

http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html

 

[2000.malibu.ls]

thats insane!lol boy scouts ftw! lmao.

 

[adumb]

i actually stumbled across that a few months ago.

god i love stumble.

great story, lol.

 

[Doober]

Go figure he's from the Detroit area :shock:

Even more reason to steer clear of D-troit 😛

 

[Blake442]

You have to admit that's pretty impressive...

Let's hope he's able to put that brain of his to good use in the future.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

What is sort of scary is that you have to wonder just how "impossible" it would to build a small scale nuclear weapon using commonly available (if hard to find) materials. Theoretically at least, you could build a heavy water breeder reactor if you had enough time and patience to distill the deuterium oxide out of common tap water, and then went to find enough low grade uranium ore in a naturally occurring region. This would take many, many years for an individual to get right, but it is theoretically possible. Actually making enough enriched uranium to reach critical mass is another matter entirely though. After all, the Iranians have yet to finish doing it, and they are working on an industrial scale with what I think is a CANDU reactor.

The funny thing is, I have verified the radioactivity of the Americium 241 in a smoke detector, and it barely reads anything. This may be different if I actually removed the source, but I need the smoke detector to work!

 

[Doober]

The guy is definitely smart 😀 My understanding of the article puts him around 30 right now.

 

[megaladon6]

there's a huge difference between higher radiation and a breeder. and honestly, 1000 times backround is nothing. 50mRem is about the average daily dose in the US. so you're talking 50Rem and those numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt. time period, radiation type, distance, even clothing make a big difference.
Dose-rem Effects
5-20 Possible late effects; possible chromosomal damage.
20-100 Temporary reduction in white blood cells.
100-200 Mild radiation sickness within a few hours: vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue; reduction in resistance to infection.
200-300 Serious radiation sickness effects as in 100-200 rem and hemorrhage; exposure is a Lethal Dose to 10-35% of the population after 30 days (LD 10-35/30).
300-400 Serious radiation sickness; also marrow and intestine destruction; LD 50-70/30.
400-1000 Acute illness, early death; LD 60-95/30.
1000-5000 Acute illness, early death in days; LD 100/10.

Source: Nuclear Arms Race: Craig and Jungerman, 1990
granted, he's definately put himself at risk of cancer, but not much more.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Yeah, but he was still able to get some enrichment of the pitchblende (Uranium 238? containing ore) going with his little particle gun made from lead, radium and beryllium. Technically, that would seem to make it a breeder reactor-even if it was on a very small scale. I was in no way insinuating that he had enough material to reach a sustained criticality (power plant) or go super critical (bomb). If it were this simple then terrorists around the globe would be setting off little nukes all the time. I just found it cool that such a relatively crude setup built by a high school student could achieve some form of enrichment. It makes me look forward to taking physics.

 

[Larryg]

"I dont believe I took more than five years off my life..." I love it! He's not only "wicked smart", he had the where with all to manipulate adults into providing him everything he needed, and the drive to work jobs to obtain cash as well. If I were his dad I'd be proud AND worried! Gotta love the Boy Scouts. He was right about one thing though, we do need to build brand new nuke plants for power and do it quickly.