LunaAtlas
35396
608
25
Feb 12, 2025 1:51 AM
LunaAtlas
35396
608
25
rafiology
Would I eventually grow gills? Because I’m amenable to that!
BrigidtheMechLady
You're more likely to die from acute lead poisoning than from radiation exposure if you try to swim in the cooling tank.
VinnyVeritas
Mush-face will eliminate their jobs
johnxbear
How much it pay? I could potentially be interested
imgary
Oddly enough, the average salary is only $52 per hour www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Nuclear-Diver-Salary
SpikedDoggos
Bet it's warm though :D
sebT4
Was not there an accident about a diver who retrieved a chunk detached from the reactor somewhere?
Starbolt81
Redshadow09
I STILL find it weird how its considered "safe" to swim in a pool where nuclear rods are kept. Its like swimming in a pool of acid with a hazmat suit. Sure you are protected but there is that lingering feeling that you question if there is no holes on the suit. Or trying to work near a hornets nest.
whatsisname
The water itself is what protects you. You could go skinny dipping in the pool and be fine as long as you stay more than a few feet away from the casks deep in the pool.
roarilion
how much does this job pay?
LooseyGooseyBrett
WhiskyBravo
Well, X-Men aren't gonna make themselves..... steps have to be taken to keep mutant numbers up
Boatsntoes
No thanks I’ll stick with aquarium diving and dealing with asshole sea turtles that eat your hair.
marcusrenas6
Dear God no! There is no such thing as reactor divers! It's lethal and will hurt all the time while you are dying. Anytime a human being is let near a reactor vessel is when all fuel has been removed and the vessel cleared for work. All this submerged in water.
BaldBandit
I recall a story of a diver that had a close call. They were finishing up a dive, keeping a safe distance from the fuel, when they found a small piece of trash on the bottom of the tank. They scooped it up and put it in their basket, then went to surface. Their dosimeters began to crackle the moment they surfaced. Turns out that piece of trash was a small sample of spent fuel. They didn't know it at the time because the water blocked enough radiation to keep the sensors quiet.
Clockworkdancerobot
You're safer in the water than out. https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
marcusrenas6
No. The water sheilds you.
Clockworkdancerobot
That's what the "What If" post from Randal Monroe's XKCD says. Background radiation is blocked better in the water, and the casks, unless they leak and cleaning systems are working well, are safe as long as you maintain enough distance.
turkeydonkey
*if you can quickly get deeper than bullets fired by the armed guard.
Beelsebooob
And assuming you don't *dive* to the bottom and touch any of the radioactive stuff.
vaultdweller0322
We have some of those for the company I work for. They work only a few months a year before they dose out and don't work anymore. I mean. I'd do it if the opportunity presented itself.
Almaadin
I tell people green is my favorite color, but really, Cherenkov radiation is my favorite color.
DavidNightingale
All divers follow strict guidelines.
BolenArrow
My cousin works in a nuclear reactor. Hilariously, they made an exact replica of the control room for training. There is a railing that is squeaky and rotates and they included that detail to make the same hand rail squeaky and rotate in the replica room.
Redshadow09
Is it true that if someone were to break in and try to swim in the pool they would be gunned down before they had the chance? Is it just pistols or automatic rifles?
whatsisname
Nuke plants have armed security yes.
jridley
Hilariously? I think every single reactor facility has a replica control room for training.
BolenArrow
but they put a bar in badly on purpose to match the real one.
jridley
Ah OK the "hilariously" should be over by the squeaking bar, not near "they built a replica control room."
OmegaRainbow360
"they follow strict guidelines"
No shit! I imagined they could invite friends and have spicy water parties...
PirateRubberDuck
A number of my family members have worked in nuclear. Everyone going anywhere near sources of radiation are required to wear badges that monitor radiation exposure. They are very careful about worker safety. They were less careful about the seagulls playing in the pools where they stored waste fuel though. So huge seagulls with radioactive shit were a problem. They put a cover over the pool now.
PirateRubberDuck
My grandad was a nuclear engineer, and part of my mothers job was checking the badges. Unfortunately my grandad died before I was old enough to have a lot of questions about nuclear, which is a pity as I would have loved to talk to him about it.
hannahbutnotreally
Not great, not terrible.
lurkyloos
MisspentYouth333
hannahbutnotreally
I'm a big poser. I was too scared to watch Chernobyl, I just know that one scene. Don't tell anyone.
MisspentYouth333
Your secret is safe with me 😊
LespritDeLescalier22
wababooba
Only the divers have to follow strict guidelines. For all the other people working at a power plant, it’s mostly intuition and sometimes just luck
intashu
This is true. Used to work at a plant, got to take home some really cool glowing dust once. Showed it off to my family and friends, a bunch of them got to take some home with them.
SnoopyDancing
wababooba
Homer avoids a nuclear meltdown
https://youtu.be/v5MOatu5-DE?si=h_R6C1SMX4kS2aDZ
derekjohn
Haven't they been sacked yet ? C'mon Muskie, step up the pace.
RottenFairyMeat
Fun fact: In some countries, directly employed nuclear workers have legal protection for their jobs if they exceed dose limits. If the work is instead subcontracted (like maintenance or cleaning), they can simply be fired. Workers in these cases will intentionally misuse their dose monitors to avoid losing their jobs. More broadly, employers are incentivized to use contractors and subcontractors to evade health and safety obligations - especially companies like Uber.
GenesisMachines
This was a horror stories put around about Fukushima power plant that was entirely based on:
1) Al Jazira interviewing homeless people about asking if theoretically they would do this work at a nuclear power station.
2) the town of Fukushima (not near the power plant) hiring anyone to clean up after the tsunami.
The story got reposted by all major new sources with no evidence.
SergeyPrkl
sounds more like:
"Fun fact: In USA, directly employed nuclear workers..."
RottenFairyMeat
Interestingly, the report I was reading was from France, regarding the EDF. The source was from 2011, it may have changed since then...
SergeyPrkl
probably is true still today. Areva, the french nuclear company, built the finnish newest plant, and they had lots of safety issues.
SirNameless
When I get old, can I volunteer for this job? Sounds neat, and I'll be close to dieing age anyways.
NoImDirtyDan
If I understand correctly, water is so dense it’s slows radiation particles down enough to not be dangerous from more than a few feet
BishlamekGurpgork
Water is incredibly good radiation shielding. In the game I'm helping write for, the spacecraft design always begins with certain assumptions, including wanting the reaction mass tanks (which are water, for nuclear thermal rockets) to cast a radiation shadow over the cockpit from both the reactor and drive plume.
jridley
Many interplanetary spaceship designs put their water (generally drinking water) into a tank with a tunnel down the center large enough for crew to hunker down in to shelter from the radiation during solar storms.
BishlamekGurpgork
Our game is set at Saturn - aside from being further away, the local space actually has a very thin water vapor atmosphere, so solar radiation is not a big factor. These are largely short-haul ships, to the rings and back (though some were made for different purposes - some of our miners began life as interplanetary haulers, cargo shuttles, or construction ships, etc), so the designs are usually focused on the radiation sources you bring with you.
SirNameless
And then die from dehydration because the water and holding tanks are now radioactive?
I'm confused how that's helpful in the long term.
jridley
The water does not become radioactive.
NOYLL
Cerenkov radiation
Hashbrown123
My favorite color.
dobroweigh
Bet there are more dead skydivers in the sky than dead nuclear divers in reactors.
houghten
I don't know that the number of cultures who practice sky burial is large enough to support that hypothesis.
xurs
Well, statistically you're relatively likely to have a heart attack or something while skydiving, there are quite a few skydivers out there. + all the airforce pilots during war who parachute out but die before landing.
I don't remember hearing about a single dead nuclear diver.
P.S. That's not what sky burial traditionally means.
houghten
None of them are in the sky, though? They *were* in the sky but, and I don't know if you've come across this concept but stick with me here, there's this thing called gravity that brings them back down whether they're alive or dead.
xurs
Yeah, and corpses often float too. But if you want to look at it this way, I'm pretty sure that number of dead skydivers in the sky is either greater or equal to the number of dead nuclear divers for pretty much all of history.
Does Chernobyl count? I have a vague memory that someone went on a suicide mission into a flooded section to flip a switch or something. Not exactly nuclear diving in this sense though, and could've been a movie too.
PirateRubberDuck
I remember hearing about that. It was two guys if I remember right, and both lived for decades after the "suicide mission".
TimbiquiDarkThirty
Reactor... Online!
Sensors... Online!
Weapons... Online!
All systems nominal!
Trisar
Planet: Sudeten. Ambient temperature: 35.76 degrees. Local time is... 02:22:53 GST. All systems nominal.
netutoring
MEGATHRUSTERS ARE GO! ....are we not doing Voltron?
BrigidtheMechLady
Thanks, Betty. Now, target that Locust and prepare the LBX Auto cannon.
Eikre
me starting my car, glancing at the backup camera, flicking on my headlights
JustSomePersonThere
**overtemp klaxons go off immediately because I stripped all the heat sinks to make more room for ER Large Lasers**
F to flush coolant
Again
Again (coolant empty)
Reactor goes critical
mypepperonihasafirstname
Reminds me of the loading screen in Hydro Thunder.
VikingHobbit
I can hear this
macrolet
Me too, but for the life of me I can't remember the source.
5Mac0
Mechwarrior
macrolet
Hell yes, that's it. So many good memories. I should try a modern version with my new HOSAS setup.
5Mac0
Online was decent. Kinda grindy or pay to win but still fun. Haven't tried the newer one.