• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Swedish dude creates small nuclear meltdown in his kitchen...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Whoozyerdaddy

Whoozyerdaddy

Lifer
Mmhmmm... Yeah.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-03-11-33-45

Swedish man caught trying to split atoms at home

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby.

Richard Handl told The Associated Press that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorized possession of nuclear material.

The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove.

Only later did he realize it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden's Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.

"I have always been interested in physics and chemistry," Handl said, adding he just wanted to "see if it's possible to split atoms at home."

The police raid took place in late July, but police have refused to comment. If convicted, Handl could face fines or up to two years in prison.

Although he says police didn't detect dangerous levels of radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges the project wasn't such a good idea.

"From now on, I will stick to the theory," he said.
Click to expand...

Seriously... if Joe Blow Swede can get nuclear material and dink around with it in his kitchen, how have the ter'rists not built a bomb yet?

Repost
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2182346
-Schadenfroh (AT Mod)
 
It takes ENRICHED uranium to make a bomb. That's tons of uranium to get the material necessary for a single bomb and that doesn't even count the banks of centrifuges necessary for enrichment. Building the bomb is simple, getting the materials isn't.
 
Whoozyerdaddy said:
Seriously... if Joe Blow Swede can get nuclear material and dink around with it in his kitchen, how have the ter'rists not built a bomb yet?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure there's a difference between standard radioactive materials and weapons-grade versions of them.
 
Meltdown. LOL. What a load of BS.

The most likely thing that this guy did is create a few nuclear fissions. It's pretty straightforward to do, and not really particularly dangerous, unless you use large quantities of materials.

At a best guess, he made a neutron emitter out of americium (from smoke detectors) and beryllium (from 10 GHz transistors). He then directed the neutron beam at some natural uranium (either as ore, or as uranium glass - a popular type of glassware made in the early 20th century due to a delicate green color).

Under bombardment of neutrons from the generator, the uranium atoms would split, leaving the uranium much more radioactive than before (due to build up of trace quantities of nuclear fission waste). However, the amount of radioactivity that could be created with such a weak reactor would be trivial.

There is a story of 'the radioactive boy scout' who took this to a whole different level, by rather serendipitously finding some extremely high activity materials, with which to produce a very much stronger neutron generator as well as getting hold of pure uranium metal.
 
Mark R said:
Meltdown. LOL. What a load of BS.

The most likely thing that this guy did is create a few nuclear fissions. It's pretty straightforward to do, and not really particularly dangerous, unless you use large quantities of materials.

At a best guess, he made a neutron emitter out of americium (from smoke detectors) and beryllium (from 10 GHz transistors). He then directed the neutron beam at some natural uranium (either as ore, or as uranium glass - a popular type of glassware made in the early 20th century due to a delicate green color).

Under bombardment of neutrons from the generator, the uranium atoms would split, leaving the uranium much more radioactive than before (due to build up of trace quantities of nuclear fission waste). However, the amount of radioactivity that could be created with such a weak reactor would be trivial.

There is a story of 'the radioactive boy scout' who took this to a whole different level, by rather serendipitously finding some extremely high activity materials, with which to produce a very much stronger neutron generator as well as getting hold of pure uranium metal.
Click to expand...

expect the police, FBI and DHS on your doorstep in 3...2...1...
 
Mark R said:
Meltdown. LOL. What a load of BS.

The most likely thing that this guy did is create a few nuclear fissions. It's pretty straightforward to do, and not really particularly dangerous, unless you use large quantities of materials.

At a best guess, he made a neutron emitter out of americium (from smoke detectors) and beryllium (from 10 GHz transistors). He then directed the neutron beam at some natural uranium (either as ore, or as uranium glass - a popular type of glassware made in the early 20th century due to a delicate green color).

Under bombardment of neutrons from the generator, the uranium atoms would split, leaving the uranium much more radioactive than before (due to build up of trace quantities of nuclear fission waste). However, the amount of radioactivity that could be created with such a weak reactor would be trivial.

There is a story of 'the radioactive boy scout' who took this to a whole different level, by rather serendipitously finding some extremely high activity materials, with which to produce a very much stronger neutron generator as well as getting hold of pure uranium metal.
Click to expand...

The party van will be outside your house momentarily.
 
Whoozyerdaddy said:
Mmhmmm... Yeah.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-03-11-33-45



Seriously... if Joe Blow Swede can get nuclear material and dink around with it in his kitchen, how have the ter'rists not built a bomb yet?
Click to expand...

If you want pretty much anything and have the right connections you can get shit outside of the US.

It's not talked about because people like the head in the sand approach and focusing on issues that will never affect them.
 
Bateluer said:
And the ATOT armchair physicists come out. This guy's probably smarter than all of ATOT combined.
Click to expand...

You can get crappy uranium on eBay. When I worked in a physics lab (it was condensed matter, nothing to do with radioactivity really), I had cause to order all sorts of pure metals from suppliers. I never ordered uranium, and it is extremely expensive, but you can do it.
 
alkemyst said:
If you want pretty much anything and have the right connections you can get shit outside of the US.

It's not talked about because people like the head in the sand approach and focusing on issues that will never affect them.
Click to expand...
True. The Norway killer mail ordered his ammo from the US...

:hmm:
 
I remember seeing an article about a teenage who built a small nuclear reactor in his basement. He was praised for it
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top