At least 5 sailors sickened after jet fuel leaks into USS Nimitz' drinking water, Navy says

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#2
Ah, the good old days. If the drinking water on one of our carriers didn't smell or taste funny, something was wrong. Shit, the Indy and the Forrestal drinking water was terrible. We never drank it unless it was covered up in Kool Aide.........


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...eaks-uss-nimitz-drinking-water-navy-rcna50179
My father-in-law was a sailor. He was in the engine room and talked about how much better the water for the boilers was than the drinking water. They would get some before final chemical treatment for drinking. IIRC it was distilled and then treated to prevent corrosion in the exchangers.
 

mlucitt

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#3
My father-in-law was a sailor. He was in the engine room and talked about how much better the water for the boilers was than the drinking water. They would get some before final chemical treatment for drinking. IIRC it was distilled and then treated to prevent corrosion in the exchangers.
That is a true story. Here is another one:
Aboard the USS CALIFORNIA (CGN-36), yup, a nuc cruiser stationed in Alameda, CA. To make purified water for the reactor, they ran the pier fresh water through a ion exchange bed (like a giant Culligan water softener). The onboard feed tanks were full so the nuc-qualified reactor operator went out to the pier and shut off the discharge from the ion exchange tank trailer. But he did not shut the pier fresh water supply valve on the trailer which was located right next to the ship's fresh water supply valve. The suction from the fresh water hose to the ship sucked out all the glass beads from the ion exchange beds. About a week out and halfway to Pearl Harbor all the coffee machines clogged up and we started to notice tiny glass beads in our drinking water glasses (about a half inch of beads in a full glass). No telling how much was consumed by the crew. The medical staff sent messages to Washington, DC to get answers and the reply was, "We don't know, this has never happened, but stop drinking the water and flush the tanks." We drank all the soda onboard and the canned juices but we still ran out of water because we could not distill enough for both of the reactors and the crew. Guess which one takes priority? We arrived at Pearl Harbor a day later and finally got a drink, mostly beer if I recall. The final word from the 'experts' was, "We think the crew will suffer no long term effects and the glass beads should pass safely out of their bodies."
 

Bob Boyer

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#5
That is a true story. Here is another one:
...The final word from the 'experts' was, "We think the crew will suffer no long term effects and the glass beads should pass safely out of their bodies."
Yeaaaah, right. I happen to think nuclear power is a damn fine way to power big things like warships and make electricity in bulk, but radiation is radiation and not to be trifled with. I'd be curious to see if the VA will run (or ran) any studies on those guys and if so, what the long term results are.
 

J!m

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#6
Probably the same glass beads used to make the street lines reflective…

Strange there was not filter to keep the beads where they should be.
 

J!m

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#7
I don’t think the backflowed water would be reactive. It just got sucked from the purifier. The actual heat exchanger water has to be added as needed and is under pressure.
 

Bob Boyer

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#8
I don’t think the backflowed water would be reactive. It just got sucked from the purifier. The actual heat exchanger water has to be added as needed and is under pressure.
True that. I guess they do use pressurized water reactors...
 

George S.

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#9
While we're on the subject. Just ordered a good quantity of IOSAT potassium iodide tablets. Read the biggest issue the surrounding population of Chernobyl faced was Thyroid cancers.
Been meaning to put up a good supply in the gun safe. Finally put in my order after contemplating the International and Domestic issues we face.
 

WOPL Sniffer

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#10
Self medicating for radiation poisoning?? Brilliant.

All the other issues facing us from a nuclear accident/attack will be more than a little thyroid cancer. You'd be better off moving to Iceland or the Antarctic. Although those places will have there own issues to deal with. Save a bullet, that would be your best action.
 

WOPL Sniffer

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#11
Here are a few things to consider before you start taking poison to save you from poison:

makeshift fallout shelters, which are likely to be poorly ventilated and ill equipped to treat or dispose of wastes, would create the conditions for the rapid spread of disease. Providing that the survivors endure this period, they would face similar difficulties outside. The lack of sanitary systems, the absence of power for refrigeration, the presence of millions of unburied dead, and a disturbed ecological balance fostering the rapid growth in insect populations would combine to produce an environment fertile for the contraction and transmission of disease. The complex interactive effects of stress, malnutrition, and an immune system damaged by radiation would tend to weaken the physiological defenses to a point where people may succumb to diseases presently considered to be only moderately virulent.4

It might not be unreasonable to anticipate postwar pandemics similar to those just described. Survivors weakened by malnutrition could not expect to be vaccinated nor would antibiotics be available in sufficient quantities to prevent complications.

The focus of health care therefore shifts from the immediate problems of administering postattack aid to the longer-term issues surrounding reconstruction. The number of casualties produced by hunger and exposure would not be significantly altered by the availability of trained medical personnel and pharmaceuticals. Access to food and energy would prove to be the key to survival. The prospects for avoiding catastrophe are tied inextricably to the prospects for reconstruction.

Food, fuel, water and the wandering bands of shitbags wanting what you have (or what they THINK you have), will keep you so busy trying to kill them before they kill you, you won't be able to eat, sleep, wash your ass............... Some people have been watching too many survival shows and seeing the 5 gallon buckets of rice and beans.
 

WOPL Sniffer

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#12
If you think a winter up here in the Midwest is bad, wait till you get a mouth full of Nuclear Winter. Every survivalist ass-clown will be counting every bean and every piece of rice hoping it will last for 4-5 years. Remember, we'll be lucky if it's an accident. If it's war Fuggetaboutit..............
 

WOPL Sniffer

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#13
While we're on the subject. Just ordered a good quantity of IOSAT potassium iodide tablets. Read the biggest issue the surrounding population of Chernobyl faced was Thyroid cancers.
Been meaning to put up a good supply in the gun safe. Finally put in my order after contemplating the International and Domestic issues we face.

You better keep buying drugs

KI protects only against radioactive iodine and does not protect against other types of radiation. KI protects only the thyroid. KI does not protect other parts of the body.


Do I need to take potassium iodide (KI) if there is a nuclear blast?
Local emergency management officials will tell people when to take KI. If a nuclear incident occurs, officials will have to find out which radioactive substances are present before recommending that people take KI. If radioactive iodine is not present, then taking KI will not protect people. If radioactive iodine is present, then taking KI will help protect a person’s thyroid gland from the radioactive iodine. Taking KI will not protect people from other radioactive substances that may be present along with the radioactive iodine.

There are about a dozen Isotopes to worry about besides Iodine

Do yourself a favor, throw out the Iodine or get the stuff you use for wounds. It might keep you from killing yourself or loved ones.
 
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WOPL Sniffer

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#19

Not a cure-all, Not even close. This is from your article:

Potassium iodide is often billed on the Internet as a panacea for a nuclear emergency. It is nothing of the sort, offering no protection for most types of radiation exposure. But there is strong scientific evidence that it can protect the thyroid gland, the most radiation-sensitive part of the body, from absorbing trace amounts of radioactive iodine, particularly in young children.
 

George S.

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#20
I agree. If hell comes to earth nothing's going to save us. But if a limited exchange happens, a dirty bomb, or one of the nuke plants upwind of my home has a accident, and people locally are doing everything they can to not incorporate radioactive Iodine-131 into their bodies, then I want to have the FDA approved solution on hand. Government fails us too often. Those particular tablets have a fracture line on them to break them into a child size dose. At 64 years of age I'd definitely be taking one a day and sheltering in place if that's what called for. And, if government is promoting their use for all ages then I'd be helping my neighbors.
I pray to God that no one the world over ever has a need for them. But I'll keep a stash handy just in case. Three Mile Island came close, Chernobyl proved the need.
 
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