
Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC - bdfh42
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10385853.stm
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ck2
Bet his FBI file is fun reading.

BTW the guy who invented television also invented a homemade fusion device 70
years ago, so this is actually not that cutting edge.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor#Use_as_a_power_source>

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ScotterC
And here I was thinking the article would be about a fission reactor! Much
tougher DIY project. Heavy water or graphite pile would be your best bet. That
way you can use natural uranium from your back yard. The article mentions
uranium as if it's hard to get. You can still fission U-238. It's just
tougher.

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kanwisher
LOL I used to work with this guy at Gucci, hes a bit off his rocker. I'm
really surprised how much attention hes gotten from this project that really
doesn't have much technical merit.

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pierrefar
As a member of the UK public that pays to support the BBC, I want my money
back.

~~~
arethuza
Why? Seems like an interesting wee story to me.

~~~
pierrefar
It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from
water.

Try this copy/paste from the story: _"He is the 38th independent amateur
physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor,
according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-
old from Michigan...

Some experts are sceptical that all these people are producing fusion
reactions, but when he demonstrates his device, Mr Suppes says a bubble meter
placed next to the reactor indicates that a fast neutron, a by-product of
fusion, has been produced."_

I'm not impressed with the BS-checking of the BBC in this case.

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Tichy
The problem is that none of these amateur physicists are generating any power.
I guess the holy grail is not fusion, but generating power from it.

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jasongullickson
The Fusor produces interesting byproducts as well:

 _" He was absolutely convinced that he had observed the fusion of deuterium
into tritium and/or helium 3 in his equipment. "_

from: <http://itseasyto.com/farnsworth.htm>

...it's a good source of neutrons.

~~~
harshpotatoes
Yeah, i was wondering about that. Neutrons are a very hard particle to stop,
being uncharged, and are a pretty dangerous type of radiation. Does he keep
his fusion reactor surrounded by tons of water all day? The article mentions
this reactor is perfectly legal, but i know radiation sources are a very
regulated thing. On one hand, his reactor probably only produces afew neutrons
a minute, and so probably wouldn't be regulated or be a danger to anybody. On
the other hand, im just speculating, how do i know the neutron production of
this guys reactor? Has anybody measured it to determine it is safe? Why was
the BBC so lazy in researching this article?

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jcl
_...$4,000 he raised on a website that connects artists and inventors with
private investors._

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992078142/building-
the-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992078142/building-the-open-
source-bussard-fusion-reactor)

The guy also has a blog:

<http://prometheusfusionperfection.com/>

And a GitHub repo with Ruby code for generating .stl fabrication files, for
those who want to follow along at home:

<http://github.com/famulus/decawell>

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Geee
Polywell fusion is a step further from this, and is more promising as an
energy source. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell>

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phiberoptik
What's the difference between what this guy is doing and cold fusion? I
remember back in the late 80's two scientists claimed to have solved cold
fusion. I'm assuming this is a different process?

~~~
stcredzero
They're using electric fields to get the ions to collide and fuse. Pons and
Fleischman (the cold fusion guys) were trying to get ions to enter a Palladium
matrix and collide that way.

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kitchen
and of course they got a guy who looks like Morgan Freeman for a photo op.
Chain Reaction, anyone?

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GrandMasterBirt
Does anyone else here notice the wonderful reporting "neighbors have mixed
feelings on nuclear reactor". Yes, most people will be terrified to know that
there is a nuke-of-sorts being built next door. Few know that nuclear reactor
!= the same stuff used for the a-bomb and Chernobyl. So yes, people have mixed
reactions. I wonder how many people are actually aware of the difference
between Fusion and Fission.

The reactions are: They don't understand WTF the guy is doing, and therefore
think they got a nuke in the backyard. Or. Yay we don't need no stinkin' oil.

~~~
ScotterC
Conflating nuclear weapons and nuclear power is one thing that I will never
forgive my parent's generation for.

To nit pick however. An A-bomb and Chernobyl are also completely different.
Chernobyl was a graphite moderated reactor which means it does not have a
negative void coefficient (unlike American light water reactors) but has fuel
with about 5% U-235. An A-bomb requires about 90% U-235 to sustain a chain
reaction. I can nit pick this a lot further but that's the general gist.

