3.2M views · Apr 2, 2024 · 3:58 · 2 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2024–2025
Randall Munroe of xkcd answers what would happen if you swam in a spent nuclear fuel pool, and how much radiation you would receive at the surface versus at depth.
Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended whenever a thread asks how dangerous it is to fall into a reactor or fuel pool.
“XKCD has a good video about this.”HN comment, 2025
“It’s still a good video.”
Answers how dangerous falling in a reactor pool is
Doesn’t it depend on how far they sink? I’m pretty sure xkcd did a comic on this. Oh, it’s a video, here it is: this video Edit: ok, I’m probably the fiftieth person to point this out. It’s still a good video.
“XKCD has a good video about this.”
Top of pool water is remarkably safe
XKCD has a good video about this. The top of the water is remarkably safe, and a life vest would keep you up there! this video
Nuclear storage pool safety
> Revell River is a watershed for local communities, and South Bruce is a farming community. Thus, expect to be sued by dozens of folks... Not “if” but “when” the site inevitably leaks like the identical facilities in the US and Germany. Given that the storage will be several hundred metres below the surface and the water table of (e.g.) the Bruce area is at ~35m: * link Not sure what such an incident would really do. Especially since the Bruce nuclear plant is already storaging spent fuel on-site for about forty years, so it's not much different if that location is picked. > If it was such a great safe idea, why not install it in downtown New York or Washington? Good jobs program right... ;) Sure. Things are currently held on-site at nuclear plants, and they can continue to do so indefinitely IMHO. I'm in Toronto, ~50km from the Pickering plant, and I'd be fine with that. I good friend of mine has lived in Pickering all his life and doesn't give it a second thought. Heck, if OPG wants to build a spent fuel pool in my backyard I'd be happy to accept it: free year-round "ground-source" heating/cooling for me. * link * this video
“xkcd published a What If? video about the consequences of swimming in a nuclear fuel pool”
Consequences of swimming in a nuclear fuel pool
> He took a dip in a pool with a functioning nuclear pile xkcd published a What If? video about the consequences of swimming in a nuclear fuel pool: this video
