Plans for Nuclear-Powered 24,000 TEU Containership Unveiled in China
▻https://gcaptain.com/nuclear-powered-24000-teu-containership-china
Photo courtesy CSSC
China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has unveiled plans for what could potentially become the world’s largest nuclear-powered containership.
Plans for the 24,000-TEU-class ship was unveiled Tuesday at Marintec China expo in Shanghai. The vessel will utilize a fourth-generation Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) to generate electricity.
“The ultra-large nuclear container ship is designed to truly achieve ‘zero emissions’ during the ship’s operating cycle,” CSSC said in a Weibo post.
Classification society DNV was reportedly on hand for the launch ceremony to issue an approval-in-principle to CSSC shipyard Jiangnan Shipbuilding.
“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,” CSSC’s Weibo post said (translated using Google Translate).
Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are a type of small scale modular nuclear reactors that use a liquid mixture of salts as both the fuel and the coolant. The fuel, which is dissolved in the salt, allows for better control and efficiency in the nuclear reaction, providing improved safety and potential for higher fuel utilization.
