471–480 of 545 posts
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dunno if the life vest bit comment of yours was sarcastic, but it is a funny remark for sure :-) it sounds like "guy felt down in a volcano, but fortunately, he had a life vest"
Wow, people are really clueless about how nuclear power plants really work. It's really not that dangerous to fall into the water.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
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My understanding is that reactor and waste pools are some of the least radioactive environments as they are constantly monitored for leakage.
TFA says: “The individual was decontaminated by radiation protection personnel but had 300 counts per minute detected in their hair. At 1632 EDT they were sent off site to seek medical attention.” Apparently they do have concerns.
More like "send 'em to the ER, my ass is covered".
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>but importantly, they vary by device. Of course it varies for "civilian" devices from EBay. They put that count into NRC report. It means that it has pretty specific calibrated meaning for that regulated environment. >However, even if we accept 100 as the background CPM value, 300 on 100 does not represent significant contamination in a typical environment (but does imply some occurred). report mentions 300 clearly…
CPM has no calibrated amount by itself.
Anyway feel free to explain why supposedly not calibrated value was put into an official NRC report instead of some calibrated value.
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Unfortunately, it also provided no useful information quantifying the statements. Maybe there is a problem elsewhere, maybe the pool is contaminated, maybe the sensor used is very sensitive and 300 cpm is not as concerning as it would seem. It sure would be nice to have actual data, wouldn’t it?
The reactor cavity water is usually moderately radioactive from activation and small leaks. Not life-threatening but certainly a long term health risk, especially when ingested. That is why the person was advised to seek medical attention. Regulatory bodies have adopted the LNT (linear no threshold) model and for good reasons. Every exposure increases your likelihood to get cancer eventually. Many things do, such is…
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CPM has no calibrated amount by itself.
CPM is pretty well defined measure of flux. Anyway feel free to explain why supposedly not calibrated value was put into an official NRC report instead of some calibrated value.
It is counts per minute in an undefined, arbitrary sensor. Which could have a alpha radiation transparent sensor (and hence show alpha particles), or be from a low sensitivity geiger counter which can only detect high energy gamma radiation (for say fallout/emergency use). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger_counter
It could have a small sensor, and hence require high flux for a given CPM, or a physically large one - and catch more disintegrations per minute/CPM for the exact same actual amount of radiation.
As to why it is in a government document is why we’re all wondering what is going on. It certainly isn’t the only WTF thing the government is doing right now, is it?
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Would you mind sharing a link to "the xkcd thing" if you have it? edit: sorry for being lazy, I scrolled a bit more and found it.
https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
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Wouldn’t the same principles apply?
No, reactor cavity has a different shape and is directly part of the reactor system.
> “While performing work inside the containment building, a Palisades contractor fell into a pool near the reactor that contained clean, borated water,” O’Brien said.
From https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/10/michigan-nuclear-plant-wo...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
CPM is pretty well defined measure of flux. Anyway feel free to explain why supposedly not calibrated value was put into an official NRC report instead of some calibrated value.
CPM is literally not. It is counts per minute in an undefined, arbitrary sensor. Which could have a alpha radiation transparent sensor (and hence show alpha particles), or be from a low sensitivity geiger counter which can only detect high energy gamma radiation (for say fallout/emergency use). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger_counter It could have a small sensor, and hence require high flux for a given CPM, or a…