Mobile Nuclear Reactors Could Provide Power and Jet Fuel for Military, DARPA Says

aren't most US carriers and tactical subs already nuclear powered?

Interesting article. It leads to a question I've always had.

From my limited knowledge of nuclear subs and ships it appears they can go pretty much anywhere if the water is deep enough, dock at any port that is large enough to hold them and run for up to 25 years without refueling. So why not dock these things, similar to how you have these massive diesel generator barges and tie them into the electrical grid.

This would be a way of getting around all the environment issues with building a new nuclear plant. They have to conform to stricter regulation than a nuclear power plant and their reliability and endurance have been proven.

A country like Haiti could lease one of these considering all there power comes from diesel generators of all sizes.

Nothing green about the reasons behind this. It's purely to reduce the need for transporting supplies, particularly dangerous suupplies such as fuel.

Still, it's an excellent idea with a green result.

@deegeezee Yes, U.S. carriers are already nuclear-powered, and so (in theory) DARPA's idea could piggyback on those

I think to meet the power requirements for fuel production, they might have to add extra reactors to those ships. I don't know how much spare electrical capacity current carriers have.

Anything that reduces the need for supply convoys would be a big security improvement. Unfortunately this would not help our forces in the deserts of Afghanistan, since there are no seaports to dock the ships. Now if they could make a reactor small enough to be transported by Chinook helicopters (maybe in several pieces), this could be a great way to set up fuel and power outposts at our ground bases.

The Army already tried that. After the disaster at SL-1 (Idaho Falls) in 1961, it was decided that the Army couldn't operate reactors. Thanks to that disaster, we now have single rod subcritical withdrawl criteria.

Honestly, nuclear power is the answer. The Toshiba 4S is a good choice.

Well duh on the Army, their only good at shooting. It's the Navy with the brains to operate the nuke reactors.

Do it ! Good idea using existing certified plants with minimal implementation time. Next challenge please.

42.

Mobil power plants and destroyers fitted with chemical lasers equals mobile missile defense.

"Perhaps the biggest technical challenge is creating such small nuclear reactors in the first place."

Are you kidding? The Army, Air Force and Navy all had functioning small reactors like this prior to the Vietnam war. That "technical challenge" was solved more than half a century ago.

The science is here and now check out what babcock and wilcox is already doing. Go to Babcock.com then products and modular nuclear .. They are already making and marketing this technology!

I think this is a great idea, only we need more supplies for the reactors. Seawater, maybe?

If this works, I'd love to see commercial jets powered this way. Less fossil fuel use. :-)

Pebble-bed reactors would be the most logical choice so there is no catastrophic "melt down" problems like with other reactor designs.