4 ms·

The radioactive boy scout: the teenager who attempted to build a breeder reactor

60 points by TriinT 17y ago

cubix 17y ago
Apparently he was at it again in '07: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a6_1186335230 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a6_1186335230 What a shame. In the right environment, he could have done great things with his talent.
- mynameishere 17y ago
  Trying to make uranium out of lithium batteries....?
  - ryanwaggoner 17y ago
    More likely he was trying to harvest the americium-241 from the detectors: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=340 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=340
jasongullickson 17y ago
This is a good read for anyone who's ever wondered how hard it would be to gather a complete collection of the elements that make up the periodic table.
woadwarrior01 17y ago
I remember reading this a long time ago (~10 years) in the Reader's Digest.
Element2 17y ago
This is a classic story, here is what he looked like from the exposure to radiation: http://beto.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/david_hahn.jpg http://beto.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/david_hahn.jpg
- ludwig 17y ago
  I've seen that picture before, but it reminds me more of a meth-addict than anything else.
- tumult 17y ago
  No
RobertL 17y ago
It's always puzzled me why radioactivity is always associated with reactors and bombs. Natural radium is radioactive and has a billion year class half-life. It's more toxic than Plutonium-239 (e.g. the stuff they make thermonuclear devices with) and it's estimated that there are about 15,000 tons of it dissolved in all the oceans... What this means is that sea salt contains radioactive radium.... a substance that is more toxic than the dreaded plutonium... If we want to talk "radioactivity" then this is the kind of thing we need to be talking about, not stupid stories about teenagers playing around with breeder reactor technologies.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
jrockway 17y ago
It's really a shame that this kid couldn't get competent adult supervision. With some structure in his life, things might have turned out differently for him. His social engineering skills were quite impressive... although his habitual lying does make him seem like a psychopath. All in all, very cool, and very sad. At least he didn't get sent to prison.
blhack 17y ago
To me, this illustrates a breakdown of our education system. Why was this kid not noticed, and nurtured? Not to play the nerd card here, but I can almost guarantee that if he had had an exceptionally good throwing arm (instead of an affinity for chemistry), his school would have noticed and would have helped him develop. Maybe I'm just bitter because I grew up in a small town and saw this happening all around me. This story reminds me a lot of a very close friend of mine that used to manufacture all kinds of different chemicals in his garage, used some of the same social-engineering skills to obtain the necessary equipment to do so (accurate scales was always a problem because people though he was making meth), and was completely and totally ignored by his school. It's depressing; excelling physically seems to be more important than excelling mentally. Where does that leave us?
- asciilifeform 17y ago
  > Where does that leave us? It leaves us here: http://memepunks.blogspot.com/2006/06/americas-war-on-science.html http://memepunks.blogspot.com/2006/06/americas-war-on-scienc... and ultimately, here: http://yarchive.net/physics/effete.html http://yarchive.net/physics/effete.html Linus Pauling developed an interest in chemistry by experimenting incessantly throughout his childhood. Today, he would have been imprisoned. The new generation will have no Linus Pauling, unless the Third World - where one might still purchase a beaker without a license - supplies us with one.
  - jibiki 17y ago
    On the other hand, it's hard to argue that David Hahn's reactor should have been legal.
    - asciilifeform 17y ago
      "May as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb." The legal thing to do was to sit and vegetate in front of a TV set. Or beat smaller kids senseless. Or any of the other socially approved, mindless activities open to children today. He chose to be a free spirit, and paid the price.
jokermatt999 17y ago
I recall reading his book of it a while back. It was interesting, but I can't recall whether it added much to the article.
RK 17y ago
DIY home radiochemistry from some who actually seems to know what they are doing (a nuclear engineering grad student): http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/uranium-chemistry/ http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/uranium-chemistry...

60 points by TriinT 17y ago

cubix 17y ago

Apparently he was at it again in '07: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a6_1186335230 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0a6_1186335230 What a shame. In the right environment, he could have done great things with his talent.

mynameishere 17y ago
Trying to make uranium out of lithium batteries....?
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  More likely he was trying to harvest the americium-241 from the detectors: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=340 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=340

jasongullickson 17y ago

This is a good read for anyone who's ever wondered how hard it would be to gather a complete collection of the elements that make up the periodic table.

woadwarrior01 17y ago

I remember reading this a long time ago (~10 years) in the Reader's Digest.

Element2 17y ago

This is a classic story, here is what he looked like from the exposure to radiation: http://beto.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/david_hahn.jpg http://beto.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/david_hahn.jpg

ludwig 17y ago
I've seen that picture before, but it reminds me more of a meth-addict than anything else.
tumult 17y ago
No

RobertL 17y ago

It's always puzzled me why radioactivity is always associated with reactors and bombs. Natural radium is radioactive and has a billion year class half-life. It's more toxic than Plutonium-239 (e.g. the stuff they make thermonuclear devices with) and it's estimated that there are about 15,000 tons of it dissolved in all the oceans... What this means is that sea salt contains radioactive radium.... a substance that is more toxic than the dreaded plutonium... If we want to talk "radioactivity" then this is the kind of thing we need to be talking about, not stupid stories about teenagers playing around with breeder reactor technologies.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

jrockway 17y ago

It's really a shame that this kid couldn't get competent adult supervision. With some structure in his life, things might have turned out differently for him. His social engineering skills were quite impressive... although his habitual lying does make him seem like a psychopath. All in all, very cool, and very sad. At least he didn't get sent to prison.

blhack 17y ago

To me, this illustrates a breakdown of our education system. Why was this kid not noticed, and nurtured? Not to play the nerd card here, but I can almost guarantee that if he had had an exceptionally good throwing arm (instead of an affinity for chemistry), his school would have noticed and would have helped him develop. Maybe I'm just bitter because I grew up in a small town and saw this happening all around me. This story reminds me a lot of a very close friend of mine that used to manufacture all kinds of different chemicals in his garage, used some of the same social-engineering skills to obtain the necessary equipment to do so (accurate scales was always a problem because people though he was making meth), and was completely and totally ignored by his school. It's depressing; excelling physically seems to be more important than excelling mentally. Where does that leave us?

asciilifeform 17y ago
> Where does that leave us? It leaves us here: http://memepunks.blogspot.com/2006/06/americas-war-on-science.html http://memepunks.blogspot.com/2006/06/americas-war-on-scienc... and ultimately, here: http://yarchive.net/physics/effete.html http://yarchive.net/physics/effete.html Linus Pauling developed an interest in chemistry by experimenting incessantly throughout his childhood. Today, he would have been imprisoned. The new generation will have no Linus Pauling, unless the Third World - where one might still purchase a beaker without a license - supplies us with one.
- jibiki 17y ago
  On the other hand, it's hard to argue that David Hahn's reactor should have been legal.
  - asciilifeform 17y ago
    "May as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb." The legal thing to do was to sit and vegetate in front of a TV set. Or beat smaller kids senseless. Or any of the other socially approved, mindless activities open to children today. He chose to be a free spirit, and paid the price.

jokermatt999 17y ago

I recall reading his book of it a while back. It was interesting, but I can't recall whether it added much to the article.

RK 17y ago

DIY home radiochemistry from some who actually seems to know what they are doing (a nuclear engineering grad student): http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/uranium-chemistry/ http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/uranium-chemistry...