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Russians thought so to, that's why they have 9 of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_icebreaker#Russian_nuclear_icebreakers https://en.wikiped

by rdhatt 7y ago

Russians thought so to, that's why they have 9 of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_icebreaker#Russian_nuclear_icebreakers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_icebreaker#Rus...

exabrial 7y ago
I guess I should google these things
The_rationalist 7y ago
Fascinating, are you aware of a nuclear powered commercial cargo?
- 5555624 7y ago
  The NS Savannah was an American attempt back in the 1960's. It was too small. In addition, oil was cheap back then; so, there was no incentive for the specialized training for the crew, a special shoreside facility, etc.
  - Caligatio 7y ago
    Fun article about the Savannah at https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/aboard-the-ns-savannah-americas-first-and-last-nuclear-merchant-ship/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/aboar...
- ethbro 7y ago
  The mobile nuclear-anything appetite drastically decreased when it turned out enriched uranium proliferation was a huge concern. It's one thing to sail a carrier group around the world. It's very different to have a reactor sitting on a cargo ship, hundreds of miles from anyone, alone in the middle of the ocean.
  - tomatotomato37 7y ago
    I'd imagine maintenance was also an issue. One thing people always neglect to mention with nuclear energy is how eagerly it rips its own equipment apart on the molecular level. For being the power source of the future they are surprisingly close to 19th steam boilers in that regard.
  - The_rationalist 7y ago
    While I understand the common sense intuition of a radiation leak being dangerous, is there scientific evidence that it would kill / a lot of live beings? I guess the letal radiations would have a very narrow range around the sinked ship. I remember seeing a guy eating dust just around chernobyl central, and proving that it was under the letal dose. Can someone quantify the risk?
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  The NS Savannah (US), Otto Hahn (German), and Mutsu (Japanese) are the only three nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built, though the Soviets/Russians have and do run a nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, some with cargo capacity. The three named ships all proved nonviable. Savannah, a liner-cargo combination suited neither role well, the Otto Hahn was simply uneconomical though was later converted to diesel, and the Mutsu had significant technical issues as well as political resistance. Whether or not low fossil fuel costs of the period (1962 - 1990, roughly) had a major impact isn't clear. Nuclear power requires very highly trained crew, however. Another factor working against larger-scale marine propulsion deployment is the number of shipwrecks. Roughly 200 major vessels are lost every decade or so, which if a significant fraction were nuclear powered would be a large number of reactor cores littering highly trafficked sea lanes, many of which are shared with fishing and other uses. All told, there've been on the order of 400 or so marine propulsion nuclear powerplants deployed in total (most on submarines), whereas the commercial shipping fleet is on the order of 60-80k vessels.

by rdhatt 7y ago

exabrial 7y ago

I guess I should google these things

The_rationalist 7y ago

Fascinating, are you aware of a nuclear powered commercial cargo?

5555624 7y ago
The NS Savannah was an American attempt back in the 1960's. It was too small. In addition, oil was cheap back then; so, there was no incentive for the specialized training for the crew, a special shoreside facility, etc.
- Caligatio 7y ago
  Fun article about the Savannah at https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/aboard-the-ns-savannah-americas-first-and-last-nuclear-merchant-ship/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/aboar...
ethbro 7y ago
The mobile nuclear-anything appetite drastically decreased when it turned out enriched uranium proliferation was a huge concern. It's one thing to sail a carrier group around the world. It's very different to have a reactor sitting on a cargo ship, hundreds of miles from anyone, alone in the middle of the ocean.
- tomatotomato37 7y ago
  I'd imagine maintenance was also an issue. One thing people always neglect to mention with nuclear energy is how eagerly it rips its own equipment apart on the molecular level. For being the power source of the future they are surprisingly close to 19th steam boilers in that regard.
- The_rationalist 7y ago
  While I understand the common sense intuition of a radiation leak being dangerous, is there scientific evidence that it would kill / a lot of live beings? I guess the letal radiations would have a very narrow range around the sinked ship. I remember seeing a guy eating dust just around chernobyl central, and proving that it was under the letal dose. Can someone quantify the risk?
dredmorbius 7y ago
The NS Savannah (US), Otto Hahn (German), and Mutsu (Japanese) are the only three nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built, though the Soviets/Russians have and do run a nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, some with cargo capacity. The three named ships all proved nonviable. Savannah, a liner-cargo combination suited neither role well, the Otto Hahn was simply uneconomical though was later converted to diesel, and the Mutsu had significant technical issues as well as political resistance. Whether or not low fossil fuel costs of the period (1962 - 1990, roughly) had a major impact isn't clear. Nuclear power requires very highly trained crew, however. Another factor working against larger-scale marine propulsion deployment is the number of shipwrecks. Roughly 200 major vessels are lost every decade or so, which if a significant fraction were nuclear powered would be a large number of reactor cores littering highly trafficked sea lanes, many of which are shared with fishing and other uses. All told, there've been on the order of 400 or so marine propulsion nuclear powerplants deployed in total (most on submarines), whereas the commercial shipping fleet is on the order of 60-80k vessels.