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A comment on US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor design. Parent comment

Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de... by pfdietz on Sunday July 31, 2022 @08:51AM (#32295183)
Yeah, that "shortly after"... the reactor top wasn't lifted off until FIVE YEARS after the accident.

So I ask again: just what horrible public-relevant accident is supposed to have nearly happened here? I can't imagine anything that would have caused anything catastrophic. The lid falling back onto the reactor vessel wouldn't be that.

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Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de... by keneda7 on Monday August 01, 2022 @02:14PM (#32310023)
Sorry for the late response. The fear was that the crane would fail and drop the debris back into the core and set off a nuclear explosion.
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Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de... by pfdietz on Monday August 01, 2022 @06:27PM (#32312899)
They added large amounts of borate to the water before opening the top. There was no way it was going to go critical (and if it had, it would at best have been a steam explosion, not a nuclear bomb, as the chain reaction if it could have occurred at all would have been with slow thermal neutrons.)
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