Ep. 59: Radioactive

In 1994, a teenager in suburban Michigan set out to earn a merit badge and ended up building something in his mother’s backyard potting shed that brought the EPA to his door in hazmat suits. This week, Andrea takes Crystal through the story of David Hahn, the “Radioactive Boy Scout,” who collected smoke detectors, camping lantern mantles, and old glow-in-the-dark clocks in his attempt to build a nuclear reactor.

How did a high schooler with no formal training get this far? Where were the adults? And what does that kind of exposure do to the human body? As two RNs, we dig into the science, the radiation risks, and the family dynamics that let a dangerous obsession grow unchecked, plus the question of what happened to David after the cleanup crews left.