Wednesday, December 27, 2017

High Flux Isotope Reactor refueling at Oak Ridge National Lab







What would happen if you swam in a nuclear containment pool?   Every centimeter of water between you and the spent fuel cuts the radiation in half, roughly. 
Swimming to the bottom and touching something radioactive would kill you in a couple days or even hours, but if you’re only a few feet under, then there may actually be less ambient radiation than outside the water. 




6 comments:

  1. I work about a 20 minute from Oak Ridge. Now I'm worried.

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  2. Perfectly safe to swim in the pool. Driving past a nuclear
    plant that emits miniscule amounts of Alpha radiation that
    is stopped by your windshield is literally harmless. In
    fact, driving an extra 5 miles to avoid one places you in
    hundreds of times more danger of dying in an auto accident.

    The media are by and large scientifically illiterate so when
    they report the Chernoble accident cause x milirems detected
    on the East Coast, the question should be how much are we
    really talking about?

    I have heard the horror stories about milk from cows near a
    nuclear powerplant containing radioactive elements makes
    my eyes roll. The milk would contain the same levels if the
    dairy farm was 10,000 miles away from the closest source of
    exposure.

    This is because the ground is awash Uranium, Thorium and
    Potassium. This is what makes the vast majority of human and
    animal exposure, AKA background radiation. This is also the
    source of Radon gas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do agree with you. It was my poor attempt at sarcasm.

      Delete
  3. Flux that, ain't goin near that.

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  4. ever been on a airliner that has the glow in the dark signs to show the emergency exits? encapsulated Tritium gas in the sign gives off photons as the radioactive tritium gas degrades over time. think that thru. i have access to some old aircraft instrument which have radium dial markings. they sit in a lead lined box await disposal. kind of expensive to dispose of. the earths core is liquid metal heated by guess what. gonna go near that any time soon?

    ReplyDelete