Arrested for building a nuclear reactor in the kitchen

A Swedish man was arrested after trying to build a nuclear reactor in his kitchen and publishing it on the Internet.

Richard Handl (31 years old) bought raw materials, including smoke alarms, watches . online and prepared a mixture of americum, radium, beryllium and 96% sulfuric acid on his stove.

Mr. Handl described the nuclear experiment in his kitchen on the website.

'I'm just curious whether I can install a nuclear reactor. It's just pastime, ' Mr. Handl said. He was formerly a factory worker in the ventilation system, now unemployed.

'Three or four months ago, I was studying the mixture exploded , ' he said. On this occasion, he published the article 'Melting Reactor Core' on the blog and bought more radium to continue the experiment.

The Swedish Radiation Safety Department said local officials ransacked Mr. Handl's apartment after being told he was handling nuclear materials in an unsafe way. However, the Radiation Safety Department did not detect high levels of radiation in the apartment; Handl's neighbor is not exposed.

Mr. Handl was temporarily detained and released shortly thereafter. On his personal website, he wrote 'The project was canceled'.