Chinese shipbuilding industry

gelgoog said:

A really bad idea. If it was a PWR it would have been fine. But a molten salt reactor has several issues when used on a ship. Sodium ignites in contact with water, and if the reactor needs to be shut down for whatever reason, the sodium solidifies, and then you have to melt it to get the reactor working again.

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PWR are pressurized. Aka, they can explode if when there's any issues and you need large concrete structures to contain the reactor. A molten salt reactor should in theory be smaller, lighter and safer. Also this is likely using fluoride, not sodium. Sodium reactors are classified under liquid metal reactors. Pure sodium isn't a salt.

That said, I'm not sure if a nuclear container ship is a good idea. There's lots of commerical ports worldwide that don't allow nuclear ships to dock, there's always the risk of accidents and I'm not sure if I'll trust a shipping company to properly take care of a ship as it ages. Horrible management of aging ships being scrapped in 3rd world countries with poor safely records, abandoned or left to sail in such horrible conditions that a stiff breeze could sink it are way too common in this industry.

Also China doesn't even have a single nuclear ship in service today, not even an aircraft carrier or destroyer/cruiser or floating nuclear plant, this seems premature.

gelgoog said:

A really bad idea. If it was a PWR it would have been fine. But a molten salt reactor has several issues when used on a ship. Sodium ignites in contact with water, and if the reactor needs to be shut down for whatever reason, the sodium solidifies, and then you have to melt it to get the reactor working again.

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statement from the company ..

This ship type has high safety, the reactor operates at high temperature and low pressure, can avoid core melting in principle, and has anti-proliferation and inherent safety features. This ship type does not require high-pressure vessels and pipelines. Even if a breach accident occurs, it will solidify quickly at ambient temperature. After the accident, in addition to normal shutdown methods, the fuel salt can also be discharged from the reactor to achieve rapid shutdown to prevent the expansion of the accident...​

I just find it surprising if they are able to get molten salt reactor in shipping at this point. The technology is so new that it's hard for me to fathom being ready for ships.

Maybe they got it mistaken with pebble bed reactors?

by78 said:

Nuclear-powered container ships are on the horizon.

Jiangnan shipyard has unveiled the design of a large (24000 TEU) nuclear-powered container ship. According to

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, the ship is powered by molten-salt reactor(s).

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*Soon to be the only nuclear power plant in all of Germany*

tphuang said:

I just find it surprising if they are able to get molten salt reactor in shipping at this point. The technology is so new that it's hard for me to fathom being ready for ships.

Maybe they got it mistaken with pebble bed reactors?

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According to WeChat rumour mill, the Qinghua pebble bed reactor prototype has lots of issues.

What is the significance of AiP award/ certification by DNV? Does it mean this ship design (with its molten salt reactor) is safe for commercial opeartion if it is built?

vincent said:

According to WeChat rumour mill, the Qinghua pebble bed reactor prototype has lots of issues.

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but I wonder how they can get a molten salt reactor able to power such a large ship when the pilot one is only for 2 MWt

tphuang said:

but I wonder how they can get a molten salt reactor able to power such a large ship when the pilot one is only for 2 MWt

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Please correct me if I’m wrong, cargo ships have low speed requirements so they don’t need much power?

vincent said:

According to WeChat rumour mill, the Qinghua pebble bed reactor prototype has lots of issues.

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this is supposed to be 4th generation nuclear reactors and this technology is complex, most countries have given up on trying to develop it after decades of fruitless efforts.

The only two ongoing such reactors in China are demo reactors in Gansu, one is a 10MWt solid state fuel, the other is 2MWt liquid fuel.. it will take sometime before this reactor being able to use in ships. first need to scale up these reactors.

Testing is in full speed, state is involved in this project. this new reactor is likely to use a radioactive metal called thorium, which is abundant and inexpensive in China.

i believe CSSC just proposed this model as future container ship.

vincent said:

Please correct me if I’m wrong, cargo ships have low speed requirements so they don’t need much power?

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Large container ships are 230k+ tons so they still need a decent power plant, typically 75 000+ hp.
With 30-40% efficiency of a Nuclear power plant you need a 150MWt reactor (Ballpark number).
I do not think a Civilian Nuclear powered cargo ship is going to happen, It was a popular idea in the 1960s but it have to many downsides. For starters you will need to guard it 24/7 to stop Terrorists or even regular pirates from seizing the ship. Many countries/ports will not allow them to enter, risk of accidents with collisions etc etc.
The only "Cargoships" i could see going Nuclear in the future would be fast combat support ships like the