4 ms·

Counterpoint: we've been powering ships with microreactors for decades.

acidburnNSA 1y ago
Most nuclear-powered ships have reactor powers in the 40-300 MWt range, a bit beyond the typical 10 MW limit for 'microreactors'
- evan_ 1y ago
  This was new to me so I looked it up- "MWt" means Megawatts Thermal - e.g. the heat output of a reactor, which would be turned into a smaller value of MWe- Megawatts Electric
corranh 1y ago
Hopefully this needs a smaller crew to operate than a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.
- dylan604 1y ago
  The nukes on a carrier are a much smaller team within the carrier's full crew though. So if you extracted the guys that glow in the dark, it might be more inline
zer00eyz 1y ago
We sure have. And it is a money pit. And then you have things like this: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/10/two-sailors-in-aircraft-carrier-drug-ring-plead-guilty-to-distribution-charges/ https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/10/two-sail... It's proof that you can build a robust and safe reactor, but like all things under triple constraints it will not be cheap.
jauntywundrkind 1y ago
And we're starting to have to decomission them! At absurd costs! We just awarded $0.5B to decommission the USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the first nuclear aircraft carrier. More will follow! https://theaviationist.com/2025/06/03/uss-enterprise-dismantling/ https://theaviationist.com/2025/06/03/uss-enterprise-dismant... The DoE has been helping to decomission Los Angeles class attack subs for a while now. Here's a piece on that: https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/4135726/dismantling-giants-how-recycling-nuclear-vessels-maintains-a-ready-force/ https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/4... It require enormous care & effort. It's fantastically costly. Do I think it was worth it? For a mission like this: I think yes. For the good of a nation. And a Nation that hopes to still be around to take care of the problem, the complex decomissioning decades latter. But I have so little faith that private interests will endure and bear their own responsibility for this awesome but deeply corrupting irradiating force.
- LgWoodenBadger 1y ago
  That CVN also happens to have 8 reactors in it
Peteragain 1y ago
Yep. And the Russians have had pluggable nuclear power for years now.. on barges: wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademik_Lomonosov Decommissioning no doubt will consist of scuttling them over a trench. Definitely going to wake the Kraken.

Most nuclear-powered ships have reactor powers in the 40-300 MWt range, a bit beyond the typical 10 MW limit for 'microreactors'

evan_ 1y ago
This was new to me so I looked it up- "MWt" means Megawatts Thermal - e.g. the heat output of a reactor, which would be turned into a smaller value of MWe- Megawatts Electric

corranh 1y ago

Hopefully this needs a smaller crew to operate than a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

dylan604 1y ago
The nukes on a carrier are a much smaller team within the carrier's full crew though. So if you extracted the guys that glow in the dark, it might be more inline

zer00eyz 1y ago

We sure have. And it is a money pit. And then you have things like this: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/10/two-sailors-in-aircraft-carrier-drug-ring-plead-guilty-to-distribution-charges/ https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/10/two-sail... It's proof that you can build a robust and safe reactor, but like all things under triple constraints it will not be cheap.

jauntywundrkind 1y ago

And we're starting to have to decomission them! At absurd costs! We just awarded $0.5B to decommission the USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the first nuclear aircraft carrier. More will follow! https://theaviationist.com/2025/06/03/uss-enterprise-dismantling/ https://theaviationist.com/2025/06/03/uss-enterprise-dismant... The DoE has been helping to decomission Los Angeles class attack subs for a while now. Here's a piece on that: https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/4135726/dismantling-giants-how-recycling-nuclear-vessels-maintains-a-ready-force/ https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/4... It require enormous care & effort. It's fantastically costly. Do I think it was worth it? For a mission like this: I think yes. For the good of a nation. And a Nation that hopes to still be around to take care of the problem, the complex decomissioning decades latter. But I have so little faith that private interests will endure and bear their own responsibility for this awesome but deeply corrupting irradiating force.

LgWoodenBadger 1y ago
That CVN also happens to have 8 reactors in it

Peteragain 1y ago

Yep. And the Russians have had pluggable nuclear power for years now.. on barges: wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademik_Lomonosov Decommissioning no doubt will consist of scuttling them over a trench. Definitely going to wake the Kraken.