3 ms·

How do you dismantle a nuclear submarine?

30 points by kposehn 11y ago

bmir-alum-007 11y ago
If this happens to include nuclear warheads, esp. in the U.S., all warheads are currently sent to Pantex in Amarillo, Texas for decomm or refurb. Most of the staff are ex-US MIL, especially USN and USAF, capable of maintaining Q(S) clearance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantex_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantex_Plant
chiph 11y ago
For instance both INL and Hanford have suffered unusual radiation leaks from tumbleweeds blowing into waste cooling ponds, picking up contaminated water, and then being blown over the facility's perimeter by the wind. Radioactive tumbleweeds. There's two words used together that I never anticipated.
- mikeyouse 11y ago
  Hanford is a disaster of never-before-seen proportions in the US.. It's going to take decades as well as hundreds of billions of dollars to clean the site. From reading about how the waste was handled there (dumped down deep unlined holes in the flood plane), radioactive tumbleweeds are not the least bit surprising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site#Cleanup_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site#Cleanup_era
cygnus_a 11y ago
with another nuclear submarine?
ggreer 11y ago
Military submarines are fascinating examples of what can be built when most financial, environmental, and ethical constraints are removed. The article mentioned liquid metal cooled reactors. These designs allowed for very small, very fast nuclear submarines. Soviet Alfas[1] could go over 50mph, faster than many torpedoes. The craziest sub I've stumbled upon is probably the 1950's-era Seawolf[2]. Instead of lead-bismuth, its original coolant was liquid sodium. Sodium, a metal that burns on contact with water, was used as the coolant for a submerged nuclear reactor! Of course, that wasn't the only "interesting" aspect of the Seawolf's design: > The phrase "Blue Haze" was often associated with the boat, which was Cherenkov radiation, visible on a dark night, in the sea water surrounding the hull... Shake-out problems and a desire to standardize reactors caused the navy to switch away from the design, but it's still amazing that it was built and tested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seawolf_(SSN-575) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seawolf_(SSN-575)
caycep 11y ago
Ask U2? (sorry, couldn't resist...)
hewhowhineth 11y ago
Dismantling Russian Typhoon class submarine (47 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGhxGgQ-Cd4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGhxGgQ-Cd4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon-class_submarine
roberto 11y ago
Very carefully.
MichaelCrawford 11y ago
"They sunk my submarine!" -- a friend of my father's, when Mom came to take me home from his son's birthday party. The Sinking of the USS Gitarro http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/16.52.html#subj2.1 http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/16.52.html#subj2.1 I Swear I'm Not Making This Up.

30 points by kposehn 11y ago

If this happens to include nuclear warheads, esp. in the U.S., all warheads are currently sent to Pantex in Amarillo, Texas for decomm or refurb. Most of the staff are ex-US MIL, especially USN and USAF, capable of maintaining Q(S) clearance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantex_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantex_Plant

chiph 11y ago

For instance both INL and Hanford have suffered unusual radiation leaks from tumbleweeds blowing into waste cooling ponds, picking up contaminated water, and then being blown over the facility's perimeter by the wind. Radioactive tumbleweeds. There's two words used together that I never anticipated.

mikeyouse 11y ago
Hanford is a disaster of never-before-seen proportions in the US.. It's going to take decades as well as hundreds of billions of dollars to clean the site. From reading about how the waste was handled there (dumped down deep unlined holes in the flood plane), radioactive tumbleweeds are not the least bit surprising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site#Cleanup_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site#Cleanup_era

cygnus_a 11y ago

with another nuclear submarine?

ggreer 11y ago

Military submarines are fascinating examples of what can be built when most financial, environmental, and ethical constraints are removed. The article mentioned liquid metal cooled reactors. These designs allowed for very small, very fast nuclear submarines. Soviet Alfas[1] could go over 50mph, faster than many torpedoes. The craziest sub I've stumbled upon is probably the 1950's-era Seawolf[2]. Instead of lead-bismuth, its original coolant was liquid sodium. Sodium, a metal that burns on contact with water, was used as the coolant for a submerged nuclear reactor! Of course, that wasn't the only "interesting" aspect of the Seawolf's design: > The phrase "Blue Haze" was often associated with the boat, which was Cherenkov radiation, visible on a dark night, in the sea water surrounding the hull... Shake-out problems and a desire to standardize reactors caused the navy to switch away from the design, but it's still amazing that it was built and tested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seawolf_(SSN-575) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Seawolf_(SSN-575)

caycep 11y ago

Ask U2? (sorry, couldn't resist...)

hewhowhineth 11y ago

Dismantling Russian Typhoon class submarine (47 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGhxGgQ-Cd4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGhxGgQ-Cd4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon-class_submarine

roberto 11y ago

Very carefully.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago

"They sunk my submarine!" -- a friend of my father's, when Mom came to take me home from his son's birthday party. The Sinking of the USS Gitarro http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/16.52.html#subj2.1 http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/16.52.html#subj2.1 I Swear I'm Not Making This Up.