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Swede Arrested For Building Nuclear Reactor
An anonymous reader writes "A 31 year old Swedish male was arrested for trying to build a nuclear reactor in his apartment. He got hold of radioactive material thru mail-order purchases and from smoke detectors. Police raided his apartment after he had contacted the Swedish Radiation Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) to inquire if it was legal to construct a nuclear reactor at home."
Geez, everyone's a critic. He's just trying to send electricity back onto the grid and he probably couldn't get approval from his landlord to put solar panels on his roof.
Never ask for permission, but just do!
I love that the only reason he got busted is because he asked if it was okay...
Seems like he should have either:
(a) Asked BEFORE acquiring the material or
(b) Not asked at all
Prisoner 1: "I raped a bitch and killed her. What're you in for?"
Prisoner 2: "I built a nuclear power plant in my kitchen."
Choice quote: "To get it to generate electricity you would need a turbine and a generator and that is very difficult to build yourself".
Yeah, it's not like thhey're nineteenth century steam technology like the redundant safety systems.
What's the big deal about being "arrested"? Police (and others) use their power of arrest all the time. The big story will be if he is charged with something.
...it's that bloody boy scout, up to his old tricks again.
he was questioned by the police because he apparently violated some Swedish nuclear material laws.
the story in short:
- he invested $950
- he bought radioactive material and dismantled one domestic fire alarm
- he blogged about his expirements
- he asked the Swedish authorities if it is allowed to build a nuclear reactor
- some official accompanied by police offices visited his flat and found no radiation problem
- he was questioned at a police stations and was afterwards released
- all the nuclear stuff was confiscated
He was not trying to generate electricity - "To get it to generate electricity you would need a turbine and a generator and that is very difficult to build yourself," he told HD. He was just tinkering! Obviously a DIY purist. This guy should get a geek medal or something. Utterly brilliant. And I am very pleased I'm not his neighbour.
This kid tried (badly, apparently) to do the same in the US a while back. I lived only a couple of streets over, but had left the area a dozen years before his attempt. I think I delivered newspapers to his house.
Is it really necessary to raid a guy who was asking for permission in the first place? Seems like he would have welcomed an "inspection" and handled things accordingly from there. Since he was asking for permission it sounds like he wasn't trying to break the law - give the guy some credit. All this is going to do is discourage others from inquiring and just doing whatever they're after.
He ordered some radioactive material from overseas
Which was evidently delivered without any of the authorities being notified. How many Jihadi's are reading this and putting in their orders now?
I'm puzzled how this guy was going to build a "nuclear reactor" out of mail-order isotopes and smoke detectors. Smoke detectors usually contain Am-241, which is an alpha emitter. The mail order stuff I assume was uranium ore. Was he planning to create neutrons from (alpha, n) reactions and use those to trigger a few fissions from the uranium?
This sounds like his experiment bears as much similarity to a reactor as a balloon full of hairspray resembles a car engine.
... he received simultaneous job offers from Iran and North Korea ...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Sounds like 5-digit Slashdot user or something...Extra geek points for mushroom over Stokholm.
839*929
In the big government paradigm, everything you do is subject to whims of a bureaucrat who will decide whether or not you can do it.
In this case, although apparently he did nothing wrong, his equipment was confiscated, and I suspect he was warned if he made any waves, he would be brought up on charges.
Other than go to work every day on public transportation living in a suitably small flat (and maybe have an approved "smart phone" as long as it can be tracked), a bureaucrat will decide what is appropriate for you to do, have and where to live.
The worst part is, half the population thinks that's okay, as if a free person's life is made to serve the greater good.
These are the first people to look at the Chinese and say "tsk tsk, they don't have the freedoms that we do".
You can't build tiny nuclear reactors.
The minimum amount of reactive material you need to keep a chain-reaction going is too high to build tiny nuclear reactors.
What people call a "tiny" nuclear reactor is the size of a hot-tub.
Actually, it is patents that prevents people finding better and cheaper solutions, as we can see in the software industry now.
I don't think there was any indication in the article that this was anything to do with terrorism. See my comment above about fertiliser. If you fear terrorism you will see it everywhere. If you don't then you will not necessarily associate any particular material object with terrorism.
Korma: Good
Considering he was doing this in his own home, with a risk of irradiating his neighbours, I think it was right to stop him experimenting. If he did it in a properly shielded location then it wouldn't be so bad.
which is totally what she said
Who needs radioactive material to build a nuclear reactor? This is clearly no Macgyver.
My first reading of your comment confused the hell out of me, because I read it as parents, not patents.
But after the second reading I see what you are saying, I've been saying the same thing as well.
But governments prevents market from working, be it patents or just preventing people from tinkering.
You can't handle the truth.
Arrested? He should get his own TV show!
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
weapons grade or not
That distinction would be wrong to gloss over. While it is relatively easy to build a nuclear reactor (not a safe one, mind), building a nuclear weapon (and merely producing or handling weapons-grade nuclear material) requires technological and industrial resources beyond any individual. Therefore, this is not nuke material. It is at worst usable in a dirty bomb.
Isn't this extremely old or is he just copying someone else who did this?
I really, really wonder what mail-order company delivers nuclear material?!?
Don't write about nuclear anything if you're going to do it "in shrt frm". Have the attention span to type the whole word.
That there are two swedish facts in this story:
1) The guy ASKED if it was legal to build a nuclear reactor
2) There was a public office where he could place such inquiry
I love this country xD
well maybe not in this case.
Bazinga!
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
I seem to recall that USia has a number of people trying to build home brew fusion reactors, why not have a few guys experimenting with fission??...
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
That's pretty stupid, overall. He should've done his research before doing some experiments, and the government shouldn't've gone in with a vengeance. As far as silly ways to get arrested, though, it's sillier than getting arrested for making moonshine in the US. http://www.burningstill.com/?q=node/57
So what you're saying is that it should be perfectly permissible for someone to tinker with chemically dangerous and radioactive chemicals in an apartment building where he will surrounded by other people? Some of those other people being the particularly vulnerable kids and the elderly? The danger here isn't that he could be building a bomb, the danger is that large concentrations of radioactive material is inherently unhealthy. There was no one to make sure he stored it properly, didn't have too much of it, or general making sure he wasn't giving a X-ray levels of exposure to everyone in his building 24/7. Not to mention that the chemicals themselves are often toxic in concentration even ignoring the radiation.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
it still had real info on it.
But he needed to steal some plutonium from the power plant to make it work.
And somehow you don't see it as a big deal that they are denying someone's freedom? Being arrested -is- a big deal because it often causes more damage than being charged with a crime.
Chances are slim that the government will pay you for the emotional trauma of being arrested, the loss to your reputation if you are arrested and all other effects of you being arrested even if you aren't charged with a crime in the end.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Considering he was doing this in his own home, with a risk of irradiating his neighbours, I think it was right to stop him experimenting. If he did it in a properly shielded location then it wouldn't be so bad.
No one seems able to answer if his sources were exempt or non-exempt. Thats the key.
As for the "properly shielded location" that is pretty irrelevant, if he had to dough to own a pig and pay inspection fees, unless he's trying to make a political statement, the paperwork to make it perfectly legal would be pretty easy, depending on what he's doing.
Exempt sources are technically radioactive, and great for experimenting and fooling around, and the level of radiation is right up there with a granite countertop. The reason you use an exempt source instead of a granite countertop is because unlike a granite countertop, a dude with expensive calibration gear verified the exact quantity of the exact isotope, and its reasonably pure rather than a mixture of random junk. Kind of like the difference between a wooden Chinese 25 cent ruler and my $150 American made micrometer is mostly that my micrometer is actually calibrated to measure correctly.
Non-exempt sources are supposed to be licensed and CAN theoretically be quite dangerous, in addition to being totally illegal if you're not licensed, stored in an inspected facility, etc. A lot of it is chain of custody issues... a sheet metal thickness gauge from an old mill is probably harmless in an apartment, but thrown into a recycler could make an unholy mess if melted. Or tossed into a fish pond that people eat out of, that could be really bad. Much as my box of mouse poison in the basement is perfectly safe while its in my basement, but dumped into a vat of baby food at the baby food factory could be kinda bad.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Hmm, I wonder if he was arrested, or "arrested." Meaning, he'll disappear from the grid, and turn up working in a government lab. I'd think sensible politicos would want to nurture this sort of thing.
If we all had mini reactors, we'd be free of oil and electric companies.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
You should look at roman_mir's other posts. It is consistent with his own, internal beliefs which in practice are just inane and crazy. He is pretty much against anything the government does. He wants the fed abolished and a return to the gold standard. He thinks federal employees don't pay income tax. Those are some of the more recent posts that I can remember. But I have to admit, this one almost takes the cake. There is a reason that nuclear materials are regulated, and he says that the government is crowding out small business. Unbelievable.
I'd mod you +1 (Funny,Sick) if I had any mod points.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
So being arrested is a big deal, but trying to build a fission reactor in an apartment (so, right next to others) isn't?
The police here did nothing but their job. He should have informed himself about the legality *before* he got the stuff.
Dilbert RSS feed
"Wernstrom!"
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Does he get lifetime membership on /. for his choice of hobby?
That guy...
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
In the USA perhaps where the perp-walk is something that is considered normal for someone who is merely arrested.
But the problem was that it is not even illegal to do that in Sweden. It is only a legal "greyzone", and there is no laws for it either.
What should have happened is that the police deliver a letter stating "we need to approve if its legal or not", ask him to please halt the building process(in case it turns out is would not be legal after a law has been made), and then it goes trough the electeds, and if there are indeed large enough reasons agains it should be illegal.
Arresting him for it is outright rude.
Prisoner 6: "I recorded a video of police beating the crap out of a teenager for no good reason at a bus stop."
http://neil.fraser.name/news/2010/12/23/
http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/04/28/
P.S. There is a good ending to this story: follow the links to the blog of Neil Fraser, a Google engineer who bailed the guy out after he spent seven months in jail, accused of, since video recording police is not illegal... "attempted lynching"....
> what the hell is government's business?
Obviously, it's to "interfere with the health, safety, and property of another citizen without consent" themselves. They hate competition.
Keep in mind that you are replying to Reacher Gilt. If his neighbors get irradiated or killed, they can organize a boycott and let the invisible hand of the market take care of it. After being brutally boycotted, nobody else would ever dare try it again. That's why the police are unnecessary. If you get robbed, simply spread the word. People will not do business with the robber, and then he will starve to death. Much cleaner. You can't have the police stop him. See, he has unlimited and inalienable freedom. If you stop a murderer from murdering a child, you have stolen his freedom to murder, his natural and inalienable right. Without government in the way, he would be totally free to do so.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
How exactly one goes about building a nuclear reactor from mail order uranium (presumably depleted) and smoke detectors (about 1 microgram of Americium 241 each) ? The critical mass of Am 241 is over 50 Kg, so he would need 50 million smoke detectors to build a bomb. For a controlled, moderated reaction, much more, maybe hundreds of Kg. The technology to enrich natural uranium up to reactor-grade level is barely in the hands of states.
The fact that someone took him seriously and actually sent a guy with a detector AND a police squad to his house shows just how ridiculously incompetent the regulators are, and how paranoid people get when the word "radiation" is uttered.
When for the science fair Oliver Wendell Jones built a functioning nuclear bomb out of the glowy stuff on a couple thousand glow in the dark watches.
It may not be possible to build your own reactor, but it is possible to cause some serious concern.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Prisoner $ ruined the financial system of the entire US but he is a free man because he bought his way out.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
to be called a reactor. All that is required is a self sustained controlled nuclear fission reaction.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
I am presuming that you are British? In the UK being "arrested" merely means being questioned. It has little to no long term consequences. In other countries being "arrested" means actually being formally charged with an offence. An ""arrest" record stays on your record forever and many job interviewers specifically ask if one has ever been "arrested". As this is a public record it means answering it in the affirmative and hoping that the interviewer listens to your side of the experience. But many would just move on to another candidate. Thus an arrest record can be devastating.
With little gems on his blog page like "But I tried to cook Americium, Radium and Beryllium in 96% sulphuric-acid, to easier get them blended.", accompanied by photos of goop spilled all over his kitchen stove, I kinda agree with the authorities here....
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
What's the big deal about being "arrested"? Police (and others) use their power of arrest all the time. The big story will be if he is charged with something.
He won't get a charge. Neutrons don't carry a charge.
That's odd that you could "attempt lynching of a police officer," since California defines lynching as "The taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer."
I take it you regularly monitor the radiation levels at home to make sure your neighbours aren't messing with stuff like this. (The worrying thing is that you sound like the sort of person who might.)
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
kind of a sad story. the kid did time for no reason and the cops and DA got off scot-free! ;(
and the kid only got off because he had a friend. a lot of us would not have had this kind of help and would rot in prison for a long time.
the system is broken if this can happen. HOW many months was he locked up - and for no good reason at all!
how much suffering did the cops and DA get?
NONE.
there is no justice. this thing happens a lot and the judges do nothing about it. they all know the system is an out of control machine and its best to just stay out of its lunatic way if you want to stay alive.
how very sad to hear this about our so-called justice system.
the DA should be serving LIFE for this. with no parole. then maybe the rich white fucks will think again before ruining a guy's life!
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I think jobs mostly ask if you have been CONVICTED.
but you are also partly right; some don't care if you've been proven or voted guilty; they are happy enough to reject you on ANY deviations from center.
"no job for you. you come back one year. NEXT!"
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I build mine in a rented garage, like all right-thinking people. It's right by the death ray and the free energy machines.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
We've decided some time ago that personal vendettas usually don't work out too well, and that we should let the government step in rather than just 'take care of things' ourselves.
How exactly would you suggest his neighbors handle this? Assuming they even knew what he was doing.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
There's a proper place to do such work. They are called laboratories.
You don't do nuclear work (especially experimentation) in your living quarters. That's irresponsible and dangerous to everyone in the area.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
I also don't like a police state where you can get arrested for no apparent reason. But it's not like there was "no apparent reason". He was playing with goddamn nuclear material!
What should the police have done according to all you complaining people? Kindly request that he refrains from building a nuclear reactor, and that he delivers the nuclear material before noon the next day, because although it's a grey area in the law, it's best not to play with it in a residential area?
Of course they raided the apartment and confiscated the whole thing. And when you raid an apartment, and confiscate stuff, you also arrest people.
Good job, Sweden.
Same in the US; being arrested means basically having your freedom of movement restricted by the police, even if temporarily. If a cop arrives at the scene and makes you stand at the wall, and tells you you'll be cuffed if you try leaving, that's technically arrest.
It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I think Oliver did get suspended for that.
But it was better than getting raided by the DEA over illegal cat sweat scalp tonic.
The people upstairs are furious.
No brain, no pain.
But the problem was that it is not even illegal to do that in Sweden. It is only a legal "greyzone", and there is no laws for it either.
I'm sure Sweden has laws against things like reckless endangerment. That Americium is some nasty crap. It's not as toxic as Plutonium, but it's no fun.
Forget radioactivity for a minute. How would you feel if it turned out that your neighbor had been growing ebola cultures in his living room because he was convinced he could find a cure? I doubt if there are any specific laws against growing your own ebola cultures, but I'll damn sure betcha it's against plenty of laws that are on the books.
The Americurium-241 (about 1 microgram) in a smoke detector is pretty securely packaged up inside a little disc inside a housing that strongly encourages you to not throw it away in the normal trash but instead treat it as recycleable hazardous waste. It's an alpha emitter and the little plastic disc and housing very thoroughly stops the alpha particles from getting out and getting to your skin. That said, pulling the disc out and trying to get the Americurium out is pretty stupid and although the 1 microgram is perfectly safe in its little disc housing (probably even if you swallowed it), removing/scraping the Americurium and getting it under your skin or in your digestive system or lungs would be a bad idea. Conceivably it could mess up family or neighbors. Ingesting, inhaled, or absorbed in blood alpha emitters (even accidentally) is a bad idea. I'm 99% sure that if he was charged with anything, it would be not properly storing or disposing of hazardous waste.
Wait, are we still talking about Sweden?
Shiit..
To be, or not to be: isn't that quite logical, Slashdot Beta?
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html
An interesting book on something similar done near Detroit a while back is "The Radioactive Boy Scout" by Ken Silverstein, 2005, ISBN-13 9780812966602, that details the adventures of a young lad working on his Boy Scout merit badge for Atomic Energy -- informative reading.
He was obviously making a good faith effort to find out the relevant laws and comply. He bought freely available materials over-the-counter so to speak. This isn't a bad guy but rather a curious one and justice is not served by punishing him. As some point people have forgotten that the law is guideline to justice and that actual justice should be served by the system, not strict compliance with the letter of the law.
It was more that kids and old people are particularly vulnerable to this particular threat... Radiation is worse for those with lower resistance and in those development. I wouldn't want to be irradiated either though.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
So the Swedes are constructive, the Norwegians destructive.
Ahhh, the fun with stereotyping.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
But sure! He stole his soul! He made a picture of him!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
i worry more about the insane things some crackpot might be doing with radioactive elements next door
you have strange priorities, because the regulators were RIGHT to overreact
if regulators got the impression some loony toon was playing with radioactivity in an apartment building, they aren't doing their job if they don't overreact
is this hysteria on my part? false alarmism on my part?
no, it is false complacency on your part to take the concept of some wackjob playing with radioactivity in tight living spaces lightly
and if you resent my use of the words "crackpot", "loony toon" and "wackjob", then you have no sense of responsibility, and judging by radioactive boyscout: swedish edition's sense of responsibility, there are far stronger words ic ould have chosen to use
you don't play with radioactivity in an apartment building. you don't do that. it is highly irresponsible. understand that, or understand nothing. this isn't about freedoms being trounced or overintrusive bureaucracy or the rights of the science minded to explore and build: it is about IRRESPONSIBILITY
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Governments around the world tend to get a little concerned with anyone building something that requires acquiring radioactive materials that while are not weapons grade or even sufficient for nuclear energy production can still be used to enhance regular ordinance or used in some other manner to contaminate enclosed areas such as a subways or office buildings. I just know there are certain groups reading this article and wondering how many smoke detectors they can afford.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture
Not to mention certain forms: http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf (even includes expunged/stricken records!)
Also, any rental, mortgage, or employment application.
Sweden could be different.
Maybe he wanted to become a ghost buster?
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:VXAhX4gd-20J:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_pack+ghostbusters+backpack&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
Tom Weller's Science Made Stupid covered this topic back in 1985:
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/14650088?access_key=key-2hz3ld86f19nx2xs0hcx&start_page=31
I am not a number, I am a free man!
Plenty of tinkerers did just that back oh 40, 50, 60 and 70 years ago. While driving ingenuity of the country. I mean come on, we had people making TNT from nitro in their backyard. Oh well, I suppose there's a reason why there's a shortage of inventors outside of multi-nationals these days.
Om, nomnomnom...
I do. There are 2 counters actually, not one.
You can't handle the truth.
This begs the question of "Where do you draw the line?"
I have gas welding supplies in my residential home's garage. That a bottle of highly compressed oxygen, and a bottle of highly compressed acetylene. Handled improperly, these two bottle could make a BIG mess.
I have epoxy resins and hardeners, some of which I have to pay exhorbitant shipping costs on because it is a Class 1 poison. Nasty stuff there.
I have cans of methyl-ethyl-keytone, and other nasty solvents.
Should I be expecting the police to show up to my house and start confiscating stuff?
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
What should the police have done according to all you complaining people?
How about talking to the guy? I know its crazy, but here's just a thought, maybe knocking on his door, saying they have heard reports that he's doing [such and such thing], explaining that he isn't in any trouble at the moment but they will need to do [X and Y] which includes him letting regulators into his house and if dangerous materials are found they may be confiscated. He, of course, has the right to deny them entry, in which case they will have to go and request a warrant.
They have zero evidence of any malice on his part, why is the first step of the process an arrest warrant rather than reasonable discussion. I'd be willing to bet my life savings that if the cops had showed up at his door and acted reasonably the whole situation could have been resolved without arresting the guy. He almost certainly didn't realize what he was doing would be considered illegal, else he wouldn't have been posting it to his blog.
the DA should be serving LIFE for this. with no parole. then maybe the rich white fucks will think again before ruining a guy's life!
Thaks for that calm, reasonable assesment of the situation, and for not resorting to race-baiting or a lynch-mob mentality. Individuals such as yourself are an invaluable part of the slashdot community. Keep up the good work!
I guess edison blew himself up too. Along with tesla. Tip: Both of them played around making TNT from nitro as ... children.
Om, nomnomnom...
They could have shown up at his apartment, explained to him that if he kept playing with toxic crap he would be charged with something like reckless endangerment, and told him he had 24 hours to dispose of the toxic material in one of the follwing safe manners (complete with some sort of list drafted up by a hazmat team about how it could be disposed of properly).
I understand he was being irresponsible and his judgement was probably a little bit off, but does he really need to be arrested when a house visit and a strongly worded cease and desist letter probably would have deterred him just fine?
Is the world so black and white nowadays that you have two options in law enforcement: suspected innocent = no arrest, possibly guilty = arrest.
What happened to the days of the police being friendly and working with their communities/neighborhoods?
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
When will the other builders of nuclear reactors (especially the ones that blow up) be arrested?
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Can't have it. Government will not allow you to try and do something that goes anywhere beyond what they want you to do - be a good consumer.
You can't handle the truth.
What do you mean 'if they know'? How would you not know?
In any case, I am not proposing hanging people on the trees, I am talking about court system, and hopefully one that is not government provided, because nobody can believe that system is unbiased in any way at all.
You can't handle the truth.
A court system that isn't government provided? How then would it enforce its rulings?
Is 1563649 a prime number?
How would the authorities and new media react be if we didn't have the Fukushima nuclear crisis we have right now? If not, would we as Slashdotters have gone 'COOL BRO! - SOMEBODY HIRE THIS GUY!' and then that would of been the end of it?
But no. Why are we playing armchair bureaucrats? I know it was a big 'oops' - but he was nothing more than a individual who has a passion for nuclear technology and let me remind everyone - it was he who contacted the authorities. Has this reaction from authorities moved the hobby into seclusion when we need it MORE out in the open?
Just something to think about.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
I work at a nuclear physics lab in Sweden, and you're very wrong. There's quite strict regulations on how you're allowed to handle radioactive and poisonous materials, and opening up smoke detectors to extract the americium might very well qualify.
Now I guess this may be one of those cases where the regulations have been carelessly written and hence only apply to people who received permission to use them, but in either case I certainly don't blame the police for intervening, especially seeing the guy in question seems completely clueless about what he is playing with. I'd expect them to react the same way if he was grinding up asbestos for some hobby project...
Don't be surprised when they do show up. People who like to build things and work with their hands are a shrinking minority. The nanny state is growing. Won't someone think of the children.
For example: I was working on my old Jeep all weekend. I had several people ask me what was wrong, and look at me strangely when I told them there was noting wrong, and I was just making my Jeep the way I wanted it to be. I also had one woman come by with some irrational comments about safety, and her kids...(I was welding.) I told her to get off MY property, and keep her kids away as well.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Competing markets for court systems have always existed around the world, it's not a bizarre concept, what's bizarre is to believe that gov't has your best interests in mind with their monopoly on law and enforcement.
Obviously there need to be private competing systems for enforcement of rulings, just like there need to be competing systems for passing the judgments, and people would have to choose their preferred court system. Clearly to pay for this you'd have to either have the cash or buy insurance.
Small claims are already enforced with private collections agencies and private security is not unheard of, this is not a foreign concept even in US.
You can't handle the truth.
You're wrong. Americium is a stronger alpha-emitter than both reactor and weapons grade plutonium. There are some exotic isotopes of plutonium used in space probes that are considerably more radioactive, but most plutonium produced in industry is a mix of Pu-239, Pu-240 and some Pu-241.
Both elements have similar biological properties, and only a very small fraction is absorbed by the body were you to eat it. As compared to many other radioisotopes ( such as radio-iodine or radium ) both Plutonium and Americium are relatively benign ( but by no means safe ). The greatest health risk is probably if you're exposed to dust of the elements, since the metal particles can then stick to your lungs, increasing the risk of cancer.
Btw, the toxicicty of plutonium is often greatly exaggerated in general media and movies. It is actually fairly safe compared to many things you can buy off the shelf (drain cleaner, insecticides, sulfuric acid , dishwasher powder , petrol etc ... ) . In general it is the fission waste products produced when nuclear fuel is burned that is responsible for the severe radioactivity of the waste. The fuel itself is fairly safe before it is exposed to neutron radiation. It's the stuff left over after you split the uranium/plutonium that you don't want to even look at without several metres of water in between you and it.
I forgot to add that while plutonium is not very toxic, it is quite reactive and can be a fire hazard if stored inappropriately. In particular it can react with water to create some easily ignited compounds. For this reason it is best to store it in hermetically sealed containers, or as a compound that is less reactive ( such as plutonium oxide ). Nuclear bomb makers get around this problem by electro-plating the plutonium with less reactive metals.
Where do you live? I'm in upstate New York, and nobody would be surprised here to see someone working on his car. I can't imagine someone here coming over to bitch at you for welding.
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Police raided his apartment after he had contacted the Swedish Radiation Authority to inquire if it was legal to construct a nuclear reactor at home.
I'd take that as a "No."
So if I don't like the judgement does that mean I could get another trial with a competing court? What if my opponent doesn't like that verdict and wants to go back to the first court?
Small claims are enforced with private collections agencies that can only exist under the legal framework provided by the government, enforced when necessary by the governments court system.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
may I play with anthrax in my apt complex?"
same thing
arrest that guy too
what part of irresponsibly messing with the public's health do you not get?
yes, it was nice of him to announce his intentions. it shows that he was acting in good faith. but because someone's intentions are pure is not enough. you must also show that you UNDERSTAND what you are doing is dangerous. did he honestly believe messing with radioactivity in a residential apt complex was harmless? if he did believe that, or if he knew it was dangerous, but he didn't care: in either case, arrest him: the man is going to hurt someone innocent
do you think this is adequate defense?: "honest officer, i had no idea playing with radioactivity in my apt complex might be detrimental to my neighbors"
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
This is not a good ending. In fact, it is a terrible ending: jackbooted thugs get to walk all over a person, hold him prisoner for eight months, violate his rights, harass his family and destroy/confiscate his property -- with impunity.
A good ending would be if the policemen, the prosecutor(s), the DA and everybody else participating in this travesty of justice were actually lynched.
So he asked, and they came after him, he should have called from a secure line, or someones elses house.....maybe a neighboor he does not like.
Court system that is not government based can only exist if it accrues certain amount of credibility. I don't believe in laws passed by government in my view credibility has to be earned. As to one not liking a judgment - that should be up to a contract. You choose a court a stick to it, any attempt to deny the court's finding simply because you don't like the ruling would immediately mean you are in violation of contract.
Whether the court system is private or public is really secondary to the fact that there must be more than one court system. Competition is paramount, as the rulings by the SCOTUS have shown over the past 100 years, no one monopoly can be trusted, and SCOTUS is a monopoly and they have proven it over and over.
You can't handle the truth.
We keep coming back to the same argument: who enforces the contract?
I get the idea that you are unhappy with the way the US government is handling things right now, and I am open to the idea that there are better ways to go about it, but the ideas you are presenting are impractical.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
Some localities may choose to have enforcement that is funded locally from say property taxes, others may come up with mandatory insurance based system and others can have completely private and completely voluntary participation and payments into such insurance, and have competing private security forces. This means private jail courts, private jails, private cops for some localities and not for others, but at least this would provide a way for people to choose and vote with their feet.
For my part, I would prefer to have completely privatized courts and cops and voluntary insurance for covering such costs.
You can't handle the truth.
Bitches are everywhere. :(
Outside Vancouver, Canada.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Nah, I don't live in that part of upstate New York... :-)
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So if a private court/cop system was successful enough it'd expand into other areas, right? If it was successful for long enough it might grow big enough to cover the entire country. That'd be a lot of power in the hands of one or two companies. It'd be pretty easy then for them to force out any other players. The only difference to what we have now is that you wouldn't have to vote every few years.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
See, I don't believe in natural monopolies, you'd understand better why, if you read this. Natural monopolies are a myth propagated by government that prefers to give out franchise deals and maintain actual monopolies that it creates by regulations/subsidies/tax code.
In any situation that has space for profit there will be competition as long as there is no government enforcing a monopoly.
You can't handle the truth.
Not sure I entirely agree with that, but I'm struck by how civil this has been. Thank you for that.
I'd replace the word competition with corruption in your second paragraph. I've been treated quite badly by some private entities, so I'm quite wary of them gaining too much power. I at least hypothetically have a voice in government, and have something I can do to redress any injustices.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
If Hollywood has taught me anything, it's that ONLY that guy would be capable of finding a cure.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
What should the police have done according to all you complaining people? Kindly request that he refrains from building a nuclear reactor, and that he delivers the nuclear material before noon the next day, because although it's a grey area in the law, it's best not to play with it in a residential area?
Yes. That or came and got the material themselves. I absolutely do not agree with outright arresting him (and I believe that raiding him was also a bit much).
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Apparently, this guy was questioned and sent home (sans radioactive materials) but the woman in another article who rescued and was raising a hedgehog faces fines and imprisonment?!?
They just interviewed this guy, Richard Handl on BBC's Radio 4, the programme is called "PM" and will be available for "listen again" once the programme is finished - less than an hour from this post date. It's certainly available in *some* overseas areas - I am currently in Luxembourg, EU - and will be available for a week from today (04 Aug 2011). If you do listen to it, the interview starts about 25 minutes into the start of the programme - but the BBC often start these recordings a couple of minutes early - if you don't hear Big Ben chiming at 00:00, then make sure you timeshift appropriately.
The little I heard was incredible, the guy was arrested by cops with guns, he will appoint a lawyer if a trial will take place, and, while 'cooking' radioactive materials on his stove top, there was an explosion. He did wear rudimentary protective gear. Ho ordered radium from Germany via ebay, and it was delivered by post. I hope you'll get more by listening yourself, I barely paid attention until I realised who they were interviewing - my evening meal was far too tasty.
Note to ACs: I won't mod you up, even if you are being funny or insightful. So take a chance! It's not real life!