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Backyard Nuclear Reactor

February 9, 2005 - 6:29am — Bibliofuture

I stumbled upon this book. Sounds interesting. I don't remember hearing about this in the press when it happened. Do any of you remember hearing the story?
The Radioactive Boy Scout : The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor

Comments

February 9, 2005 - 12:18pm — Fang-Face

Yep!

Yeah, I saw a story on the boob tube one time about some kid who turned his father's backyard tool shed into a radiation lab and irradiated half the neighbourhood. His source for fissionables was some company that reprocesses smoke detectors and he had built some kind of neutron gun to excite decay. They figure he took twelve or twenty years off his life. Nothing serious, really; just due to the insidious nature of radioactivity.

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February 9, 2005 - 2:58pm — AshtabulaGuy

I did my undergrad work in that area...

I read through the book and was simultaneously amused and horrified. The subject of the book is a real person who, even though he joined the military, is still kept under close watch in the event any inquiries are made. The area concerned was always considered rather upscale while I was a student out on Avon Road (formerly known as 23 Mile Road) at Rochester College. If you have plenty of intestinal fortitude, it is a good read. Be prepared to be very, very afraid of how easily something like what is talked about in the book can be done.

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February 9, 2005 - 4:32pm — Anonymous Patron (not verified)

Slashdot Had It

I remember this from slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/science/02/06/17/19223 5.shtml?tid=137

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