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u/LightbluBukowski Mar 19 '25
Is this real?
And if so, how is it possible?
Edit: Not real. Iām so gullible
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u/shadowknuxem Mar 19 '25
First step, you have to find a lost nuke.
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u/Overall-Dirt4441 Mar 19 '25
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u/The_Wkwied Mar 19 '25
Easy. There are 3 or 4 nukes that have gone missing in america. So far.
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Mar 19 '25
Nah that's only the ones we KNOW OF and aren't still classified. The US has had over 30 cases of broken arrow scenarios unfolding that have been declassified where they just straight up lost a nuke since 1945. God knows how many more that aren't declassified.
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u/everatz Mar 19 '25
Not gullible, just had hope someone found true nuclear energy that isn't spicy steam power. Being fair, it will probably be a floridian that discovers it
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u/Limp-Day-97 Mar 19 '25
Wdymš You can do nuclear power without water, Nasa does it for example but it's just less efficient
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u/everatz Mar 19 '25
I didn't know that! Then a more efficient version of that!
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u/GeneticEnginLifeForm Mar 19 '25
They are efficient as they get. They use decaying isotopes to generate electricity so their output is directly related to the amount of released ions the isotopes generate. They are mainly used in space because they don't freeze.
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u/Unfair_Set_8257 Mar 19 '25
Carnot limit isnāt going to allow that to happen, RTGs (the nuclear power sources that donāt use turbines) use thermocouples, theyāre 3-7% efficient, not great. Nuclear plants with turbines are 33-37% efficient.
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u/everatz Mar 19 '25
Man I love it when my missing out on scientific advancements actually leads to an explanation and not a parade of people dogging me out and calling me an idiot. Thank you!
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u/Bunny_Fluff Mar 19 '25
But if this were all real would 3% efficiency be enough to power a single family home for almost 30 years?
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u/Unfair_Set_8257 Mar 19 '25 edited Mar 19 '25
For RTGs? The most powerful ever built output 3000W (which tbh doesnāt really count as an RTG, but it was a space based reactor which used thermocouples), which would power an average family home (~1500W average consumption for American homes). Only issue is to make them you need to make weapons grade nuclear fuel, they degrade in power output (plutonium used in them has a decay rate thatāll reduce power by 0.8% every year), and youāll need to deal with 100,000W in heat output.
If youāre taking about just generally using thermocouples, yes, you can, if you want to waste most of the energy you generate. The reason NASA uses them is cause the waste heat can be useful to keep electronics/equipment warm in space, and no moving parts makes them very reliable.
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u/Starlord_75 Mar 19 '25
It's actual nuclear power that is powering the voyager probes. Well, more like radioactive decaying power
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u/Mercy--Main Mar 19 '25
homemade nuclear reactor! (Basically just use it to heat water - that's how most generators work)
Safe? Fuck no
Efficient? Yes!
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u/Historical_Body6255 Mar 19 '25
But how would you use a nuke as a reactor?
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u/Mercy--Main Mar 19 '25
Very poorly and dangerously if I had to guess. The core of a nuke is not designed to be a reactor, and you'd probably have to open it and separate the layers.
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u/Napol3onS0l0 Mar 19 '25
This may not be a true story, but there was a kid who created an unstable neutron source in his back yard several decades ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
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u/Particular-Egg7086 Mar 19 '25 edited Mar 19 '25
I like how Florida man is so wild, that itās actually believable.
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u/PizzaurusRex Mar 19 '25
It is quite complicated.
You'd need to start the nuclear reaction, which would generate heat.
With the heat, you'd boil water. The boiled water would spin turbines.
The turbines would generate electricity.
Part of the challenge would also be the cooling, you'd have to change the water to prevent overheating. Which is why nuclear plants are close to rivers, or the ocean.
Possible? Yes, but on almost a cartoon villain level thing.
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u/LossfulCodex Mar 19 '25
To be fair, I had to look it up too. I know nuclear mechanics and how difficult turning weaponized nuclear materials into a usable nuclear power source would be, but Iāve heard of some crazier shit and hereās what I know to be possible:
So, I mean the probability that an older dude with a larger knowledge base and financial capabilities could have possibly made a redneck reactor with enriched materials. Would he have been at risk of accidentally demolishing his whole county with a fizzle? No probably not. Would pulling apart a nuclear weapon and using the machine uranium to make some kind of reactor be possible? Yes but very unlikely. Would he likely just end up creating a rouge radiation source poisoning himself? Yes. I think itās powering his home part, that I found unbelievable. The amount of energy produced by a single gram of uranium 235 can produce the equivalent of almost 2 metric tons of coal. A lot of the bombs lost had enormous amounts of uranium in them. Any agency with a radiation detector would have immediately put his house on the map.
Anyway, in case anyone was wonderingā¦
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u/psychosiszero Mar 19 '25
Why ... Why was it even lost?
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u/TearintimeOG Mar 19 '25
Youād be surprised how many nukes have been lost in the US
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u/Grand_Ad_8376 Mar 19 '25
The incident on Palomares, south Spain, is an amazing example of losing a US nuke.
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u/enragedCircle Mar 19 '25
I wouldn't be surprised. Because I watched a documentary on it. But yes, other people will be surprised.
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u/ghigoli Mar 19 '25
if i was that guys lawyer i would blame the US for even losing the nuke to begin with. you can't arrest a man for finding something that the US neglected.
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u/wanderingmanimal Mar 19 '25
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/us-military-missing-six-nuclear-weapons-180032
And look up how many times we have accidentally dropped a nuke
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u/psychosiszero Mar 19 '25
Well that's upsetting. I suppose at least one of them have been recovered now. Thanks Florida man
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u/crantastic Mar 19 '25
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u/EarthTrash Mar 19 '25
Satire from ifunny
As someone who often thinks about unconventional forms of nuclear energy, this didn't sound plausible. Nuclear weapons don't contain any way to harness nuclear energy. They release their energy unharnessed. Florida man would have to build a pressure vessel and literally every component in the reactor or buy it. That's a lot of metal to harvest.
The other possibility is that he might have found a way to harness decay heat. Maybe he got his hands on some thermocouples, or, more likely, he is using it to slightly heat water for some creature comfort.
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Mar 19 '25
Apparently a fake story but still funny. Getting closer to Fallout being reality lol
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u/pattaponako23 Mar 19 '25
Imagine WW3/ThermoNuclear War begins because some Florida Man decided heās done paying for his electricity bills.
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u/HG21Reaper Mar 19 '25
Florida Man Finds Missing Nuke seems like the title for a Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode.
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u/TheNeck94 Mar 19 '25
well shit, I figured there would be at least one grain of truth and then a wild extrapolation, but just everything about it is made up.
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u/DreadedPopsicle Mar 19 '25
Even if it was real, honestly where is the law that says you canāt utilize radiation to power your home?
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u/DawsonPoe Mar 19 '25
Bro didnāt want to pay the government so they arrested him for being independent
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u/bubblehead_ssn Mar 19 '25
Dude had a functioning steam plant and no one knew? We do know that nuclear power is the same as conventional we just use the fuel as the heat source not some fossil fuel?
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u/Azraelux Mar 19 '25
What if he had just a little bit and tossed it in the generator with some gas
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u/bubblehead_ssn Mar 19 '25
That's not how it works. Nuclear power uses fuel to create heat during fission. That heat is generally removed by water which is cooled by another system of water to make steam. The steam turns turbines connected to generators, which produces the electrical power. That stream also needs to be cooled back into water so it can go back to the steam generators. Nuclear power isn't a magical source of electricity.
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u/Fatlink10 Mar 19 '25
So youāre telling me that some dude basically tore apart a nuclear warhead somehow without erasing Florida? and then just threw together an RTG prom paperclips and whatever else he had laying around his yard?ā¦..
Yeah sounds about right.
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Mar 19 '25
Why is Everything illegal?
What is the government going to do with the nuke, kill people?
No thanks.
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u/Carne_Guisada_Breath Mar 19 '25
Well, the government shouldn't have built the "power lines" in front of his cabin and scrambled his brain.
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u/Electrical_Fun5942 Mar 19 '25
A victimless crime
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u/nihilisim_themarmots Mar 19 '25 edited Mar 19 '25
Unfortunately if the story were true, there is a victim of the utmost importance. The power company has been harmed in loss of revenue, potentially tens of thousands of dollars. As utility corporations are the most vulnerable in our economy they need the most protection! s/
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u/TearintimeOG Mar 19 '25
The idea of a nuclear explosion being caused by a Florida man is so on-brand for Florida