Nick Touran tells the story of Admiral Hyman Rickover, the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” and author of the legendary "Paper Reactor" memo. We discover how Rickover’s hard-driving management and obsession with practical engineering shaped not just the US nuclear navy, but the entire landscape of modern nuclear power.
Touran is manager of digital engineering at TerraPower and creator of Whatisnuclear.com.
Watch now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple.
We talk about
Rickover's early life and rise through the Navy ranks
Development of the first nuclear-powered submarines
The "Paper Reactor" memo and its relevance today
Differences between naval and civilian nuclear reactors
Rickover's role in developing Shippingport, the first commercial nuclear power plant
His later skepticism about nuclear technology
Some takeaways
Rickover's success came from demanding extensive testing of full-scale prototypes rather than relying on paper designs
His insistence on reliability and safety created standards that still influence nuclear power today
The pressurized water reactor (PWR) became in large part due to its proven reliability compared to other designs
Notable Quotes
"If the ocean were made of sodium, some damn fool of an engineer would propose a water-cooled reactor." - Admiral Rickover (quoted by Nick Touran)
"The tools of the academic reactor designer are a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser. If a mistake is made, it can always be erased and changed. If the practical reactor designer errors, he wears the mistake around his neck." - Admiral Rickover, in his Paper Reactor memo
Read Rickover’s Paper Reactor memo on Whatisnuclear.com
Shippingport In Pictures
View more images of Shippingport at Library of Congress.
Keywords
Admiral Hyman Rickover, nuclear navy, pressurized water reactor, PWR, nuclear submarines, USS Nautilus, Shippingport, naval nuclear propulsion, nuclear safety culture, nuclear engineering history, TerraPower, nuclear power development
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