5 ms·

I’ve never been in the Navy or on a submarine, but my impression is that SUBSAFE is about never ever having a reactor accident, at least partially for PR reason

I’ve never been in the Navy or on a submarine, but my impression is that SUBSAFE is about never ever having a reactor accident, at least partially for PR reasons. It wouldn’t surprise me if there simply are not procedures to deliberately put the reactor in a dangerous state. The Navy may have done the math and determined the loss of a boat to the enemy is a less bad thing than the loss of a boat to a “nuclear accident”. I desperately hope for and welcome anyone with experience in the space to correct me.

pmontra 1mo ago
Wouldn't a nuclear powered ship sunk by enemy fire be a nuclear accident on its own? There would be a nuclear reactor on the seafloor, possibly a turned on one, surrounded by failed systems. I don't think it ever happened at war, but while I was looking for [1] I found a number of other incidents. I list them below [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0029549321003927 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00295... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19 [4] https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/soviet-nuclear-submarine-sinks-atlantic https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/soviet-nucle... [5] https://gizmodo.com/sunken-soviet-submarine-is-quietly-leaking-radiation-decades-later-study-finds-2000737006 https://gizmodo.com/sunken-soviet-submarine-is-quietly-leaki... [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kildin_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kildin_... [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kola_Peninsula_(1993) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kola_Pe...
- noduerme 1mo ago
  If you find the story of the Kursk interesting, you should read "Darkness at Dawn" (Satter, 2003)
- rurban 1mo ago
  The nuclear incident in a sub would be less problematic than stealing the nuclear missiles out of the sub. Like a Titan out of the Kursk sub.

pmontra 1mo ago

Wouldn't a nuclear powered ship sunk by enemy fire be a nuclear accident on its own? There would be a nuclear reactor on the seafloor, possibly a turned on one, surrounded by failed systems. I don't think it ever happened at war, but while I was looking for [1] I found a number of other incidents. I list them below [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0029549321003927 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00295... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19 [4] https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/soviet-nuclear-submarine-sinks-atlantic https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/soviet-nucle... [5] https://gizmodo.com/sunken-soviet-submarine-is-quietly-leaking-radiation-decades-later-study-finds-2000737006 https://gizmodo.com/sunken-soviet-submarine-is-quietly-leaki... [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kildin_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kildin_... [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kola_Peninsula_(1993) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_incident_off_Kola_Pe...

noduerme 1mo ago
If you find the story of the Kursk interesting, you should read "Darkness at Dawn" (Satter, 2003)
rurban 1mo ago
The nuclear incident in a sub would be less problematic than stealing the nuclear missiles out of the sub. Like a Titan out of the Kursk sub.