Clean energy is a topic of increasing political and cultural significance in the age of climate change, and as such can be an interesting topic with which to engage students. One avenue to produce large quantities of power is through harnessing nuclear reactions; however, the social stigma and fear of expanding nuclear power have placed several limits on its use to reduce dependence on nonrenewable resources. One major fear is the risk of contamination of drinking water near nuclear power plants. Education about the safety of current technologies and the invention of safer technologies can lead to the acceptance of the benefits of harnessing nuclear power. This lesson uses chemistry concepts through a technology education lens to design a new detector that can monitor local surface water sources for radioactive contamination downstream of a proposed nuclear reactor site in Virginia.