Slashdot Mirror
Will Future Nuclear Power Plants Float? (thebulletin.org)
Russia isn't the first country to launch a floating nuclear power plant. 50 years ago America's army built a floating nuclear power plant to supply energy to the Panama Canal Zone. Even though it's now being dismantled in Texas -- a four-year job -- China has plans to build as many as 20 floating nuclear power plants.
Gayle BAS quotes the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Proponents say that floating nuclear plants have major advantages over land-based power plants: They have easy access to cooling water and can be quickly installed near coastal cities with rapidly growing energy demands. And unlike other types of energy that produce relatively few climate-altering emissions, nuclear power plants can run 24/7.
But as with onshore nuclear reactors, the closely related issues of safety and economics could be showstoppers.
Gayle BAS quotes the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Proponents say that floating nuclear plants have major advantages over land-based power plants: They have easy access to cooling water and can be quickly installed near coastal cities with rapidly growing energy demands. And unlike other types of energy that produce relatively few climate-altering emissions, nuclear power plants can run 24/7.
But as with onshore nuclear reactors, the closely related issues of safety and economics could be showstoppers.
... the other half wants to take them off line.
This is a First World problem. There are few anti-nuke protests in India, and none in China. North America and Western Europe have zero to negative growth in energy demand, so they don't need new nukes anyway. Most future demand growth will be in Asia and Africa, and most of that demand will be within 200 km of the coastline.
These power ships solve much of the NIMBY problem. A big risk with land-based nuke plants is that they take a decade or more to build, and voters may cancel them before they are complete, leaving investors with a huge sunk cost. But floating nukes can be towed anywhere, so they can just sell the completed reactor to someone else.