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Relevant from Randall Munroe https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ > What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? Would I ne
by sebmellen 1y ago
Relevant from Randall Munroe https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
> What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? Would I need to dive to actually experience a fatal amount of radiation? How long could I stay safely at the surface?
> Assuming you’re a reasonably good swimmer, you could probably survive treading water anywhere from 10 to 40 hours. At that point, you would black out from fatigue and drown. This is also true for a pool without nuclear fuel in the bottom.
- trenchpilgrim 1y agoThat blog post is about the spent fuel pool. The link is about the reactor cavity.
- sebmellen 1y agoWouldn’t the same principles apply?
- trenchpilgrim 1y agoNo, reactor cavity has a different shape and is directly part of the reactor system.
- sebmellen 1y agoI mean the principle of water mitigating radioactive impact. > “While performing work inside the containment building, a Palisades contractor fell into a pool near the reactor that contained clean, borated water,” O’Brien said. From https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/10/michigan-nuclear-plant-worker-had-to-be-decontaminated-after-falling-into-reactor-pool.html https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/10/michigan-nuclear-plant-wo...