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Then how do these nuclear ships operate for decades? Nuclear container ship Sevmorput: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevmorput https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se

by krasin 5y ago

Then how do these nuclear ships operate for decades? Nuclear container ship Sevmorput: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevmorput https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevmorput Civilian nuclear icebreakers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_icebreaker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear-powered_icebreaker Floating nuclear power plant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power...

dghlsakjg 5y ago
All of the ships you linked to are operated by Rosatom or its predecessors. That is essentially a state operator as far as I can tell.
- krasin 5y ago
  State != military, though. For instance, all France nuclear power plants are operated by Électricité de France (EDF) that is substantially owned by the French Government, with around 85% shares in government hands ([1]). I don't see a problem having nuclear container ships to be operated by civilian governmental agencies / state-owned enterprises. This might not work for the US, but we often have very unique ways of doing things. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France
deleted 5y ago
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nine_k 5y ago
i suppose these ships only use Soviet / Russian ports, and mostly don't operate in high seas. Icebreakers do operate in high seas, but getting close to them is a bit hard due to ice and polar weather. The more interesting example is NS Savannah [1], which indeed crossed oceans unattended, and was accepted at European ports. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah
seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Of those, the icebreakers have been commercially successful due to logistics of fueling in the attic and the heavy fuel needs of ice breaking (both solved by a reactor that only needs to be refueled once every few years).

by krasin 5y ago

dghlsakjg 5y ago

All of the ships you linked to are operated by Rosatom or its predecessors. That is essentially a state operator as far as I can tell.

krasin 5y ago
State != military, though. For instance, all France nuclear power plants are operated by Électricité de France (EDF) that is substantially owned by the French Government, with around 85% shares in government hands ([1]). I don't see a problem having nuclear container ships to be operated by civilian governmental agencies / state-owned enterprises. This might not work for the US, but we often have very unique ways of doing things. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France

deleted 5y ago

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nine_k 5y ago

i suppose these ships only use Soviet / Russian ports, and mostly don't operate in high seas. Icebreakers do operate in high seas, but getting close to them is a bit hard due to ice and polar weather. The more interesting example is NS Savannah [1], which indeed crossed oceans unattended, and was accepted at European ports. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

Of those, the icebreakers have been commercially successful due to logistics of fueling in the attic and the heavy fuel needs of ice breaking (both solved by a reactor that only needs to be refueled once every few years).