A floating

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

is a floating power station that derives its energy from a

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

. Instead of a stationary complex on land, they consist of a floating structure such as an offshore platform, barge or conventional ship. Since the reactors employed are smaller in size and power than most commercial land-based reactors, mostly derived from nuclear ship and

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

power plants, the power output is generally a fraction of a conventional nuclear power plant, usually around 100MWe, although some are planned to have as much as 800MWe. The advantage of such power plants is their relative mobility and their ability to deliver in-situ

electric power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

"on demand" even to remote regions, since they can be moved or towed to position with relative ease within large water bodies, and then docked with coastal facilities to transfer the produced power and heat to a land

power grid ''Power Grid'' is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'', designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004. ''Power Grid'' was released by Rio Grande Games. I ...

. However, environmental groups are concerned that floating nuclear power plants are more exposed to accidents than onshore power stations and also pose a threat to marine habitats.

History

20th century

The first floating nuclear power station was the MH-1A, using

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan, India and Canada). In a PWR, water is used both as ...

built in a converted

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

, which achieved criticality in 1967. Proposals to build a floating nuclear power plants off the coast of New Jersey and off Jacksonville, Florida were considered in the 1970's but ultimately scrapped.

21st century

In the 21st century, Russia has been a leader in the development of floating nuclear power stations. On 14 September 2019, Russia’s first floating nuclear plant, ''

Akademik Lomonosov ''Akademik Lomonosov'' () is a non-self-propelled power barge that operates as the first Russian floating nuclear power station. The ship was named after Russian Academy of Sciences, academician Mikhail Lomonosov. It is docked in the Pevek harb ...

'', arrived at its permanent location in the Chukotka region. It began operation on 19 December 2019. In 2022, the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

funded a three-year study to research offshore floating nuclear power generation. That same year, NuScale Power and Canadian company Prodigy announced a joint project to develop a North American

small modular reactor The small modular reactor (SMR) is a class of small nuclear fission reactor, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation, and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The term SMR refers t ...

-based floating plant. Samsung and UK-based Core Power are also exploring the use of compact

molten salt reactor A molten-salt reactor (MSR) is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a mixture of molten salt with a fissile material. Two research MSRs operated in the United States in the mid-20th ...

technology for floating platforms, with Samsung proposing a modular power barge capable of producing up to 800 MWe.

Advantages

Floating nuclear power plants offer several benefits: * They require little to no land use and minimal concrete construction. * They are resistant to earthquakes. * They can be relocated, refueled, refurbished, and decommissioned with relative ease. * They are surrounded by water, which can be used for both active and passive cooling. * They can provide power to remote areas where conventional plants may not be practical.

Footnotes

External links