So You Want To Build Your Own Nuclear Reactor

After last night's impressive win by Uconn over Butler, I am back in the saddle at work this morning, having fallen back to earth and ready to roll.  In my (and the world's) continuing interest in the problems at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, I was checking my e-mail when I noticed an innocently looking piece labeled, "Building nuclear reactor at home - from scratch."

I don't want to go into the details of how to do this, since the author of the blog, Svarychevski Michail Aleksandrovich does a very good job.  Read it here.  I will borrow a picture of the finished project, below.

On thing that stands out in the project is that it uses a tritium capsule, at the core, which can be bought at a web distributor.  According to the author of the blog, formally radioactive items are prohibited to be sent by mail, but apparently this company and others do it anyway.

Here are come comments about the Tritium vial that you can buy on the web:
This vial contains a minute quantity of the nuclear isotope Tritium (an isotope of hydrogen with two extra neutrons), whose minute amounts of beta radiation cause the internal phosphor lining to glow. Tritium, in such a small amount as this, is entirely safe. You could eat it and suffer no noticeable damage whatsoever. (Maybe you'll lose a few stomach cells? You shouldn't be on the internet if you eat the radioactive objects you buy off it anyways)

Yes, it emits beta radiation, which is so weak a piece of paper can stop it. Yes, Tritium is used as a fission booster in multi-stage thermonuclear weapons to multiply weapon strength several-fold. Before you start posting topics on how you could make a nuclear weapon out of this, you should consider the fact that Tritium only exapands the capability of an existing weapon... you need a fully functional plutonium or uranium nuclear weapon BEFORE you start using tritium. Smoke detectors have more dangerous isotopes in them (Americium 241, if you have an ionizing smoke detector) than this vial does.

TO SUM UP:
1) This is indeed radioactive. It cannot harm you, customs will not detect it, nothing will detect it because the radiation is so weak it cannot even penetrate the vial it resides in. A slate pooltable will irradiate you more than this product will.
2) Tritium has a half life of about 10 years. Your vial will be half as bright in 10 years.
3) You cannot make a nuclear weapon, and you cannot harm anyone else with this product unless you stab them in the eye with it.
4) Don't expect this to be too bright, it's the cheapest and smallest of 3 sizes of vials DX sells. I have the medium sized one and it is quite impressive, although you will not see it glowing anywhere other than in darkness.

Funny thing about radioactivity and products that are even minutely related to it.  Do you remember glow in the dark watch dials?

These watch dials work the same way the little vial does, discussed above.  When was the last time you saw one of these in a store?  How about somebody wearing one?

Lastly, here is a link to an excellent photo-essay of a visit to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.  Chernobyl was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in the world's history.  You can find out more about Chernobyl here.  The photo-essay takes you to Chernobyl and the evacuated town of Prypiat.  See it here.

Till next time,
Bill