Nuclear shenanigans thread

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>>32533854
Picrelated is from the first time this happened. I was up late drinking when ILanon started panic posting. 911 wasn't answering, the radio stations that are supposed to broadcast emergency messages weren't doing so, etc. Several first response anons (shit there was a lot on that night) looked up his area, found all the streams, press release sites, emergency alert sites (we were all drunk and bored), and concluded he was trolling us, since there was nothing posted. Turned out the sirens DID keep going off, and this poor guy had to turn to /k/ b/c he was freaking out; had 2 young kids and a wife, the Death sirens are going off, with the Nuclear tone playing, and no one was saying why.

there better have been a blow out soon joke in that thread

>>32533926
Sounds like shit with NY's Indian River plant. Leaking oil from transformers involved in coolent systems......... not an environmental hazard just a bit behind in maintenance. So glad I am upstream of it and it is upstream of NYC. Fallout Adirondacks pending

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>>32533953
Well, it was 2 in the morning, and everyone was fairly tanked, so I certainly hope there was.

>>32534006
>Fallout Adirondacks
I'd play that. All other criticisms aside, I loved the New England setting in FO4. Felt very well done.

>>32533854
So, why the Army doesn't have reactors:
>be late '50s
>entire military has massive raging Fallout style nuclear boner
>Navy successfully launched first nuclear sub years before
>Army realizes strategic and tactical benefits of nuclear power
>decides to gin up a small truck bed reactor for field power that needs no fuel supply logistical chain
>calls it SL-1, tests it at Idaho Falls
>one day, 3 guys performing maintenance
>maintenance involves physically lifting a control rod a short distance
>>control rods control the reaction by stopping it
>>when removed far enough, the reaction starts
>why this happened is up for debate, but
>maintenance guy lifts rod almost all the way out instead of just 1" up
>nuclear reaction runs away, instantly flashing all the coolant in it to steam
>steam explosion blows the rod out, and impales the guy to the ceiling
>other 2 guys killed by flying bits and insane radiation
>the guys are buried in lead lined coffins
>the rescue ambulance, the reactor, and the building are buried
>the landscape over the burial is deliberately made to discourage digging, to prevent anyone from trying to excavate it in 1000 years, after all memory of the event has faded

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>>32533926
Also, ILanon lived within 10 miles of 3 different facilities, and I think at least 1 had multiple reactors. So, "Fuck it, run ANYWHERE!" was not really a helpful answer, since he was basically surrounded.

>>32534095

That's a nice story anon, thanks for sharing. But putting a nuclear reactor on a truck bed may not have been the smartest idea.

>>32534095
Another Army project which died a natural and timely death was MM-1. The Army had the idea of creating a trucked bed portable molten salt reactor, and using the power from it to convert air, and water from nearby streams/rivers, into usable fuels, such as ammonia, oxygen, hydrogen, and hydrogen peroxide, and thus negate the need for a logistics chain bringing fuel to the front. Somewhere along the way, somebody realized the benefits did NOT exceed the costs.

>>32534159
I do believe that is the consensus that was reached, yes.

>>32534095
Oh hey! They're digging Idaho Falls up right now actually. My cousins boyfriends dad is working on it. Most of that shit is getting sent down to Los Alamos.

>>32534095
It was neat seing places I visited Irl rendered in game. Dorchester was indistinguishable. As to army with anything complicated no, hell no, and fuck no. Sleep deprived micromanaged alcoholics should not be within rifle engagement range of delicate and disaster prone systems (from an army vet)

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>>32534213
>Oh hey! They're digging Idaho Falls up right now actually. My cousins boyfriends dad is working on it. Most of that shit is getting sent down to Los Alamos.
Well. LOVELY. Are they digging up old sealed prototypes, or actually the whole SL-1 mess?

I imagine there are some contractors who will be able to make a few boat payments off THAT job.

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>>32534565
>Dorchester was indistinguishable.
Really? I felt that Fallout underrepresented the population of violent mutants who shoot at anything that moves.

>As to army with anything complicated no, hell no, and fuck no.
Other Army nuclear power projects that successfully got up and running include a reactor that could be transported on flatbed trucks which could generate 140 kW of electricity; a reactor powering an arctic camp in Greenlan; another powering a remote radar station in Fucking Nowhere, Wyoming; a reactor producing heat, electricity, and fresh water at McMurdo in Antarctica (sound comfy af); and a reactor built into an engineless Liberty ship that was used as a barge, that ended up producing power in the Panama Canal Zone (the Army wanted to send it to Vietnam, but for some reason the State Department thought "Nuclear" and "Vietnam" were not words that belonged in the same sentence).

Great article https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Nuclear_Power_Program

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>>32533854
Bumping with a greentext of a Navy happening in 2005, nowhere near as severe. Short version:
>Navy, being cheap, decides to have a half broken nuclear carrier drive down a shallow river to leave the repair yards, instead of waiting for work to be finished or dredging the river
>ship sucks up a sandbar, and clogs all the cooling water intakes
>hilarity ensues (not really. OK, the forced anal penetration is kinda funny)

>>32535038
I am impressed and horrified that we had that much going on. Nuclear and Vietnam seems to go well though. And Dorchester doesn't have that many guns...... even with pipe pistols now loose bricks on the other hand

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In short, this pic is of a brilliant dumbass who accidentally kills himself by causing a nuclear reaction with a screwdriver.

To understand it, you need to know the difference between the words "subcritical," "critical," and "supercritical." If a reactor is "critical," it is producing just enough neutrons to cause a chain reaction that is self sustaining. "Supercritical" means it's producing enough neutrons to not only sustain the reaction, but also intensify it. Subcritical is the reverse. Thus, if you think in terms of a reactor, "critical" means "on," "supercritical" means "turning up," and "subcritical" means "turning down."

What the good Dr. Slotin has there, in 1945 Los Alamos, is a 3.5" diameter ball of refined plutonium, which is just 5% less than is needed for it be critical. Radiation is given off in every direction when it's generated, so some shoots outward instead of inward. What he's doing is lowering a neutron reflector on to the sphere, so more go back into the plutonium. This brings that 5% down to 4.5%... 4%... 3.5%... The reason he has the screwdriver is to keep the reflector from slipping all the way down, because that would push the reaction WAY beyond supercritical.

Well, he slipped.

He was dead in 2 weeks.

It wasn't a pretty death.

>>32535604
Scary thought. An average Dorchesterite with a brick is substantially more frightening than an average Bostonian with a gun.

>>32536130
God help you if the have a cinder block and an overpass....... or worse still an agent with boy band aspersions

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>>32536693
>an agent with boy band aspersions
???

Pic is an interesting educational tool Civil Defense used to give high schools. It contained a Geiger counter, an ion chamber (detects high amounts of radiation that would overwhelm the Geiger counter), a few dosimeters (track total radiation dose instead of exposure rate), and some low level radioactive material (RAM). The RAM was just a little bit, for experiments.

Unfortunately, a LOT of really fucking awesome high school science teachers went out and added "other things" to them, for educational purposes/It's The Fifties! To this day, high schools occasionally open up old basement storerooms and go WHAT THE FUCK?! Swear to God, we recently found one that contained yellow cake uranium.
>in case you've ever wondered how much yellow cake uranium a high school can legally possess...
>3.3lb

>>32536984
Heh nice tidbit with the yellow cake. I remember q Catholic school had about a pound for geiger testing and educational purposes. Alpha radiation is not too dangerous with modest precautions. And it was new kids on the block re Dorchester agent. Truly a destructive device (to budget) if you date one of their fans

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>>32537154
I'm getting the vague feeling that when you said Army vet, you're not 22.

Pictured is a Civil Defense ion chamber, which were mass produced and distributed during the cold war. These days, there are so many that you can get them for $40 all day long, and every fire department has a few.

The thing is, they're about as sensitive as a goddamned brick. Leave a brick next to the radioactive source, and when it gets warm, you know you need to leave. These things are so fucking insensitive that the only time they'll indicate a damned thing is in certain industrial applications, nuclear power plants, and in a full blown nuclear war. So, WTF they're doing on every damned fire engine under the sun is beyond me.

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>>32533854

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Had to go do adult shit, involving offspring, and the feeding and bathing thereof. Thank god for alcohol and night /k/. Whichever one of you glorious bastards suggested this for a lullaby was right on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTv-I2Y390.

This is an interesting old Civil Defense instrument that's still in circulation, and still in use by some state agencies. It's a CDV-700A, a slightly modified version of a regular CDV-700 (which could be had for $50 before Fukushima tripled their value). Now worth $350-450 on ebay. The improvements they made actually make it perform on par with a modern GM unit costing thousands; the downside is it's the size of a car battery, and at least half the weight; especially once you attach a speaker, which is an absolute must have if you're using this on humans.

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>>32540115
Whoops, 700M.

This is the original version. Moderately more sensitive than a brick, this is one of the instruments in this box >>32536984. It can detect enough contamination to determine whether or not an area is safe for human habitation, but anyone who walks into a "clean" space afterwards, with a modern instrument, may very well shit themselves.

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>>32540265
What I really love about that one is the fact that a great way to shape a critical mass in such a way that it won't achieve criticality is to give it "unfavorable geometry;" so, if 5 lb of plutonium in a sphere will just barely go critical, then a 5 lb ball covered in spikes would not.

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>>32533926
Dresden seems like a really bad name to use regarding anything nuclear.

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>>32533854
The Shearon Harris Nuke plant in NC is surrounded by hunting land, because its water source is a reservoir that rises and falls meters due to rains and irrigation control. This leads to problems
>NC says no target shooting on state game lands
>NC puts no target shooting sign at game lands gate
>NC Fudd gets clever idea
>Put targets *ON* the gate, so that the targets aren't technically in the game lands
>Shoot the shit out of targets
>Fail to check down range
>Also shoot the shit out of an electrical box for the alarm Sirens for the nearby nuclear plant

Oops...
(http://enformable.com/2011/08/a-quarter-of-emergency-sirens-out-of-service-at-harris-nuclear-plant/)

There's nothing quite like finding safety equipment for a nuclear plant that's been 'fixed' with expanding foam, bondo and duct tape. I wish I had a pic.

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Actual nuclear radiation, when visible, isn't green; it's blue. The effect is due to charged particles moving faster than the speed of light. This is possible because light actually moves slower in air, and much slower in water, than it does in a vacuum. While the speed of light in a vacuum is the universal speed limit, the products of nuclear fission can go faster than light photons in other mediums. This produces a blue light called Cherenkov radiation. The reactor spent fuel pool in the picture generates quite a healthy glow. Slotin >>32536130 knew he was dead (or should have known) when he saw a blue flash in the air, and instantly received a lethal neutron dose. Similar criticality accidents have killed several others, including a Japanese workers whose picture I WON'T post, b/c he looks like horrible human beef jerky in traction (they refused to let him die, even tho he insisted, and instead experimented on him. That's the Japanese for you, even in the 1990s).

The myth of the green glow comes from radioactive radium being mixed with phosphorescent paint. Normally that paint would only "glow in the dark," but with radioactive material mixed in, it would glow green constantly.

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>>32540459
Did he get to see a REAL DoE Carbine?

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>>32535238
Thanks for the green text. Saved.

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>>32540525
Fun facts about nuke plants and guns:

They are exempted from FFL and Class III rules, so they can order whatever the fuck they want. They receive pallets of full auto Colt M4s like other offices receive printer paper. Their security has VERY forgiving rules of engagement, and carry full retard funs. Their kit looks like what every mall ninja wishes they were dressed in, only it's all legit.

They also drill force - on - force with other nuke plant security, so every now and then, Sharon Harris might send a team to invade Dresden, Three Mile Island, etc.

This reminds me of all those threads where people were arguing about nuclear subs vs. diesel.

Diesel definitely gets my vote now.

>>32533854
>meltdown sirens were going off
Can anyone find a good video with the sound of those going off? How did OP know they were meltdown sirens? I want to hear them!

>>32540525
>Did he get to see a REAL DoE Carbine?

Dunno, but the property owner, Duke Energy I think, has posted a bunch of no-trespassing signs in areas that aren't marked off limits on the game lands maps, and YUUGE signs out in the woods saying something like "Nuclear Safety Zone, subject to emergency evacuation."

It's only a partial loss however, that area has one of the most insane tick populations I've ever seen in the summer. I'll only ever hunt it for deer, when it's relatively cold.

Ticks in NC are bad, but ticks around that place are downright insane.

>>32540624

>old H&K catalog from 1990s
>has a special phone number for DOE contract security outfits to call for customer support/sales

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>>32540626
Oddly, and it almost pains me to say this because I hated every last fucking minute in it, the US Navy Nuclear Power Program has a phenomenal safety record that's very well earned. Largely due to a sadistic sociopathic admiral who inspired Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

>>32540624
What you mean to say is they are exempt from the NFA.

>>32540626
US sub reactors have a great safety record.

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>>32540648
The sirens have distinctive tones for certain uses; tornado, nuclear, and "other" Emergency Alert, I believe. They publicize when they're running tests on each so people can learn the difference.

However, not all the operators are necessarily very professional.

>>32536130
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac&t=4s

Alarms in dangerous industrial facilities are a shitshow.

My wife is a Chem-E, and she worked for almost two years at one of the largest ammonia plants in the world. For those who don't know, ammonium nitrate, also made at these types of facilities, is a high explosive.

She worked on the control systems, specifically the alarms that are triggered in the machines anytime something isn't going right in the process, or the machines, or whatever. Smart thing, right?

Except the software is a Frankenstein's monster of ancient, moderately antiquated and fairly recent coding that has been stitched together, messed with, and altered by thousands of hands over the decades. Her mission was to streamline the system so it stopped giving so many alarms due to false positives, too-fine tolerances for variance, etc. because the fucking plant threw up as many as 300,000 alarms a day.

Three hundred thousand.

The dangerous thing here is that of course the really dangerous ones might get missed, but also that if your plant operators get accustomed to a system that constantly cries Wolf, they just get in the habit of ignoring it. 100,000 alarms? It's a good day?

And as for what happens if things go badly wrong in an ammonia plant, well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzDC3iKbTzY

>>32540715
Wait, what happened in the pic?

>>32540624
Damn, that's fucking badass.

Tfw that story you're not sure about seems a little more true...(the guy has told me told plenty of stories, this is the only one I'm not sure about)
>have veteran friend
>says he was an NBC tech
>on guard duty at nuke silo with squadmate, bored as fuck
>3 CIA guys walking up trying to look cool in their shades
>CIA guy #1 tries to bluster his way in and gets told to fuck off
>they don't have clearance
>Guy #1 gives them the whole "we're with the Company", routine to try and scare them
>still no entry allowed
>#1 eventually gets tired of their shit and reaches for his shoulder holster like he's going to draw
>friend never found out if he actually was going to, since he put 3 rounds in him while his friend aimed at the others
>They proceed to joke about whether they should call this in or just bury them all out in the desert
>CIA guy #2 and #3 visibly nervous until one of them reaches for his radio

>>32540731

Not that guy, but they're actually under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, specifically Section 161A, which basically says the AEA's provisions preempt local, state, and even federal firearm laws.

This allows nuke plant security to get basically any weapons/ammo they want delivered right to their door in bulk as long as the paperwork is done right under the AEA's provisions, not the NFA.

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>>32540731
Yes, thank you.

>>32540669
Ticks notwithstanding, those deer populations have no fear of humans. Easy pickings.

>>32540715

The SRO refused to violate nuke regulations even if it meant telling Rickover himself to GTFO, and Rickover gave him a medal for having the big brass balls to tell off an admiral in performing his duty.

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>>32540814
Threads like this are why I still browse /k/. Thank you all.

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>>32540776
A guy in his early 20s, who only joined the Navy to get out of Vietnam, was standing watch in a sub's reactor control room. Since he was the watchstander in charge, he "owned" the plant. Admiral Rickover, the father of Naval Nuclear Power, whose orders you would follow before those of God himself (b/c God might forgive you), walked in like he owned the place. The watchstander tossed him out for entering without authorization. The watchstander thought he would get kicked out for it, but instead, the Admiral gave him a medal for balls and following procedures.

>>32533854
>>32533926
Huh.

So, I'm going to echo this >>32540648


I just got back from a visit in Illinois and, yesterday morning, there was a siren going off in town just around that area that nobody knew the purpose of. I'll laugh my ass off if it was this.

>>32540715
>inspired Mr. Burns from the Simpsons
Neat!

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>>32540797
Well, could have been a training scenario. If legit, well, that'd be well within the RoE.

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>>32540923
Here's the Nuclear Regulatory Commission site where the screencap came from, so you can share it with your hosts https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2017/20170103en.html.

Here's a nuke plant siren. Actual siren doesn't start till 5:45. Just one long, solid tone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzfb9YBTY8

Here's an explanation of different sirens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siIxQZi8LRg

Some siren units also have Public Address capabilities, as the first video shows. For example, in New Hampshire they have a beach that gets full of tourists in the summer months, and is within a few miles of a nuke plant, so the speakers would tell them what radio stations to listen to, when to shelter, etc.

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>>32541149

That NRC site's a great read, btw. It's updated around 8AM EST on weekdays, and details mishaps/accidents involving nuclear reactors and radioactive materials. Picrelated is a frequent subject. They're nuclear soil density gauges used in construction to measure compaction of road beds, and similar situations. Consequently, they're used by tons of civil engineering contractors and construction crews.

Problem is, these things just attract rollers, graders, dump trucks, you name it. If an operator turns their back on it for a second, some random vehicle WILL come screaming around the corner and hit it. The radioactive sources in them are INCREDIBLY strongly built, so it never, ever hurts them, but it always makes for a great story.

The other things they attract are thieves and ex-girlfriends. They're typically transported by putting them in the bed of a pickup truck, blocking and bracing them to prevent them from shifting in transit,and locking them down with 2 independent chains and padlocks, both of which must be cut to remove the device. The damn things still get stolen, either by stealing the whole truck, or cutting chains and stealing the gauge. Also, ex-girlfriends stealing work trucks with gauges in the back is a startlingly common occurrence; at least a few a year.

>>32540400
Better than calling it Nagasaki.

>>32541717
Fun fact: the other Chernobyl reactors kept producing power long after the accident. Bit of a stigma, methinks?

>>32541730
I had to verify the date. Reactor number 3 didn't shut down until 2000.

>>32540769
Ammonia is fucking terrifying for a chemical that is used in obscene amounts every day. Thanks for sharing.

>>32540880
>it doesn't TASTE radioactive
Well fuck me gently if that isn't the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

>>32542116
Train tanks of phosgene are routinely shipped through cities.
>>32541517
Always like reading that site for the sheer amount of stupid. The USNavy safety bulletins are great as well.
>The gauge was muddy so the technician placed it inside its transport case in the back of his pickup and left the case's lid up. He then got busy finishing up paperwork and talked to a site supervisor. The technician failed to close the case lid, secure the case in the vehicle, or raise the tailgate before leaving the site. When he got to the main road, he realized this and checked the gauge. It was not in the truck.

I'm taking nuclear engineering courses in school and this thread gave me a hard dick.

>>32535238
I was a nuke ET on the George Washington in Norfolk when this happened. My roommate at the time was an EM on the Mobile Chernobyl there. They tried REAL hard to keep that little incident quiet.

>>32540715
Same. It was fucking miserable. I actually enjoyed school, mostly because I loved Charleston, but once I got out onto the ship in the "real" Navy... Yeah, no.

>>32543710
They kinda do deserve credit for creating systems and procedures so robust that a bunch of autistic alcoholic 20 years olds can (and do) routinely start up reactors while still almost blackout drunk from the night before, and not have safety incidents.

>>32544473
Oh yes, I'll give em that. They really are foolproof for the most part, and they're bulletproof systems, which I routinely operated when shit-faced. Used to carry around one of those 32oz Nalgene bottles all day that was half OJ, half vodka.

>>32544570
I like to think that Navy procedures are based around the idea that 80% of the individuals involved in any given task are either drunk, high, suicidally depressed, going through a nasty divorce, or all of the above.