Originally posted by: feralkid
Originally posted by: marvdmartian
Oh, and anyone that thinks that nuke power isn't safe should look at the Navy's safety record. 50+ years building and running nukes, and not ONE serious incident......and this running nuke plants that are using a lot higher quality fuel that can allow you to get into trouble a bit faster than the lower grade fuel the civilian plants use. Plus the fact that they do crazy stuff with their plants, like put 'em on boats that are designed to sink..... :laugh:
Surely you jest.
Maybe you should try reading it, he was referring to reactor plant accidents.
1954
An experimental sodium-cooled reactor utilized aboard the USS Seawolf, the U.S.'s second nuclear submarine, was scuttled in 9,000 feet of water off the Delawre/Maryland coast. The reactor was plagued by persistent leaks in its steam system (caused by the corrosive nature of the sodium) and was later replaced with a more conventional model. The reactor is estimated to have contained 33,000 curies of radioactivity and is likely the largest single radioactive object ever dumped deliberately into the ocean. Subsequent attempts to locate the reactor proved to be futile.
Yes, this one is legetimate, but as you can read, it says experimental.
October 1959
One man was killed and another three were seriously burned in the explosion and fire of a prototype reactor for the USS Triton at the Navy's training center in West Milton, New York. The Navy stated, "The explosion...was completely unrelated to the reactor or any of its principal auxiliary systems," but sources familiar with the operation claim that the high-pressure air flask which exploded was utilized to operate a critical back-up system in the event of a reactor emergency.
This was a material failure in a high pressure air flask, and would not have in any possible way have resulted in a release of radioactivity.
1961
The USS Theodore Roosvelt was contaminated when radioactive waste from its demineralization system, blew back onton the ship after an attempt to dispose of the material at sea. This happened on other occasions as well with other ships (for example, the USS Guardfish in 1975).
Yes, this was an accidental release of contaminated material, but was not a reactor incident.
10 April 1963
The nuclear submarine Thresher imploded during a test dive east of Boston, killing all 129 men aboard.
This was due to the emergency ballast air line being too small, which froze during a test of the system. Again not in any way related to a reactor incident.
5 December 1965
This write-up is drawn from the US Nuclear Weapons Accidents page at
www.cdi.org/Issues/NukeAccidents/accidents.htm.
An A-4E Skyhawk strike aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon rolled off an elevator on the U.S. aircraft carrier Ticonderoga and fell into the sea. Because the bomb was lost at a depth of approximately 16,000 feet, Pentagon officials feared that intense water pressure could have caused the B-43 hydrogen bomb to explode. It is still unknown whether an explosion did occur. The pilot, aircraft, and weapon were lost.
The Pentagon claimed that the bomb was lost "500 miles away from land." However, it was later revealed that the aircraft and nuclear weapon sank only miles from the Japanese island chain of Ryukyu. Several factors contributed to the Pentagon's secretiveness. The USS Ticonderoga was returning from a mission off North Vietnam; confirming that the carrier had nuclear weapons aboard would document their introduction into the Vietnam War. Furthermore, Japan's anti-nuclear law prohibited the introduction of atomic weapons into its territory, and U.S. military bases in Japan are not exempt from this law. Thus, confirming that the USS Ticonderoga carried nuclear weapons would signify U.S. violation of its military agreements with Japan. The carrier was headed to Yokosuka, Japan, and disclosure of the accident in the mid-1980s caused a strain in U.S.-Japanese relations.
Its quite obvious this is not in any way related to navy reactor plants.
1968
Radioactive coolant water may have been released by the USS Swordfish, which was moored at the time in Sasebo Harbor in Japan. According to one source, the incident was alleged by activists but a nearby Japanese government vessel failed to detect any such radiation leak. The purported incident was protested bitterly by the Japanese, with Premier Eisaku Sate warning that U.S. nuclear ships would no longer be allowed to call at Japanese ports unless their safety could be guaranteed.
You have to take this with a grain of salt, this was reported by activists, there was absolutely no evidence to support these claims. And no the Navy keeps extremely detailed records of all water added and drained from reactor primary systems. If there was a discharge, they would have been records and the Navy would not lie about it.
21 May 1968
The U.S.S. Scorpion, a nuclear-powered attack submarine carrying two Mark 45 ASTOR torpedoes with nuclear warheads, sank mysteriously on this day. It was eventually photographed lying on the bottom of the ocean, where all ninety-nine of its crew were lost. Details of the accident remained classified until November 1993, when the Navy admitted that it had suspected all along that the Scorpion had accidentally been torpedoed by an American vessel. The nuclear material was never recovered.
Again, not in any way related to navy reactors.
14 January 1969
A series of explosions aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise left 17 dead and 85 injured.
Again, not in any way related.
16 May 1969
The U.S.S. Guitarro, a $50 million nuclear submarine undergoing final fitting in San Francisco Bay, sank to the bottom as water poured into a forward compartment. A House Armed Services subcommittee later found the Navy guilty of "inexcusable carelessness" in connection with the event.
Again, an open hatch is not related to the reliability of naval reactors.
12 December 1971
Five hundred gallons of radioactive coolant water spilled into the Thames River near New London, Connecticut as it was being transferred from the submarine Dace to the sub tender Fulton.
Yes, this is an accidental discharge of possibly contaminated material. But it is not a reactor accident.
October-November 1975
The USS Proteus, a disabled submarine tender, discharged significant amounts of radioactive coolant water into Guam's Apra Harbor. A geiger counter check of the harbor water near two public beaches measured 100 millirems/hour, fifty times the allowable dose.
This is a submarine tender, not a nuclear powered vessel. Think of it as a supply ship and garbage scow. Oh, and millirems/hour is not a dose, but a dose rate.
22 May 1978
Up to 500 gallons of radioactive water was released when a valve was mistakenly opened aboard the USS Puffer near Puget Sound in Washington.
Yes, another discharge of potentially radioactive material, but this is not a reactor accident.