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  • It's 30-years old and was about to be shut down so that's a bit of a mixed blessing. Old reactors will obviously be using older technology, but the ones the US Navy uses were designed in the 60s so it doesn't preclude it being a stable design. If they were in the process of decommissioning it then it might well not have been operating at full capacity, a good thing in case of catastrophe.

    Filling it with seawater means that it does have a negative alpha-T design as that will prevent fission so that's good. It will also ruin the power plant so it won't be used again, but it was about to be decommissioned.

    I'm not a nuclear physicist, just a guy who went in the navy to pay for college and got put in the nuclear power program so take all this for what it's worth. I believe the biggest problem will be in the disposal of the core after this as this is not a planned decommission now. There will be consequences, but this won't be a Chernobyl or Silkwood type event.

    IMHO, etc.

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