Rising Fuel Costs Could Lead to Nuclear-Powered Ships

By New Scientist, [RxPG]

Kudrik also thinks the US is being optimistic about how much nuclear reactors will reduce the need for ships to moor in potentially unfriendly ports. The very high-pressure water coolant in such reactors often leaks, meaning the reactor has to be shut down while the craft pulls into a nearby port for repairs.


ON 12 October 2000, the destroyer USS Cole hove into port at Aden in Yemen for routine refuelling.

As the vessel took on fuel oil, a small boat drew alongside it. Suicide bombers inside the boat detonated a cache of explosives, blasting a 20-metre hole in the destroyer's hull and killing 17 of its crew.

The attack was a stark reminder of the risks the crews of naval ships face when they are forced to put in at potentially unfriendly ports.

Now some members of Congress believe they have a way to keep ships out of harm's way and prevent similar incidents happening in the future. A bill recently passed by the House of Representatives aims to make many more of the ships in the US naval fleet nuclear powered, including amphibious assault ships that carry troops into combat. The benefit will be two-fold, argue proponents of the bill. Rocketing oil prices make nuclear power an economic way of funding naval expeditions, and thanks to the slow burn of the highly enriched nuclear fuel in marine reactors, ships will have no need to pull into potentially hostile ports to refuel.

However, critics claim the presence of a nuclear reactor on a ship would make it a terrorist target. It beggars belief in these days of heightened terrorism alerts that people are seriously suggesting building nuclear-powered assault ships, says Ben Ayliffe, head of anti-nuclear campaigns at Greenpeace in the UK.

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