This could eventually supply electricity to between 100 000 and 1 million homes around the coast through submarine cables.
The DCNS ('Naval Group') company has adapted one of its submarine models to house a small-sized reactor — 100m in length and 15m wide, controlled remotely, lying 60 to 100 meters underwater and monitored from on-shore.
In January 2011 the French military company DCNS announced that it plans to install small nuclear reactors in submarines, anchored off the French coast, each of which can provide power to about 85,000 homes connected by submarine cable.
'All these reasons make underwater nuclear power stations an idea worth investigating.' said Dr. Jacques Chénais, an engineer at France’s Atomic-Energy Commission.
That way, the biggest issues that most nuclear plants face under emergency conditions, such as overheating and potential meltdown, as it happened at Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island, are practically impossible at sea.
Surrounded by relatively deep water, the floating power plant would have permanent nearby access to the sea for cooling and a large lower section of the structure would be permanently flooded to provide passive cooling to the reactor containment vessel.
If a submarine reactor would be positioned deep, about 100 metres inside water, it would not even be affected by storms.
It would be tsunami-proof, too. Tsunamis become destructive waves when they reach shallow water, but instead, in the ocean they are only small ripples.
It would also make them safer. A reactor anchored on the seabed would never lack emergency cooling, the problem that caused the Fukushima meltdown.
Marine stations could be mass-produced in factories using the techniques of the shipyard, with crews constantly employed and that would make power stations manufacturing at sea cheaper, significantly more cost-efficient than those on land.
Floating nuclear plants based on an offshore platform similar to those used by the oil industry provide various advantages over on-shore nuclear plants.
It looks like Diesel engines, which are polluting the air with CO2 and NOX emissions will soon be a thing of the past. Emission-free navigation is already around the corner.
Nuclear energy has proved to be a secure energy source and its use for electricity generation is free of CO2 emissions.
The use of this technology on ships, for example, is extremely convenient and sustainable, making possible to sail without diesel.
Starting from any source of renewable energy, such as wind or solar energy, the new technology is safe, environmentally friendly, has unlimited storage capability, is stable for long time, is compatible with existing infrastructure, is cost-efficient and provides clean energy.
The stored hydrogen is not volatile and does not discharge. And the carrier substance can be charged and recharged whenever needed.
At the basis of the new technology is a Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier, an oil-like substance such as dibenzyltoluene, that binds the hydrogen chemically. The storage of hydrogen in LOHC is possible at an ambient temperature of 20°C and under ambient pressure of 1 bar.
An innovative technology may change the game in the energy market. The new Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) storage technology makes it safe to handle hydrogen as an energy source. And large amounts of hydrogen can be stored, transported and used without any risk.
Hydrogen produced from renewable electricity via water electrolysis and usage of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC) is very suitable for long distance transport.
Mainly produced in the past from fossil sources, today hydrogen provides new low-carbon pathways to take advantage of clean, renewable energy sources, such as solar, or wind or bio-fuel, for example.
Hydrogen is not a source of energy, but instead it is an energy carrier and can be produced from a wide variety of energy sources.
Hydrogen is a great alternative as a fuel and the related low carbon technology is already available today. Using hydrogen combustion, no CO2, atmospheric particulate matter or sulfur oxides are released.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel with an important role in a sustainable energy future.
The technology developed to convert gas into a liquid, storing it at very low temperatures compressed to 600 times its original volume and then transporting it by tanker, rail or truck to destination and then converting it back into gas is an innovation in energy trade today.
The burning of natural gas generates 30% less carbon dioxide (CO2) than fuel oil and 45% less than coal. With a combination of low cost and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, LNG is a very promising practical solution for the future.
As a matter of fact, natural gas is a complementary solution in an energy mix with renewable energies (solar, wind power, biomass) to produce electricity or fuel.
LNG is the cleanest fossil fuel. It represents a good alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help fight global warming.
Natural gas in liquid form (LNG) is the cleanest burning hydrocarbon and an important source of energy.
Because Bill Gates was so busy to convince investors to put their money in the 'Traveling Wave Reactor', he probably missed to learn about the many new alternatives for CO2-almost free fuel already available today.
The 'fake' value of fabricated video presentations was already highly showcased by the satellite company of Bill Gates, LinkedIn.
So far, all experiments have been done in the lab. The fact that the company shows others a video simulation of how it could work is not proof that it will really work in this way.
Nobody ever has seen a working version of the new-old nuclear 'Traveling-wave Reactor'.
They will be unlikely able to compete with already existing nuclear reactor designs which are being developed by professional American companies in industrial settings.
But even if the most optimistic scenario will happen, the TWRs are at high risk of being economically and technologically obsolete much before commercialization.
Even if in a few years a prototype of the new-old kind of reactor could be available and working, the way to transform it into a viable, economically worth product will be very long.
The Japanese reactor 'Monju' was connected to the grid in 1995, and had a sodium leak and fire in 1995. It was closed until May 2010, restarted for testing, underwent a new serious accident in August 2010 and since then, has been closed forever.
The French demonstration reactor 'Superphénix' was operated at an average capacity factor of less than 7% for 10 years before being shutdown in 1996, without being reopened again.
Sodium-cooled reactors have an unpredictable future and a full of contradiction history. Some TWRs have operated, while most have performed poorly.
Sodium chloride is highly inflammable in contact with oxygen. The risk of sodium leaks resulting in fire is what led to the emergency shutdown of a 'Traveling Wave Reactor' (TWR) in Japan in 1995.
The problem with nuclear waste after Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters is still a big concern that goes ahead in the future.
Breed and burn reactors would require much less enriched uranium and could keep the reaction active for long time. But the benefits of using this model have never been proved to exceed the high risks.
TerraPower chose to start its own nuclear reactor based on a model developed more than 40 years ago, using nuclear waste as a fuel, and sodium chloride as a coolant, with high risk of burning.
The concept of a breed and burn reactor was developed by Russian scientists many years ago after a theoretical model of Dr. Edward Teller, the Father of H-bomb.
The TerraPower company with back investment from Bill Gates came into existence with the goal to find 'a cheap and cleaner' alternative to fossil fuel.
'The last new nuclear reactor built in the United States was about 30 years ago, and companies just didn’t invest in making new designs if nobody was going to build them.” he said.
Nathan Myhrvold has started TerraPower company that had already raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build a “traveling wave reactor“.
And if you want to look down into the 'crème-de-la-crème' of his 'Modernist Cuisine', you can see in the trendy kitchen a model of a nuclear reactor.
the 'New York Magazine' revealed in July 2017.
Nathan Myhrvold was trying to sell people the idea to mitigate global warming by pumping sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, mirroring the cooling effect caused by large volcanic eruptions and also testing the theory that the brontosaurus communicated by whipping its tail,
The audience is not supposed to be technically knowledgeable, so presenting video films filmed in a lab in TED talks it's enough.
Nathan Myhrvold is not responsible to determine whether these ideas really work, He is an expert, so his job is to make TED presentations about almost every subject.
Nathan Myhrvold is not concerned that his ideas are not ready to be implemented.
'Intellectual Ventures' owns about 30,000 patents, many of which are used by Microsoft.
He is a merchant of ideas, not a creator of products. He is busy with storehousing patents, enforcing intellectual-property rights, and selling patented ideas of others to tech companies to use.
Nathan Myhrvold is a Ph.D. theoretician graduated from Princeton.
Ultimately, Bill Gates is ready to take credit for any new technology that shows great potential for investing other people's money in his philanthropic fund.
Bill Gates didn't catch the huge potential of the Internet and the Web. This of course didn't prevent Bill Gates with help from Nathan Myhrvold to take credit for the forecasting of these groundbreaking technologies in his book 'The Road Ahead'.
That would help Bill Gates be recognized as a Global Guru of New Technologies.
Nathan Myhrvold, the CEO of 'Intellectual Ventures' is funded by his former boss at Microsoft, Bill Gates to bring new ideas. Such as: malaria vaccine, Alzheimer's disease, Zika virus and thousands of others.
I thought Bill Gates was retired.
One thing you have to say about trump ... he is breaking up the ruling elite in Washington and elsewhere. .... including executive elitists, military elitists, Gov’t bureaucrats & political on both sides.
Let's see how many others too! They forgot its communist China maybe.
and we are supposed to be concerned or have sympathy for one of the worlds richest men who doesnt care about us?
Sell out to totalitarian dictatorships. Get what you deserve Simple
Bill Gates presents the narrow view. The wide view 'China 2025' has Beijing controlling all tech. This for the Liberals out there means Gates will be out in the cold completely. Develop your tech in the U.S. if you want to keep it.
ONE OF THE NICER RICH GUYS
You are so one sided! How much technology has China stolen from them It's time to stand up to China!!!
and how about when lecherous trump kept on commenting and inquiring about their teen daughter?
Next time, build it in the USA.
You can put a price on National Security like Huawei, ZTE are affiliated with China Communist Party.
I think he'll be okay...