Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy - Kotaku Comments

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

jmb8504 — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:10:11 MST

@segamanxero: Haha, oh how I miss the early 90's Sega megastructure of add ons. My favorite was putting the Game Genie + Sonic and Knuckles + Sonic 3 tower together and putting into the Genesis + 32X + Sega CD combo.

jmb8504

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Danj3ris — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:35:25 MST

@Tisteldun: Ha-HAA!....burned!

Has anyone else noticed how the comments are getting more and more interesting to read? Its like you can actually make assumptions about the commentators.

Danj3ris

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

LordChris915 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:58:41 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea:
They were the first country that came to mind, dont worry i hate and love everyone and everything equaly...im an emotionless freak...i love you

LordChris915

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

sandwiches — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:47:54 MST

I hear he's also a urinator, a sleeper, and a food-eater.

sandwiches

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

ElGatoMalo — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:53:30 MST

@Seiven: Actually, the Second Ammendment was written with the purposeful intent on allowing the citizenry the ability to overthrow their government by force if need be. Without the Second Ammendment, the state/federal militias would have been the sole possessors of weaponry and the citizenry would have been helpless to usurp that power.

The NRA's argument about why assault weapons shouldn't be regulated relies on the argument that as the military gets increasingly more sophisticated, the citizenry becomes increasingly more impotent in their ability to overthrow the government unless they're allowed to bear arms that "keep pace" with what the government possesses. As an extension of this argument, one could rightfully argue that my F-22 order should be honored and any person wanting to develop a fissionable weapon for their own protection should be able to do so.

What NRA-types forget, though, is that unlike governments of the past (and many of the present), our military is born of the citizenry. We don't have an aristocracy running the military and we have been trending toward giving our front-line soldiers the ability to make their own independent judgments. With such a system, our military contains its own moral character and code of conduct, separate from the government's, and would exercise it should the need arise.

I wonder if the media would dig a global politics simulator for its edutainment value... or if they'd chalk up gamers as "training to be little Hitlers," because you know we'd all try to take over our virtual worlds. ;-)

ElGatoMalo

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

fuchikoma — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:02:31 MST

I suppose for a short term dose, I would mean close exposure to a enriched uranium or a mass of plutonium at subcritical levels, with minimal shielding, without getting any inside your body, for... I'll say a few days. That would be fairly survivable, but it's all a roll of the dice so you could conceivably be killed by less, just probably not due to direct trauma.

Very true about Chernobyl, and important to note the positive reactivity constant, which is all but obsolete now. I just meant the remains such as the magma pools and the environment near the famous "elephant's foot." (Though you'd be crazy to observe that thing directly!) Surprisingly, those who did not take in any particles from the area are as far as I know, all ok in terms of radiation-related illnesses.

As for this guy, it's hard to say. It doesn't sound like he knew what he was doing. If he only doubled the background radiation in his house, then away from his experimenting area was probably fine. The guy who sold me my radiation detectors lives in Magnitogorsk where the normal background count is a few times what I see at home. MOST people there are fine (uhh... radiation-wise. The chemical pollution is unreal.) Then, this guy was doing this in his gaming room, and may or may not have shielded his samples (I'd assume he did?) But I'm just saying if he had a fissionable amount of Uranium, it probably would not kill him outright. Maybe if he left it laying around for long enough. If he got it to react... yeah, I won't argue that. He would not have sufficient shielding at home.

I think wherever we're disagreeing is over fairly minor points now though.

fuchikoma

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Tuor — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:40:50 MST

@fuchikoma: Okay. I'll allow that "extremely small amounts" of an isotope of Plutonium exit in nature. I wasn't aware until now that such a process could take place naturally.

As for survivability of short-term doses, you'd have to define what level you're talking about. 500 rem killed one scientist. That's a lot, granted. How about 100 rem? I seem to recall that massive destruction of white blood cells occurs at lower doses, but it's been a long time since I studied the chart of dose vs. effect.

As for Chernobyl, it "failed" because the Soviets were testing it at the edge of its operational parameters. They let it get away from them. IIRC, it has a positive reactivity constant and it went prompt critical: that was all she wrote.

Finally, you were talking about short-term dose. How long do you think this guy, if he had enough material, would've left it lying around the house? A day? A week? A month? A continual exposure at even much smaller doses... milli-rems, would've added up before long.

Tuor

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

fuchikoma — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:34:51 MST

@Tuor:

Plutonium is found in nature, just in very small amounts. It's producable by irradiation of Uranium isotopes.

Natural fission reactor: [en.wikipedia.org]

Here is a mass of Plutonium that caused two lethal criticality accidents with no explosion or severe physical effect, apart from neutron emission.
[en.wikipedia.org]
The people working on it were basically in chem lab gear, and were killed only because of the criticality of the mass. In fact, most scientists who have studied the hell that is the remains of the failed Chernobyl reactor are ok so far (can't say the same of the liquidators who probably consumed fallout while working...)

So most of the time a short-term dose of fairly high radiation is quite survivable. If you consume radioactive material it becomes a more direct long-term problem as it continues to irradiate you...

I bet this guy was inspired by tabletop fusion reactors like these:
[www.popsci.com]
[brian-mcdermott.com]
...not realising it's a completely different device and not especially exotic.

fuchikoma

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Tisteldun — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:48:19 MST

@brent_w:
@brent_w:
@brent_w:
Turn on your irony detector, get some sense of humor and buy a set of diapers while you are at it.

Tisteldun

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Tuor — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:10:52 MST

Plutonium is NOT a natural occuring element. It cannot be found anywhere in nature. It is a man-made element.

As others have stated, you require enriched Uranium or Plutonium to sustain a nuclear reaction. You cannot buy it. And, if this idiot were to get enough enriched Uranium together to sustain a nuclear reaction, he would be dead shortly thereafter due to radiation exposure: you NEED shielding if you're going to build a reactor capable of sustaining a nuclear reaction. Shielding usually involves a lot of lead, steal, and (usually treated) water.

Tuor

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

InsidiousTuna — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:06:16 MST

@LordChris47: Screw you dude, one of my best friends is Romanian. Why you gotta hate? :D

InsidiousTuna

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

InsidiousTuna — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:04:43 MST

@Kado: The Libyans.

InsidiousTuna

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:21:21 MST

@Darien_Shields:
.

Probably because you've never bothered to learn anything factual about it at all.

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Darien_Shields — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:14:18 MST

It's amazing how he can have such a flippant attitude about Nuclearr power. I have never heard of "scientists doing it in University all the time". In fact I have never heard of a "small scale" Nuclear reaction. There's "blow up your neighbourhood", "blow up your city", and "blow up your planet" level reactions, sure...

If Nuclear power were so easily harnessed I'm sure we'd all have pocket reactors to keep our DS's charged all year long!

Darien_Shields

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

questworld — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:47:24 MST

Well those "Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky bridges" really take a lot of power to work. :)

questworld

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

ZinkO: USA WE DA BEST — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:23:12 MST

hahaha, I can imagine what happened when they tried to shut it down.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY VEGETA"
"I CAN'T"
"DARN IT, I'M ALL OUT OF POWER"
levity aside, doing some actual research reveals that he appeared to know pretty much what he was doing. and iirc his heavy metals check came back negative.

ZinkO: USA WE DA BEST

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Terrorsaur. — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:46:29 MST

Agh.
Am I the only one who thinks the whole "taken at his parents request" was a joke?

Terrorsaur.

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

fivepercentjuice — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:40:19 MST

*knock knock* excuse me mam but can we borrow your sons nuclear reactor? PLEASE!!!!

fivepercentjuice

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Elrando — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:17:01 MST

[youtube.com]

Elrando

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Mact — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:38:08 MST

@Ultrasinc:

That was likely the reason his parents asked them to take it away.

Mact

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Nexus6 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:30:38 MST

@Miksho: ZING !

Nexus6

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Gameboy4life — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:04:39 MST

@STREEKS1984:
"Pretty but I was a bit concerned when he said that it was in our water. WTF"

...THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!... ^_^

~2PS~

Gameboy4life

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

ConstantCupcake — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:31:23 MST

@TheForgotenHero: Only on kotaku can I come four hours late to a conversation and find that somebody has already beaten me out to the Manhattan Project reference.

ConstantCupcake

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

KM91 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:30:43 MST

Wow.

KM91

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Ultrasinc — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:57:02 MST

I do physics and... err... where does he get all the power/voltage to do those experiments...

I'm imagining the bills... =S

Ultrasinc

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Parsifal — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:24:31 MST

@comedy: The major health hazard here was actually the risks of exposure to toxic heavy metals (rock on!) released from the ores during the experiments.

Parsifal

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Parsifal — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:16:25 MST

@punkasscrab: Good thing what he was working with was /un/-enriched uranium which may be ordered from all sorts of places legally and to build his reactor which college students (of which some game, so I hear) sometimes make.

Skim back through the comments a bit as the particulars of this case have been discussed a bit.

Not trying to be an ass, its just that you just came off rather authoritarian on it.

Parsifal

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

RawSteelUT — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:13:02 MST

@brent_w: Also, it's not like the US is the only country that's ever played fast and loose with nuclear material.

Not to say you can't have nuclear-related illness, but it's not as common as the anti-nuclear people would have you believe. It really only happens when you have concentrations of the stuff leaking out all over the place, like what happens in Ukraine to this day due to leaking nuclear material from the Chernobyl incident.

RawSteelUT

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

comedy — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:48:00 MST

hahah. 'radioactivity... ooooh!'. idiots. so this guy got some un-enriched uranium, big whoop. if it was really only twice the background level he must have had a tiny amount. think about this, if you want scary pseudo science : radioactive materials give off radiation right? it's radiation which does damage, but there are other sources of radiation all aroudn you!! and you don't even know it... for a start there's background radiation, coming from the ground, the sky, space, food, you, me, everywhere. then there's the sun!! pumping out more energy in radiation each minute than we do as a planet each year. and radios! and telly! and every bloody thing you can think of.

this guy's an idiot. he should know that in fact making a 'nuclear reactor' is not going to work - it won't blow up, it won't yield energy, and most of all it won't be any fun or at all interesting. go do something worthwhile you tool.

comedy

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

L_K_M — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:41:43 MST

@tocatl: That would be the case even without the tests, but the tests caused a measurable increase in radiation.

L_K_M

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

L_K_M — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:41:09 MST

@Applekid: True. Just because it's radioactive doesn't mean the fucking China Syndrome is going to happen.

L_K_M

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

punkasscrab — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:35:12 MST

There is no Plutonium in the mountains in the west or anywhere else in the universe outside of government posession. It is a manmade element. Every gamer in the world working in concert could not make a nuclear reactor. Sensationalist news is all.

punkasscrab

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

DimensionWarped — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:29:41 MST

The last thing I ever did project-wise in Highschool was to make a video claiming that SEGA would re-enter the console race with the world's first nuclear powered console in 2012... the SEGA Fusion.

DimensionWarped

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Intellectualdiot — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:20:35 MST

...Nice picture. Was he creating a nuclear reactor for his own edification or for those dastardly Iranians? Jeez.

Intellectualdiot

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

LosMerengues — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:13:49 MST

Wow just wow, Good thing I'm not in the US where your neighbors build nukes. :P

LosMerengues

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

kidko — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:03:05 MST

Fifty thousand people used to live here...

kidko

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Yuki — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:02:55 MST

He must have been a fan of "The Radioactive Boy Scout".

[en.wikipedia.org]
[www.dangerouslaboratories.org]

Yuki

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Narb copied that floppy — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:00:39 MST

This guy must have one great Resume.

-Computer knowledge
-Built Nuclear Reactor
-Fixed a muffler once

Narb copied that floppy

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:22:47 MST

@brent_w:

And to add to that, radiation is a relatively minor cause of cancer when compared to the widespread release of carcinogens in air & water pollution.

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Onizuka-GTO — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:17:40 MST

hey, at leased he didn't shoot anyone.

I rather have a house bound intensely dedicated gamers making small controlled nuclear reactors to of set hugely inflating energy bills, then a mentally disturbed individual who would later wonder out with a gun and later blame games for his madness.

miniature nuclear building house-bounded gamer?

outdoor Gun-wielding mentally easy influenced gamer?

huh?

Go nuclear gamer you. :)

Onizuka-GTO

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:10:50 MST

@tocatl:

I'm going to say this calmly & resist my strong urge to use sarcasm.

Did you ever stop to think, perhaps, the quick advancements in medical technology seen in the past 50 years just might have something do with an increase in the diagnosis of cancer?
(And a whole lot of other things.)

Where you aware that noone has died of "old age" in the United States since 1951?
Thats because that "cause of death" category was removed, people die of something.

As it became possible to determine what exactly that was, people who previously would have died from "old age" began to be listed as dying things such as heart disease and *gasp* cancer ...

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

cybereality — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:05:21 MST

If this guy is so smart, how come hes unemployed, living in his parents basement and not working for NASA or DARPA or something?

cybereality

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

dowingba — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:02:55 MST

I'm pretty sure he didn't actually have uranium, and wasn't actually building anything close to an actual nuclear reactor. Otherwise I'm sure they would've taken it away whether or not his parents requested it. And they probably would have got the kid in some sort of trouble.

@tocatl: All life forms have small traces of radiation because all life forms...radiate energy. It was like that even before the evil US did nuclear tests. It's called science.

dowingba

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

LordChris915 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:58:45 MST

@Godstar:
Stop off in the UK...i can make use of him....IN MY EVIL LAIR MOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...death to Romania

LordChris915

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

SchoolBusDriver — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:55:06 MST

What do you think raw Uranium is? Mountain Dew and a bucket of Chili compressed into a glow tube.

SchoolBusDriver

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

TOCATL — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:49:44 MST

@brent_w: Yes but after those nuclear tests it increased a little more, even its not a coincidence that cancer became a problem after those decades...

TOCATL

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

TOCATL — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:47:51 MST

@Kyle81: Actually a bio-weapon is even easier to make, you only need POO and some lap skills to make one, that ones are even more dangerous...

TOCATL

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:47:04 MST

@tocatl:

All lifeforms on this planet have always had small traces of radiation!

Argg ... you people ... I'm going to run out of numbers ...

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Spolodaface — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:46:54 MST

/Home Improvement References

Spolodaface

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Spolodaface — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:46:37 MST

MORE POWER!
grrrrrrrrr

Spolodaface

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

TOCATL — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:44:53 MST

@icepick314: Actually thanks to the US atomic tests in the 50-60 all the life forms in this planet have very small traces of radiation...

TOCATL

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

TheForgotenHero — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:41:33 MST

@DonovanTaters: "I wonder if John Lithgow is dating his mom."

I was gonna ask if anyone remembered that movie but i guess i have my answer, bonus points for the slanted reference that few people will get.

TheForgotenHero

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

TOCATL — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:41:26 MST

@Kado: There is Uranium or plutoium (i dont remember) in some mountains in the US, even some plants have very small amounts of radioactive material...

TOCATL

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

edgeblade — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:39:15 MST

Or 1955, whichever, can't remember which.

edgeblade

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Ackart — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:39:10 MST

@edgeblade: 1955, not 1885. :P

Ackart

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

edgeblade — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:38:25 MST

Maybe in 1985 uranium is available at every corner drugstore, but here in 1885 it's a little hard to come by!

edgeblade

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

zemm — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:31:20 MST

I'm suprised the headline didn't just read: "Videogames turn young man into mad scientist!"

zemm

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

fuchikoma — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:29:39 MST

BTW, you'll probably get an elevated radiation count from a banana because they're rich in potassium.

I have a jar of potassium nitrate (saltpeter) that gives an easily audible increased count with my cheap Russian radiation detector. It's a normal mix of potassium isotopes decaying and you'll find it in most things with lots of potassium.

fuchikoma

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Ackart — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:28:52 MST

Aaaa, beaten. :(

Ackart

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Ackart — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:28:40 MST

Argh, people. You can legally buy small, SMALL quantities of a lot of things.

[www.unitednuclear.com] Fun site.

Anyway, cool little story. Obviously nothing was wrong, his parents were just embarrassed that Junior was building a nuclear power plant and the Men in Black showed up.

Ackart

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

fuchikoma — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:27:46 MST

You can get non-enriched Uranium in tiny amounts from (considers comment...) websites in the USA legally. That's actually no big security issue, but if misused, a personal health issue.

Making a reactor? I'm betting you'd need some training, licensing and certification for that. Just because you have gunpowder doesn't mean you're allowed to stockpile pipe bombs either!

But seriously to do that in the USA these days the guy must have been crazy. He's lucky he didn't disappear as a suspected terrorist...

fuchikoma

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

RawSteelUT — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:20:41 MST

Fifty thousand people used to live in this trailer park. Now it's a ghost town. Never seen anything like it.

*Pops off some ultranationalists*

RawSteelUT

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

sanjiyan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:17:05 MST

Plu...plutonium...you're telling me this SUCKER of a game system is nuclear?!!!

sanjiyan

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

dgonchild — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:04:27 MST

When I read "He said he has always been curious about how things work" I immediately thought "Sylar". Put this guy in prison before he goes psycho!

dgonchild

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

MasterSauce — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:04:16 MST

The Libyans!

MasterSauce

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Black_Ops_19 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:01:27 MST

I'm sure the Texas energy dept (whatever the name maybe) would not have been to happy if he got it to work and started using the energy output to power his parents home, his neighbors and maybe even his car.

I wonder if he owns a De Lorean? lol

Black_Ops_19

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

godot — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:59:22 MST

This gives an entirely different meaning to modding half-life.

Btw, depending on where you live, 10 - 20 cubic meters of tap water can contain about a gram of Uranium.

godot

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

legacyed — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:53:39 MST

did he actually have uranium?

legacyed

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Klappstuhl — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:45:43 MST

Well, the Iron Man Suit he wanted to build would need something stronger than a Duracell can give! :P

Klappstuhl

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:42:16 MST

@Y0URGOD78:

You ignorant piece of ... *1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... s-hi-- six ... se ... seven ...*

READ THE ARTICLE.

They checked it out, decided it was of no concern and left him be.

The only reason they took the reactor is because of his parents request.

READ READ READ READ - Go to the library and find a book and! ...

*breathe*

* 1, 2, 3, 4, fa ... fa ... five ... *

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

RetroBob — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:40:52 MST

Kotaku said...

"the background radiation in his home had doubled."

The background radiation has not just doubled, it will have stayed just about the same. The reading will have increased because he had brought the uraniam into his house.

RetroBob

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

seafisch — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:36:15 MST

*wonders how Jack Thompson will spin this*

seafisch

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Caduceus — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:34:09 MST

"One-point-twenty-one gigawatts!!!"

Caduceus

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Y0URGOD78 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:32:06 MST

U.S. policy....Don't use your brain. This includes thinking, imagining, forward thinking, and anything else to stiffle creative progress for common folk outside of college, and the big dollar private sector. You just stay simple, and let the super intelligent gov't deal with that okay. Surprized they didn't steal his modded xbox under the homeland security act like they did a few months. Because we all know an emulator running mario on a modded xbox 1 is a security risk equal to terrorism. Thats no joke by the way...Thats exactly how things work now.

Y0URGOD78

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:28:25 MST

@Ejvid04:

There is a huge difference between standard uranium and enriched uranium, do yourself a favor, find and encyclopedia, and educate yourself.
.
.
Reading up on a little science never hurt anybody people.

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

EwilTwin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:25:48 MST

Hey.. I'm a gamer. According to the media I can built my own nuclear reactor. 1955 here I come!
(made a BTTF reference in order to be cool)

EwilTwin

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Unique78 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:25:07 MST

@FlashIV:

Actually, Uranium is all over the earth. There is some in your backyard right now. Most dirst/soil has 2ppm of uranium (2 Parts per million). When people want to refine uranium, they do a survey of the land and find dirt that is at least 15ppm. It is possible to get uranium from dirt that is 2ppm but it would be difficult. Canada has many places naturally where it is higher then 2ppm. Lots of the worlds uranium comes from Canada.

Unique78

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

samuraisul — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:15:18 MST

@swirldude: Maybe then we can FINALLY play "Crysis" at maxed-out settings.. o_0

samuraisul

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

punkasscrab — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:12:32 MST

Do you guys realize that Uranium comes out of the ground? Did you know it is legal to own Uranium and it is actually not harmful to be exposed to Uranium ore for short periods of time? A reactor requires highly enriched Uranium made from a gas centrifuge. He had slightly elevated levels of background radiation and is not in prison so .... the guy was not some special genius he was a special idiot trying to make a nuclear reactor out of ore grade uranium. This is only news worthy in the OMG people are stupid sort of way.

punkasscrab

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

soundgarden — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:06:51 MST

yeah, they make these all the time for scav hunts at the University of Chicago (where the first nuclear reaction occurred). It's kind of cool that he tried to do this, but he should probably find a better atmosphere to do it in then his parent's basement.

soundgarden

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:57:43 MST

Some of the people in this post are showing the same kind of ignorance. Normal un-enriched uranium is mostly harmless, its in the ground many places around the United States.

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Ejvid04 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:56:10 MST

How could 1 nerd get ahold of uranium, build a nuclear reactor, and yet the Middle East STILL have troubles figuring it out.. Either this guy is a genious, or someone is very dumb.

Ejvid04

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Slothboy — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:55:01 MST

In other news a person who admits to owning a video game robbed a convenience store. He then took the money back to the very same house in which the video game is stored. After a brief standoff with police he was taken into custody. The video game is, as yet, unaccounted for.

A neighbor claims the video game might have been Grand Theft Auto or possibly Halo.

Slothboy

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Pinguin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:53:39 MST

It's to power the 3x SLI PC

Pinguin

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

brent_w — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:52:05 MST

How retarded that some ignorant alarmist on the internet had to ruin this man's legitimate science experiment.

brent_w

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

velvet396 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:50:56 MST

@robinhood1013:
And apparently "YOUR" not.

velvet396

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Mr.SithNinja — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:46:53 MST

He should probably keep that thing away from his 360. It will probably over heat the reactor and then it's "C-ya wouldn't wanna B-ya".

Mr.SithNinja

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

z357x — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:45:16 MST

I would totally run my house on a personal Nuclear reactor.

Hell I'd run my VAN on one.

z357x

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

robinhood1013 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:44:36 MST

good for the FBI....but why remove it...to the parents..YOURE SON IS A GENIUS....

robinhood1013

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Applekid — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:31:14 MST

UnitedNuclear.com has uranium ore you can buy. He's totally right, it's not really a big deal if proper precautions are taken. The fact that he wasn't arrested probably shows he used appropriate procedure. Doubling background radiation isn't that big a deal, either. Radon causes a hell of a lot more of an increase than just "doubled background radiation.:

Applekid

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Roto13 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:27:59 MST

Media: "He built a nuclear reactor.

Also, random ties to video games."

... huh?

Roto13

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

El-Suave — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:23:22 MST

If only Ahmadinedschad would blog about his nuclear programm...

El-Suave

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

MURDERFACE — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:22:57 MST

You see what happens when you use plutonium as a battery for your wireless controlers...............MADNESS!!!!!!

MURDERFACE

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Big_Adam — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:21:09 MST

He built a reactor....

....

I do hope he had some lead pajamas too.

Big_Adam

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Rupan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:18:17 MST

@Thassodar: I like the Amazon suggestion for the Uranium. Forbidden Legos. So you can build a killer Lego robot powered by uranium. LOL

Rupan

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Cyntalan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:14:13 MST

Somewhere, John Lithgow is sitting at home, hearing about this story and saying, "Didn't he watch my movie? Next thing you know, he'll attempt to build a bomb for a science fair and then all hell'll break loose and it'll be up to me to save the day again."

Cyntalan

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Thassodar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:13:16 MST

@Kado: [www.amazon.com]

Thats where he got the uranium.

Thassodar

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Seiven — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:06:26 MST

Amendmant 2 right to bear (nuclear)arm(ament)s

that's how it reads...right?...maybe I shouldn't mention my backyard missle silo since feds are watching my every move...it's not paranoia if they are really after you...wait...what was that noise...*dons tinfoil hat*

Seiven

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

LoopyChew — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:59:32 MST

Actually, it was just a suitcase filled with pinball machine parts.

LoopyChew

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Tepoz — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:54:55 MST

I remember my High School Science teacher having a huge catalog where you could order almost anything Science wise. You could order chips that contained radioactive materials for science experiements too.

Tepoz

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Falconfire — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:54:04 MST

@cduran: Um no the fact is Uranium is not that big of a deal despite what the media likes to paint it as. Its the KIND of uranium that could make it a issue as the kind used in reactors is not the kind used in bombs (different isotope)

Now if it had been Plutonium... THATS a different story.

Falconfire

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Ghede — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:52:32 MST

@Talli: Actually, I think it is the fact he got his hands on uranium that makes him a man. It takes serious cojones to do that.

Ghede

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Falconfire — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:51:34 MST

@Kado: You can mail order it. Uranium is not in any way difficult to get. There is a book out there about the boyscout who used the uranium from fire detector sensors to make his nuclear reactor and had it running for a while before the government realized he had one working in his backyard.

Falconfire

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Pigmartyr — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:51:30 MST

@Miksho: Nice!

You wonder why some people think of these things.
Best line EVAR! "taking the experiment at his parents request"

Pigmartyr

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

icepick314 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:49:31 MST

mmmmmm......

irradiated bananas!!

icepick314

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

erlik — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:49:17 MST

Bah. Some kids in my dorm made a working nuclear reactor for a scavenger hunt. They just made it on a micro scale, using some sort of uranium compound they scraped off the inside of a speaker. Apparently it was harder for them to prove it was working than it was to actually make it work.

Nuclear reactors are sort of simple, really, and there's all sorts of fissionable material around in small amounts.

erlik

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

scruffy, the janitor — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:46:20 MST

as if stalker wasn't atmospheric enough

scruffy, the janitor

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

JustThisGuy — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:45:14 MST

You can buy uranium from Amazon.

Welcome to the future, kids.

JustThisGuy

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

DarrenIndeed — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:43:37 MST

Parents sound like assholes...

DarrenIndeed

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Witzbold — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:43:34 MST

Why is it that folks who blog think that whatever they write on it is safe from prying eyes?

And yes the media just had to add that he was a gamer.

Well at least it goes to show that gamers are smarter than the average non gamer then right! ZING!

Witzbold

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

BlackIceJoe — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:43:18 MST

I bet He was trying to find a way to generate the 1.21 giga watts needed to help get his De Lorean and the flux capacitor running so He can go in the future and see what Sony, Microsoft and Nintendos next game system is.

BlackIceJoe

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

HeadlessCow — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:40:40 MST

Follow the story from the beginning.

[episteme.arstechnica.com]
[episteme.arstechnica.com]
[episteme.arstechnica.com]

HeadlessCow

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

SuedeGopher — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:38:24 MST

@Miksho:

Winner!

SuedeGopher

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Lex Eskobar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:38:10 MST

Thats Just a bit scary.

Lex Eskobar

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

NMC ONE WAY — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:36:58 MST

@bastardcake:

LOL. You said it best!

Mom said I have to put my uranium away. It's attracting Feds.

NMC ONE WAY

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Heliophage — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:36:20 MST

If the feds left him alone after inspecting the contraption, does that mean he was nowhere close to making it functional, or was it just so small that it wasn't deemed hazardous?

Heliophage

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

teh_joe — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:35:58 MST

@Kado: probably from Libyan nationalists

teh_joe

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Slint — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:35:56 MST

"The man decided to create a small-scale nuclear reaction in the same room he plays his video games as his latest experiment."

I hate the media. Why is this important? Oh, that's right. He's a gamer. I almost forgot. Thanks for the heads up local-terrible-newsman.

Slint

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

cduran — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:34:31 MST

If the FEDs left him alone, then he obviously didn't have any uranium. I'm pretty sure if he did have uranium the FEDs would have the same questions many of us have, "Where the hell did he get uranium from".

cduran

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

suntorytime — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:34:15 MST

Sick of paying for his electricity bill eh.

suntorytime

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

ElijahDProphet — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:33:59 MST

"The mantle in gas lanterns, the small cloth pouch over the flame, is coated with a compound containing thorium-232. When bombarded with neutrons it produces uranium-233, which is fissionable."

From the much more interesting story about a kid trying to build a reactor for a Boy Scout Merit Badge.

Achievement Unlocked: Radioactive!

Read all about it here:

[www.dangerouslaboratories.org]

ElijahDProphet

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

xaksei — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:33:30 MST

What I don't understand is why they need to tell us he's a gamer. It's not like the information is important to the article...

xaksei

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

bastardcake — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:32:47 MST

"at his parents request."

The guy's a goddamn loser.

bastardcake

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Cell9song — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:32:14 MST

*cue Dudley Moore voice*

"iss jus a lil' joke....."

Cell9song

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

SSJPabs — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:32:05 MST

So THAT's how you power the hardware to run max Crysis.

SSJPabs

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Streeks1984 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:31:02 MST

Pretty but I was a bit concerned when he said that it was in our water. WTF

Streeks1984

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Jesse Mrozowski — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:30:33 MST

@DonovanTaters: I was wondering the same thing.

Jesse Mrozowski

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

kNZA — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:29:11 MST

Good old American DIY spirit...

...crushed by the feds!

kNZA

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Justice7541 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:25:34 MST

I kind of doubt the stuff he was using was weapons-grade.

Justice7541

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

NutManIV — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:25:08 MST

@the-hypnotoad:

Lol that didnt even make sense though. Its the PS3 that uses the larger amount of power.

NutManIV

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

FlashIV — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:24:39 MST

"had some uranium"

That's the part that amazes me, not the in-home nuclear reactor :)

FlashIV

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Kyle81 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:23:18 MST

Apparently its easy to get the stuff to make a nuke in the US.... I feel safe

Kyle81

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

XGamerX — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:23:00 MST

brb fbi

XGamerX

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Pombar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:22:34 MST

He... 'redesigns' games? Is that another way of saying he mods the occasional SNES ROM, or that he was playing Gears when they came over and he said "This game would be better with a katamari weapon"...?

Pombar

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Revenge_of_Nekojin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:22:33 MST

So is he a man or a kid? The fact that the name wasn't released and the 'device' was taken away at his parents request makes me wonder where the hell he got uranium.

Revenge_of_Nekojin

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

nimagraven — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:22:08 MST

Obviously, brains do not mean you have common sense.

I've been saying that for years now.

nimagraven

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Fyren — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:21:43 MST

What i want to know is, where do you get uranium?.

Dont' worry, after this kind of exposure, all kinds of tech universities will be stuffing his mailbox.

Fyren

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Fitz Rhapsody — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:21:11 MST

I wonder if he drives a DeLorean.

Fitz Rhapsody

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Donovan Taters — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:20:24 MST

I wonder if John Lithgow is dating his mom.

Donovan Taters

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Talli — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:20:01 MST

I love it... boy turns 18 and suddenly he's a "man".

Talli

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

theboyfrombrasil — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:19:31 MST

Curiosity Killed the Cat.

I would hate to live next to the guy if something went wrong, it'd be like a local Chernobyl.

theboyfrombrasil

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Kado — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:19:27 MST

Where the hell did he get Uranium!

Kado

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Guild_Navigator — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:19:26 MST

Somebody attempts to do something awesome and then the man has to put a stop to it.

Guild_Navigator

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

ruslander — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:19:09 MST

Haha the kicker to this story is that the government only took his experiment at the request of his parents. I wonder if that means he was living in their basement during this time period...

ruslander

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Miksho — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:18:28 MST

Looks like somebody can't be bothered to wait for Fallout 3.

Miksho

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

Godstar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:18:26 MST

To Guantanamo with you young man! Get ready for a long trip around Europe with several stops in strange countries to boot.

Godstar

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

swirldude — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:17:43 MST

PS4 and Xbox 720 will require nuclear power to give us the best graphics ever created. Who cares about tumors when you've got PHOTOREALISM!

swirldude

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

dh4645 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:12:52 MST

sweetness.

maybe someone will give him a job now, so he can keep his time occupied with that instead of killing us all.

dh4645

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

segamanxero — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:12:36 MST

its probably to power his sega genesis, sega CD, and sega 32x all at once

segamanxero

Gamer Tries to Build Nuclear Reactor in Home, Feds Not Happy

the-hypnotoad — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:12:35 MST

I know the 360 uses a lot of power, but geez!
*ba dum bum pshht!*

the-hypnotoad