Nuclear powered ships are not a new thing. They've been around for decades. They would benefit our emission a lot. Let's hope that they will be allowed in the ports around the world, this has been the greatest limitation so far. Convincing general population that nuclear can be safe is no easy feat.
this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023
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They're not a new idea, but the problem is that actually taking one into a port is a regulatory nightmare. Most jurisdictions have very, very strict rules around the handling of nuclear materials and would rather just say "Fuck off" than even contemplate the nightmare of getting something like into their waters with all of the proper tests and inspections completed.
This is what killed nuclear cargo ships in the past. Ports just don't want such things coming in all the time.
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If you're somewhere near Connecticut, the first-ever nuclear powered ship got turned into a museum in Groton
Problem.
There's a huge difference between an American carrier and a Panamanian flagged cargo hauler. Are we really ready to trust one of the shadiest industries, (there's still ships manned by slaves out there), with nuclear reactors?
Could you imagine India letting a nuclear hauler dock after it made a port call in Pakistan? New York letting any of them dock?
And this is why I said changing the missconception that nuclear can't be safe is hard. There are types of reactors safe by design.
Sure, no tech is foolproof, but have a look at how the molten salt reactor works. That kind of reactor doesn't have a meltdown issue. That doesn't mean things can't still go wrong, but we have to do something about the emissions from these container ships burning the most crap of the fossil fuels... If we look at how many people die of deseases caused by air polution, the tiny risk of a nuclear accident looks a lot more acceptable. And that's before we even consider how bad the climate changed in recent years.
We have to start educating ourselves and others on nuclear, because although renewables are cheaper, the energy storage for when there is no wind/sun is still very expensive and pretty crap tech(you have a phone, you know how the battery dies in 2-3 years). Also lithium won't last forever so until we figure out something to replace it, nuclear can cover the gaps with considerably less emissions than dino juices and ancient biomass.
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Which is ironic considering that fossil fuels have resulted in orders of magnitude more preventable deaths than nuclear. Bunker fuel is nasty stuff
Largely, this is likely a good thing. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better (than the status quo).
I read that article and I still don't understand what it being a fluke would matter to anything? Strange title to me.
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Why do so many Chinese products have these weird alphanumeric names? They'll build the world's first cold fusion reactor and call it the RNG-42_Mk2.1(final).
I wasn't aware reactors using thorium were practical yet.
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