Feature 1 | GREEN SHIP TECHNOLOGY
LR and partners back plug & play nuclear cassette
Tree significant players in the maritime market have joined forces with a land-based nuclear power provider to split the atom and crack the CO2 conundrum that the shipping world is currently grappling with.
S which will reduce the amount of CO2
hipping needs an “outpacing strategy” according to Lloyd’s Register (LR). Tat is a strategy that
is produced throughout the industry at a faster rate than the growth in emissions caused by growth in shipping demand. Global marine risk advisor Vince
Jenkins, part of LR’s technical directorate, believes that with the growth in shipping expected to be around 50% by 2050 the growth in CO2
emissions will be
comparable if no mitigation systems are used. Current green technologies, including LNG, reduce greenhouse gases by around 20-25%. If all ships reduced emissions by 25% the net growth in emissions would mean that in order to meet reduction targets the industry would need to further reduce emissions by around another 25-30% overall. A technology that could achieve this
would be, in Vince Jenkins’ terminology, an “outpacing technology”. Nuclear power is an answer to this greenhouse gas problem and one that a number of owners are considering. Mr Jenkins said that nuclear power could allow an 8000TEU container ship to reach 30knots “no problem” and with refuelling only taking place during dry docking the emission free ship could be realised within five years. A number of leading companies are
said to be interested in the benefits of nuclear fuel, including, Carnival, Shell, Cosco and Maersk. However, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, Maersk’s vice president of maritime technology, said that “Te perceived risk component [of nuclear power] is a much greater hurdle than the technological component”. Convincing a sceptical public of the
benefits of nuclear power on board vessels could be difficult. Even if the public were to be mollified, “Nuclear technology is not
40 Spyros Hirdaris, a senior specialist,
Strategic Research Group based at LR’s London office, is confident the team will be able to find the technological solutions that will make nuclear powered ships economically viable. Essentially the new technology is
Nuclear power offers shipping an “outpacing strategy” said Vince Jenkins of Lloyd’s Register’s technical directorate.
ready even if we think it’s a possibility,” said Mr Cerup-Simonsen. In fact Maersk are correct in that nuclear
technology is not ready and it is unlikely that it will ever be a major alternative to conventionally powered ships. As Mr Jenkins admits: “Te up front cost [of a nuclear powered ship] means that there won’t be thousands of nuclear ships, they will only be bought by a few leading, serious, players who understand the investment, it will not be fly-by-night operators.” With vessel costs “two to three
times” the cost of a conventional ship thousands of nuclear powered ships is unlikely, but hundreds of atomic vessels is not a pipedream, said LR. And the class society has joined a group of like minded organisations, BMT Nigel Gee, Enterprises Shipping and Hyperion Power Generation, that will be the driving force for a new generation of nuclear powered vessels operating from around five years time.
a land-based technology that will be developed by Hyperion and “marinised” for use aboard ships. “Te small modular reactor (SMR) will be a fourth generation nuclear reactor that will operate on uranium that has low enrichment, around 22% - that eliminates the threat of a terrorist bomb,” explained Mr Hirdaris. Most of the 600 or so nuclear powered vessels, currently operational, operate on pressurised water reactors (PWR) that use uranium that has been enriched to a level of 80% purity. Vessels designed with the SMR installed
will operate without refuelling between drydocking, up to 7.5 years in some cases. The power plant itself will be a steam turbine operated by the SMR, which uses uranium fuel and is cooled by a lead bismuth eutectic. That is lead with an added component that lowers its melting point. Natural convection will cool the core, but will maintain enough heat to keep the coolant molten. Using this design for a nuclear
powered container ship means that while strengthening of the hull structure and protection of the reactor will be necessary the ship will do away with the 18,000m3 for fuel storage and any other systems necessary for handling fuel on a modern vessel, such as HFO scrubbers for removing SOx emissions. Although the low enrichment of
the uranium fuel will reduce the attractiveness of the vessels to terrorists, other concerns will inform the design of a nuclear powered ship. Mr Jenkins said engines room will be mid-ship to dampen vibration and structures will
The Naval Architect January 2011
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