that's because gamers are NEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDSSSSSS!

also only gamers are dangerous, as we all know since all other criminals have since retired their naughty ways and crochet for a living.

he'll probably get cancer

You know i think it was some kid a few years back that made a small device the could start fusion of a small amount of deuterium. Apparently its a rather common home brew project.


IN other news, radiation not quite as dangerous as anti nuclear hysteria has convinced people it is, film at 11.

So a guy made a nuclear reactor in his basement. And he plays video games. Those are connected... how exactly?

Simple:

(1) Individual is intelligent enough to build own reactor.
(2) Government wants sole Rights to nuclear power.
(3) Government wants to infringe on citizen's IP Rights to creating their own personal power source.
(4) Government links video games to being evil.
(5) Government links intelligent citizen who can build a reactor to video games.
(6) Government deems intelligent citizen who can build a reactor an "evil genius" because video games are evil and citizen plays video games.
(7) Government confiscates reactor and "leaks" (no pun intended) to the news media that they have stormed the home of an "evil genius" (because he played video games and video games are evil) and taken away his nuclear bomb... er... reactor.
(8) Government has successfully violated IP Rights of citizen and assured that they are the only ones with power to bill citizens for nuclear energy.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

so thats the news people, COD4 official trains you in the creation of nuclear bombs! *hysteria*



i give this guy kudos for building a nuclear reactor, rising energy prices are a bugger these days, however i suspect he'd've had more luck if he'd not posted this information, finished it, patent'd it, got a small piece of land out in the open, and set up his own energy company.

why, i ask, do the news make so much of gamers being smart?
direct comparrison of smartness with 'he who must not be named' and the average gamer, and we win.

actually, the unmentionable one is quite smart, just lacking in wisdom/plain common sense.

@Monkeythumbs: No, power here is not nationalized. Nuclear power especially, though, is incredibly highly regulated, and I'm fairly confident there are mandatory government employees at every nuclear plant.

"It’s interesting that the TV news report makes so much of the man’s gaming, even showing him playing Call of Duty 4 at his PC."

@GP: No it's not. I'd stop short of saying they have an AGENDA, but the MSM still goes to some lengths to portray gaming as abnormal. There's no surprise here at all. You've got a person doing something the average viewer would be shocked by/not want in their neighborhood, so the fact that he games is raised clearly. It's SOP.

@ E. Zachary Knight

I don't know which state you live in, but I have solar panels at my home and during the summer when I generate more power than I consume, the power company buys back the extra electricity I feed into the grid.

@EZK

Yeah, the company i intern at does the same thing with power on the weekends.

Step one in the inevitable media circus which will attempt to label gamers as terrorists. EVERYBODY PANIC.

who wants to bet thompson is going to start using the term "nuclear reactor-building simulator"?

@ Juicehandy and brokenscope

My mistake.

I'm surprised he wasn't arrested. This would be the most WMDs that the Bush administration has ever found.

This is only step 2 of the gamers masterplan,

Step 1 Train an army through murder simulators
Step 2 Build Nuclear Reactors to get WMD
Step 3 Take over the world

They should be worried
Very worried
Because soon they won't be able to stop us
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Just to clarify, don't you need a much higher grade of nuclear material for, like say, a bomb?

Ok. So we are fine with Iran (who wants to eliminate the US and Isreal, thos silly people!) haveing nuclear reactors (a krap ton of centrafuges and whatnot and yes i know i'm butchering the spelling but i'm tired) for civilian power, but one kid in the US does it and we have to send the goon squad to interogate him?


Yes, our founding fathers must be so proud.

Call of Duty 4 on PC?!

Everyone I know plays it on console

@ mottom22,

He stated that the nuclear background in his house doubled. That's nothing, I live (like one of the commentors here, Soldat Louis I think) in Brittany. The rock under us is granit. The average radioactivity here is twice what you would get in, say, Paris, or London.

That's no threat. What is a threat is called panic mongering. See Greenpeace, they started out with noble objectives but now...

Also, I think you might be amused to know that the wave of cancers in Western Europe associated with some events linked to the plot of STALKER happens to have started before the actual accident. It's not genetic premonition, it's progress in cancer detection.

@Sly fox

You can make a nuke with uranium. You can also make it with plutonium, and weapons grade plutonium.


The higher the grade the less of the material you need for a bomb.


Quite frankly, its not that damn hard to make a nuke. It won't be elegant, clean, compact, high yield, or guaranteed to work. The best part is, if it doesn't work you have a plain old dirty bomb, which is nasty on its own.

Can anyone in Texas try to dig more into this story? Trying to find out if it was Paul Allen Panks, video gaming nutball extraordinaire.

Can someone please clear something up for me. COD:4 was just released correct or no? I have it so, I just wanted to make sure. From WarOtters post, what wiki said this was back in 94'. COD:4 was out then.

Sorry, wrong info. For post above. I thought WarOtter was talking about this guy.

Well there is Toshiba's Micro Nuclear Reactor... just search any engine for it. it will be COMMERcially available to anyone soon.

@ mottom22,

I am anonymous, it doesn't look like it means anything but it does.

It simplifies things. Call me anonymous rather than a paraphase please, it works better for post referal.

And about your complaints:

"They're just doing their job," the man said. "That's their job to come and check on stuff like that. When they left, it had been deemed that, you know, everything was within reason."

That about sums it up.

This amuses me as Thompson has stated that Gamers are stupid to the level of not being able to understand basic English. Okay Thompson, we expect you to build your nuclear reactor soon. The clock is ticking. You don't want to show that you are dumber than a gamer now do you?

Next time he should try to build it from his Doom Fortress and not his mom's house.

[...] A Texas man who is best described as 'an out-of-work computer whiz who redesigns video games' has been visited by the FBI for attempting to build a small-scale nuclear reactor in his basement. Fascinated by the lure of nuclear power, the man had, on his blog, talked about being in possession of uranium, which drew the interest of the Bureau, who came and investigated. The good news is that the man wasn't found guilty of doing anything illegal. The bad news is that they took his reactor away, which means he's going to have to start again. Or not. We're guessing the FBI made it quite clear that this was a visit they didn't want to have to make again, lest our friend the game 'redesigner' become an unperson. 'Nuff said? GamePolitics.com: Gamer Builds Nuclear Reactor in Home; FBI Pays a Visit __________________ [...]

[...] NBC 5i in Dallas shows up to do a story. Does the story focus on the uber-nerd smarts it takes to construct a mini nuclear reactor at home? No, the story focuses on the fact the guy is a (gasp!) videogame player/programmer! Read more about the kafuffle and gamer reaction to it over at GamePolitics.com. [...]

Apart from the video game angle, I don't see anything particularly odd here. If my neighbor was building some kind of nuclear device I would certainly want the authorities checking up on it. The article even goes so far as to say that FBI only confiscated the device upon the request of the parents. Clearly they got a report, and wanted to make sure everything was on the up and up.

Call me crazy, but that all seems perfectly reasonable.

- The FBI searched his home but found no cause for concern. The feds did, however, take the man’s reactor project with them when they left, at the request of his parents.


the nuclear reactor he was constructing was no cause for concern? and they only took it because mommy asked agent johnson to do so?

i think that, while he shouldn't have uranium, he does have the right to make a reactor, just like i said without radioactive materials similar to plutonium and uranium.

@nightwng2000: That's brilliant. But I must ask one thing... Was he wearing ANY protective equipment, primarily a lead shield for the more... rich jewels we possess?

@Papa Midnight: its all fun and games till u nuke ur gonads.

it was well within his rights to try and build it, but to be fair there should be a bit of legislation about this just for the safety of his neighbors just in case of a 'runnaway reaction' because most modern reactors have ridiculous amounts of safety procedure and equipment to keep the heat and radiation in while letting electricity out.

There are some misconceptions that the general public has about nuclear energy that should be addressed here.

Drezta and Haggard

It is highly unlikely (read: NOT POSSIBLE) that this individual could gather enough uranium to form a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Critical mass for a bare sphere of weapons grade (98%) enriched uranium is about 52 kg. Weapons grade uranium is extremely expensive to produce. Since the isotopes of uranium have the same chemical and mechanical properties, uranium cannot be enriched by chemical means. The most common method is by centrifuge, taking advantage of the slightly different masses. This is not within the capability of any individual in their home. If we assume that the individual is using 15% enriched uranium, greater than 600 kg would be required to form any kind of chain reaction. Even with enough uranium to form a chain reaction, there would be no risk of explosion. Meltdown is a possibility, but the risk to the public would be minimal based on the lack of operating history and the immediate loss of critical geometry. Also, the 50 block radius would assume a yield in the kiloton range, which would require significantly more weapons grade uranium, as well as very efficient bomb design.

Next we have the radiation concern. There are 4 different types of ionizing radiation:

Alpha - These are heavy particles, but because of their geometry they are easily stopped by a piece of paper or a dead layer of skin. If inhaled or ingested they can be dangerous. An example of an alpha emitter is Radon

Beta - This is another type of low energy radiation that, while potentially harmful, is easily blocked by a layer of clothing.

Gamma - This is the most common type of radiation, and is penetrating, meaning that it must be shielded by heavy metals or materials specifically designed for shielding. Water is a good, cheap shield, which is why university reactors are often submerged in water.

Neutron - Potentially the most devastating of radiation, these only come from nuclear fission.

A doubling in the background radiation is his home would most certainly not be dangerous, as the levels of radiation in one's home are drastically lower than the amount that would be required to cause damage, even with constant exposure.

In conclusion

1. It is not possible for an individual to create a fission reactor in one's home that is capable of a) Exploding or b) Producing power

2. A doubling in the background radiation level in his home would not have been a significant risk


It is possible to amass enough radioactive material to present a hazard to oneself, and the conversion of isotopes is possible to create more hazardous forms of elements. In no way do I condone experimenting with radiation in one's home. However, if the FBI and NRC found no cause for concern, and were not going to take any further action (the article implied that the experiment was removed only at the request of the boy's parents), then the experiment was probably harmless.

Interestingly, this is not the first time this has happened. In 1994 David Hahn, a boy scout, attempted to build a breeder reactor in a shed on his property. His experimentation led to his exposure to very large amounts of hazardous radioactive material, mostly thorium. The NRC sent in a nuclear waste disposal team to dismantle his experiment and the containing shed. All material was disposed of as radioactive waste.

The guy ended up getting testicular canced. not sure if it was related to his project