Specialists say such nuclear plants would be much safer to operate than land-based ones

Apr 17, 2014 20:13 GMT  ·  By

In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, opposition against nuclear power has grown fairly strong. However, there are some who argue that, in order to limit climate change and global warming, it is mandatory that this energy source is not dismissed and instead exploited.

Looking to solve this problem, a team of researchers has come up with a new design for nuclear power plants that would be set in place offshore and that, they say, would be much safer to operate than land-based ones.

As detailed on the official website for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, these innovative facilities would be of the floating kind. Specifically, they would sit on platforms similar to those used when carrying out offshore oil drilling activities.

This design would make it possible for the nuclear plants to ride out tsunamis and easily handle earthquakes, meaning that the risks that the world might experience a new Fukushima-like disaster would be minimal, the specialists behind this project explain.

Besides, given the fact that these floating nuclear plants would be surrounded by seawater, cooling the reactor cores could be done without too many complications. Hence, the chances that a meltdown might occur would be pretty much slim to none.

“The biggest selling point is the enhanced safety,” says researcher Jacopo Buongiorno. “It's very close to the ocean, which is essentially an infinite heat sink, so it's possible to do cooling passively, with no intervention. The reactor containment itself is essentially underwater,” the specialist adds.

Researchers imagine these floating nuclear plants being built in shipyards, and then being towed to a certain location at a distance of about 5-7 miles (about 8-11 kilometers) from shore. Here, the facilities would be anchored to the seafloor, and underwater electric transmission lines would ensure connection with land.

Thanks to their fairly simple design, these floating nuclear plants could come in a wide variety of sizes. Thus, the smallest of them could have an energy generating capacity of 50 megawatts, whereas the biggest of the bunch would sport a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. “It's a flexible concept,” Jacopo Buongiorno stresses.

The scientists working on this project are to present their ideas during this week's Small Modular Reactors Symposium, hosted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Commenting on their work, specialist Toru Obara with the Tokyo Institute of Technology said that this is a “very attractive and promising proposal.”

“I think this is technically very feasible. Of course, further study is needed to realize the concept, but the authors have the answers to each question and the answers are realistic,” the Tokyo Institute of Technology researcher added.

Check out the video below to learn more about these concept floating nuclear plants, and feel free to share your thoughts on the idea to build such facilities in the comments section.