How Do Nuclear Submarines Make Oxygen?- Smarter Every Day 251 on HackerTube: recommended by 5 Hacker News commenters across 5 separate months, 2021–2026.
explainer · evergreen
A Smarter Every Day episode from aboard a nuclear submarine on how the crew makes breathable air. It covers oxygen generation from seawater, oxygen candles and CO2 scrubbing with amine.
Go-to link when oxygen candles, CO2 capture or submarine air quality come up.
“Smarter Every Day did an interesting series of videos about nuclear submarines.”
10 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
The SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel did a slightly more indepth series of videos aboard a nuclear sub, obviously still censored, but educational. [link] The video on producing oxygen was particularly enlightening: ▶ this video
in “Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)” · View on HN
Yes, but the context of this post was emergency systems which are purely chemical. For routine operations on e.g. a submarine, [link] As other people have mentioned, this is a great introduction to the topic: ▶ this video
in “Oxygen Candles: Providing Emergency Air” · View on HN
I really enjoyed this Smarter Every Day episode that talks about maintaining air quality on a submarine: ▶ this video
in “Nukes, nubs and coners: The unique social hierarchy aboard a nuclear submarine” · View on HN
You might find this series from Smarter Every Day interesting. ▶ this video I didn't find a bit about how they make drinking water, but here's an episode about how they regenerate their oxygen on a nuclear sub.
in “Nuclear Power at McMurdo Station, Antarctica” · View on HN
Not sure if it's the same stuff exactly or if the cost includes reprocessing but there's an amine cycle that seems to be mostly closed that's used for CO2 removal on submarines. So it's just used to separate CO2 from the rest of the output. I think that's what this sentence is talking about: > Notably, it is projected that this solvent can operate at a regeneration heat rate of 2.0 GJ per tonne CO2 for post-combustion capture Smarter Every Day did a video on it and atmosphere management on a submarine more generally which is pretty neat. The CO2 scrubbing is around 20 minutes. ▶ this video
in “A CO2 capture solvent with exceptionally low total costs of capture” · View on HN
I don't know why this makes me think of it but the coolest "burning" thing has to be an "Oxygen Candle" [link] [link] ▶ this video Unfortunately they are "boring" in comparison, no flame/glow
in “What Is in Road Flares?” · View on HN
Yea it produces chlorine. Nuclear subs need to use reverse osmosis first to get around that problem when they want to produce Oxygen from seawater. ▶ this video
in “Seawater split to produce green hydrogen with nearly 100% efficiency” · View on HN
Submarines restock food, some air supplies, and... deal with waste. Food [link] Air ▶ this video (MEA and LIOH for CO2, electrolysis and "candles" for oxygen) Toilet [link] Nothing is "recycled" as such - and certainly not any of the carbon (you're not eating the carbon captured from MEA or LIOH... or your waste).
in “Blue Origin manufactured solar cell prototype from lunar regolith simulants” · View on HN
They burn at 600C (1100F) so I don't think you'd want to view the reaction directly; usually they have to be deliberately contained to contain the heat to sustain the reaction. ▶ this video (linked to correct timestamp) shows the remains of a burned one and loading fresh ones on a submarine.
in “John Carmack on candles, energy and air quality (tweet)” · View on HN
Smarter Every Day did an interesting series of videos about nuclear submarines. They use these candles to help replenish the oxygen in them: ▶ this video
in “Oxygen Candles: Providing Emergency Air” · View on HN