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An academic reactor or reactor plant almost always has the following basic characteristics: (1) It is simple. (2) It is small. (3) It is cheap. (4) It is light. (5) It can be built very quickly. (6) It is very flexible in purpose. (7) Very little development will be required. It will use off-the-shelf components. (8) The reactor is in the study phase. It is not being built now. On the other hand a practical reactor can be distinguished by the following characteristics: (1) It is being built now. (2) It is behind schedule. (3) It requires an immense amount of development on apparently trivial items. (4) It is very expensive. (5) It takes a long time to build because of its engineering development problems. (6) It is large. (7) It is heavy. (8) It is complicated.

Hyman G. Rickover#4

EngineeringRealityPracticeComplexityScienceTheory

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About this quote

What does it mean?
Academic reactors are simple and theoretical while practical ones are complex and difficult to build.
In plain terms
Real reactors are hard and expensive unlike simple study models.
What can you take from it?
Expect complexity and delays when moving from theory to practice.

Where it applies

  • scientific research
  • industrial projects
  • product development

Putting it to work

  • project planning
  • risk analysis
  • budgeting

Questions to consider

  • Why do practical plans often fail?
  • How do you bridge theory and practice?

Another view

It generalizes all academic work as disconnected from reality.

More from Hyman G. Rickover

  1. If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't.

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  2. The tools of the academic designer are a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser. If a mistake is made, it can always be erased and changed. If the practica…

    Permalink to quote #5

  3. I am not proud of the part I played in it. I did it because it was necessary for the safety of this country. That's why I am such a great exponent of stopping …

    Permalink to quote #2

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