How to Build a Nuclear Reactor in Your Backyard
And the tragic story of one American boy
Summer of 1994. The potting shed of an otherwise unassuming house gives off the vivid, infamous glow of radiation. Of the area’s 40,000 residents only one woman notices the unnerving wash of light coming from the shed. A foggy glow set against the dark Michigan night. But that woman doesn’t know what’s causing the glow, nor does she suspect that the radiation levels are starting to get so out of control that a Geiger counter has begun detecting higher and higher levels of radiation farther and farther from the house. The radiation is strong enough to seep through concrete. What was meant to be a sustained nuclear reaction is getting out of control, and it will soon mean the involvement of government officials and the establishment of a new “Superfund” site — an area claimed by the Environmental Protection Agency to be among the nation’s most contaminated land.
The story really begins when David Hahn, the boy responsible for the nuclear contamination, receives his first chemistry book at the age of ten. The book outlines how to set up a laboratory and conduct simple experiments, allowing David to make harmless substances like alcohol. In this way chemistry truly becomes an art. Just as some children use painting or dance as a means of coping with their problems, so too…
