AFAIK a sunken reactor is not as big of a threat to life as a one (marine or land-based) that releases nuclear material in the atmosphere, so the biggest issue should be what may happen before the reactor sinks.
Anyway IMHO the biggest issue with nuclear is not its safety, but rather that, even when it operates without the slightest of incidents, it produces waste that needs to be kept “safe” for periods of time that exceed the age of most nation states (let alone private companies).
It’s true waste can be a problem. Incidentally, that’s one reason why thorium is a far better fuel since the waste is only dangerous for around 500 years compared to thousands of years for uranium.
Presumably the main concern would be fallout from the reactor if the ship sinks. Kind of hard to think of any other real problems.
AFAIK a sunken reactor is not as big of a threat to life as a one (marine or land-based) that releases nuclear material in the atmosphere, so the biggest issue should be what may happen before the reactor sinks.
Anyway IMHO the biggest issue with nuclear is not its safety, but rather that, even when it operates without the slightest of incidents, it produces waste that needs to be kept “safe” for periods of time that exceed the age of most nation states (let alone private companies).
It’s true waste can be a problem. Incidentally, that’s one reason why thorium is a far better fuel since the waste is only dangerous for around 500 years compared to thousands of years for uranium.