How was the nuclear reactor failure simulated?
Maybe someone who read the homonymous book that The Hunt for Red October is based on can answer this.
The officers of the Red October (except for the doctor) simulated a reactor failure and leak of radiation to force the crew to abandon the ship. But, considering it was a nuclear submarine, there should be a lot of dosimeters (radiation sensors) available to detect that there was no radiation leak.
So, how did they simulate the leak?
Best Answer
In short, it isn't simulated. It is a real but small leak, and in addition they exaggerate its size by tampering with the wearable dose-badges that the crew wear.
In the book, someone makes a small radiation leak by drilling a small hole through a thread of a connector in some part of the cooling system. There is only enough pressure to leak when the reactor is fully powered up to run the engines. The radiation detectors near the reactor have also been disabled so that the leak isn't revealed immediately while they are still close to the USSR. Its left unsaid, but you are meant to presume this has been done by the Chief Engineer.
In addition, another member of the conspiracy tampered with the radiation badges (by exposing them to an X-Ray machine in the doctor's surgery).
A few days into the plot the doctor (who is not part of the conspiracy) routinely collects the badges and photographically develops them - and discovers that they show that a leak has occurred. This is part of the plan to unsettle the crew, and provide an excuse for unexpected behavior from the captain. There really is a leak, but the conspirers have made it appear bigger than it really is.
Initially the conspiring officers send some middle ranking engineers to find the leak with a hand-held detector, and they cannot because the reactor is powered down and the steam from the cooling system isn't under enough pressure to leak - so the non-conspirators do not know whether there is a leak or not, perhaps the dose badges are faulty or someone has deliberately exposed the badges to radiation. So they power up the reactor and continue the journey to Cuba.
It is only later in the plot that the small leak has been running long enough to trigger a detector further forward in the submarine. At this point the Chief Engineer joins in the search for the leak and 'discovers' how the leak was made and fixes it.
By this time the crew is very unsettled by the leak even though the levels of radiation are low. So the leak has performed its purpose by the time it is fixed, promotes rumors of sabotage, and sets the scene for them using the reactor as an excuse to do whatever is needed later.
I think it was important to the conspirators to have this take a few days to work through, as this kept the crew busy and worried, but that it was eventually found and fixed. An uncontrolled leak would have given the conspirators only few possible plausible courses of action, and at this stage they do not know how events will work out. So they manage to engineer a situation where they can use the reactor as an excuse if necessary, but only if necessary.
The book is quite long and includes all this detail - a lot of this is left out of the movie obviously, but the principle of the plot is still the same - the officers engineer a deliberate leak.
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What is nuclear simulation?
Nuclear simulation uses sophisticated non-nuclear experiments and compu- ter models to predict the performance of nuclear weapons. Exact prediction of the yields of advanced nuclear weapons is currently beyond the capabilities of all the nuclear powers.What was the experiment that caused Chernobyl?
The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment, with the deposition of radioactive materials in many parts of Europe.What happened to cause the reactor to fail?
Instead of shutting down, an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction began, releasing enormous amounts of energy. The core melted down and two or more explosions ruptured the reactor core and destroyed the reactor building.How do nuclear reactors fail?
A core meltdown accident occurs when the heat generated by a nuclear reactor exceeds the heat removed by the cooling systems to the point where at least one nuclear fuel element exceeds its melting point.CHERNOBYL DISASTER - An Inside Look - 3D
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Answer 2
I haven't read the book, but I feel like it's an oversight that ended up working.
It would create a bigger disbelief to have the crew not evacuate due to the dosimeters as this would threaten their life and military career.
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