The Radioactive Boy Scout By Ken Silverstein Recreates-

The Radioactive Boy Scout Introduction Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science. While working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David s obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Not worried about being safe and taking the pre-cautions, he plunged into a new project: building a nuclear breeder reactor in his backyard garden shed. In the Radioactive Boy Scout, veteran journalist Ken Silverstein recreates- in brilliant detail-the months of David s improbable nuclear quest. Acting as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the United States government and from industry experts. Shopping antiques stores and looking through junkyards for old-fashioned smoke†¦show more content†¦I was trying to get a magician reaction to create something new. he remembered later. I thought the more things I threw in, the stronger the reaction I would get. With that thought in mind, David went back to the cabinet and pulled out a bright-blue bottle, which late r he realized was probably a drain cleaning product. David poured in the bright-blue substance, and soon the mixture began to bubble and threaten to boil over. Scared, David flushed the substance down the toilet. He promised himself he would never try something so foolish again. Although, throughout the years David made similar vows to himself, eventually being broken shortly after the vow was made. Key Idea II June 26, 1995, was not a typical day for Dottie Pease. As she turned down Pinto Drive, Pease saw eleven men swarming across her carefully manicured lawn. Their attention seemed to be focused on the back yard of the house next door, specifically on a large wooden potting shed that abutted the chain-link fence dividing her property from her neighbor’s. A middle-aged couple, Michael Polasek, Patty Hahn and her son -who only lived there on some weekends and holidays- David Hahn, lived there. Three of the men had donned ventilated moon suits and were proceeding to dismantle the potting shed with electric saws, stuffing the