The Polar Star, the only U.S. ship capable of bludgeoning through heavy ice

Re:The Polar Star, the only U.S. ship capable of bludgeoning... by ethbro on Saturday August 03, 2019 @01:17PM (#20601487)

The mobile nuclear-anything appetite drastically decreased when it turned out enriched uranium proliferation was a huge concern.

It's one thing to sail a carrier group around the world.

It's very different to have a reactor sitting on a cargo ship, hundreds of miles from anyone, alone in the middle of the ocean.

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Re:The Polar Star, the only U.S. ship capable of bludgeoning... by tomatotomato37 on Saturday August 03, 2019 @03:23PM (#20602113)

I'd imagine maintenance was also an issue. One thing people always neglect to mention with nuclear energy is how eagerly it rips its own equipment apart on the molecular level. For being the power source of the future they are surprisingly close to 19th steam boilers in that regard.

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Re:The Polar Star, the only U.S. ship capable of bludgeoning... by The_rationalist on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @02:26PM (#20627974)

While I understand the common sense intuition of a radiation leak being dangerous, is there scientific evidence that it would kill / a lot of live beings? I guess the letal radiations would have a very narrow range around the sinked ship. I remember seeing a guy eating dust just around chernobyl central, and proving that it was under the letal dose. Can someone quantify the risk?

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