Alaskan Cyclotron - Not in My Backyard!

j-beda writes "Wired reports that "Albert Swank Jr., a 55-year-old civil engineer in Anchorage, Alaska, is a man with a mission. He wants to install a nuclear particle accelerator in his home." To be used to create medically useful isotopes, and even though some of the neighbours are supportive, opponents "compared potential damage from a cyclotron mishap to the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident" though an expert says "Probably the worst thing that could happen with small cyclotrons is that the operator might electrocute themselves." It looks like the Anchorage Assembly plans to hold an public hearing on December 20 to determine whether Swank will be permitted to install the device."

May be he should have opeted for a Brige

[chandip]

Local lawmakers rushed to introduce emergency legislation banning the use of cyclotrons in home businesses. State health officials took similar steps, and have suspended Swank's permit to operate cyclotrons on his property.

This the same lawmakers who wanted a A bridge to nowhere [salon.com] costing $941 Million?

NIMBY YIMBY

[corcoranp]

That'll bring down your NIMBY score...
I'd put a skateboarding halfpipe next to him, maybe that will improve the area.

The real question,

[gentimjs]

How do I get one installed in MY home? While it doesnt have the style points of being able to say "You do realise each one of us has an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on our backs?", it certainly would be a conversation peice ;-)

Back Yard science

[LiquidCoooled]

Plenty of people do stupid shit in their garden sheds, thats what they are there for!
I have read about a kid building a reactor from smoke detectors [dangerousl...tories.org], and the NZ guy who built his own cruise missile [interestingprojects.com].

I sense a business opportunity for lead lined garden housing :)

Also, didn't Young Einstein manage to split the beer atom in his? (and with a hammer and chisel if I remember rightly)

dihydrogen monoxide

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet he wants to use dihydrogen monoxide as a coolant too. Got to watch out its dangerous stuff. http://www.dhmo.org/ [dhmo.org]

Great .. now this will

[bxbaser]

call attaention to my cyclotron and they will pass laws and ordanaces banning them ,and i just replaced the electrode cooling pipes with a radiator from a 1972 ford maverick.

no negative effects?

[mabus42]

in the article they quote an expert from fermilab. incidentally i grew up less than 5 miles from there and all i have to show from it is this third eye and multiple superfluous nipples. one of my neighbors was affected to the extent that he can set things on fire by only using his mind... why did i have to get the shaft when it comes to deformities/mutations caused by cyclotrons? WHY GOD WHY?!?!?

Re:(What do you care about the subject for?)

[Ford Prefect]

This is just people being stupid. Also the reason they dropped 'Nuclear' from NMRI.

I think it was more that if you went to your hospital and said you were in for an NMR, you might have received something other than a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance scan... ;-)

Don't cross the streams....It would be bad.

[waterford0069]

Dr Ray Stantz: You know, it just occurred to me that we really haven't had a successful test of this equipment.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I blame myself.
Dr. Peter Venkman: So do I.
Dr Ray Stantz: Well, no sense in worrying about it now.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.

Re:Three Mile Island

[hotdiggitydawg]

At least this fella can stick a sign out the front... "Gone Fission"....

I'll show myself out.

Re:(What do you care about the subject for?)

[dwandy]

The National Maritime Research Institute [google.com] dropped nukes?

Oblig. Futurama Quote

[NLG]

Farnsworth: "So what are you doing to protect my constitutional right to bear doomsday devices?"
NRA Guy: "Well, first off, we're gonna get rid of that three day waiting period for mad scientists."
Farnsworth: "Damn straight! Today the mad scientist can't get a doomsday device, tomorrow it's the mad grad student! Where will it end?!"
NRA Guy: "Amen, brother. I don't go anywhere without my mutated anthrax. For duck huntin'."

This story made me think of this. Am I the only one?

Re:Wont happen

[Liam Slider]

.1: Yes Anchorage is a pretty big city, still doesnt matter, the AF wouldnt let it happen. To much of a risk/threat of something going wrong.

Risk of what? That he's turn it into a death ray and demand, "ONE MILLION DOLLARS!?"

Re:I can understand the hold

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the problem? He installs a helipad without getting approval, you install an anti-aircraft battery without getting approval. These things have a way of sorting themselves out.

Re:I can understand the hold

[diablomonic]

49.9 % of the population has below average inteligence

out of this world

[nazsco]

> "Probably the worst thing that could happen with small cyclotrons is that the operator might electrocute themselves."

Or send himself to another world! [apple2.org.za]

Re:I can understand the hold

[Abcd1234]

That's why I recommend that, after eating your irradiated food, washing your hands with antibacterial soap, and spraying your house with lysol, you should go outside and eat some dirt!

Re:Three Mile Island

[Tesen]

I wonder if the same residents know that if they own a CRT they already have a small Particle Accelerator in their houses already! Oh no! We must outlaw TV's now!

Tes

Cellphones

[Cro Magnon]

Cell phones can't cause cancer - it's not the right type of radiation. Microwave electromagnetic radiation can cause damage in one way (heating), and that requires far higher power levels than any cell phone to have any effect whatsoever on a human body.

I don't know about cancer, but I've seen evidence that cellphones fry your brain, based on the extreme stupidity of the users.

Admittedly, I never saw them before they got their phones.

No big deal

[loose_cannon_gamer]

I don't know what the big deal is. I watched a couple of documentaries back in the 80's about guys who ran around with unlicensed nuclear accelerators on their backs, and it was fine. They mentioned something about 'total protonic reversal', but even when they did that intentionally, it didn't seem like a big deal. And that was New York, not the middle of nowhere, Alaska.