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Safe* Japanese Nuke Power

*Safe for Japan. China may tell a different story.
 
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Japan is basically an all-fault nation. You can't put a nuclear power plant anywhere that is safe from earthquakes or tsunamis. Or can you? I propose that, rather than build nuclear power plants on land, the Japanese build instead a fleet of submarines with onboard nuclear reactors, and keep them moored in the Sea of Japan well beneath the surface but above the seafloor. Then, run large extension cords from the subs to the surface, where they are hooked into the nation's power grid.

To make the Chinese less nervous, the subs should have non- stealthy diesel-electric engines for movement, with the nuke reactor inside (they aren't meant to be moved very often) and no missile ports. To protect the subs and contain any spills, they would be built within the confines of protective retaining walls, essentially massive swimming pools inset in the Sea.

21 Quest, Apr 24 2011

Offshore Nuclear Power http://www.wired.co...21/deep-sea-fission
Nuclear power plants built offshore by submarine manufacturers in France and Russia. [jurist, Apr 24 2011]

I Got Your Nuclear Reactor Right Here http://www.halfbake...ctor_20Right_20Here
Anno: If it was a submarine I think it could dive out of the way of a storm...
Even 21 Quest commented.
[ldischler, Apr 24 2011]

[link]






       I think it's been suggested before in the "real world", as opposed to on the 'Bakery, that nuclear subs be used as a source of power for some maritime nations. I think there might need to be rather a lot of them or that they'd have to be very large, though that needn't be a problem as such.
nineteenthly, Apr 24 2011
  

       I Googled a variety of relevant terms, such as "nuclear submarines for land power" and "submarine nuclear power" but didn't find anything close. Any search suggestions?
21 Quest, Apr 24 2011
  

       The link appears to be ALMOST exactly what I'm after. I still like my idea of the retaining wall, however, in case of a spill or meltdown, to prevent contamination of a large area of the sea.
21 Quest, Apr 24 2011
  

       Well, i only have a very hazy memory of what it was but it sounds familiar. It may have been linked to the plan to build tamper-resistant reactors for Third World countries, or that could be my imagination. For what it's worth, that particular idea seemed totally insane to me. How would the resources of an entire country be prevented from getting into one?
  

       Your idea has the merit of it being offshore, meaning it could probably be protected more easily elsewhere than in Japan too. A friendly country provides the sub and keeps control of it without it ever getting to the country's territory itself. That's a double-edged sword of course.
  

       With reference to the link, putting it on the seabed seems to defeat the object of your idea, so that doesn't make it baked at all.
  

       OK then, better bun it!
nineteenthly, Apr 24 2011
  

       But now instead of tsunamis damaging a land based reactor, they pick up the entire nuclear power station and dump it on the coastal city, very possibly destroying the reactor since subs aren't as tough as buildings. An improvement?
  

       EDIT: Unless the subs could be at a depth whereby the tsunami passed over them?
Germanicus, Apr 24 2011
  

       //tsunami passed over them//
  

       At sufficient water depth, a tsunami has a wave height of one meter or so, so nothing to worry about.
ldischler, Apr 24 2011
  

       The power can be transmitted to Earth by some sort of radiation like light or heat.
rcarty, Apr 24 2011
  

       The radiation can be captured as geo-pyrolised photosynthates, which are later burned for energy.
spidermother, Apr 24 2011
  
      
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