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Underwater Nuclear Power Plant Proposed In France
nicomede writes "The French state-owned DCNS (French military shipyard) announced today a concept study for an underwater nuclear reactor dedicated to power coastal communities in remote places. It is derived from nuclear submarine power plants, and its generator would be able to produce between 50 MWe and 250MWe. Such a plant would be fabricated and maintained in France, and dispatched for the different customers, thus reducing the risk for proliferation."
And my bet is that that requires more energy than they ever produced... Then you need roughly that much power to make new ones out of the recycled materials. Overall they're still a net loss. Won't always be and I certainly commend all the science that goes into their improvement... But by that standard, cold fusion is also a viable solution.
Mind the frickin' laser...
1. A star is a fusion reactor. These reactors are fission powered.
2. If you are willing to play this name changing game you can find these sorts of things in damn near everything.
3. Fictional tales no matter how long ago they were written are not good predictors of future occurrences.
After reviewing your post, we've requested you turn in your physics badge.
fusion
fission
My concern about nuclear is that its pretty expensive. Projects done in the US can come to $9000 per kW, while wind at the outside, after factoring in efficiencies, lands around the $3000 per kW mark.
I'd question those figures, but let's say you're right. You're still comparing peak energy output, which is kinda dishonest given the disparity in service life between nuclear plants and windmills. A nuke plant is expected to operate for at least 40 years, and some have been licensed for as long as 60 years. A windmill lasts maybe 20 years, assuming it doesn't self destruct earlier in it's life-cycle. So even given your figures, the costs are comparable - and the wikipedia page you linked to quotes much lower figures for nuke plants.