Oleg Zabluda's blog
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
 
David Hahn (1976-present) aka the "Radioactive Boy Scout" built his "breeder reactor" in 1994 as follows:
David Hahn (1976-present) aka the "Radioactive Boy Scout" built his "breeder reactor" in 1994 as follows:

Source of alpha-particles was Radium (he found Radium paint in an old clock with a Geiger counter) and Americium from damaged smoke detectors.

His friend gave him some Beryllium from a chemistry lab.

alpha-particles + Beryllium/Aluminim = neutrons

He bought a small amount of pitchblende (Uranium ore) from Czechoslovakia as well as found a quarter trunkload of it on the shores of Lake Huron with a Geiger counter.

He got Thorium from replacement mantles for gas lanterns, which his accomplice stole from a store, he worked for.

His moderator was graphite [1].

"Breeder reactor" consisted of pulverized and mixed Radium/Americium/Beryllium/Aluminum neutron source, covered with a blanket of Thorium ash, natural Uranium powder, and graphite, all wrapped in aluminum foil and duct tape.

It was a breeder, but not a reactor, because there was no chain reaction [2]. He achieved radiation level 1000x the background, and it kept increasing, when he decided to dismantle it.

His reactor and potting shed had to be buried in a low-level radioactive waste facility in Utah. 

[1] and, irrelevantly, some tritium, which he stole from bow and gun sights, buying them, scrapping tritium, and returning as defective.

[2] He would need much larger quantities and much purer graphite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn#Creation_of_the_reactor
http://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/?single=1
http://books.google.com/books?id=OJJl0XoQjR4C
http://books.google.com/books?id=OJJl0XoQjR4C

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