This has been done before,in the 1920s the USS Lexington, an electromotive aircraft carrier, was hooked up to Seattle to provide power when a hydro plant went dry in a drought.
Russia and China have NUCLEAR ones in service
Great! There’s plenty of precedent for floating nuclear reactors. Just look at any modern aircraft carrier or navy submarine. The US Navy operates hundreds of nuclear reactors at sea with a perfect safety record.
If it has a meltdown and you sink it it would be pretty safe as long as you’re not right in the coast right? Water blocks radiation and forces from an explosion pretty well
There’s gotta be a way for the navy to commercialize reactor ships and use them for freight. Even if it means a crew of navy engineers on each freighter. I’d take the remote possibility of a nuclear incident in the middle of the Pacific, or even a dirty-bomb or two. Either one is going to cause less destruction than bunker fuel.
Absolutely! Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest options, and it’s a superior option for a floating power station.
I heard this can almost power a selfhosted AI
One step closer to the AI spacecraft and habitats in Iain M. Bank’s Culture novels.
One more step, only a googolplex to go.
I too have been known to get the powerships after a few nights of blackouts.
That’s interesting! There also exists a similar thing for 18 wheelers
Old diesel locomotives have been repurposed similarly, since they’re literally a 3000hp generator and fuel tank on wheels.
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Oh great, this terrible idea is actually going into works
It’s often a disaster recovery type of thing.
That makes sense. In an earlier climate conference some oil billionaires had a similar idea, but instead to create artificial scarcity and drive energy prices up by moving the power plant to the highest bidder
Some countries depend on them, Dominican republic for example. According to the locals it’s been reliable except during hurricanes, but that’s an extreme.
Isn’t that a rather inefficient solution?
Seems like it was what they could afford. It puts the plant right near the core of the city where it’s most needed, and right next to the fuel transfer station for the whole island makes logistics yet simpler.
Why it’s floating vs on land, I truly don’t know. I expect it’s because the city was already historical and built up (the DR being Columbus’ first landing place in the Americas).
Oh cool
It’s supposed to be an emergency solution.
However, megawatts of power generation isn’t exactly something that can be thrown together in a couple weeks. It can take months to stabilize a grid to the pint the ship can disengage.
Edit: mega, not kilo. I was thinking too small.
I think you’re looking for megawatts
Yep, I did mean that. Thanks!
Wait until you hear about Floating nuclear power plants.
We already have floating nuclear power plants and we’ve never had an issue with one (in the US at least). Look at any modern aircraft carrier or naval submarine. Many of them are able to be connected to shore and power nearby buildings in emergencies.
Floating nuclear power plants would be safer in disasters than ones on land if anything. We literally use water to block the radiation since it’s so effective at it.
The article on Nimitz class carriers is a great Wikipedia rabbit hole to dive into.
I remember watching a youtube video about what i think was a large land train built by Russia that was a portable nuclear power station.
That is awesome
This was an excellent read, thank you for linking that Wikipedia article. I never knew about these and they are cool af
