Introduction
David Hahn also called the "Radioactive Boy Scout" or the "Nuclear Boy Scout", is an American who attempted to build a homemade breeder nuclear reactor in 1994, at the age 17. As a scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mother's house in Clinton Township, Michigan. While his reactor never reached a dangerous state, the police became concerned when they stopped him for another reason and they found material in his vehicle that was dangerous. Ten months later, his mother's property was cleaned up by the Environmental Protection Agency at a Superfund cleanup site. Hahn attained Eagle Scout rank shortly after his lab was dismantled.
Key Idea 1
Growing up in suburban Detroit,
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He was inspired in part by reading “The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments” and tried to collect samples of every element in the periodic table, including the radioactive ones. He later received a merit badge in Atomic Energy and became fascinated with the idea of creating a breeder reactor in his home. Hahn worked hard to acquire this radioactive material by collecting small amounts from household products, such as americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles, radium from clocks and tritium from gunsights. His "reactor" was a bored-out block of lead, and he used lithium from $1,000 worth of purchased batteries to purify the thorium ash using a Bunsen burner. Hahn posed as an adult scientist or high school teacher to gain the trust of many professionals in letters, despite the presence of misspellings and obvious errors in his letters to them. Hahn ultimately hoped to create a breeder reactor, using low-level isotopes to transform samples of thorium and uranium into fissionable isotopes. Although his homemade reactor never came anywhere near reaching critical mass, it ended up emitting dangerous levels of radioactivity, likely well over 1,000 times normal background radiation. This scared Hahn and he began to dismantle his experiments, but when the police stopped him it led to the discovery of his …show more content…
His father and stepmother first encouraged him to attend Macomb Community College. He enrolled in a metallurgy program there but frequently skipped classes. He was then encouraged to join the military, so he enlisted in the Navy, assigned to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise as an undesignated seaman. Hahn had hoped to pursue a nuclear specialist career. EPA scientists believe that Hahn's life expectancy may have been greatly shortened by his exposure to radioactivity, particularly since he spent large amounts of time in the small, enclosed shed with large amounts of radioactive material and only minimal safety precautions, but he refused their recommendation that he be examined at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. On August 1, 2007, Hahn was arrested in Clinton Township, Michigan, for larceny, in relation to a matter involving several smoke detectors, allegedly removed from the halls of his apartment building. His intention was to obtain americium from them. In his mug shot, his face is covered with sores which investigators believe are from exposure to radioactive materials. During a Circuit Court hearing, Hahn pleaded guilty to attempted larceny of a building. The court’s online docket said prosecutors recommended that
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