EMCM(SS) USN(RET) ⚓️

@MikeyDiMercurio Yeah, the fuel reactivity recalculation is a bitch. 239’s delayed neutron fraction is just too small.

WHY YOU CAN'T USE PLUTONIUM FOR CIVILIAN REACTORS Anyone who wants to downblend plutonium for reactor fuel should study the MOX project. You might ask, Mikey, what is "MOX"? Well, I'll tell you what MOX is. MOX is mixed oxide nuclear fuel. It takes bomb-grade plutonium, from purchasing it from the Rooskies, puts it into a chemical plant to "downblend" it, then mixes it with uranium, and et viola! MOX. Chuck it into your reactor, makes power, and Bob's your uncle! It burned $800m a year for over decades, then was abandoned. Trouble arose - They had to build a castle to hold the process. Said castle had to have thick concrete walls, up to 9' thick. It takes concrete that thickness years to cure. You might ask, Mikey, why did they use so much concrete with such thick walls? Well, I'll tell you why they used so much concrete with such thick walls. Because you put plutonium in at one end and use acids to make it a liquid. If you make a mistake and the concentration of plutonium is too high, you get what we in the know call an "unintended criticality." A journalist would call it an explosion. An explosion that scatters radioactive stuff everywhere. So you need a castle that can act as an inverse bunker, that is, can contain a large explosion and confine it. Trouble is? The NRC rejected almost every pour. "Take it down, rip it out and start over." Now, if you know construction, you know that there is no such thing as a fixed-price job. At the ground, on the deckplates, on the tools, everything is "work more, get paid more." Also known as T&M for "time and materials." Also known as "it's going to keep going until labor's made enough money that they are satiated." How many construction workers do you know who say, "Ima quit because I've made too much money?" Certainly not the married ones, right? Am I right? So the walls went slowly up, got rejected, then came slowly down, got rebuilt, got rejected. I looked at the schedule and then laughed my ass off. Then, get this. They had to have all these anti-terrorist measures. Afraid of commandos coming in by helicopter to get the plutonium to make a nuke? Why, put 30' tall spikes on the roof of the castle. Worried about those commandos fast-roping in from above 30'? Why, put in big electrodes that will SHOCK 'EM! And hopefully KILL 'EM! Worried about insiders making off with plutonium to sell to Osama bin Laden? Install oodles of detectors. And, finally, we get to IROFS. An IROFS is an item relied on for safety. Very impotent in nuclear construction. To give you an idea. My nuclear fuel plant that only dealt with uranium enrichment had 95 IROFS. The CEO instituted a sub-project to reduce the number of IROFS to 85. What's the big deal, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you what the big deal is. Imagine a 4" thick 3-ring binder that has system schematics, all the calculations, photographs of installation, inspection reports, from birth until ready-to-start. A commission from NRC will go painstakingly over this IROFS. It will take 10-12 months to get through ONE IROFS. 95 of them? You gotta be kidding me. You might ask, how many IROFS did the MOX Project have? (drum roll) Over 13,000 Not kidding. On that basis alone, it was un-buildable. It still took a decade to shut it down. The state's politicians liked having a make-work project. In its multi-decade life, that project processed zero molecules of plutonium. Did I mention that it had no customers even if it had worked? You might ask, Mikey, why would the MOX project have no customers? Well, I'll tell you why the MOX project had no customers. You see, if you want to burn MOX fuel, all your nuclear power plant's calculations have to be redone. And you have to seek a new license. Now, knowing that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission got packed by Obama with anti-nuke people, do you really want to risk having your present license revoked and try to get a new license from NRC to burn MOX? Why, no you don't. And now you know...the REST of the story. Good day! armscontrolcenter.org/mox-debacle-wi…

Ayn Rand: “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”

@MikeyDiMercurio We just called it clearing the baffles.

@EMCM_SS_Ret We didn't call it a "crazy Ivan." We called it a "Target Counterdetection Maneuver."

I would just like to remind everyone that the United States Submarine Force won the Cold War, defeated the sweeping octopus of world communism and made the world safe for democracy, with liberty and justice for all, amen. You’re welcome.

@TOMCATCO71 If the Senior Chief is wearing his cap below the weather deck, that can’t be a good sign.

@TOMCATCO71 Voluntold

@MikeyDiMercurio @GVanZee Yikes!

Can we help this veteran to 500 followers @RTate0103 Thank You For Your Service 🇺🇸

A Retired US Navy Veteran is looking to build their foundation & connect with more friends: @wvrquen1967 If you're looking to meet a fellow vet have some stories to share about those interest Do you have a spot for them to connect?

Every time

Interesting find among the Cedar River gravels. I believe it to be Red Jasper (despite my poor lighting) but the linear indications are interesting. Not sure how they formed. Ideas? 🤔

@BuckatLarge1 Yeah. Their real job was to go after you and me.

@EMCM_SS_Ret Pretty sure it wasn't their job. That job belonged to the state (pfft) and to the funding agency

“Thought of the Day: Interesting that Biden’s 87,000 new IRS agents never found ONE Somali Fraud case. Not one.” — Eric Florack

@FightWithMemes “We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause.” — Horace Mann, the godfather of American government schooling

If you didn't walk away from history class with a healthy distrust of government, then you were likely schooled by propagandists, not teachers.

USN Combat Veteran @WhiteSharkrk Rebuilding. Please join me in supporting him 🫡🇺🇲