How is it safe to have a nuclear reactor on aircraft carriers and submarines when they are a potential military targets?
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Well, it’s really not 100%”safe”.. There is quite a graveyard of soviet subs taking nap at the bottom of the sea and leaking radiation.
That being said, I think the US has been operating nuclear powered vessels for the last 50 years without much incident. Submarines are produced with enough uranium to last 30 years without refueling and submarine/aircraft carrier accidents are pretty rare. On top of that most of the info is classified so we don’t really know everything about their operation.
Most vessels have automated safety checks, for example, if the electrical system goes offline the reactor automatically shuts itself down. So in theory if anything knocks power offline while the crew is busy handling a situation, then the reactor takes care of itself on their behalf.
If the vessel is attacked and damaged and sinks, see soviet graveyard comment above. There is no nuclear explosion that would occur and a meltdown will happen underwater so you’re just polluting the sea with radiation (and everything up the chain).
I’d use the words “mitigated risks” instead of “safe” when describing these vessels, to be honest.
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