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Nuclear Science Merit Badge

Submitted by Roland Roberts on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 16:31

The Nuclear Science merit badge is designed to cover a high school level of understanding of models of the atom with a somewhat more sophisticated understanding of radiation hazards, at least compared to the level of understanding of the general public. That is, it is designed to raise the understanding of the general public.

The requirements for this badge do change from time to time so the best source for the current requirements is at https://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Nuclear_Science. This document will cover the 2017 requirements which are current at the time of this writing.

Please note: there are no shortcuts. While this tutorial is designed to provide the knowledge background necessary for completion of the merit badge, there are activities which must be done in order to earn the badge. I cannot emphasize this enough.

I have had the misfortune of seeing scouts awarded the badge without doing the activities. I believe this is not only a grave violation of the BSA regulations, but also a great disservice to the scouts who were awarded the badge without truly earning it. The point of the activities in the badge, as in all others, is to gain knowledge through action. I have never seen a scout receive certification for knot tying skills after sitting in a lecture on knot tying. Yet I have seen scouts given the Nuclear Science merit badge after sitting through a lecture on nuclear science.

If you read through all of these tutorials and the associated links, you will be able to answer the questions asked of you by your merit badge counselor, and fill out the worksheet. If you are one of those scouts who was award the merit badge without doing all of the requirements, my condolences. I recommend you work through the requirements for your own benefit, and especially the hands-on activities of requirement 4 of which parts a and c can easily be done at home.