4 ms·

> A a former Navy nuke technician, I'm wondering why these ships aren't nuclear powered. I suppose it is the cost. I rather assume the risk of terrorism.

• michaelwww 11y ago
  Yes, that's probably it. Cargo ships could be a good use case for thorium reactors. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/01/16/thorium-future-nuclear-energy http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/01/16/thorium-fu...
• XorNot 11y ago
  This is not a serious risk. You could easily armor the reactor module to resist any amount of pirate weaponry, and rig it so when damaged it just drops to the bottom of the ocean intact. Getting into it isn't a threat either: terrorists aren't going to be plasma torching into a reactor and surviving long enough to do anything.
  • scrumper 11y ago
    Incomplete thinking. What about land-based fuel handling - creation, storage, transport, delivery? What about waste processing? The attack surface isn't just the ship.
    • wolfgke 11y ago
      Exactly what I meant.
• deleted 11y ago
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