Ella Scott
An Australian is risking a decade behind bars after having radioactive material delivered to his parent’s suburban house.
Everyone has their niches, right? Some people love collecting Pokémon cards, others want to run all the World Major Marathons, and some of us aren’t afraid to drop some cold hard cash on our sneaker collections.
For 24-year-old Emmanuel Lidden, from Sydney, Australia, a so-called ‘science nerd’, his dream was to collect every element on the periodic table.
If you can’t remember (or didn’t listen) during your high school chemistry lessons, there are currently 118 known elements listed on the periodic table.
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These range from aluminum and polonium to gold, hydrogen and thulium.
While a lot of these elements are deemed pretty harmless, some are considered so dangerous that its actually illegal to own them—a rule Lidden learned the hard way.
In August 2023, he attempted to import samples of plutonium from a US-based science website to his parent's apartment in suburban Sydney.
Plutonium is created from uranium in nuclear reactors, making it radioactive and extremely dangerous to handle. The elements can damage cells when its inhaled or ingested, and even cause cancer or health problems - so it’s definitely not something to play with.
But as Lidden was on a quest to complete the periodic table, he ordered some online, causing a major hazmat alert, with Australian Border Force (ABF) officials, firefighters, police and paramedics all heading to the Lidden abode.
As well as seizing the radioactive elements, police also found depleted uranium and mercury in the Aussie’s collection.
The man, who had also been a keen collector of stamps, banknotes and coins, pleaded guilty to offences under Australia’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act after purchasing samples of the element, where he could face up to ten years in jail.
Despite his guilty plea, Lidden’s defense lawyer argued in court last week that his client was an ‘innocent collector’ who did not import plutonium ‘with any sinister intent’.
“These were offences committed out of pure naivety,” John Sutton told Sydney’s Downing Centre district court on Friday (March 21).
“It was a manifestation of self-soothing retreating into collection, it could have been anything but in this case he latched on to the collection of the periodic table.”
Sutton also argued that the hazmat alert was an ‘overreaction’, adding: “Rather than give [Lidden] an opportunity to return the items, the kitchen sink was thrown at him, along with the utensils inside.”
However, prosecutors argued that Lidden wasn’t just a collector, and that gathering illegal substances ‘created a market’ for them.
According to The Guardian, Lidden, who is due in court next month, has lost his job as a trainee train driver with Sydney Trains as a result of the plutonium import.
The court heard that he now worked at a fast-food restaurant flipping burgers.