Posted on 11/09/2008 4:31:13 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner
The fire safety system on a new Russian nuclear-powered submarine malfunctioned on a test run in the Sea of Japan, spewing chemicals that killed at least 20 people and injured 21 others, officials said Sunday.
It was Russia's worst naval accident since torpedo explosions sank another nuclear-powered submarine, the Kursk, in the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 seamen aboard.
The victims died of poisoning from Freon gas that was released Saturday when the fire-extinguishing system accidentally turned on, said Sergei Markin, an official with Russia's top investigative agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Halon fire systems are dangerous to those who cannot leave the area. Same for carbon tet.
Tell me about it. I dumped {by accident} 1200 pounds of R-11 into the bilges one day on the ship. The drain valve had rusted through and broke while I was trying to hook up a line to drop the charge on a chiller to work on it. I barely made it to a force draft vent. I'm very glad it was just R-11.
Halon does not work to displace oxygen like the old CO2 systems.
Yep But as long as you were near a FDB you were fine. The R-11 settled below us. I was under the chiller when it happened though. R-11 stays liquid to about 70 something degrees at 0 psi. Actually you have to use nitrogen to force it out. The room temp was about 100 degree’s causing maybe 5-7 PSI on the system. We were able to pump it out of the bilges safely.
You can rant on all you care to. I’m just retelling what I’ve heard pal.
You can look it up.
Sorry if I came across as ranting. I was just trying to dispell the myth that nuclear reactors can blow up like atomic weapons. It’s just not possible.
How about contamination maybe meltdown and wind conditions etc?
Hey I’ll try to find facts on the case and relay them to ya.
May take a while.
RIP.
Wasn't that 'PPK' (vice ), aka 'Purple K'? Of course my mind (what's left of it, that is; CRS and all that) has to go back 40 years to my last boat. Stuff may have changed since then.
I’m sure it was PKP (Purple K Powder) - Potassium Bicarbonate with some sodium bicarbonate and other stuff thrown in.
In areas where this type of fire suppression is used, alarms go off and it gives you time to evacuate or to don air gear. If the water tights are closed and this is in the reactor area, the crew members may have had no warning and no where to evac.
Prayers for their families.
Makes you wonder how much Russia really learned from over a half century of communism. What else could explain this? Of course, Europe doesn’t learn very quickly, either.
“We shail into hishtory.”
You likely missed the HI-CAPS also. One of the greatest tools invented used in onboard firefighting on carriers. The flight-deck and Hanger Deck had a built in sprinkler system. 12 stations were put up and the tanks manually filled with AFFF {Aqueous Film Forming Foam} which was better than the older {plasma?} foam and better re-flash protection. This came after the three Forestall era carrier fires. You hit the switch and the deck was covered in second.
The downside was a few drunks just couldn't resist the temptation to see what that switch did. It was a mess and we had to clean it up at least once because of that. Only the station manually lit off would be triggered though. They found them but thankfully never found the above deck Emergency Shut Downs for the mains. I'll not say where they are located :>}
It depends on the definition of success. Making NY uninhabitable for 20,000 years can be considered an effective attack, doesn’t it?
It is far better to be on the beach, with a cold beer or even Oly dark in a can hot, than underway on nuclear power.
Wonder if that sub was shadowing the Ohio which has been in Japan lately?
We BANNED fire suppression systems using Halon because of the damage to the ozone layer.
If one of OUR subs or tanks or radio shelters has a fire, it burns!
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