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by rs999gti 2967 days ago
Maybe nuclear power for commercial ships?

Global navies have proved and refined nuclear power technology for their ships.

Why not apply this technology to the commercial sector, instead of carrying gallons of diesel?

6 comments

So pirates will be able to steal nuclear material? What happens if a container sinks near a popular beach? I doubt people want these kinds of risks.

I’d expect gas and diesel to be used for airplanes and ships for a long long time.

>So pirates will be able to steal nuclear material?

Why couldn't private security be part of international freight? The costs for this security could be added to freight costs.

For example, Russian private security contractors successfully protected ships near Somalia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJ0nblZjZE

>What happens if a container sinks near a popular beach? I doubt people want these kinds of risks.

Governmental navies don't experience these risks? Also, read this section about liabilities for private nuclear reactors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_marine_propulsion#Civi...

Private security is not a guarantee and someone could always send a suicide bomber. It happened a few times to US navy ships it would probably be easier to do to commercial ships.
> Governmental navies don't experience these risks?

The number of nuclear navies numbers in the single digits, and of those, only a handful use nuclear powered ships in any sort of numbers.

Nuclear material is self-guarding.
> Maybe nuclear power for commercial ships?

That is so 1950s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah

> Maybe nuclear power for commercial ships?

Four have been built (by the US, Germany, Japan, and Russia), starting in the 1950s (one per decade from the 1950s to the 1980s), but it's never really caught on. The most recent built was refitted and returned to service in 2016, after having been decommissioned and awaiting disposal for nearly a decade, the rest have been scrapped.

Too expensive and complex. Even global navies don't use except in unusual circumstances that absolutely require it, like subs, aircraft carriers, and a handful of polar icebreakers.
Naval reactors are expensive upfront and expensive to operate. So the likeliest path to commercial nuclear vessels is onerous carbon regulations. That path isn't likely.
Naval reactors have some design choices that don't make sense for shipping. Things like they can shutdown and restart the reactor quickly. A Submarine sometimes needs to get into max quiet mode as quickly as possible and then when the threat is gone get back up to full speed. This is obviously required for a war vessel, but for a commercial ship can use a cheaper reactor that can't be abused like that.
Nuclear power for commercial use has been tried, read up on the Savannah. Very expensive for the full life cycle of the reactor.