Albert Swank Jr., a 55-year-old civil engineer in Anchorage, Alaska, is a man with a mission. He wants to install a nuclear particle accelerator in his home.
But when neighbors learned of plans to place the 20-ton device inside the house where Swank operates his engineering firm, their response was swift: Not in my backyard.
"Cyclotrons are not nuclear reactors," explains Roger Dixon of the FermiNational Accelerator laboratory or Fermilab in Illinois, funded by the U.S.Department of Energy. "Probably the worst thing that could happen with small cyclotrons is that the operator might electrocute themselves."
The Anchorage Assembly plan to hold an emergency publichearing on Dec. 20 to determine whether he will be permitted toinstall the device at his lifelong residence.