David Charles Hahn (October 30, 1976 - September 27, 2016), sometimes called Radioactive Boy Scout or Nuclear Boy Scout , was an American who in 1994, at the age of 17, tried to build a homemade breeder reactor. A scout at Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducts his experiments secretly in the backyard of his mother's warehouse in Commerce Township, Michigan. While his reactor never reached a critical mass, Hahn drew the attention of the local police when he was stopped on another issue and they found material in his vehicle that was harrassing them, and he warned it was radioactive. Her mother's wealth has been cleared by the Environmental Protection Agency ten months later as a superfund cleaning site. Hahn reached the Eagle Scout rank shortly after his lab was dismantled.
Although the incident was not widely publicized at first, it became better known after the 1998 article Harper's by journalist Ken Silverstein. Hahn is also the subject of Silverstein 2004, The Radioactive Boy Scout . Hahn probably received a large radiation dose. As an adult, Hahn served in the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. She was later treated for mental illness, and her death at age thirty-nine was related to alcohol use.
Video David Hahn
Pembuatan reaktor
Hahn is a Scout who is fascinated by chemistry, and spent years doing an amateur chemistry experiment, which sometimes causes small explosions and other accidents. He was inspired in part by reading The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, and trying to collect samples from every element in the periodic table, including radioactive ones. He then received an award badge in Atomic Energy and became fascinated with the idea of ​​creating a breeder reactor in his home. Hahn diligently collects radioactive material by collecting small quantities of household products, such as americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lanterns mantle, radium of the clock, and tritium (neutron moderator) of the gun. His "reactor" is a bored tin block, and he uses lithium from a $ 1,000 battery to purify ash thorium using a Bunsen burner.
Hahn disguised himself as an adult scientist or a high school teacher to gain the trust of many professionals in the letter - and succeeded, despite misspellings and obvious errors. Hahn eventually hopes to create a breeder reactor, using low-level isotopes to convert thorium and uranium samples into breakable isotopes.
The homemade reactor never approached near critical mass - but eventually emitted dangerous levels of radiation, possibly over 1,000 times of normal background radiation. Fearing, Hahn began to disassemble his experiment - but on one occasion, the police found his activity, which triggered a Federal Radiological Emergency Response involving the FBI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. On June 26, 1995, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which has designated Hahn's mother property as a Superfund hazardous material cleanser, dismantled her warehouse and contents and buried it as low-level radioactive waste in Utah. Unknown to officials, his mother, feared that he would lose his home if the radiation was known, had collected most of the radioactive material and dumped it in a conventional trash can. Hahn refused medical evaluation for radiation exposure.
Maps David Hahn
Careers
Hahn became depressed after the scandal, a problem exacerbated by the breakup of his relationship with his girlfriend and his mother's suicide in early 1996. When he graduated from high school, he had no direction or plans thereafter. His father and stepmother first encouraged him to attend Macomb Community College. He enrolled in a metallurgical program there but often 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 unlicensed sailor. After a four-year tour, he reached an interior communications specialist with the rank of a small, third-class officer.
Hahn hopes to pursue a specialist nuclear career. EPA scientists believe that Hahn's life expectancy may have been greatly shortened by her exposure to radioactivity, mainly because she spent much time in a small enclosed warehouse with a large amount of radioactive material and few precautions, but she rejected their recommendation that she was examined at Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station.
After his time at USS Enterprise, Hahn was registered in the Marines and stationed in Japan. After several years, he was dismissed for medical reasons and returned to Michigan.
Next life
On August 1, 2007, Hahn was charged with a burglary in Clinton Township, Michigan for allegedly removing smoke detectors from the hallway of his apartment building. The intention is to get the americium from them. In mug shots, his face is covered with wounds that researchers believe may have come from exposure to radioactive material. During the Circuit Court hearing, Hahn pleaded guilty to attempting the theft of a building. The court's online documents said prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to time to be served and to enter an inpatient care facility. Under the terms of the defense, the original allegations of building theft will be dismissed on sentence, which is scheduled for October 4. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison for attempted theft. Court records state that his sentence will be delayed for six months while Hahn is undergoing medical treatment at the psychiatric unit of Macomb County Jail.
Death
Hahn died on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, at the age of 39. At that time, he was a resident of Shelby Charter Township, Michigan. Hahn's father has since confirmed that the cause of his death is alcohol poisoning.
In popular culture
The incident received little media attention at the time, but was disseminated after writer Ken Silverstein published an article about the incident at Harper's Magazine in 1998. In 2004 he expanded it into a book, The Radioactive Boy Scout , selected for feature movies in 2016.
In 1999, the physics majors of the University of Chicago Justin Kasper and Fred Niell, as part of a hunt that had one of its items, a "built-in breeding reactor," built a similar nuclear reactor that produced a small amount of plutonium..
In the episode of CSI: NY "Page Turner", Lawrence Wagner's character is based on David Hahn.
A television documentary, The Nuclear Boyscout, was aired on Channel 4 in the UK in 2003. In it, Hahn revived some of his methods for cameras.
Hahn's experiments inspired others to try a similar feat, notably Taylor Wilson, who at the age of 14 became the youngest person to produce nuclear fusion.
See also
- Richard Handl
References
Further reading
- Ghiorso, Albert (August 9, 2004). "Book Review" The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening Real Stories of Kid Whizz and His Own Artificial Nuclear Reactor ' ". Chemical and Technical News . 82 (32): 36-37 . Retrieved June 21, 2011 . Ã, The analysis is given from some of Hahn's works by Ghiorso, who has been involved in the discovery of about a dozen elements of transuranium.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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