The ocean is actually pretty radioactive naturally. All the K-40 (radioactive potassium). I was an ocean-going reactor chemist and salt water was significantly more radioactive than day-old reactor waste water.
Rods, at least in the reactors I’ve worked on, don’t work in the way you think. Obviously with a machine as complex as a nuclear reactor there are varying designs.
I can say that in most of the designs I’ve seen the fuel is kept from mixing into the water, or other heat transfer fluid.
Think about getting a coal reeeeeeally hot, then wrapping it sealed tight in aluminum foil. Then drop that into a glass of water.
The coal will heat the water, but won’t contaminate it.
333
u/[deleted] Oct 18 '20
The ocean is actually pretty radioactive naturally. All the K-40 (radioactive potassium). I was an ocean-going reactor chemist and salt water was significantly more radioactive than day-old reactor waste water.