PSA: Weather Reports

From what I've heard, in a true emergency, they launch folks through the torpedo tubes. This is why sailors who have had hernia surgery or other abdominal surgery cannot serve on submarines.

Interesting tidbit of trivia learned from my ex-husband the sailor. This is why he was on a destroyer.

"Reactor is critical" is normal operating procedure (unless you're in the same compartment as the reactor at the time). It's those little "supercritical" moments you have to watch out for!

I was a reactor operator in the Navy. I did my prototype training at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. And no, the snow still doesn't stay on the ground where they buried the remains of the SL-1 plant.

On an interesting (to me) side note: For my first month there, my TLD* showed less radiation than the background TLDs, so the running joke was that I should be classified as a point source! (ok, to all non-nukes in the crowd I apologize for this meaningless story. My fellow nukes should at least be laughing politely)

*TLD - Thermo Luminescent Dosimeter. A crystal with a heating element wrapped around it in a little plastic tube with a metal clip for your shirt, belt, whatever. When certain types of radiation pass through the crystal, they exite electrons in the crystal and "bump them up" to higher orbits around the nucleus of their atoms. you take the crystal out and place it in an enclosed machine (so it's dark inside) and pass a current through the heating element. The "bumped up" electrons will "relax" and go back to their original orbits. When they do, they give off photons (light). A photo-multiplier tube registers how much light, and from that the machine calculates the dosage of radiation you recieved. The process has the desired side effect of resetting the crystal so your TLD can be reused. TLDs are also much more reliable than the old film badge dosimeters.

Whew! Sorry about that ramble.....

-Phil

"Quini, quidi, quici" - I came, I saw, I played a little quidditch.

sounds like great weather to go to the BAKE OFF. (yes I'm still shamelessly plugging it)

I know beverage does better when it's hotter, but I do better when it's cooler. 8-)