5 ms·

The US Navy has trained thousands of 18-25 year old men and women to operate hundreds of reactors around the world safety for over 60 years. I was one of them.

The US Navy has trained thousands of 18-25 year old men and women to operate hundreds of reactors around the world safety for over 60 years. I was one of them. I have not been an operator for many years, but the latest reactor designs are amazingly safe and reliable. The world needs more safe, clean, cheap and reliable power. Nuclear power is one of the answers.

ysleepy 6y ago
Did they teach you where the nuclear waste goes too?
- sjwright 6y ago
  The worst plausible answer couldn’t possibly be worse than pumping it directly into the air we breathe, as we do with diesel and coal.
  - tuatoru 6y ago
    And leaving it in huge open air and waterside windblown heaps, in the case of the ash.
- Yetanfou 6y ago
  You feed it into a fast breeder reactor which both produces more fuel for conventional reactors as well as reduces the amount of waste. The resulting waste is lower in volume and needs less lengthy storage.
- acidburnNSA 6y ago
  There are good nuclear waste solutions. The "no solution for waste" is a myth propagated by antinuclear institutions who one one hand claim it's infinitely hazardous and on the other block any and all attempts to move it out of the biosphere. They have proven to be quite cynical! More info here: https://whataboutthewaste.com https://whataboutthewaste.com
  - lucb1e 6y ago
    Interesting website, thanks for the link! Always insightful comments from you on this topic :)
m463 6y ago
Did you meet rickover? I think nuclear needs a significant, stable and non-politicized source of funding with a good balance of support and regulation. If we ahd modern, sustainable "nuclear battery" type nuclear reactors I think we would be better off. Maybe we could play factorio with the reactors so that power output only went towards battery and solar cell production.
petre 6y ago
Alvin Weinberg, the father of many LWR designs said that naval scale reactors (≤100 MWe) are very safe, but for utility scale one cannot make the same guarantees. Which makes a good case for SMRs like the one designed by NuScale Power. It operates in a pool of water and uses natural circulation in case of pump outage, making a loss of coolant accident less likely.
qayxc 6y ago
Keep in mind that these reactors are only that safe because they're operated in an environment that's very different from your typical utility company. RCOH procedures alone would make civil use prohibitively expensive.
- grogenaut 6y ago
  RCOH means https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refueling_and_overhaul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refueling_and_overhaul apparently. But I don't know why this would make civil use much more expensive.
  - qayxc 6y ago
    The procedures cost billions and are usually scheduled to last about 46 months. Refuelling and maintenance of civil reactors takes place more often (usually every 18 to 24 months) and is much quicker - about 45 days, not months). Gen IV reactors even allow for on-line refuelling so the reactor can continue to operate with no down-time.

ysleepy 6y ago

Did they teach you where the nuclear waste goes too?

sjwright 6y ago
The worst plausible answer couldn’t possibly be worse than pumping it directly into the air we breathe, as we do with diesel and coal.
- tuatoru 6y ago
  And leaving it in huge open air and waterside windblown heaps, in the case of the ash.
Yetanfou 6y ago
You feed it into a fast breeder reactor which both produces more fuel for conventional reactors as well as reduces the amount of waste. The resulting waste is lower in volume and needs less lengthy storage.
acidburnNSA 6y ago
There are good nuclear waste solutions. The "no solution for waste" is a myth propagated by antinuclear institutions who one one hand claim it's infinitely hazardous and on the other block any and all attempts to move it out of the biosphere. They have proven to be quite cynical! More info here: https://whataboutthewaste.com https://whataboutthewaste.com
- lucb1e 6y ago
  Interesting website, thanks for the link! Always insightful comments from you on this topic :)

m463 6y ago

Did you meet rickover? I think nuclear needs a significant, stable and non-politicized source of funding with a good balance of support and regulation. If we ahd modern, sustainable "nuclear battery" type nuclear reactors I think we would be better off. Maybe we could play factorio with the reactors so that power output only went towards battery and solar cell production.

petre 6y ago

Alvin Weinberg, the father of many LWR designs said that naval scale reactors (≤100 MWe) are very safe, but for utility scale one cannot make the same guarantees. Which makes a good case for SMRs like the one designed by NuScale Power. It operates in a pool of water and uses natural circulation in case of pump outage, making a loss of coolant accident less likely.

qayxc 6y ago

Keep in mind that these reactors are only that safe because they're operated in an environment that's very different from your typical utility company. RCOH procedures alone would make civil use prohibitively expensive.

grogenaut 6y ago
RCOH means https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refueling_and_overhaul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refueling_and_overhaul apparently. But I don't know why this would make civil use much more expensive.
- qayxc 6y ago
  The procedures cost billions and are usually scheduled to last about 46 months. Refuelling and maintenance of civil reactors takes place more often (usually every 18 to 24 months) and is much quicker - about 45 days, not months). Gen IV reactors even allow for on-line refuelling so the reactor can continue to operate with no down-time.