NationMaster - Encyclopedia: David Hahn

David Hahn (born October 1976) attempted to build a nuclear breeder reactor in 1994 in his backyard shed in Clinton Township, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at the age of 17. Core of a nuclear reactor A nuclear power station. ... The fast breeder or fast breeder reactor (FBR) is a type of fast neutron reactor that produces more fissile material than it consumes. ... Clinton Charter Township, Michigan in Macomb County, Michigan ... Official language(s) English de-facto Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 11th 96,716 sq mi 250,494 kmÂ² 239 miles 385 km 491 miles 790 km 41. ... Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes - this motto was adopted after the disastrous 1805 fire that devastated the city) Nickname: The Motor City and Motown Location in Wayne County, Michigan Founded Incorporated July 24, 1701 1815 County Wayne County Mayor...

Hahn, nicknamed the "Radioactive Boy Scout", is an Eagle Scout who had previously earned a merit badge in Atomic Energy after years of basement chemistry tinkering that included small explosions. Furthering his experiments, Hahn diligently amassed significant radioactive material by collecting small amounts from (occasionally stolen) household products, such as americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles and tritium from clocks and gunsights. He also obtained radium from the Undark paint older clocks used to light their dials and lithium from batteries. His reactor was a large, cored-out block of lead. Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable by a Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and is also used as a title of a Scout who has achieved this honor. ... A sample merit badge sash: From left to right, starting at top; 1 Swimming, Mammal Study, Environmental Science; 2 Basketry, Wood Carving, Dog Care; 3 Wilderness Survival, Emergency Prepardness, Bird Study; 4 Public Speaking, Scholarship, Law; 5 Rifle Shooting, Archery, Metalwork; 6 Fish and Wildlife Management, Citizenship in the Nation... Multicolored chemicals are frequent hallmarks of chemistry. ... Radioactive decay is the set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles. ... General Name, Symbol, Number americium, Am, 95 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block ?, 7, f Appearance silvery white Atomic mass (243) g/mol Electron configuration [Rn] 5f7 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 25, 8, 2 Physical properties Phase solid Density (near r. ... Residential ceiling-mounted smoke detector A smoke detector or smoke alarm is a safety device that detects airborne smoke and issues an audible alarm, thereby alerting nearby people to the danger of fire. ... General Name, Symbol, Number thorium, Th, 90 Chemical series Actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 232. ... For other uses of mantle see: mantle (disambiguation) An incandescent gas mantle, gas mantle, or Welsbach mantle is a device for generating bright white light when heated by a flame. ... Tritium (symbol T or 3H) is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. ... General Name, Symbol, Number radium, Ra, 88 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 7, s Appearance silvery white metallic Atomic mass (226) g/mol Electron configuration [Rn] 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 8, 2 Physical properties Phase solid Density (near r. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lithium, Li, 3 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 2, s Appearance silvery white/gray Atomic mass 6. ... This article is about the chemical element. ...

Hahn posed as a legitimate adult scientist or teacher, gaining the trust of many professionals, despite misspellings and obvious errors in his letters. Hahn ultimately hoped to create a breeder reactor, using low-level isotopes to transform samples of thorium and uranium into fissionable isotopes. Isotopes are forms of an element whose nuclei have the same atomic number - the number of protons in the nucleus - but different mass numbers because they contain different numbers of neutrons. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... An induced nuclear fission event. ...

Although his home-made reactor never achieved criticality, it ended up emitting toxic levels of radioactivity, around 1000 times normal background radiation. Alarmed, Hahn began to dismantle his experiments, but a chance encounter with police led to the discovery of his activities, which triggered a Federal Radiological Emergency involving the FBI and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Environmental Protection Agency, having designated Hahn's mother's property as a Superfund hazardous materials cleanup site, dismantled the shed and contents and buried it as low-level radioactive waste in Utah. Hahn refused medical evaluation for radiation exposure. A sphere of plutonium surrounded by neutron-reflecting blocks of tungsten carbide. ... Background radiation is the ionizing radiation from several natural radiation sources: sources in the Earth and from those sources that are incorporated in our food and water, which are incorporated in our body, and in building materials and other products that incorporate those radioactive sources; radiation sources from space (in... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... The NRC, or Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is a United States government agency that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act in 1974, and was first opened January 19, 1975. ... EPA redirects here. ... Checking the status of a cleanup site Superfund is the common name for the United States environmental law that is officially known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. Â§Â§ 9601 to 9675, which was enacted by the United States Congress on December 11... Radioactive waste is waste material containing radioactive chemical elements that does not have a practical purpose. ... Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 13th 219,887 kmÂ² 435 km 565 km 3. ... The radiation warning symbol (trifolium). ...

Hahn suffered local ignominy, but did achieve Eagle Scout. After dropping out of community college, Hahn joined the Navy, assigned to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise as an ordinary seaman (where he was kept away from the nuclear reactors, largely for his own safety, as he had reached the point that further exposure would result in illness), later re-enlisting as a Marine. In Canada and the United States, a community college, sometimes called a junior college, is an educational institution providing post-secondary education and lower-level tertiary education, granting certificates, diplomas, and associates degrees. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations around the globe. ... An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraftâ€”in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ... The eighth USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was the worlds first nuclear aircraft carrier and the seventh U.S. Navy ship of the name. ... Seaman can be a generic term for sailor. ... United States Marine Corps seal The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the U.S. military. ...

The incident received scant media attention at the time, but was widely disseminated after writer Ken Silverstein published an article about the incident in Harper's Magazine in 1998, and subsequently expanded it into a 2004 biography, The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor. Ken Silverstein is a freelance investigative writer based in Washington. ... An issue of Harpers Magazine from 1905 Another issue, from November 2004 Harpers Magazine (or simply Harpers) is a monthly general-interest magazine covering literature, politics, culture, and the arts. ...

A television documentary, The Nuclear Boyscout, ran on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in 2003. In the show, Hahn reenacted some of his methods for the camera. Though slated for the Discovery Channel, the show has not yet been aired in the United States. Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Sony camera head with Betacam SP dock recorder A man operating a professional camera on a tripod A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though the use has spread) is a high-end device for recording electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that records... Discovery Channel is a property of Discovery Communications primarily packaged as a network entertainment brand distributed in virtually every pay-television market in the world. ...

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