quote:

The Soviets were pretty good at math and physics.

Yes, they were, but it's the politicians and bureaucrats that cause the problems.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

The Soviets were pretty good at math and physics.

Yes, they were, but it's the politicians and bureaucrats that cause the problems.

They may have been good with math, but the Soviets built a lot of crap systems. The reactor at Chernobyl was fundamentally flawed. The early Sov nuclear subs were death traps. Their environmental habits were grossly irresponsible.

There is radiological garbage spread all over the former USSR.

Nuclear reactors are at their most critical configuration at the beginning of their fuel cycle with the control and safety rods completely out of the core, not at the end of the fuel cycle. Chlorine is a mild neutron poison, so salt water intrusion would make the core less critical. I don’t think water functioning as a neutron reflector would be much of a concern as there isn’t normally much space between a reactor and the hull of a nuclear submarine.

Typically western reactors are designed with a negative temperature feedback power loop, so cold water could cause an increase in criticality, but the Soviet’s didn’t always do that (see Chernobyl). Also, no one in their right mind would remove the safety or control rods from a reactor, as they will be radioactive, but the Soviets weren’t always in their right minds (again, see the experiment that lead to the Chernobyl accident).

What terrifies me is the thought they might have sealed and dumped the sodium metal cooled reactors into the ocean. If the seawater intrudes into the sodium metal, there will be an energetic reaction that will rupture the reactor core, releasing the entire contents into the ocean.

I know Jack about nuclear weapons.

But didn’t we blow up lots of them in and under the ocean?

Is this really a big deal (asking the smart people), or is it the media doing what they do?

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Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I know Jack about nuclear weapons.
Is this really a big deal (asking the smart people), or is it the media doing what they do?

In the case of the USS Scorpion and USS Thresher: No. Every few years they get checked on and every time they're checked on, they've sunk a little more into the bottom of the ocean which also doesn't care about any of the radiation as less and less leak out of either reactor.