Given that the oversight and operation of nuclear reactors is a fairly simple and straightforward process with few consequences for mistakes and benign failure modes, I’m sure that operator error incidents due to sleep deprivation would have few consequences and are generally not worth preventing.
You don’t want to know about the number of times a fast recovery has been done asleep or a full plant startup is done by an RO who is actively blackout drunk.
Jokes aside- while I realize there’s lots of safety systems in place, this seems like a dangerous culture that’s long due for some change. In aviation, an awful lot of our regulations are written in blood, and we’ve gotten rid of a lot of the ‘we’ve always done it that way’ and ‘Captain always knows best no matter what’ / ‘Always listen to authority’ stuff because it literally kills people.
I’m curious, if you’re willing to share, why we’ve not seen a major accident due to this sort of culture?
Also in exchange for this fun information you’ve provided, I have some more fun knowledge…
Pools. Everybody knows the chlorine kills germs.
Thing is, chlorine has relatively little odor. When chlorine binds with organic materials it produces chloramine, which has a very distinctive chlorine-y smell. This happens very quickly with urine. In a properly maintained pool, ‘shock’ treatment is regularly done to burn off the chloramine.
So when you visit a pool and you smell the chlorine, all that means is the pool is badly maintained and/or someone recently peed in it.
Given that the oversight and operation of nuclear reactors is a fairly simple and straightforward process with few consequences for mistakes and benign failure modes, I’m sure that operator error incidents due to sleep deprivation would have few consequences and are generally not worth preventing.
You don’t want to know about the number of times a fast recovery has been done asleep or a full plant startup is done by an RO who is actively blackout drunk.
We all have, at least, one of those stories.
That’s fun. I’m really glad to know that. Thank you. :\
Jokes aside- while I realize there’s lots of safety systems in place, this seems like a dangerous culture that’s long due for some change. In aviation, an awful lot of our regulations are written in blood, and we’ve gotten rid of a lot of the ‘we’ve always done it that way’ and ‘Captain always knows best no matter what’ / ‘Always listen to authority’ stuff because it literally kills people.
I’m curious, if you’re willing to share, why we’ve not seen a major accident due to this sort of culture?
Also in exchange for this fun information you’ve provided, I have some more fun knowledge…
Pools. Everybody knows the chlorine kills germs.
Thing is, chlorine has relatively little odor. When chlorine binds with organic materials it produces chloramine, which has a very distinctive chlorine-y smell. This happens very quickly with urine. In a properly maintained pool, ‘shock’ treatment is regularly done to burn off the chloramine.
So when you visit a pool and you smell the chlorine, all that means is the pool is badly maintained and/or someone recently peed in it.
Have a nice day :D