Nuclear grade uranium readily available to the public

This guy from rockwell, USA, blogged about having uranium which alerted the FBI, when they raided his house they found he was building a 'Nuclear Reactor'.

Link to full story

This seems like a crazy idea to me, but what seems more crazy is the fact that with constant elevated terror alerts there could be anyone, anywhere, possesing uranium.

How would you feel if you found out your neighbour had a pocket full of uranium kept next door to your family?

Me? I think I would want this guy well away from me!

[edit on 17-1-2008 by xSMOKING_GUNx]

That article you linked mentioned nothing about uranium. For all you can tell from that article he could of collected the caesium 134 from smoke detectors.

Originally posted by Now_Then
That article you linked mentioned nothing about uranium. For all you can tell from that article he could of collected the caesium 134 from smoke detectors.

Someone alerted federal investigators after he blogged about possessing uranium and wrote that the background radiation in his home had doubled.

If you can get this sort of radiation increase from component parts from smoke detectors there is something seriously wrong here.

I am not that clued up on Nuclear radiation but doubling background levels CANT be a GOOD thing, even if regulations say it is safe?

It "seems" to be a case of a guy who thru together a few components including several very low sources of radiation...

He made what he was doing public knowledge and hence the "authorities" moved to make sure it was no big deal...

Which, as it turned out, it was no big deal...

Nothing to see here people, move along now...*whistles*

Originally posted by Rilence
Which, as it turned out, it was no big deal...

Nothing to see here people, move along now...*whistles*

Yes, I agree, this particular instance it seems that the guy was in relative control of his experiment.

But how many more people are out there doing this?

Seems to me it could potentialy be quite disasterous if there is others out there experimenting in non controlled enviroments.

More so, my point was the availability of the uranium.

This guy might have only had a small amount uranium, but on the back of that there indeed must be people out there with ample amounts, enough to harm others around them.

Originally posted by xSMOKING_GUNx
Yes, I agree, this particular instance it seems that the guy was in relative control of his experiment.

But how many more people are out there doing this?

Seems to me it could potentialy be quite disasterous if there is others out there experimenting in non controlled enviroments.

Have you read about the radioactive boy scout ?

reply to post by Now_Then


Yes, this was shown on chanel 4, and I think on the Discovery chanel in the UK, but never aired in the USA.

The true story of American teenager David Hahn, who set about building a nuclear reactor in his garden shed. But it all started to go wrong when he found that the shed was emitting very high levels of radiation. Was his homemade reactor producing plutonium?

Crazy kid? the photograph in the Wiki article you linked to shows the potential for the disasterous implications of the inexperienced scientific studys using these highly volatile substances!

Thanks for the info

Originally posted by Now_Then
That article you linked mentioned nothing about uranium. For all you can tell from that article he could of collected the caesium 134 from smoke detectors.

I've found the article on the original Radioactive Boy Scout who actually succeeded in building a mini-reactor-core in his garden shed and obtaining the fuel from various isotopes found in Radium paint, Americurium from smoke detectors, Thorium from gas-lamp mantles

...David Hahn had attempted to build a nuclear reactor in his mother's shed following a Boy Scout merit-badge project.

...David hit on the idea of building a model breeder reactor, a nuclear reactor that not only generates electricity, but also produces new fuel. His model would use the actual radioactive elements and produce real reactions. His blueprint was a schematic in one of his father's textbooks.

Ignoring safety, David mixed his radium and americium with beryllium and aluminum, all of which he wrapped in aluminum foil, forming a makeshift reactor core. He surrounded this radioactive ball with a blanket of small foil-wrapped cubes of thorium ash and uranium powder, tenuously held together with duct tape.

"It was radioactive as heck," David says, "far greater than at the time of assembly." Then he began to realize that he could be putting himself and others in danger...David's Geiger counter began picking up radiation five doors from his mom's house

reply to post by Now_Then


dammit you beat me to posting that link

reply to post by citizen smith


Again it makes me wonder how many other people are messing with this kind of home experiment?

Obviously this boyscout experiment was an extreme scenario and five houses away is quite a pollution zone in a populated area.

I am also wondering if it is that 'easy' to build a reactor, how many how many home nuclear scientists are experimenting with bombs?

Frightening!

Link to: 'The Nuclear Boy Scout' DVD

Right here!

Just incase anyone in the USA was interested

Although it is quite a cool watch, dont worry! Im not indorsing this film, it is purely subject matter.

Regards S_G