Hacker News Reader

Comment by s1artibartfast | Hacker News Reader

I think it is actually pretty interesting. I wonder if there could be enough passive cooling to simply dump the reactor core in the case of overheating, providing a failsafe against potential meltdown.

View on HN

It is not a technical problem. It is a social one. From a safety standpoint having more or less municipally run nuclear reactors is terrifying.

Why? Just make sure that they are fail safe and too big to steal. You could melt a couple down each year intentionally just to prove how safe they are to the public and test them

> Just make sure that they are fail safe

You are essentially saying that "just make them safe and they will be safe".

> You could melt a couple down each year intentionally

Lets keep this on the draft stage please ...

>You are essentially saying that "just make them safe and they will be safe".

Yep, thats the proposal. Do you still find it objectionable if they are safe?

You know the meme about drawing the owl?

The burden is on you to describe exactly how they will be made safe.

That is an entirely different question than IF someone would want floating reactors provided they are safe.

Read through the comment chain

>> What if we could make them safe?

>It is not a technical problem. It is a social one.

Yes, and I'm saying the commenter is simply ignoring the problems. They aren't just social. A nuclear reactor is something that must be controlled and secured, period. That's not because of social pressure, that's because of the reality of the technology. It's insanity to think otherwise.

The point I was trying to make, is that the social problem is problem enough, even if they magically could be made safe.

Ah, fair enough.

Well then clicking this link must horrify you

youtube.com/watch?v=pLBcp3nJlFQ

Clickable link - https://youtube.com/watch?v=pLBcp3nJlFQ

Reply on news.ycombinator.com