Man tried to split atoms in kitchen

Stockholm (from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 8-4-11)

A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was doing it as a hobby.

Richard Handl told The Associated Press that he had the radioactive elemtns radium, americum and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorized possession of nuclear material.

The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove. Only later did he realize it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden'ts Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.