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Circa 1995, teenage David Hahn, a boy scout living in Michigan, was nuclear.

Only seventeen, Hahn’s experiments were near secret, done in his step-mother’s backyard. Remarkable, Hahn began his study of chemistry at age ten, and he had already created nitroglycerin, a medicine that can help prevent angina (chest pain).

Located in a backyard shed, Hahn contacted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC is an agency of the United States government, tasked with “protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy”.

By contacting them, Hahn was hoping to gain information on how to build a breeder reactor, a nuclear reactor known for generating more fissile material than it consumes. To do this, Hahn used aliases and cover stories, an obviously smart boy.

For some background, Hahn was invested in chemical experiments, to the point where he was awarded the merit badge for atomic energy. Reading sessions at his library were seen as a teenager catching up on his normal interest. Hahn wanted to not only create a breeder reactor, he also wanted to create and collect every periodic element.

A homemade breeder reactor would have been easier for Hahn than a homemade nuclear reactor. Breeder reactors required the more readily available Uranium-238. As for nuclear reactors, they were burdened with Uranium-235, which have little amount in this world. “Though both isotopes were at the time of Earth formation equally abundant, natural uranium today consists today of 99.3% uranium 238 and only 0.70% uranium 235”.

As said before, this breeder reactor was to be homemade. Hahn used a lead block as a reactor, and he collected his elements needed. Thorium from lanterns, tritium from gunsights, radium from clocks, and lithium from batteries, which were worth $1,000 of batteries he bought. (How is that not suspicious).

You may be wondering how this could have been done safely. It was not. Hahn’s love for science greatly triumphed that of his concern for his own safety. He used coffee filters and pickle jars to hold dangerous chemicals, and he only wore a gas mask. Unnoticed by his parents, Hahn suffered burns, passing out, and he even managed to turn his hair green.

Eventually, Hahn had created a neutron source. This was enough for radiation to already be spreading throughout the neighborhood.

40,000 residents were at risk of radiation. Hahn was caught by police for unrelated reasons. When they saw the suspicious material in his car, they located Hahn’s shed. In fact, Hahn told the officers that his car content was radioactive.

The Environmental Protection Agency was alerted to Hahn’s shed, where they were briefed with a “Caushon” sign. His shed ended up a Superfund hazardous materials cleanup site. Superfund sites are “any site in the U.S that has been contaminated by hazardous materials and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup”.

Here’s a fun fact, Hahn still achieved his Eagle Scout award. However, he had no hobby now, and no way to escape from reality. David Hahn fell into a depression, opting for college and the military, but they never came close to his high-stakes backyard experiments.

However, in 2007, Hahn was arrested on suspicion on creating another reactor. This is added on by the stolen, americium-traced smoke detectors he stored in his home. In fact, Hahn was housing multiple detectors, and he was sentenced to ninety days in jail.

At thirty-nine years old, David Hahn, the “Nuclear Boy Scout”, died from a combination of alcohol, diphenhydramine, and fentanyl.

Works Cited:

https://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Uranium_238_235.htm