this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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[–] oce@jlai.lu 17 points 1 day ago (6 children)

If I'm not mistaken, the water looks bright blue because some particles are going faster than light in this water. So it emits a blue flash akin to the Sonic boom when a plane goes faster than sound speed in the atmosphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I've seen it from afar and it is indeed a bright blue.

Edit: I don't think that is what we are see here though. It looks like the water itself might have something added to it. There are several elements that absorb neutrons. Such as boron but I'm unsure what color it would be dissolved in water. I inhaled boron gas when I was on the first crew into the containment building at a shutdown. Had to stay at decon until it was out of my lungs.

I saw the spent fuel pool at a nuke from over a hundred feet. It was low light and you could clearly see the blue glow from the spent fuel rods. We were just passing through so it was a quick look to the work site and back from it.

I've also seen a reactor shutdown with the fuel rods exposed in preparation for a fuel shuffle. There may have been a glow but all the lights were on so it would have been washed away.

[–] prex@aussie.zone 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not sure about this particular experiment, but neutrino detectors are usually deep underground and trying to find a tiny tiny spark of Cherenkov radiation or other effects.
I'm guessing the blue colour is simply paint.

[–] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

From Wikipedia (and my neutrino physics knowledge) , the goal is to measure neutrino oscillation (neutrino charge flavour when travelling), and it seens to be a set of detector located at various distance from a nuclear reactor. The photo mostly looks like one of the reactors rather than the detector

[–] giacomo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago

maybe the neutrinos are emitting blueberry charge flavor.

[–] prex@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago

I stand corrected. It certainly doesn't look like paint & who would want blue water.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago

Yup, it's basically the underwater version of sonic booms. Pretty cool stuff

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean... I'm not saying that isn't happening but also water is just blue.

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

...water isn't blue 🤨

...have you been drinking blue water? 🤨

[–] jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Water IS blue but not enough to explain why the ocean is as blue as it is

While relatively small quantities of water appear to be colorless, pure water has a slight blue color that becomes deeper as the thickness of the observed sample increases

Wikipedia

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ok so it wouldn't affect a small pool like in the picture.

[–] jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Keep moving those goalposts

I'd expect no less from a feddit user

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 23 hours ago

Duke was here to learn but apparently you’re just here to be a jerk.

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

😡😡😡😡<- u rn lol

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

It is slightly blue, it's just only noticeable when it gets deep enough. So yeah we've all been drinking blue water lol

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Thats cool as fuck, thanks for explaining!

[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Yup, pretty much the only kind of radiation we can see without melting your eyeballs.

Fun fact, you can totally swim in that pool. Don’t go too deep but it’s cleaner and safer than your average public pool.