Teen Builds Nuclear Bomb Detector

DaneM writes "An enterprising teenage boy named Taylor Wilson, 17, has created a homemade, hand-held nuclear bomb detector. It utilizes a small fusion reactor that he made when he was 14, and detects nuclear materials by shooting neutrons at closed containers and exciting any nuclear materials inside — which, in turn, causes more radiation to be produced, and is detected by the device. This may provide a simpler, more effective alternative to searching containers visually, one-at-a-time. No information is given about how safe such a practice is. Taylor also has some choice things to say about how science is, in fact, very cool."

Comments

Reality check

[pnot]

As someone pointed out: building a fusion reactor, while not trivial, is routinely done by tinkerers worldwide: see e.g. this Instructables guide .

No, the truly amazing thing here is what I found when I clicked through to the original story (as usual, not linked in the summary):

... here in Reno, we have the University of Nevada-Reno, and I went to the physics department. They offered to give me a bunch of parts, and after I got fusion, they offered to give me my own lab here to work in. So that was very helpful.

Allow me to be the first to say, WHAT THE YELLOW RUBBERY FUCK? In every university department I've ever had experience of, researchers and grad students fight tooth and nail to get funding for anything more expensive than an alligator clip. Meanwhile, these guys have sufficient resources to start handing out equipment and lab space to enterprising teenagers for science fair projects! Hmm, time to start looking for a postdoc position there, I think...

Re:No kidding

[_merlin]

"Fusion reactor" is dumbed-down terminology for the masses. What he's built is probably a Farnsworthâ"Hirsch Fusor which can be made quite small. It's not useful for generating energy as it's very inefficient, but it's a good neutron source. Also, you're missing the point of how his contraption is supposed to work. The radiation detector isn't the part that uses the fusor. The fusor is used to send a neutron beam through the package under test. If it contains enriched uranium or plutonium, the interaction with neutrons will cause it to emit far higher levels of neutron flux and gamma radiation than most other materials. If you see this effect, you might want to inspect the package. I don't know how effective it is in practice, but the premise of operation makes sense.

Re:A small fusion reactor

[Yvanhoe]

Fusion reactor is within reach of a hobbyist. It consumes energy but produces fusion. It is not a power generator.

Re:Summary AND article misleading

[ThunderBird89]

You might have misunderstood me. I didn't mean passive neutron radiation detectors, I meant something like this kid built: an active scanner, that's capable of analyzing the contents of the crate without opening it (that's what the article implies). I go a bit further, the real news is not making this, it's how he crunches the data to get the contents from the reflected neutron flux/induced radiation pattern, whichever he uses.
A passive neutron scanner is all dandy and fine, but can be defeated with shielding. This active scanner, developed far enough for sensitivity/crunching capacity, could detect the presence of shielding (though not its contents), which itself would be grounds for suspicion. The passive scanner would just indicate a zero or very low flux, which might be mistaken for background radiation or other, similarly innocuous, explanation.

Chill the f*ck out, and respond civilly, I did not insult you.

Re:This could work

[thermopile]

OK, Praise #1: This guy is awesome. He has the chops and wherewithal to build his own Farnsworth fusor by age 14.

Praise #2: He's not satisfied with just building the thing, he wants to apply the thing. That's what I find truly commendable.

So he goes off and learns a lot of good science and engineering in how to look for special nuclear material. Dennis Slaughter, of Lawrence Livermore National Lab, was featured on the front page of the American Nuclear Society's Nuclear News magazine in November of 2007 for his "nuclear car wash." Basically the same idea: use a neutron generator (a big one, in this case) and look for signatures of delayed neutrons in response.

So, what Taylor has done isn't revolutionary, but I'm sure it's a lot cheaper than any other neutron active interrogation system out there. Good for him. And, again, awesome job for hunting for useful applications of technology.