5 ms·

It isn't that rare in general - if the U.S. opens the secrets of nuclear submarines - we had had mini reactors for decades.

• _aavaa_ 1y ago
  The problem is economics. Just because the Us built a fleet does not mean that they are economical once put in a non-military application.
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• tick_tock_tick 1y ago
  I'd be fine with us just having the USA navy operate them we build them for carriers and subs just double or triple the order and plug em into the grid.
• fmajid 1y ago
  And the technology is incredibly mature, submarine reactors were some of the first reactors, period.
  • quotemstr 1y ago
    Submarine reactors run on super high enriched fuel instantly one could instantly repurpose into a bomb. Lots of gen 4 and 5 reactor designs that combine low cost, compact footprint, and running on less expensive and carefully controlled fuel.
    • nicce 1y ago
      French have some LEU submarines. They seem to be pretty good on paper. Needs refueling every ten years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffren-class_submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffren-class_submarine
      • quotemstr 1y ago
        Cool! Thanks
      • pyrale 1y ago
        France also built full-sized commercial plants rather than batteries of small reactors. That's because scale matters for efficient production.
        • nicce 1y ago
          That is rapidly changing. https://onu-vienne.delegfrance.org/Nuclear-power-and-SMR-are-central-to-the-France-2030-investment-plan https://onu-vienne.delegfrance.org/Nuclear-power-and-SMR-are... https://regulation-oversight.asnr.fr/oversight/small-modular-reactors/the-small-modular-reactors-smr https://regulation-oversight.asnr.fr/oversight/small-modular...
  • croes 1y ago
    And they are heavily guarded. In the current political climate I prefer energy sources that don’t cause severe damage if sabotaged. Did you hear the worries in Ukraine that Russia could hit a wind turbine with a rocket?
    • rafaelmn 1y ago
      What's the danger in hitting a micro nuclear reactor with a rocket ? A shitty dirty bomb detonated near the powerplant ?
      • oneshtein 1y ago
        Nuclear meltdown, evacuation of nearby cities.
        • nicce 1y ago
          Don’t you need to create a specific kind of chemical reaction and just bomb is not enough for that?
• mixdup 1y ago
  The DoD is not exactly known for great efficiency and getting the most value for money
• nradov 1y ago
  Secrecy isn't the obstacle here. Naval reactors are optimized for combat performance, costs be damned. They aren't economically efficient for commercial power generation.
  • nicce 1y ago
    At least Russia is doing fine with SMRs, thought the fuel enrichment level is around 20%. They are building new reactors all the time and they seem pretty efficient. E.g. they have even floating nuclear plant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademik_Lomonosov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademik_Lomonosov
• jasonwatkinspdx 1y ago
  Total non starter. Nuclear submarine power plants are not in any way a technology useful for utility scale power generation. To start with they use fuel enriched to weapons grade. They aren't cost effective vs the amount of power produced, and the designs don't scale up to utility scale power. Submarine plants are not some sort of miracle SMR we can just roll out. The Navy is willing to page cost premiums a utility company cannot, because for the Navy it's about having a necessary capability. There's no economic break even to consider.
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  • bobmcnamara 1y ago
    I thought I'd mention that ship supplied short power has been a thing for ages. USS Daniel Webster even trained for this for new years eve apocalypse nothingburger. And its almost always been used for only powering something critical. Today's subs are <10MW. Nothing for utility scale. I can't imagine the economics are ever good. More of a: we've already got this boat. https://thenaptimeauthor.wordpress.com/2021/04/09/the-uss-lexington-aircraft-carrier-and-temporary-power-plant/ https://thenaptimeauthor.wordpress.com/2021/04/09/the-uss-le... https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/11/26/A-nuclear-submarine-was-put-on-notice-today-for/2890407134800/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/11/26/A-nuclear-submarine-... There are some floating PWRs: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power_station https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_pow...