Rockwall man boasts of nuclear reactor, but no arrest made

1/14/08

Rockwall man boasts of nuclear reactor, but no arrest made

Rockwall man boasts of nuclear reactor, but no arrest made
07:46 PM CST on Thursday, January 10, 2008
Gambrel style reactor !
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
jtrahan@dallasnews.com
A 22-year-old Rockwall man's Internet boasts that he had made a mini-nuclear reactor in his garage resulted in a visit recently by federal authorities.

Representatives with the FBI and the Texas Department of State Health Services' Radiation Control Program took away the man's science equipment on Friday – but not because he was doing anything dangerous or illegal.

Rather, the man's parents, with whom he is living, asked that the equipment be removed, officials said.

The man, who was not identified by authorities and who could not be reached, was experimenting with Americium-241, a man-made radioactive element common in smoke detectors, and natural radioactive ore that he had bought legally over eBay, said Victor Dricks, a regional spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Commission investigators discovered the homemade atomic lab on Dec. 29, when they found the man's boasts on an amateur science blog. He said on the blog that he had produced high amounts of radiation in his house while making Plutonium-239, a component in nuclear weapons. He made no mention of nefarious motives; he was just interested in the science, officials said.

Tests on the home did not show abnormal levels of radiation, officials said. The man's "claims that he had created a nuclear reactor that was producing high amounts of radiation were unfounded," Mr. Dricks said. Neighbors were not in danger, he added.

No charges will be filed because it is legal to possess the ore he had, Mr. Dricks said. "It's naturally occurring uranium, like you'd find in the ground. It's only when it's processed and the radioactive component is concentrated is where a license is required. He had not been doing that."

Dallas FBI spokesman Mark White said the man "hadn't done anything to the point where he committed a crime. If he had kept his experiment going, it probably wouldn't have blown up, but it probably would have been a cleanup issue."

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1. Climate change is underway. Renewable energy can be brought online faster, more cheaply and more safely than nuclear power. 2. Reactors are sitting-duck targets and are not even defended to the ferocity of the 9/11 attacks. 3. Nuclear power is not emissions-free. Reactors routinely release radioactivity and use fossil fuels at every step from uranium mining to waste storage. 4. Building more reactors in the U.S. sends the wrong message abroad. Commercial nuclear technology inevitably leads to nuclear weapons capability. 5. The Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive dump is unsound and even if opened could not accommodate all wastes if generation continues. 6. Evacuation plans are unrealistic. Hurricane Katrina taught us that a mass evacuation during a serious radiological release would be a chaotic catastrophe. 7. A typical 1000 megawatt nuclear reactor produces enough plutonium each year to make 40 atomic bombs, an unacceptable risk. 8. New and old reactors are most prone to break down. U.S. reactors are old. New ones increase the risk of accident. 9. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission—mandated to watchdog the nuclear industry – chooses to protect industry profit over public health and safety. 10. The most defenseless are at the greatest risk—children, the elderly, minorities, the poor and animals—at every phase of the nuclear fuel chain. Ten Brighter Ideas 1. If every U.S. household installed one compact fluorescent light bulb, the power savings would equal the power produced by one nuclear reactor. 1=1! 2. Twenty compact fluorescents in every U.S. home could displace at least 25% of U.S. nuclear reactors. 3. Updated lighting, appliances, heating, cooling and other electrical systems can save more energy than all 103 U.S. reactors produce annually. 4. Cost-effective energy efficiency measures for homes and businesses can save at least 20% of electricity use. 5. Turning off and unplugging electrical equipment not in use and line-drying clothes seem like small measures but can make a big difference. 6. Homeowners and renters alike can choose to buy green power instead of nuclear generated electricity. 7. Properly sealing and insulating your home can save 25%-40% of building heat loss. 8. Renewable energy sources can meet 25% of U.S. energy needs by 2025. 9. Shifting to locally-generated electricity avoids waste, reduces brownouts and blackouts, increases efficiency of service and creates jobs. 10. Every dollar spent on nuclear power instead of fossil fuels results in releasing six times more carbon than if the same dollar is spent on efficiency. www.nirs.org 301.270.6477

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1/14/08