A Sydney man who took his science project a little too far might be facing jail time, after ordering a radioactive material for delivery over the internet.
24-year-old Emmanuel Lidden is due to receive his sentence next month, some two years after sparking a major hazmat incident when ordering samples of plutonium, a highly toxic substance, from a US-based science site for delivery to his parents’ apartment in Sydney.
Per Guardian Australia, Lidden was found to have breached nuclear non-proliferation laws by shipping the plutonium, which led Australian Border Force officials, firefighters, police and paramedics to attend the scene of delivery at his parents’ home back in 2023.
Now, ahead of his sentencing — which could result in a 10-year jail term — Lidden’s lawyer has argued that he did not order the radioactive samples for any reason other than a “naive” quest to collect the entire periodic table. You know, classic Sheldon Cooper stuff.
John Sutton described his client as an “innocent collector” and “science nerd”, claiming Lidden “did not import or possess these items with any sinister intent”.
“These offences were committed out of pure naivety,” Sutton argued, adding that Lidden had “latched on to the collection of the periodic table” as a way of “self-soothing”.
Alongside elements of the periodic table (the graph we all got given chemistry class evidently wasn’t enough), Lidden is a keen collector of stamps, bank notes and coins.
I’m no Einstein, but even I know those materials don’t carry quite the same risk as plutonium.
Sutton also argued that while Lidden “knew this was a radioactive substance”, he assumed he was allowed to possess the plutonium because “it was a minimal quantity”.
The prosecution in the case rejected Sutton’s claims as a “mischaracterisation”, saying Lidden contributed to an illegal market that might not have existed without such “collectors”.
Lidden was fired from his job as a train driver after his arrest and the seizure of the plutonium, which Sutton described as an unnecessary “circus” given what authorities already knew prior to the delivery.
“There was no Sherlock Holmes detection here by the ABF, the packages had [Lidden’s] address and his name,” Sutton said.
“The level of the response was a massive overreaction given what the investigative authority already knew.”
Lidden pleaded guilty to offences under Australia’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act and will be sentenced by judge Leonie Flannery on 11 April.
In the meantime, perhaps he should stick to safer periodic elements like a jar of oxygen or, in the event he’s invited to a birthday party, a helium balloon that simply cannot go without being inhaled.
Lead image: Cravetiger/Getty Images and EyeEm Moble/Getty Images
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