China is trying to make maritime history by foretell its architectural plan to develop the “ world ’s first ” nuclear - powered container ship . And it ’s not trivial ; if successfully work up , this thing would be Brobdingnagian and could represent a new era of nuclear - powered vessels .
The KUN-24AP was unveil at the Marintec China 2023 exposition in Shanghai by Jiangnan Shipyard , though at the time of committal to writing , item about this futuristic vas remain obscure . For one thing , there is only one ikon of it in circulation , a digital good example manifest the ship ’s size and scale ( it will apparently have a lading electrical capacity of 24,000 standard container ) . However , the unveiling also extend some insights into what could make KUN-24AP special , other than its enormity .
Revolutionary propulsion for sustainable shipping?
According to its developers , KUN-24AP will have a cutting - edge propulsion system of rules , with a molten salt reactor that use thorium as fuel . Th is a radioactive metallic element that is much more course abundant than U and is cheaper to utilise . As such , its role in the newfangled shipping vessel would mark a striking difference from ceremonious nuclear - powered ships , as atomic number 90 can maneuver at elevated temperatures and low imperativeness , thus requiring less pee for cooling and amaze a abject peril ofmeltdowns .
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At present , the vessel is intend for commercial-grade use , but , as with all nuclear technologies , it raises obvious care about itsdual - usepotential . That is – is China planning to utilise the same engineering for military purposes ?
Although this stay on a possibility , there are practiced reasons to suppose any applications would be set . Importantly , atomic number 90 - based molten salt nuclear reactor require more frequentmaintenance time interval . which would be impractical for many military purposes . Instead , Jiangnan Shipyard describes the nuclear - power vessel as an attempt to turn to the growing headache wall climate change and vitality conservation in the shipping manufacture . As Maritime Chinaexplained : “ The declare oneself pattern of super - heavy nuclear container ship will truly reach ' zero emissions ' during the operation cycle of this type of ship . "
China has been working on Th - base reactors for some clip , even after other country had give up . Thorium - based molten salinity reactors have had acontentioushistory , but China has already develop one in theGobi desertthat was licensed earlier this year .
The KUN-24AP reactor is meant to offer a range of benefits , include lower electrical circuit pressures , enhanced prophylactic features , and the ability to speedily cease operations if there is an accident .
But despite the claim that this new vessel will usher in a young earned run average of nuclear - power commercial shipping , there are still issues to conclude . Firstly , there are questions about the efficiency of a nuclear reactor that uses fluorinated salinity as a culture medium and whether the reactor get any possible environmental impacts . Only time will tell if these concern hold water .
Nevertheless , the announcement may well put China at the forefront of nautical applied science and could signal a massive tide change for future commercial shipping .
