Exactly? One is NOT equal to none. It is DRAMATICALLY not equal.
The article also states there was more than one, so “ONLY” doesn’t apply, either.
Ed
See I knew someone would nitpick when I didn’t mention the Savannah. I didn’t say there were none, if you read the whole sentence.
I guess if you are really going to nitpick, you need to mention the one Japanese, one German, and one Soviet merchant ships that were nuclear powered, and all the Soviet icebreakers (but if you think those were civilian ships, LOL )
It remains that no one is allowed to just build a nucelar merchant ship, after the one-off Savannah. WHich wasn;t exactly successful anyway as she was built as a cross between a cargo ship and a luxury superyacht and didn’t carry much cargo, and was completely incompatible with more modern automated piers.
–Randy
I’ll reread it:
" Practicality and safety issues won out, nuclear propulsion at sea was limited to the Navy, and the weight of the required shielding made most other uses impractical."
Yeah. That “limited to the Navy” kinda mislead me, somehow.
Ed
.
This might be my favorite quote of 2018, even though we are not even 2% into the year.
.
-Kevin
.
But sometimes you come up with a better way of doing something.
You can legally own small amounts. Used to be fairly common as trim weight in airliners and sailboats.
Like not nuking your own people and not building atomic powered everything… [(-D]
I forgot to mention that yes the blast range was greater than the weapons launch range! Again in the words of Sgt. Schultz, we knew nothing, nothing! When it came to radiation in the early atomic age…
And also does anyone know that the great state of m, i, crooked letter, crooked letter, i, crooked letter, crooked letter, i, humpback, humpback, i, or Mississippi was the site of not one but two atomic detonation tests? Both were underground of course…
I also heard some of it leaked over to LA via the bayous…[:o)]
[:-^]
Lots of things we’ve learned over the years. Way back when, even before the development of the atomic bomb and atomic power, no one knew just how dangerous radium could be, but it was cool, it would glow int he dark. So watch dials were painted with it. And the (usually) women who would do this fine painting would frequently lick the paintbrush to keep as fine a tip on it as possible. With (now) predictable results after long term exposure.
So if you have an old pocket watch that glows in the dark - check it with a geiger counter. The other fairly common item that is used to demonstrate a geiger counter is the mantle from a Coleman lantern.
–Randy
And a viable heat sink, trained crews, the railroad unions and the fact that the report COMPLETELY glosses over public health and safety.
The article that was linked by Mbinsewi cited the original study, available here:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015020157130;view=1up;seq=19
A direct quote from the above:
“The study was based on the efforts of three graduate students and three staff members. The fields of training were physics and chemistry. Gross errors in engineering judgement must therefore be attributed to the lack of engineering experience of the investigators.”
It is a good read to get a solid laugh. Edit: Your background would have to be in nuclear power to fully understand how utterly ridiculous this was.
Especially the part of about maintenance costs.
I actually had to stop reading. So much is wrong with this…
The main problems are stated within the report. They could only speak in generalities about reactors because it was all classified at the time. They couldnt even get a cost figure for the fuel. And none of them had engineering experience or training. They probably couldnt get an engineer on board with this (pun intended).
It makes a pretty neat model though.
Today I Found Out Youtube channel has a sixteen minute video on the radium girls. Pretty sad story…
All this nuke talk makes me want to break out the Lionel HO nuclear transport car, except I sold mine. HO version of the classic 3 rail car with the atomic waste container on a flat car with a red light bulb inside.
–Randy
That’s why they gave it to a second looie.
Well luckily I don’t live near the bayous, and contrary to popular belief louisiana is not a bunch of swamps… [(-D]
Did. Pegged the meter on three scales. Exceeded max dosage. Was advised not to wear it.
It’s around here, somewhere. Not closeby. But ya never know when you’ll need some radium, so I kept it. Besides, I suspect it’s not OK anymore to just throw it in the garbage. Wonder when it WAS OK. Maybe 1900?
Wonder what happens when I take it to hazardous waste. Does everyone get, uh, anxious?
Ed
How bout that Fiesta ware I believe it was that the “atomic” red was actually radioactive having been dyed with uranium or something??? And then there’s the cure all radium lined cistern, that could cure (or cause) all sorts of illnesses…
Yeah they are pretty cautious about it now, we brought some junk to the scrap yard, while we were there a guy pulled up with a junk car the guy ran out there with a Geiger counter and went over the sides with it!
You probably could get the radium removed if the watch has sentimental value or store it in a lead lined box!
If I had the radium removed, I wouldn’t have the radium (Remember the First Rule of Model Railroading!).
Don’t really need a lead lined box. The inverse cube law is quite adequate for the task. It’s in my garage, about 70 feet away.
Ed