Make Believe

radioactive boy scout

David Charles Hahn (October 30, 1976 – September 27, 2016), sometimes called the "Radioactive Boy Scout" or the "Nuclear Boy Scout", was an American nuclear radiation enthusiast who built a homemade neutron source at the age of seventeen. A scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mother's house in Commerce Township, Michigan. Hahn's goal was to build and demonstrate a homemade breeder reactor. While he never managed to build a reactor, in August 1994, Hahn's progress attracted the attention of local police when they found material in his vehicle that troubled them during a stop for a separate matter. When Hahn warned them that the material was radioactive, the police contacted federal authorities.… more »