What happens if U.S. Carriers or submarines have a nuclear meltdown?

U.S. shipbuilder welcomes Navy decision on carriers

U.S. shipbuilder welcomes Navy decision on carriers

Reuters – 2 hours 21 minutes ago

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Companies:

• General Dynamics Corp.
• Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
• Northrop Grumman Corporation

RELATED QUOTES

Symbol	Price	Change
GD	72.47	+0.26
HII	33.74	-0.31
NOC	61.39	+0.08

Related Content

•  The superlift erected on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is one of the heaviest Newport News Shipbuilding will construct and lift into the dock in this May 21, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Chris Oxley/Huntington Ingalls Industries/Handout

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII - News) on Sunday welcomed news that the U.S. Defense Department would not cut its fleet of 11 aircraft carriers to help trim the budget deficit, but naval experts say they are still awaiting details about work on the next such vessel.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, addressing about 1,700 sailors aboard the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, on Saturday said heightened tensions with Iran underscored the importance of the enormous ships to national security.
The U.S. Navy said the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf without incident on Sunday, a day after Iran backed away from an earlier threat to take action if an American carrier returned to the strategic waterway.
Huntington Ingalls, the shipbuilding unit spun off from Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE:NOC - News) last year, welcomed Panetta's stated commitment to an 11-carrier fleet.
The company is building the first of the new Ford class of carrier ships at its Newport News, Virginia shipyard, and also handles refueling and overhaul of the giant nuclear-powered vessels - work that could be lost if the Navy does not replace its aging carriers when they need to be retired. end quote

U.S. shipbuilder welcomes Navy decision on carriers | Reuters

www.reuters.com/.../us-huntington-ingalls-carriers-idUSTRE80L11W20...‎

Jan 22, 2012 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Huntington Ingalls Industries on Sunday welcomed news that the U.S. Defense Department would not cut its fleet of ...

 

 

I was reading the above and the thought suddenly occurred to me especially after the Japanese Fukushima meltdown, "What happens if one of our aircraft carriers or submarines got into battle and had a meltdown on board? I suppose it would matter where it would happen and how many people in the short term or long term it would affect. For example, while one of our aircraft carriers was in the Straight of Hormuz, if someone attacked one and breached the nuclear reactors, it might melt down and wash ashore polluting the water and air and land with radiation for a hundred miles or more into Iran if that happened which might cost countless lives of civilians there as well as the crew of the Aircraft Carrier. Though there have been nuclear accidents on Russian Submarines and a few on U.S. Nuclear Submarines over the years as well, I don't think any of our nuclear powered ships have been attacked in such a way that the nuclear reactors were breached that I know of.