5 ms·
A small nuclear reactor in a swimming pool.. what could go wrong..
by lexxed 9y ago
A small nuclear reactor in a swimming pool.. what could go wrong..
- DennisP 9y agoNot much. This is actually a common reactor type, and you don't have to worry about things like cooling pumps going bad or high-pressure pipe breaks. > The water acts as neutron moderator, cooling agent and radiation shield. The layer of water directly above the reactor core shields the radiation so completely that operators may work above the reactor safely. This design has two major advantages: the reactor is easily accessible and the whole primary cooling system, i.e. the pool water, is under normal pressure. This avoids the high temperatures and great pressures of nuclear power plants. Pool reactors are used as a source of neutrons and for training, and in rare instances for processing heat but not for electrical generation....Most research reactors are of the pool type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool-type_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool-type_reactor
- kldavis4 9y agoNC State University has a pool reactor on the main campus used in their nuclear reactor curriculum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_State_University_reactor_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_State_Universit...
- plandis 9y agoThat’s cool! Thanks for sharing
- vorotato 9y agoI think this comment shouldn't be downvoted because it's a common misunderstanding rooted in how unintuitive it is that water is so good at blocking radiation.
- Symmetry 9y agoXKCD had a really great illustration of that. https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
- foxyv 9y agoI love this! > But just to be sure, I got in touch with a friend of mine who works at a research reactor, and asked him what he thought would happen to you if you tried to swim in their radiation containment pool. “In our reactor?” He thought about it for a moment. “You’d die pretty quickly, before reaching the water, from gunshot wounds.”
- deadmetheny 9y agoA lot less than you think. These are the reactors normally used for research and they are rather safe, as pretty much all modern reactors are.
- sdfasfdsaf 9y agoA lot less than in a submarine or electrical reactor. Heck McMaster U has a swimming pool sized 5 MW. There's no pressure vessel and a massive thermal inertia. Not child's play, but very safe. The big issue is the waste.