The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers

Proceedings of ICONE19 19th International Conference on May 16-19, 2011, Chiba, Japan

ICONE19-43821

NUCLEAR POWERED SHIPS – Findings from A FEASIBILITY STUDY

Shunichiro Namikawa Morten Bremer Maerli Det Norske Veritas Technical Center Japan Det Norske Veritas Research and Innovation Kobe, Japan Oslo, Norway Phone : +81 78 291 1305, Fax : +81 78 291 1330 Phone : +47 6757 9900, Fax : +47 6757 9911 [email protected] [email protected]

Peter Nyegaard Hoffmann Erik Brodin Det Norske Veritas Research and Innovation Det Norske Veritas Approval Ship and Offshore Oslo, Norway Oslo, Norway Phone :+47 6757 9900, Fax : +47 6757 9911 Phone : +47 6757 9900, Fax : +47 6757 9911 [email protected] [email protected]

Keywords: Ship, Nuclear, Feasibility, Safety, Security, Socio-Politic, Technical, Commercial

One of the agenda of COP15 in Copenhagen in December ABSTRACT 2009 was GHG emissions from international shipping and Nuclear shipping is attractive for several reasons, one of aviation, but at last no political agreements were made on this which is its positive effect on emissions (CO2, NOx and SOx). topic in the Copenhagen Accord The benefits, however, do not come without risks of possible World trade is totally dependent on maritime transport, harmful effects on humans and wildlife. which transports more than 80 % of the global cargo Nuclear ships set themselves apart from conventional ships, volume[1]. Maritime transportation is also energy efficient as well as from on-shore -plants, on several and has low emissions per transported ton-km. In fact, counts. 1) The reactor-unit are non-stationary, and the reactor international shipping is responsible for about 2.7 % of the is subject to the ship motions. 2) Ship reactors must be global CO2 emissions, Fig.1. compact due to space constraints. 3) Special design considerations are required to ensure reactor safety and security, as well as to enable refuelling. 4) A naval nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure for fuel fabrication, handling, and disposal is needed. Technological feasibility of nuclear shipping is by itself inconclusive to a expansion into civilian applications and use. Civilian nuclear propulsion needs to be commercially viable and politically acceptable. Appropriate legislation must be in place, and nuclear shipping concepts with proven safety records and highest possible -resistance must be established. Possible “showstoppers” to a viable nuclear civilian shipping industry are outlined in the paper in view of Political, Technical, Regulatory, Commercial, Safety Fig.1: Emission from shipping compared with global and Security aspects. Further, different types of ships with CO2 emissions [2] different propulsion system are compared in lights of life cycle cost and air emission. 2. POTENTIAL ENERGY SOURCES FOR SHIPPING There are several methods by which the CO2 emissions 1. INTRODUCTION from international shipping could be reduced. Climate change is one of the largest challenges currently Wind: The energy density from wind is low. It is not a facing mankind. A dominant contributor to climate change is permanent source with a steady state energy flux,. This the greenhouse effect caused by elevated levels of option is only usable as an energy saving contribution. greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. 1 Copyright © 2011 by JSME

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Sun: The energy flux from the sun at sea level is less than 3.2 Naval nuclear propulsion plants 2 1kW/m , hence a VLCC, for example, will receive less than Typically, naval nuclear propulsion plants use a 20MW, which is less than the main engine output today. In pressurized water reactor (PWR) design that includes two the winter, during t