Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Russia wants to Build Floating Nuclear Power Plants


The world is hungry for power, and while clean energy sources keep getting more competitive by the year, there's the pressing need of power requirements right now. Russia is considering an interesting take on the subject with floating nuclear power plants that can power up an small city - or even serve as a clean water source by acting as a floating desalination plant capable of providing 240,000 cubic meters of fresh water every day.

Of course, safety issues are paramount, and these vessels are designed to resist crashes with other boats and structures, rough weather, and all sorts of threatening situations. But the idea of having a "portable power plant" you can move around and place where it's needed the most seems so logical that it's surprising it took so long for it to pop up.

Sure, you might be worrying about the horrifying perspective of a catastrophic scenario where such a vessel would sink and originate an ecological disaster. But maybe you need to keep in mind that nuclear ship have been crossing the oceans for decades... and each and every single one of them (not to mention the military ships and atomic submarines) poses similar or even greater risks.

It might not yet be the clean power source we'd all like to have, but it certainly is something we can build today and use in situations no other viable alternatives are available.

2 comments:

  1. It will not be the First "Portable Power Plant". In 2002 the Sultana del Este was build, a floating fossil fuels power plant (148.5 MW)

    http://www.industryabout.com/caribbean/dominican-republic/759-dominican-republic-fossil-fuels-energy/7700-sultana-del-este-barge-oil-power-plant

    Other "portable power plants":
    http://www.karadenizenergy.com/Pages.aspx?Language=English&Site=&Menu=Powership%20Fleet&PageID=169

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If a floating nuclear power plant causes concerns, I don't even want to imagine how one burning fossil fuel would affect the surrounding environment.

      But thanks for the reference! :)

      Delete

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