The USS Enterprise was built in 1958 as the first generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, originally planned to build six, but for various reasons, only this one Enterprise was built.
However, this also laid the foundation for the United States to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, starting in 1968, the United States large-scale construction of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, nearly 40 years in the water more than a dozen, the largest of which is the Ford-class aircraft carrier, with a full load displacement of more than 100,000 tons.
The superiority of nuclear power is certainly needless to say, stronger than the combat capability of conventionally powered aircraft carriers.
For example, once the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is activated, there is no need to replenish power fuel for a short time, so the endurance and continuous combat capabilities are incomparable to ordinary aircraft carriers, as long as the carrier-based aircraft is replenished with aviation kerosene.
So the nuclear power performance is so superior, why is there no nuclear powered merchant ship?
In fact, since the 1950s, the United States, Japan and Europe have developed nuclear-powered merchant ships, but because of obvious shortcomings, they have gradually withdrawn from the historical stage.
So what are the disadvantages of nuclear-powered merchant ships? Let's start with the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship.
< H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > nuclear-powered commercial vessel Savannah</h1>
The Savannah was built in 1958 and officially commissioned in 1963, using a PW nuclear power system with a steam turbine rating of 16 MW and a sailing speed of 20 knots.
The Savannah is fueled once and can travel 3 million nautical miles continuously at a speed of 20 knots, which is equivalent to 138 circles around the earth. Therefore, with the blessing of nuclear power, the advantages of the Savannah are very obvious, not to mention the need for expensive fossil fuels, but also improve the efficiency of transportation.
But before it was 10 years, the Savannah was out of operation because the ship had been at sea for eight or nine years without making a single penny.
In 1968, the Savannah was last refueled, and because it exceeded the limit of the government's shipping subsidies, it had no choice but to withdraw from operation in 1972 and finally moved to Galveston.
Why not make money. Let's take a closer look at the Savannah's shortcomings.
Low freight volume
The Savannah is a passenger and cargo ship, with a total length of 187 meters and a width of 23.8 meters, with a full load displacement of 21,000 tons, don't look so powerful and strong, but it can only carry 60 passengers and 8,500 tons of cargo.
A small half of such a large hull is used to carry nuclear reactors. According to the data, its propulsion unit weighs 1150 tons, the sealing shell and shielding guard weigh 1900 tons, and the reactor system weighs 600 tons.
The power system weighing 3650 tons compresses the cargo volume of the cargo ship, which is fatal to the cargo ship, while the power system of the general cargo ship is only a few hundred tons,
High O&M costs
Although Savannah's nuclear fuel is cheap, and tens of kilograms of uranium can travel hundreds of thousands of nautical miles, it does not mean that it is cheap to sail once.
Ordinary 20,000-ton ocean-going cargo ships, the number of crew members is generally about 20 people, but the Savannah in order to maintain the nuclear power system, the number of crew members up to 120 people, not only increase the cost of the crew, but also reduce the number of passengers.
High construction costs
The Savannah was built at a cost of $46.9 million, of which more than 28 million was used for nuclear powertrains. What was the concept of more than $40 million in that era?
Today, you can buy two large tankers weighing 300,000 tons, and the remaining money can also buy 150,000 tons of heavy oil, which is enough for these two tankers to be scrapped, so the cost of nuclear-powered merchant ships is too high, even at present, there is no commercial significance.
The safety hazards are large
Because the United States detonated two atomic bombs in Japan, everyone will think of nuclear radiation when they mention nuclear energy, so the operation of nuclear-powered merchant ships is greatly restricted, and many ports are reluctant to let it anchor.
In Japan, in particular, it is almost "talking about nuclear discoloration", and the public is naturally disgusted with nuclear energy. In 1967, the Savannah planned to berth Japanese ports, and when an application was made to the Japanese government, the berthing plan was not approved under the opposition of the Japanese people.
In 1969, the Japanese-built Mutsu nuclear-powered test ship was launched, but it was also opposed by the public, and under serious protests, the Japanese government could only compromise and conduct a trial operation in the open sea, but there was still public opposition.
In August 1974, the Mutsu conducted another sea test, and it was not known whether it was affected by the typhoon, and the reactor had a minor nuclear leakage accident, which was widely reported by the media, causing great panic among the Japanese people, so the parade refused to return the Mutsu to port and anchor.
Under the compromise of the Japanese government, only a new port could be built, and a large amount of money was paid to the local people, and the Mutsu also drifted at sea for two months.
In 1991, Mutsu began to make test voyages around the Earth, with a range of 82,000 kilometers, and after obtaining various data, Mutsu was dismantled and scrapped in 1993.
Since then, nuclear-powered commercial vessels have slowly faded out of people's vision.
So in summary, nuclear-powered merchant ships are indeed more advanced, but the commercial market considers cost and profit, and the current nuclear power technology cannot be popularized to commercial use.
Perhaps after the miniaturization of nuclear reactors and the guarantee of safety, it can be applied not only to cargo ships, but also to cars, aircraft and even space shuttles and spacecraft, which can carry nuclear power systems.