

A rare view of Russia's floating nuclear power station - Garbage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11371536

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tuacker
How exactly do they plan to get all that energy back to Russia?

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bradleyland
They don't. It's going to supply power for arctic exploration projects.

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Swizec
And now for something completely different ...

Ok so it was big news last year (or so?) when Google announced floating data
centers. Leave it to the Russians to one-up everyone in technology -> a
floating nuclear power plant.

This is brilliant on so many levels it's beyond belief:

    
    
      1. Readily available coolant system
      2. In case of catastrophy, few humans are hurt
      3. Nuclear waste? Encase in lead and some concrete, drop overboard. 
         Nobody will care.
      4. Townspeople don't want a nuclear plant near them? What townspeople!?
    

Endlessly brilliant.

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bradleyland
The Russians weren't the first to float a nuclear reactor. See also, nuclear
submarine, nuclear aircraft carrier.

Each Nimitz class aircraft carrier has two A4W reactors on board capable of
generating over 200 MW of power with a service life of 20 years. That's enough
to power around 60,000 homes. In the video, they mention supplying 45,000
people for 12 years, but no mention of MW output.

It's a good idea, but a couple of the problems you mention aren't exactly
solved by floating the reactor in the ocean.

2\. In the event of a failure, yes, only the people on board would be injured
in the blast, but that's the case with most land-based reactors as well.
Reactors don't blow up like nuclear bombs because the reaction isn't as
focused. The fizzle out with a big glow and a huge emission of radiation.
Bottom line is that it isn't all that much different from a land-based
reactor, unless said reactor is downtown in an urban center.

3\. I can't believe you're even suggesting that. Don't you think there is some
reason we don't package up all our existing nuclear waste and dump it in the
ocean?

The component of reactor failure that affects the most people is fallout. When
a reactor fizzles out, it spews massive amounts of radiation in to the
atmosphere. That radiation attaches to dust particles, which can travel
hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles. With a nuclear reactor floating
around in the arctic, we have good reason to be concerned. The arctic is the
shortest path from Russia to the US. The question is, what are the atmospheric
patterns in the arctic? I don't know, but I'm definitely looking in to it.

