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Man arrested for building nuclear reactor in his kitchen

Ängelholm, a small town along the coast of Sweden, isn't the first place you'd think to look in the search for a nuclear reactor. But that's just what police in the seaside city were tasked with hunting down when one of its citizens took it upon himself to construct his own radioactive power plant right in his own kitchen.

The man, whose name has not been released, was reportedly very open about his fascination with nuclear power and with his plans to attempt the dangerous project at home, though it appears nobody took him seriously. After spending $1,000 on supplies shipped from unspecified foreign countries, the amateur reactor builder set to work, monitoring the radiation levels in his home with a Geiger counter.

At some point, it must have occurred to the man that what he was building might not have been entirely legal, because he placed a friendly call to the Swedish Radiation Authority to see if there were any laws on the books regarding homemade nuclear reactors. Local police arrived shortly thereafter and confiscated the man's materials before placing him under arrest. He was released a short while later after questioning and has reportedly vowed to refrain from any further experimentation.

Aren't we all supposed to be driving round in nuclear powered hover cars by now?

From The blog, titled "Richard's Reactor",

Quote:

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A meltdown on my cooker!!!
No, it not so dangerous. But I tried to cook Americium, Radium and Beryllium in 96% sulphuric-acid, to easier get them blended. But the whole thing exploded upp in the air...

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in his kitchen?!?

this dude built one in a CAVE! and then put it in his chest!!

I bet little household reactors could safely be mass produced and run a house for a long, long, time.

Cookin it up in the kitchen may fry your neighbors though

Actually I'm just a little surprised that somebody out in Barstow California hasn't tried doin' this already!

(...I hear they're pretty darn handy at cookin' up some other kinda stuff out there, anyway!)

Pah! ... Sheldon made one in his kitchen years ago - and he was only ten.

That would make the moon glow in the dark. No wait ... it already does ... they must have secretly been dumping there for years.

They aren't supposed to put nuclear (it's like noo-cue-lar) materials on spacecraft...except when they do. Remember when we had spacecraft? Now, we're hitching rides with China. There was a story on several news outlets a couple weeks ago about how the annual cost of air conditioning for the troops in Iraq was more than the annual budget of NASA.

Sheesh.

Aren't we innovative in Sweden? Anything to cut down those winter electricity bills...

Hahaha so awesome... Ooops guys i made this without know if its legal.....busted

Note that they only held him long enough to collect his stuff and ask him how it worked. Next year, Saab or someone will probably be selling kits for home nuclear power generation.

Aren't satellites powered by nuclear power cells? Thought I read that somewhere. Didn't a Russian orbiter crash in N. Canada once and leave a Radioactive mess. Feel free to correct me, cause I used to believe oil came from dead dinosaurs and now..well I'm not completely over that lie Sinclair Oil sold me as a kid.

Loved that Sinclair dinosaur but, if you thought it through, it was pretty morbid.