'Radioactive Boy Scout' Reportedly Passes Away At Age 39 (harpers.org)

A funeral notice quietly appeared on Tributes.com recently, announcing the death of David Charles Hahn. Though no cause of death was provided, when he was 17 Hahn "achieved some notoriety as a teenage Boy Scout with his attempt to build a nuclear reactor in his garden shed," remembers Slashdot reader braindrainbahrain: His "reactor" ended when the EPA declared his backyard as a Superfund cleanup site due to hazardous levels of radiation. His story was captured in a Harper's magazine article, and later the book "The Radioactive Boy Scout" by Ken Silverstein. It was also a Slashdot topic...
Hahn had used materials from household products like lithium batteries, smoke detectors, and old radium clocks, according to Wikipedia, which adds that shortly after Hahn's lab was dismantled, he became an Eagle Scout.

Comments

Re:Well shit.

[PopeRatzo]

It showed what a determined kid could do given enough knowledge and motivation.

Yes, given the proper materials, a determined kid with Google and the willingness to not give a fuck could create a Superfund site.

In its last official act, the 114th Congress has passed a resolution putting the Radioactive Boy Scout's image on the new billion dollar bill, saying "Being able to create a Superfund site in your backyard is an inspiration to all Americans. The only thing better is creating a Superfund site in someone else's backyard. Or in a town that's mostly black people or Indians, because fuck them."