Ohio Neighborhood Temporarily Evacuated Over Misplaced Fears of a Homemade Nuclear Reactor (dispatch.com) 188
"A 911 call Thursday led to a precautionary evacuation of an entire street in a Northwest Side neighborhood in Columbus over concerns about a possible small nuclear reactor and alpha waves reported by a resident who said he sustained burns in his garage on the device," acocrding to the Columbus Dispatch.
Slashdot reader k6mfw shared their report: In the end, authorities found no hazard. The man will undergo a mental-health examination and may face charges of inducing a panic. The man, who is in his late 20s or early 30s and who resides on the 6300 block of Chippenhook Court, called 911 about 6:15 p.m. and reported he had been sustained burns from a device he was working on in his garage.
Battalion Chief Steve Martin, the Columbus Fire Division's media spokesman, said the man's description of the device suggested he was working on a small nuclear reactor and included references to a particle accelerator and alpha waves. The latter reference led to concerns about potential radiation, he said. Hazmat, bomb squad and other emergency responders -- operating out of an abundance of caution -- evacuated the approximately 40 residences on the cul-de-sac street in the Cranston Commons development while they assessed the situation, Martin said...
He said medics determined the man did not appear to be injured, at least not seriously. Radiation level checks were conducted on the man and then at the residence and nothing was found, Martin said. A nuclear specialist brought to the scene found in the garage what was identified as a homemade capacitor, Martin said. A capacitor is a device that consists of two or more separate conducting plates and is used to store an electric charge, not unlike a battery. After it was determined there was no threat, residents were allowed to return to their homes at 9:20 p.m. Depending on the evaluation and further investigation, it is possible the man will be criminally charged with inducing a panic, Martin said.
Only one injury was reported: a firefighter in a hazmat suit was injured when he unepectedly came off a curb and twisted his ankle, Martin said.
Slashdot reader k6mfw shared their report: In the end, authorities found no hazard. The man will undergo a mental-health examination and may face charges of inducing a panic. The man, who is in his late 20s or early 30s and who resides on the 6300 block of Chippenhook Court, called 911 about 6:15 p.m. and reported he had been sustained burns from a device he was working on in his garage.
Battalion Chief Steve Martin, the Columbus Fire Division's media spokesman, said the man's description of the device suggested he was working on a small nuclear reactor and included references to a particle accelerator and alpha waves. The latter reference led to concerns about potential radiation, he said. Hazmat, bomb squad and other emergency responders -- operating out of an abundance of caution -- evacuated the approximately 40 residences on the cul-de-sac street in the Cranston Commons development while they assessed the situation, Martin said...
He said medics determined the man did not appear to be injured, at least not seriously. Radiation level checks were conducted on the man and then at the residence and nothing was found, Martin said. A nuclear specialist brought to the scene found in the garage what was identified as a homemade capacitor, Martin said. A capacitor is a device that consists of two or more separate conducting plates and is used to store an electric charge, not unlike a battery. After it was determined there was no threat, residents were allowed to return to their homes at 9:20 p.m. Depending on the evaluation and further investigation, it is possible the man will be criminally charged with inducing a panic, Martin said.
Only one injury was reported: a firefighter in a hazmat suit was injured when he unepectedly came off a curb and twisted his ankle, Martin said.
Radioactive Boy Scout (Score:4, Interesting)
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Oh yeah, David Hahn... what was his Slashdot UID again?
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Wtf? He died? That's discouraging.
RIP
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i'm going to go out on a limb and guess the fentanyl probably did the majority of the work.
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guess the fentanyl probably did the majority of the work.
Diphenhydramine is an anti-histamine, and anti-histamines are notorious for blocking the p450 cytochromes in the liver that are responsible for metabolizing most toxins. This results in an increased half-life of both fentanyl and alcohol. And of course alcohol also does it's share of inhibiting liver enzymes, as well as being a central nervous system depressant. And then the fentanyl, which is both a CNS and a cardiovascular depressant...
It really i
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'It says he died from the combined effects of alcohol, diphenhydramine, and fentanyl.'
Translation, he was addicted to opiates and thought he was using heroin, the diphenhydramine was most likely a cutting agent for what he thought was heroin and he ODd on fentanyl before it became known by the media.
I just don't buy the alcohol bit.
Re:Radioactive Boy Scout (Score:5, Funny)
One hell of a merit badge. He became an Eaglow Scout.
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c'mon (Score:5, Insightful)
> it is possible the man will be criminally charged with inducing a panic
To be fair, he called 911, and the situation was sorted out. He was not running up and down the street screaming "run away chain reaction!" Sounds like he needs general mental health help, of the non-violent nature.
Re:c'mon (Score:4, Insightful)
The state will never determine that the state fucked up. Giotta blame someone, and he's handy.
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This. HE did not create a panic, the responders did. They can't claim he made a false call to 911 since he was apparently genuinely concerned. Unless they want people who see something concerning to decide it's best not to call 911, they need to change course FAST. And perhaps next time someone reports a potential radiological hazard, they should give it a once over with a Geiger counter before they freak out.
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He told them he was working on a nuclear reactor, had radiation burns and mentioned alpha waves and particle accelerators.
They didn't have a normal 911 response to this, instead they got hazmat suits and a nuclear specialist.
If this was a genuine situation I'm sure he would have been charged with reckless endangerment or something else that resulted in the evacuation of his neighborhood. Since it wasn't a genuine situation but the evacuation and enhanced response still took place, doesn't seem unreasonable
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He told them he was working on a nuclear reactor, had radiation burns and mentioned alpha waves .
And this is the point where any reasonably intelligent person would have realized he was full of shit. Alpha waves are brain waves.
Alpha Rays... Now those are bad.
Re:c'mon (Score:5, Informative)
Alpha radiation is not that dangerous: It doesn't go far in air, and won't penetrate the outer layers of skin. Not dangerous unless you manage to get the SOURCE into your body.
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You mean alpha *particles*. "Rays" and or "waves" is the dead giveaway.
Re:c'mon (Score:5, Informative)
No, he told them he was working on a particle accelerator and had an RF burn. Then some gibberish about quantum physics. He never characterized the device as a reactor nor the burns as being radiation burns. Those were assumptions made on the other end of the call.
None of those assumptions would have been harmful if they had actually looked at the thing and perhaps checked with a Geiger counter before THEY pushed the panic button and evacuated an entire neighborhood.
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And perhaps next time someone reports a potential radiological hazard, they should give it a once over with a Geiger counter before they freak out.
This. If someone reports radition, you bring a geiger counter. Then you get it out and turn it on. If it shows nothing, you double-check that it's turned on. If it still shows nothing, you slowly walk closer. If you're in front of the garage and it still shows nothing, you probably don't have to evacuate the whole neighbourhood.
Re: c'mon (Score:2)
What if it only shows 3.6 Roentgens?
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Then you just send the guy to the infirmary.
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If you turn it on and it does nothing then it's not working correctly. It should detect the ambient radiation in the area and be clicking pretty much as soon as it's on. It's the **rate** of the clicks that tell you whether there is a hazard or not. To make it even more fun a neighborhood on the north end of town will have a different ambient radiation level than a neighborhood on the south end.
Which all just demonstrates how useless a Geiger counter is without training and prior practice in the area bei
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How about whipping out a known test sample to verify that your geiger counter does in fact work before approaching the unknown emitter?
If you found it on your roof that morning, you want to do that. If it's in the equipment box of your Hazmat unit, you should assume that it is checked and calibrated regularily.
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Re:c'mon (Score:4, Insightful)
Do nuclear inspectors typically carry a handy piece of radioactive material with them?
Yes. Most of the wand type survey meters I’ve used have a test/calibration spot taped to the unit.
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Maybe you could have loaned them your Geiger counter. What, you don't have one either? It isn't a common piece of hardware, most first responders wouldn't carry one and even fewer are trained in how to use it.
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> it is possible the man will be criminally charged with inducing a panic
To be fair, he called 911, and the situation was sorted out. He was not running up and down the street screaming "run away chain reaction!" Sounds like he needs general mental health help, of the non-violent nature.
He has been posting here for some and has quite a reputation for his nuclear advocacy. If he gets out today I'm sure he will post in this thread.
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On the other hand, if it had called 911 and said "I'm gonna go all allahu akbar on you sonsabitches!", no neighborhood would have been evacuated, yet he'd have been booked for terrorism - if not gunned down outright.
Not sure what you are saying here, but I am thinking this is a good thing (assuming a gun is presented or the suspect won't obey simple instructions, like "Lie on the ground with your hands away from your body!")
Police know how to deal with terrirosts, you use a dog to chase them down a hole
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Police know how to deal with terrirosts, you use a dog to chase them down a hole then they blow themselves up. But they are not so familiar in dealing with Nuclear reactors.
They don't need to be, because they have just as much skill dealing with your random crazies and they resolved this just fine.
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Police have no clue how to deal with terrorists, in fact for the most part they don't even know how to deal with someone with mental issues (which this turned out to be). They're far more inclined to gun down a mentally distressed unarmed person than they are an armed drug dealer. An actual terrorist? Good luck, even in most school shooter situations they're more likely to sit behind barricades outdoors than actually go in.
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Re:c'mon (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, according to various articles he called 911 saying he had received an RF burn, When asked for details he talked about a particle accelerator and quantum physics. Responders decided for themselves that it was a reactor, and probable radiological hazard even though the caller indicated neither. Then they decided to have a panic inciting evacuation before they even checked the device out. Turns out it was neither.
So if you're looking for loonies causing a radiological scare, they're on the other side of that 911 call.
Most probably what really happened is he shocked himself with the capacitor.
Unepectedly came off a curb (Score:2)
Does anyone ever expectantly come off a curb?
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Depends. Usually you hear/sense people coming. I guess wearing such a suit, probably with ear plugs for a radio prevented that.
"Alpha waves"? Really? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd like to think that.
Re:"Alpha waves"? Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
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The entire job of a 911 dispatcher is to determine what sort of emergency exists and to dispatch the appropriate responders to the site. Something is giving off alpha particles? Call in NEST and/or a HAZMAT crew. Something is giving off alpha waves? Just get everyone into a nice comfy bed so they can enjoy their sweet REM sleep. The two situations could hardly be any less alike; and the latter does not merit a 911 call at all. So I'd say that, yes, its their goddamned *JOB* to know the difference betw
Re:"Alpha waves"? Really? (Score:4, Insightful)
Your nerdiness has exceeded even slashdot norms now. I assumed from your first post that you were joking, but next one belies that assumption.
911 operators are trained to deal with situations they are likely to encounter, and some outliers. I’m quite willing to bet neither alpha waves nor aloha particles were amongst them. They do not, typically, have university education, or even the best high school grades. It’s a safe bet to assume most have not taken advanced physics classes.
It’s a bit like if someone asked you how to pick up an Italian woman vs a Swedish woman. You’re on slashdot, so it wouldn’t be fair to expect you to know the answer to something like that.
Re:"Alpha waves"? Really? (Score:5, Funny)
Is the answer that you use levers for Italian women and pulleys for Swedish?
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neither alpha waves nor aloha particles were amongst them.
Even the 911 operators know aloha particles are only produced in Hawai'i
---
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No idea what you mean, you greet them both with: Ciao Bella!
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This is why they have "runbooks", with procedures for different classes of emergency such as chemical spills, nuclear meltdowns, and simpler events like fires and domestic violence.
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Hopefully all of them. The government is always concerned about CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) incidents [epa.gov]. The specific response for each is different, but the general response is the same since they all involve evacuation of large areas, total lockdown of the contaminated site, and extensive cleanup. So they're all grouped together. I would presume all 911 dispatchers are trained to recognize a potential C
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Nope, sorry. None of them are trained in anything like that. I've known six of them over the years, two were dumb as rocks (nice women, just not smart), and the other four knew more about the Seattle Seahawks than they did about how to respond to an actual CBRN incident.
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What's really sad is that alpha particles are one of the things that you can protect yourself from by holding a piece of paper between you and the source. Alpha particles won't even penetrate the outer layer of your skin....
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That really depends on how much energy they have. Typical Alpha particles from radioactive decay? Sure. Alpha particles with omg particle levels of energy? Not so much.
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You don't really know what you're dealing with if you're getting information second hand. Somewhere along the line "gamma" made have got garbled to "alpha", for example. It's also possible given the Internet for people to build dangerous devices like neutron sources without really understanding them.
It's a bit like the time I worked in a faulty fire alarm that had a false trigger about twice a week for about two months. Every time the alarm went off I dutifully grabbed the backup tapes and left the build
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I'd like to think that 911 dispatchers and other first-responders who might have to deal with radioactive contamination would not confuse "alpha waves" with alpha particles. I'd like to think that.
Sure, but if you're dealing with someone who thinks a capacitor is some magical device and called 911 after shocking themselves on it making up all kinds of sci-fi jargon you have to focus on the keywords because it's not going to match with reality regardless. The prudent course was to assume "some untagged mental patient found uranium in his uncle's garage" rather than "meh, it's just a crazy person." Not every stupid incident needs to have someone at fault.
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None of the six 911 dispatchers that I've ever know would have a clue what either one was. Nerds don't generally become 911 dispatchers.
He wasn't the one that caused the panic... (Score:2)
So what you're saying, is that you don't know the difference between alpha waves and alpha particles?
Re:He wasn't the one that caused the panic... (Score:5, Interesting)
Alpha particles aren't a concern with a reactor anyway. Your skin or a sheet of paper can stop those. The neutron field is the most serious thing, that can activate you and make you a rad source. Reactors make gammas too, also a major concern but those neutrons are the worst.
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Practically that would mean ingesting material that is an alpha emitter which yes would be bad. The particle itself from nuclear fuel isn't going to be "breathed in" as they move with characteristic 5MeV energy or 1/20 light speed which is pretty damn fast. They'll just hit your body and stop.
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Breathing an altha emitter is a bad idea, but the particles are just helium nuclei. And at a density too low to even make your voice squeaky.
Breathing alpha particles is common (Score:2)
Sounds like you are talking about radon exposure, which is surprisingly common yet largely unknown to the public.The concrete my apartment complex is built from contains uranium which emits radon to the indoor air. I have a monitoring system and ventilate agressively to keep the levels down.
Re:He wasn't the one that caused the panic... (Score:4, Funny)
So what you're saying, is that you don't know the difference between alpha waves and alpha particles?
Imagine rejecting wave-particle duality this hard.
Quit wasting time and money (Score:2, Insightful)
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Yes and no. They pay for police whether or not this incident happened. Are the police going to charge the city extra because they took the hazmat suits out of the locker?
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They probably don't have nuclear specialists on staff so that would be an extra expense.
This is why... (Score:2)
Re:This is why... (Score:5, Insightful)
The electric power generation industry begs to differ with you. Also, various medical and research institutions.
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The electric power generation industry begs to differ with you.
The nuclear power generation industry couldn't operate without subsidies, and doesn't have a plan for long-term management of its waste. Its opinion is not really relevant.
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The nuclear power generation industry couldn't operate without subsidies
...Because of Leftist activists and NIMBYs using lawfare and extreme regulation to drive the costs to many times the base cost.
It's actually because they can't get a private insurer to cover them, and because they never are actually honest about decommissioning costs.
...doesn't have a plan for long-term management of its waste...
That's factually incorrect. There have been a number of plans proposed, many quite sound and secure, and even recycling the waste down to a relatively harmless state.
As I've stated time and again, reprocessing is even less economically viable [fissilematerials.org]:
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"It's actually because they can't get a private insurer to cover them, and because they never are actually honest about decommissioning costs."
Decommissioning costs are built into the plant's construction cost.
.
"As I've stated time and again, reprocessing is even less economically viable [fissilematerials.org]:
In 2000, an official report commissioned by the
French Prime Minister concluded that the choice of reprocessing instead of direct disposal of
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And neither the civilian electric power generation industry, nor the civilian nuclear research or medical radiation treatment industries have the (Perfect... zero reactor failures or radiation releases due to reactor mishap in nearly 70 years and hundreds of reactors operated.) operation safety record that the US Navy has. So yeah... GP has a very good point.
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Fukishima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island slump down in their seats while Admiral Rickover laughs manically from the back of the room "Better off dead than stupid".
And he is right.
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Yeah, but do remember that those three accidents, collectively, caused fewer deaths than the last airliner crash. Or the last year's worth of people dying while having sex....
And yes, the Navy's training system could, and should, be extended to civilian nuclear power plant workers....
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Actually, it was, and this was the core cause of TMI. They reacted based on training received on naval reactors. Lookitup.
Re: This is why... (Score:2)
And yes, the Navy's training system could, and should, be extended to civilian nuclear power plant workers....
As well as accountability and punishments.
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And yes, the Navy's training system could, and should, be extended to civilian nuclear power plant workers....
As well as accountability and punishments.
So...have your lawyers tweet the president to get your punishment reversed?
WAIT!! Alpha waves? or Alpha particles? (Score:2)
Re:WAIT!! Alpha waves? or Alpha particles? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'd think anyone capable of building an alpha particle emitter would likely know the difference. It's not that common a term among the general populace, and home-made nuclear reactors even less so.
OTOH if you don't assume competence is a necessary factor, then you might as well overreact to anyone mentioning the word "radiation".
Re:WAIT!! Alpha waves? or Alpha particles? (Score:4, Insightful)
Dumb-as a brick Fireman here, friend of many dispatchers. Any given dispatcher may or may know appreciate the differences between alpha, beta, and gamma. They might even have enjoyed the Chernobyl series and can argue the finer points of RBMK reactors. But, as someone stated earlier, there are procedures and run cards. If the procedure card for "Potential Radiological Incident" says to call everyone including the Pope, then I hope he has his hat on while he's in bed, 'cause it's wakeup time. It doesn't really matter if the dispatcher is 98% sure the person on the other end of the line is full of shit, and they knew a particle accelerator wasn't going to cause a problem if it was turned off. A particle accelerator would fall into the "potential radiological" category, and we go from there. Whomever was initial incident command isn't going to fuck around with something that might be radioactive; they're going to go right by the book and start moving people away from the incident.
Most fire companies/cops don't carry Geiger counters on their first-due apparatus, and hazmat might be a few 10's of minutes behind, depending on how they're dispatched. Ensuring the safety of the public is Job #1, so if it means we wake up a bunch of folks and have then annoyed at us for a half-hour until we're sure it's safe for them to go back to bed, so be it.
Who thought it was a nuclear reactor? (Score:2)
Its not clear who it was who said it was a nuclear reactor. They said "his description of the device suggested he was working on a small nuclear reactor and included references to a particle accelerator and alpha waves" - but did he claim it was a reactor or did the police just assume it was a sciencey thing and might be a reactor?
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I've met people who thought a microwave oven was a nuclear device...
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Well if you've eaten Pizza Pockets right out the oven and scorched your palate with the filling, you might believe it...
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It sounds like it was the responders who assumed it was a reactor and subsequently caused a panic.. The caller said he got an RF burn. Most probably he simply got a shock from the capacitor.
an opportunity for the community (Score:2, Funny)
This would be a good time, while he's distracted, to cancel his Slashdot account. Please don't take that as a suggestion that all /.ers are nutters, but well, look around. Meanwhile, as the Trumpers one-by-one march off to jail their accounts can be terminated giving Slashdot a fresh clean look. But those darn meddling Russians! They're like cockroaches; they're everywhere and you just can't get rid of them.
Re:an opportunity for the community (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you kidding? Community? I'm just here for the trolling; the community's dead and slashdot is being hot-potatoed as an asset of dubious value. If Russians are actually here, it's just as a training ground for ops that actually matter.
It's currently owned, afaiui, by bizx.info, whose tagline is "We leverage iconic technology brands combined with big data". Slashdot isn't big data for damn sure, so that means it's an "iconic technology brand", which is industry slang for "as legitimate a brand as Atari or PBR". The community (for whatever it was ever worth) was sold out ages ago to a brand remixer agency. The community has already been netted, tagged, released, recaptured, bagged, traded, sold, re-traded and re-sold a few more times and so on. Now they're hoping that maybe, just maybe, some miracle will allow MacHiNE LeARNiNG to somehow magically make money off this pity-asset. A quick trip to bizx.info might help you adjust your expectations.
One day you'll just be redirected to an ad-wall, or outright get a 404 because nostalgic randos finally got tired of funding this has-been shit-pool. Slashdot's literally owned and funded by the same shady bullshit that the culture here despises. It's hilarious.
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Have you ever spoken to Whipslash directly? He's a decent guy and seems to actually care about the site. He's trying to improve it, despite some people's best efforts to drag it down.
Nice signature, BTW. Really bringing the tone up around here, I'm sure it will encourage insightful and thoughtful discussion.
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He Was Lucky (Score:2)
If he was making a large high voltage capacitor, and did not take appropriate precautions with operating it, he is lucky it did not kill him outright. A 10 KV, a microfarad capacitor stores 50 J which is considered lethal (though an unlucky discharge of 10 J can do the job also).
Left out the best part (Score:2)
"The man told bomb squad, arson fire investigators and medics on scene that he sustained “radio frequency burns” while working on a “quantum physics generator” in his garage, Martin said."
Protip, quantum physics generates itself!
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radio frequency burns” while working on a “quantum physics generator” in his garage, Martin said." Protip, quantum physics generates itself!
ROTFL
capacitor (Score:2)
omg hacking paraphernalia!! why do they let people like this into the country?!
Sheldon.. (Score:2)
... Sheldon Cooper.. it that you again??
Someone had to say it.
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Re: That wasn't a nuclear reactor... (Score:2)
How are we up to 6,000,000 user names already?
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The number of accounts really skyrocketed on 2016.
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How are we up to 6,000,000 user names already?
Some of them weren't even given real guns, just wooden practice weapons.
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Just my flux capacitor backfiring in the garage.
I hate it when that happens. Last time that happened to me the force of the backfire knocked me out and I woke up last Tuesday.
Re: "Quantum Burns" (Score:2)
Is that where you close your eyes and until you look you are both burned and not burned?
Very specific training (Score:4, Informative)
Beta particles are not hydrogen nuclei, they are high energy electrons.