An Australian man is accused of breaking his country’s nuclear non-proliferation laws for ordering a sample of plutonium online in a bid to collect all the elements in the periodic table.

In August of 2023, 24-year-old Emmanuel Lidden was arrested at his parents’ house in Sidney, Australia, during a major operation that involved Australian Border Force officials, firefighters, police, and paramedics. He pleaded guilty to breaching nuclear non-proliferation laws by shipping plutonium into the country, a charge that carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, but his lawyer is arguing that Lidden is not some maniac or mad scientist with a nefarious agenda, but rather a “science nerd” who had made it his goal to collect all the elements in the periodic table, even radioactive ones.

Photo: Elchinator/Pixabay

“He did not import or possess these items with any sinister intent … these were offences committed out of pure naivety,” lawyer John Sutton told Sydney’s Downing Centre district court last Friday. “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.”

Lidden is apparently an avid collector who owns an impressive number of stamps, banknotes and coins, but prosecutors disagree that he is just a misguided, harmless collector, claiming that seeking illegal materials like plutonium created a market that might otherwise not have existed in Australia.

According to court documents, the 24-year-old man ordered the tiny plutonium sample from a US-based science website and had it delivered to his parents’ home. His lawyer claims that the package had his name and address on the box, which suggests that he had no intention of using the material to do any harm. Authorities knew exactly what was in the box and who it had been ordered by, but instead of seizing the package and asking Lidden for an explanation, they allowed the plutonium to be shipped to the address on the box and then organized a major operation to have Sutton’s client arrested.

Photo: Los Alamos National Laboratory

“The level of the response was a massive overreaction given what the investigative authority already knew,” Sutton said. “Rather than give him an opportunity to return the items, the kitchen sink was thrown at him, along with the utensils inside.”

Since being charged for bringing plutonium into Australia, Emmanuel Lidden has been fired from his job as trainee train conductor and is currently earning a living flipping burgers at a fast food restaurant. But things could get even worse for him, as the charges against him carry a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars. His sentence is due from Judge Leonie Flannery on April 11.