Off the Siberian coast, not far from Alaska, a Russian ship has been docked at port for four years. The Akademik Lomonosov, the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, sends energy to around 200,000 people on land using next-wave nuclear technology: small modular reactors.
This technology is also being used below sea level. Dozens of US submarines lurking in the depths of the world’s oceans are propelled by SMRs, as the compact reactors are known.
SMRs — which are smaller and less costly to build than traditional, large-scale reactors — are fast becoming the next great hope for a nuclear renaissance as the world scrambles to cut fossil fuels. And the US, Russia and China are battling for dominance to build and sell them.
The Biden administration and American companies are plowing billions of dollars into SMRs in a bid for business and global influence. China is leading in nuclear technology and construction, and Russia is making almost all the world’s SMR fuel. The US is playing catch-up on both.
That’s a weird thing to say, considering we’ve had nuclear power plants inside submarines since 1958.
Yeah, it’s pretty common for subs/ships at Pearl harbor to supply power back to the Hawaiian grid in the case of a blackout.
It honestly could be done at any naval base, but most of them would not be able to meet the needs of the larger urban areas they dock at.
Ah, but they’re not floating. They’re sinking, but controlled sinking.
The special thing about submarines isn’t that they can go underwater. It’s that they can come back up.