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Alaskan Cyclotron - Not in My Backyard!

Posted by Hemos on from the NIMBY-vs.-DIY dept.

j-beda writes "Wired reports that "Albert Swank Jr., a 55-year-old civil engineer in Anchorage, Alaska, is a man with a mission. He wants to install a nuclear particle accelerator in his home." To be used to create medically useful isotopes, and even though some of the neighbours are supportive, opponents "compared potential damage from a cyclotron mishap to the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident" though an expert says "Probably the worst thing that could happen with small cyclotrons is that the operator might electrocute themselves." It looks like the Anchorage Assembly plans to hold an public hearing on December 20 to determine whether Swank will be permitted to install the device."

4 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. Phear Science by ch-chuck · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    also beware of those cookies /. gives you from doubleclick.net, ru4.com and who know where else.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
  2. Profit... by squoozer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Step 1: Bury head in sand / soil / tarmac / other ground covering.

    Step 2: ???

    Step 3: Profit.

    I am starting to think "people" won't be happy until we are all clones - of course we couldn't be clones due to cloning though. Sigh.

    --
    I used to have a better sig but it broke.
  3. Re:It cant be any more dangerous by nordicfrost · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    It is not so much the ammount of guns as the easy availablity at home. I'm a gun owner in Europe (2 semi pistols) and overall, we have just as many guns at home as the US, due to the fact that the national guard store their weapons at home. I don't care for the American attitude towards guns, but that is their problem. What scares me is how they treat their weapons and their hostility towards safe gun practice. I store the guns in a gunvault, approved by the insurance company, bolted to the concrete wall, hidden in my flat and protected by an alarm. This is the demands the police have for gun ownership, and I like them. On the american discussion boards, they often debate how their guns were stolen and what to do. This is a non-issue here, since it is practically impossible for thieves to stel the guns, and since my apartment has an alarm they never even bother to try. Crime averted. From what I see on the discussion boards, a rather large segment of the American gun owners store their guns in extremely dumb places like drawers, closets and small lockable boxes around the house and vechicles. This is, of course, an invitation to thieves. Especially sinve gun boxes are very easy to identify by their size and apperance. Many of them also carry their gun around on their body, loaded. This is strictly forbidden where I live and for a good reason. Easy access to guns lead to more gun use. Simple as that. This goes for police, civilians and criminals. Here, the guns are hard to get by, even if they exist in a lot of homes, since it is a hunting nation. But it is a nation educated in gun use (there's a demand of clean police record, gun club membership, 3-day mandatory course and proven gun club participation for over six months plus recommendation from gun club predsidents to get a handgun here. Shotguns and hunting rifles are easier).

    What America lacks is not more gun freedom, but more gun sense. Every yahoo can get a gun, fine, but the real trouble starts when you lose the gun to someone due to poor storage sense. I guess that if the US would try to improve on the huge loss of firearms to criminals every year, the NRA would freak out and go to Capitol Hill chaning the second amendment. I don't see anywhere that the second amendment calls for moronic storage of their firearms? I'm a bit scared when I read bout civilians storing 10+ firearmsin their home, just locking them in a closet. Here, that is punisable because you don't want to give the thieves an edge. Over there, it's "part of my freedom, dangnabbit!".

  4. Re:I can understand the hold by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    s/average/median/
    and spell intelligence correctly.