
Russia’s ‘slow-motion Chernobyl’ at sea - LandR
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200901-the-radioactive-risk-of-sunken-nuclear-soviet-submarines
======
Shivetya
While a bit sensationalist it obviously poses a real problem and fortunately
its being acknowledged and acted upon.

however google can bring up the stuff of nightmares of what we have dumped
into the oceans, worse this of course only what we know of. many countries
have dumped stuff without any record keeping.

Chemical Weapons and other munitions [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-
nature/decaying-weapo...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-
nature/decaying-weapons-world-war-II-threaten-waters-worldwide-180961046/)

[https://www.nonproliferation.org/chemical-weapon-
munitions-d...](https://www.nonproliferation.org/chemical-weapon-munitions-
dumped-at-sea/)

Gulf of Mexico [https://www.jacksonville.com/zz/news/20190719/what-lies-
bene...](https://www.jacksonville.com/zz/news/20190719/what-lies-beneath-gulf-
likely-holds-tons-of-discarded-military-munitions)

Low level radioactive wastes
[http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/jones-a2/](http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/jones-a2/)

~~~
hpph
there is a documentary on youtube about oil leaking out of sunk WWII ships.
Some of those ships are really close to shores and tourist destinations. Fun
time.

~~~
mchem
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OP0U62oiBlM](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OP0U62oiBlM)
\- The DW documentary on the matter.

A fascinating watch. It is a shame that the economics do not play out in such
a way that recovery and resale is feasible. Sadly, I do not expect most
governments to be as proactive as Norway’s on the matter.

The documentary suggests that even covering a wreck with sand as a
preventative measure costs 10s of millions of €s. Surely an opportunity for a
lower cost solution exists here?

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LandR
The headline from the BBC is a bit sensationalist I think, but that's what
they have.

Interesting article about retrieving the submarines though.

~~~
aaron695
I was going to say Chernobyl created a huge wilderness park, these just sit
there doing nothing.

But if they do pull then up and have an accident the article claims fishing
might have to stop for a while, so perhaps they are as good? I'm dubious on
the claims though.

Either way, the tech and recovery is the interesting bit.

~~~
sandworm101
Fishing might stop in the area due to adverse publicity, but not because of
the radiation. Chernobyl fallout fell and was concentrated on the surface of
the earth, a two-dimensional plane. Oceans are three-dimensional. Even a
chernobyl-magnitude radiation event will be quickly diluted into the hundreds
of cubic-kilometers of water that passes over every point in the ocean daily.
It is hard to wrap one's head around exactly how big, how literally massive,
oceans are.

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opwieurposiu
American subs use Highly enriched 90%+ uranium metal fuel rods, as opposed to
power plants which use low enriched uranium oxide. They use this kind of fuel
so they can fit enough in the reactor for twenty plus years of power. Does
anyone know what kind of fuel russian subs use?

------
itronitron
Further reading >> [https://www.worldcat.org/title/greenpeace-book-of-the-
nuclea...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/greenpeace-book-of-the-nuclear-age-
the-hidden-history-the-human-cost/)

------
maga20yes
Russia is required to behave under first world standards when it comes to
their commitments, but it's relegated to third world when it comes to
participating in global leadership/trade.

~~~
microcolonel
> _...relegated to third world when it comes to participating in global
> leadership /trade._

Because when given more civilized tools, they nonetheless alienate the world.
They could have annexed Crimea peacefully, at least the part that they
actually needed, but chose instead to engage in a semi-hot war while sending
mixed signals with the referendum.

Then President Obama completely shut the door on them, which did not have the
effect of changing their behaviour; this in Russia after all. What the Obama
Administration did in response to the annexation of Crimea was close off most
avenues of reconciliation; and the subsequent propaganda about President Trump
has kept those avenues closed.

~~~
maga20yes
I just say that China or India (to put two bulky examples) have terrible civil
rights AND environmental protection history and yet they aren't featured under
a negative light on a daily basis in media.

~~~
mantas
Huh? China is seen kinda negative in press... India is usually shown as
shithole country too.

~~~
microcolonel
Or at least a country with extreme material inequity; there are people in
India who are recognizably wealthy by global standards, and there are also
people who can't afford to poop on a toilet.

