it was going to be sleek, powerful, luxurious, fast,
this is the NS Savannah in
her glory days, she cost $50m and was launched 55 years ago this
week, after 5 years of fitting out she was ready to go, it was to be an ambassador of sorts - the world's first nuclear-propelled
merchant ship and a symbol of safety and faith in the fuel of the future, and
is preserved at the Savannah Association which works to preserve and protect
the decommissioned ship that now sits at a port in Baltimore, Maryland,
despite the excitement, the Savannah failed in its diplomatic
mission, the ambassadorial voyage ended a year later but Savannah had failed to
persuade the world that nuclear-powered ships were the future, just three other
nuclear merchant ships were built - the German oil transporter Otto Hahn;
Japan's freighter Mutsu; and the Russian ice-breaking container vessel
Sevmorput, like the Savannah, they are no longer in service, but all was not
lost, unlike the commercial shipping industry, the military did embrace
nuclear, of the estimated 700 nuclear-powered vessels which have seen service
over the years, including the 200 currently at sea, the majority are military
ships and submarines, dedicated Russian ice-breaking ships are the
only civilian examples, so why no
nuclear powered passenger ships?
costs, a ship with a nuclear reactor is always going to cost
more, while the US's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are all nuclear-powered, it
was decided that the UK's new Queen Elizabeth super-carrier would use a combination
of gas turbines - fuelled with kerosene - as well as diesel engines
instead for cost reasons, but there is a plus side when it comes to the cost of a nuclear vessel, the initial price of a nuclear-powered ship would be considerably
more, but because commercial uranium is cheaper than conventional fuels, the
fuel cost for a nuclear ship is much less, says John Carlton, professor of
marine engineering at City University, London, (pages 33 - 41 of his report), nuclear-powered vessels can go
years without refuelling, covering great distances, the Savannah was
capable of circling the planet 14 times at 20 knots without needing
additional fuel,
and this is the bit the greenies and tree hugers will really
like, nuclear power ships emit no CO2 and greenhouse gases, so will we see
a repeat of this week 55 years ago when a nuclear powered passenger ship is launched and it then cruises the
oceans? we will have to wait and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment