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The bar's wine rack was inspired by the chart of the nuclides (bottom left). Clocks gave the time in locations around the world, a nod to the Savannah's international mission (bottom right). The service ship would have helicopter pads, firefighting equipment, rescue booms, workboats, autonomous surface vehicles and airborne drones, cranes, laboratories and a lecture lounge, the company said. Nuclear-powered ships could be coming to the world of cruising — but with a twist.
Concept
Nuclear power plants have been used on military ships but almost never on passenger ships. A single nuclear-powered cargo vessel that also carried a small number of passengers, the NS Savannah, debuted in 1959 and operated for several years. It was built as a demonstration project with funding from the U.S. government.
Cruises to Antarctica
In December of 1953, the very future of the world seemed to be in question. The Soviet Union had just detonated its first thermonuclear weapon. A year before, the United States had tested its own ten-megaton device on a remote Pacific island. The blast was so powerful, it wiped the island from the face of the Earth. The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it instructed officials to gather information about the launch and ensure the safety of aircraft and vessels.
NS Savannah
NPR correspondent Geoff Brumfiel boards the NS Savannah, a nuclear passenger ship built in the late 1950s as part of a U.S. program to illustrate the positive uses of nuclear energy. "The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future," Eisenhower told the assembled diplomats. Specializing in polar voyages, Quark Expeditions knows a thing or two about the northern lights, which is why the company offers aurora sailings each fall.
Muren acknowledged that it could take some time to get cruise operators and political authorities comfortable with the idea of using nuclear power for cruise ship-related operations. However, she expects the cruise world will eventually embrace the idea of battery-run vessels charged with nuclear-generated energy. The twist is that the reactor wouldn't be located on the cruise ship itself, but on a separate service vessel. The service vessel would recharge electric batteries on the cruise ship every few days.
Nuclear power could be the future of expedition cruises - CNN
Nuclear power could be the future of expedition cruises.
Posted: Fri, 03 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
A passenger stateroom included a porthole with a view, as well as a sofa, desk, bed and bathroom. "It's so important to start now, because the more we wait, the longer it will [take] before we are there," Muren said. "Thorium is a much nicer substance, and it produces very little waste compared to uranium [used in other reactors]," she said. "With uranium, you have a lot of waste that you have to take care of for ... thousands of years. For thorium, it is a couple of hundred years." Muren noted that thorium has relatively low radioactivity and produces radioactive waste that is easier to manage than the radioactive waste from more traditional uranium reactors.
In early April, North Korea also test-launched what it called a solid-fuel intermediate-range missile with hypersonic warhead capabilities, a weapon that experts say is meant to attack remote targets in the U.S. The Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly condemned the launches, saying they were a “clear provocation” that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula. It said it will maintain readiness to “overwhelmingly” respond to North Korean provocations in step with its military alliance with the United States. Prepare to embark on an experience like you’ve never had before. When you cruise to Antarctica, you get to take in breathtaking views and infinite beauty from the comfort of your balcony or the top-deck.
Andrew McKeran, chief commercial officer at Lloyd’s Register, a U.K.-based maritime consulting firm, noted during the Seatrade panel that the industry’s perspectives on carbon emissions have been quick to evolve. Among the several important takeaways about nuclear-powered ships learned from the operation of the Savannah, the largest was safety concerns. The Savannah often required special permits to dock in foreign ports, and certification processes were lengthy. Even today, some countries, like New Zealand, have total bans on nuclear-powered ships in their territorial waters. The ship's reactor control room sits next to the turbines that the nuclear reactor powers (top).
The Savannah is the only nuclear-powered merchant ship the U.S. ever built, and the only nuclear vessel in the world designed with passengers in mind. As NPR's chief correspondent for all things atomic, I've wanted to see her for years. Over the course of 13 days, a luxurious Viking ocean ship transports guests from London to Amsterdam, then all the way up the coast of Norway and north of the Arctic Circle, before returning back south to the Norwegian city of Bergen. (Although some sailings operate in reverse.) The Norwegian fjords themselves are a sight to behold — and if they're paired with the northern lights, that's all the better! The sailings run from January to March when daylight is limited in the Arctic Circle, making for prime aurora opportunities.
As for the LFRs, in the unlikely event of an accident, the liquid lead in the reactor solidifies upon contact with cold water, effectively encapsulating the reactor core. Harnessing nuclear power for cruise ships promises a shift from traditional fossil fuel reliance and expedited decarbonization of an industry under increasing scrutiny for its carbon footprint. The cruise industry has been challenged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Home to an active volcano and eight nesting seabirds, Deception Island is a wildlife lover’s paradise. The largest group of penguins in Antarctica, and possibly the world, is located here. This is your chance to witness tens of thousands of chinstrap penguins waddling about and slipping in and out of the frigid waters. The bridge of the NS Savannah, equipped with weather and communication instruments, would send orders to the reactor control room. “We understand that public perceptions of nuclear fear are mixed,” he said, adding that there are “misplaced fears around legacy nuclear.” But, he said, a newer generation of guests might be less encumbered with prejudice about nuclear. It could only be done from the reactor's control room (a similar button on the bridge would simply turn on a light below).
"It is, in effect, a crucial piece of infrastructure to support sustainable and safer operations. Thor literally has the power to change our entire industry." The all-electric cruise vessel that Ulstein proposes would be about 328 feet long and carry up to 80 passengers and 80 crew. It would be built extra tough to operate in polar areas with ice (it would have a 1C ice class rating).
From an observation deck, passengers could look down into the engine room and watch the reactor control room operators at work. The Savannah's dining room (top) could serve passengers or visitors to the ship. It featured atomic light fixtures (bottom left) and atom-themed dinnerware (bottom right). Last fall, its nuclear reactor was removed as part of its decomissioning. "Thor enables replenishment of energy and supplies on site, while also boasting the technology to facilitate rescue operations, as well as conducting research tasks," the line said in a press release issued at the time of the announcement.
In the last year, cruise companies have released concepts that use anything from wind power to biofuels and hydrogen-powered fuel cells. “Where I see nuclear potentially fitting in [to the cruise industry] is a potential future retrofit. Cruise ships have relatively long lives, and they already undergo periodic refits to update passenger amenities. It could be possible to envision rebuilding the power source to be nuclear [during a regular refit],” Menzies said during the panel.
A backup auxiliary motor run off of diesel power kept the ship going while engineers restarted the reactor. Ugo Salerno of RINA shared, “The improvement of fuel efficiency and vessel design is already giving good results in reducing shipping footprint. But, in order to reach the targets fixed for this industry, we need alternative fuels with low carbon content from well to waste. As part of the agreement, the three will combine their expertise to conduct an in-depth study into potential nuclear applications for the shipping and cruise industry. This includes examining the viability of integrating Newcleo’s state-of-the-art lead-cooled small modular reactors (SMR) technology. A small amount of enriched uranium emits heat, which is used to drive a steam engine that can power a ship’s propulsion and onboard electricity.
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