Nuclear Power

Do you believe that nuclear reactors rather than fuel oil diesels might power passenger ships in the foreseeable future? The two largest obstacles which I see are initial cost and public fear. In the US all of our aircraft carriers are now nuclear powered so there is a 50-year track record of safety and reliability in marine applications. (The public sentiment in the States was leading toward acceptance of nuclear electrical power generation until the Fukishima incident.)

There was one civilian ship - NS Savannah - so powered but it was part of a US Government project. I'm not aware of any shipyard being equipped to build nuclear powered ships outside of those for military purposes.

I recall seeing a proposal for a 'pebble bed' nuke module that would match the size and output of a standard LM2500 gas turbine module. I don't believe it went any further than the 'back of the envelope' calculations presented in the article [about ten years ago, in the USNI Proceedings]

Dear BlueRiband,

I firmly believe that sometime in the not too distant future we'll have a nuclear powered cruise ship. We simply just cant keep burning oil on land, in the air and and at sea and nuclear is an obvious alternative choice. There is precedence with commercial and military platforms - a Russian nuclear icebreaker already offers limited cruising opportunities. The technology exists and is proven. The latest Royal Navy submarine has a nuclear reactor the size of a small car that will never need refuelling. The biggest problems will be acceptance by those who travel and the countries the ships will visit. These are huge problems but I am sure solutions will eventually be found.

I initiated a forum about this subject at the Royal Academy of Engineering where I am a Fellow and the final report has just been published.

Thank you for your question.

Stephen