[KingofZion]

No doubt Al Queda has a kitchen somewhere in Pakistan. On the plus side, they'll probably die of radiation sickness before they product anything toxic.

[Thud]

He should have read about the “radioactive boy scout”, who built a thorium breeder reactor in an Michigan back yard shed while trying to earn a boy scout badge in nuclear energy. Neighbors didn’t realize what was happening until NEST teams in moon suits started walking through their back yards waving radiation detectors. The AEC dug up most of the back yard of the kid’s parents and shipped it to a nuclear waste disposal site in Utah.

Here are links to the magazine article:

http://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/0059750

and the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backyard-Nuclear/dp/037550351X

[Tallguy]

The question now is “can he do fission in his prison cell?”

[Ellendra]

Swedish man caught trying to split atoms at home

How sharp are your steak knives?

[Moltke]

A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen

Just WTH is that supposed to mean? The elements listed split (i.e. decay) all by themselves just fine. There is nothing you can do to prevent that from happening. To wit, an exercise in futility. (Of course this presumes that there is no way this guy had enough material to start a critical-mass chain reaction. A safe bet, I'd say.)

[mad_as_he$$]

There is americium in virtually every home in the US. In many parts of the country there is even some uranium. Radium on the other hand can be found in old “glow in the dark” watches and other things from the 50’s and 60’s. I remember a story a while back where some guy had gathered several thousand smoke detectors and was trying to make a bomb.

[doberville]

Bah. You can't fool me.

Monty Python wrote this.

[reaganaut]

You can always tell a Swede, but you can’t tell them much...

[Domangart]

Renters.

[MindBender26]

How to split atoms at home:

Start with a few spare atoms, then get a little tiny chisel... and a little tiny hammer, then......

[PapaBear3625]

Only later did he realize it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden's Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.

Let that be a lesson. Never involve a government agency.

[COBOL2Java]

As a young lad, Einstein was able to split a beer atom...

---

His father was very pleased, as this put the bubbles in the beer!