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I feel like the economic benefits of not detonating a little over a gigaton of nuclear explosives in your country outweighs the benefits of having a (highly irr

I feel like the economic benefits of not detonating a little over a gigaton of nuclear explosives in your country outweighs the benefits of having a (highly irradiated) competitor to the Suez Canal. Would you even be able to move food through this proposed canal safely?

ArkanExplorer 6y ago
Nukes could be used safely. The opposition to them is political. The USSR had created 'clean' nukes with fewer byproducts. Three nukes were used to create this canal in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pechora%E2%80%93Kama_Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pechora%E2%80%93Kama_Canal And today the radioactivity is essentially negligible.
- temp0826 6y ago
  I’m curious how these clean bombs differ from neutron bombs (which I thought had a point of minimizing leftovers by using everything up in the neutron blast)?
  - maxerickson 6y ago
    Maximizing the ratio of yield to contamination instead of the ratio of neutron radiation to contamination.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
toss1 6y ago
For food, the lingering radiation might even be considered a feature not a bug. Irradiation of food is a useful method of preservation which extends safety and shelf life and does not make foods radioactive or noticeably change the taste texture or appearance... [0][1] Whether the lingering radiation would create a sufficient dose, and sufficiently consistent and accurate, for the desired preservative effect is another question. But, it might be an advantage that could plausibly support an upcharge for transport of foods (tho perhaps require lead-lined crew quarters), or a preferred route vs non-irradiating Suez canal? I have no idea if the scale of radiation is anywhere close enough for this to be anything but a joke of a sidetrack, but I don't think the food transport would be harmed... the crew, another story. [0] https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-irradiation-what-you-need-know https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-irra... [1] https://www.fda.gov/food/irradiation-food-packaging/overview-irradiation-food-and-packaging https://www.fda.gov/food/irradiation-food-packaging/overview...
garmaine 6y ago
> Would you even be able to move food through this proposed canal safely? Yes because that’s not how radiation works. It doesn’t transfer. In fact food is regularly irradiated. It might not be good for the crews though, and the radiation would eventually flow out to sea and infect our food supply.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  Dust or water could transfer it and there are food items that are shipped relatively exposed.

ArkanExplorer 6y ago

Nukes could be used safely. The opposition to them is political. The USSR had created 'clean' nukes with fewer byproducts. Three nukes were used to create this canal in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pechora%E2%80%93Kama_Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pechora%E2%80%93Kama_Canal And today the radioactivity is essentially negligible.

temp0826 6y ago
I’m curious how these clean bombs differ from neutron bombs (which I thought had a point of minimizing leftovers by using everything up in the neutron blast)?
- maxerickson 6y ago
  Maximizing the ratio of yield to contamination instead of the ratio of neutron radiation to contamination.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

toss1 6y ago

For food, the lingering radiation might even be considered a feature not a bug. Irradiation of food is a useful method of preservation which extends safety and shelf life and does not make foods radioactive or noticeably change the taste texture or appearance... [0][1] Whether the lingering radiation would create a sufficient dose, and sufficiently consistent and accurate, for the desired preservative effect is another question. But, it might be an advantage that could plausibly support an upcharge for transport of foods (tho perhaps require lead-lined crew quarters), or a preferred route vs non-irradiating Suez canal? I have no idea if the scale of radiation is anywhere close enough for this to be anything but a joke of a sidetrack, but I don't think the food transport would be harmed... the crew, another story. [0] https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-irradiation-what-you-need-know https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-irra... [1] https://www.fda.gov/food/irradiation-food-packaging/overview-irradiation-food-and-packaging https://www.fda.gov/food/irradiation-food-packaging/overview...

garmaine 6y ago

> Would you even be able to move food through this proposed canal safely? Yes because that’s not how radiation works. It doesn’t transfer. In fact food is regularly irradiated. It might not be good for the crews though, and the radiation would eventually flow out to sea and infect our food supply.

lostlogin 6y ago
Dust or water could transfer it and there are food items that are shipped relatively exposed.