I wonder if nuclear power would be fundamentally safer for an underwater civilization because of the thermal conductivity properties of water
@blackle This can be a wild card because water in a lot of cases acts as a neutron moderator that allows nuclear fission to happen. Heavy water(water with a heavy hydrogen isotope) is a popular neutron moderator and naturally occurs in oceans.
Neat thing is that they discovered a natural nuclear reactor that functioned millions of years ago in Oklo Mine in Gabon. The uranium deposits regularly underwent a nuclear reaction every time they were exposed to rising ground water levels.
(there's even theories that a natural nuclear reactor might have been responsible for the moon being born from the earth)
@blackle When I found out about it I got really excited. I love nuclear power and radioactivity. I'm hella gay about rads
@Garlynne rads are fuckin' rad
@blackle but yeah, as far as underwater civ using nuclear power, I don't thing it would be safer, but it would be more sustainable and viable. Like, it's possible (and economically viable) to harvest and filter uranium and other nuclear fuels directly out of ocean water using structures that resemble an artificial, plastic kelp forest.. There's an estimated sum of 4.5 billion metric tons of uranium diluted in the oceans that's easy to harvest.
@Garlynne woah! that's really cool! I didn't know about the natural nuclear reactor