17-year-old Boy Scout named David Hahn tried to build a nuclear reactor in his mother's garden shed in Michigan....this story is CRAZY!

Two things. Before Scouting got hit with the woke hammer some of their members were really building BIG TIME knowledge on subjects I never knew existed (I was a Boy Scout). Second. Unguided knowledge is a dangerous thing. My heart goes out to this guy even though the story is old. Last. How do you safeguard something like this when an enterprising teenager was able to get so much done and BEFORE the internet really hit big?

In 1994, a 17-year-old Boy Scout named David Hahn tried to build a nuclear reactor in his mother's garden shed in Michigan.

He came closer than anyone expected.

After earning a merit badge in Atomic Energy, David became obsessed with building his own breeder reactor. He had no… pic.twitter.com/aWIMpnlM0M

— Creepy.org (@creepydotorg) September 14, 2026