Hacker News Reader

Comment by fluxem | Hacker News Reader

Good news is that nuclear energy is safe and has zero long lasting ecological effects! Also management and governments are always competent. Otherwise, we would be in big, big trouble

View on HN

This is the system working as intended... it's the problems that don't get caught you need to worry about...

how do you explain the nuclear navy's safety record?

Nuclear subs and air carriers are part of deterrence strategy. So, most reports will be classified, unlike for nuclear plants. Never the less, we know about numerous accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sunken_nuclear_submari...

Also, let’s not forget about Hanford site, which was part of the US nuclear program

not one of those incidents were due to reactor failure. running a reactor is complicated. operating a submarine at depths is also complicated. combining them doesn't mean either one gets less complicated. a failure of some complicated part of the submarine does not mean the power source failed. assuming they do with flippant "but subs have sunk" comments is just disingenuous at best.

Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_submarine#Reactor_acci...

okay. yes, you win the internet of pedants. i guess its my fault for not saying US nuclear navy

I'm not really concerned with the events of the Soviet/Russian navy, as they are not the ones regulating anything that concerns me.

The same organization that secretly dumped nuclear waste into the ocean? You think they would tell you if they had accidents?

Tangentially related: it's public knowledge that in the late 60s the US Army basically dropped a bunch of chemical weapons off of a pier on the Jersey Shore [1]. OK, so maybe that's an attempt at humor by hyperbole on my part, but it isn't far from the truth - they apparently determined that scuttling a ship filled with VX in the Atlantic is the optimal way to dispose of it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX_(nerve_agent)#Worldwide_sto...

Our history is rich with stories. In December 1773, a bunch of colonists tried to drug the fish in the Boston Harbor with a bunch of tea.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com