4 ms·

Have there been many nuclear reactor meltdowns prior to Chernobyl?

defrost 3mo ago
Before 1986 there have been twelve "public" core meltdowns, and at least six, likely more, incidents not public on nuclear subs, etc. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents#Nuclear_meltdown/core_damage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accident... You should look up how many live armed nuclear bombs have been accidentally dropped on mainland US soil. More significantly, there's been a lot of above ground and atmospheric tests that have draped residuals across the planet, and a bunch of dirty Russian / former USSR sites that drift trace across Europe.
- inigyou 3mo ago
  Isn't there a nuclear bomb sitting somewhere in a swamp in the USA that everybody lost?
  - defrost 3mo ago
    "Yes" - TBH I'd be surprised if it's still "lost" - not further reported on because [ XXXredactedXXX ] is more likely.
    - rbanffy 3mo ago
      Also, if the finding is never recorded, it can be used to frame just about anyone who can be accused of finding it and smuggling it out of the US.
- lostlogin 3mo ago
  There have been natural nuclear reactors, but I don’t think any suffered a catastrophic event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reacto...
- fragmede 3mo ago
  > Before 1986 there have been twelve "public" core meltdowns Significantly before in relation to the 5.5 M year claim? > You should look up how many live armed nuclear bombs have been accidentally dropped on mainland US soil. Did they explode in a way that would lead to workers in Romania being able to detect their radioactivity in their cave?
hvb2 3mo ago
You could just look for isotopes from the atmospheric nuclear tests that were conducted? Doesn't need to be a reactor I would assume?
- nbernard 3mo ago
  Indeed. That's one of the reasons why the "Before Present" time scale (that uses 1/1/1950 as the epoch) is sometimes called "Before Physics" (another one being that 1950 is less and less "present", of course)!
  - rbanffy 3mo ago
    > that uses 1/1/1950 as the epoch I guess we can say this is when humankind reached adulthood, became able to drink and got a driver’s license. And a gun.
- lostlogin 3mo ago
  Yes. But also, finding something from within the last hundred years doesn’t say an awful lot about something claimed to have been a closed system for millions of years.

Before 1986 there have been twelve "public" core meltdowns, and at least six, likely more, incidents not public on nuclear subs, etc. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents#Nuclear_meltdown/core_damage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accident... You should look up how many live armed nuclear bombs have been accidentally dropped on mainland US soil. More significantly, there's been a lot of above ground and atmospheric tests that have draped residuals across the planet, and a bunch of dirty Russian / former USSR sites that drift trace across Europe.

inigyou 3mo ago
Isn't there a nuclear bomb sitting somewhere in a swamp in the USA that everybody lost?
- defrost 3mo ago
  "Yes" - TBH I'd be surprised if it's still "lost" - not further reported on because [ XXXredactedXXX ] is more likely.
  - rbanffy 3mo ago
    Also, if the finding is never recorded, it can be used to frame just about anyone who can be accused of finding it and smuggling it out of the US.
lostlogin 3mo ago
There have been natural nuclear reactors, but I don’t think any suffered a catastrophic event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reacto...
fragmede 3mo ago
> Before 1986 there have been twelve "public" core meltdowns Significantly before in relation to the 5.5 M year claim? > You should look up how many live armed nuclear bombs have been accidentally dropped on mainland US soil. Did they explode in a way that would lead to workers in Romania being able to detect their radioactivity in their cave?

hvb2 3mo ago

You could just look for isotopes from the atmospheric nuclear tests that were conducted? Doesn't need to be a reactor I would assume?

nbernard 3mo ago
Indeed. That's one of the reasons why the "Before Present" time scale (that uses 1/1/1950 as the epoch) is sometimes called "Before Physics" (another one being that 1950 is less and less "present", of course)!
- rbanffy 3mo ago
  > that uses 1/1/1950 as the epoch I guess we can say this is when humankind reached adulthood, became able to drink and got a driver’s license. And a gun.
lostlogin 3mo ago
Yes. But also, finding something from within the last hundred years doesn’t say an awful lot about something claimed to have been a closed system for millions of years.