Hypothetical thought...

[Darkwolfe]

Ok, so the US Navy has had nuclear powered ships for at least 30 years now. So far, they've had a pretty good safety record.

 

Assuming that fuel costs continue to climb, what are your thoughts on sailing aboard a nuclear powered cruise ship if such a ship were ever built?

[cruisinfanatic]

Ok, so the US Navy has had nuclear powered ships for at least 30 years now. So far, they've had a pretty good safety record.

 

Assuming that fuel costs continue to climb, what are your thoughts on sailing aboard a nuclear powered cruise ship if such a ship were ever built?

It will NEVER happen because to build a nuclear powered ship would cost in the billions rather than the millions a cruise ship costs.

[xpcdoojk]

Why would it cost billions more?

 

I did a quick search of the topic, and I certainly don't know the answer, but here was a comment out of a report on some plan to nuclear power our entire navy.

 

"But opponents on Capitol Hill question whether the language is feasible, given the limited industrial capability to build nuclear-powered ships and tight procurement budgets. The up-front costs of nuclear-powered vessels are estimated at $600 million to $800 million more per ship than conventionally powered vessels."

 

This is a lot of money, but considering the price of fuel and that the QE2 has a fuel capacity of about a million gallons... at $3 a gallon. That is a $3 million dollar full fuel load. Clearly it will take a lot of years for them to re-coop the upgraded cost, but what if all of the extremists are right and fuels goes to $10.... I don't think oil at $200 is more likely than oil at less than $100, but who knows.

 

I am guessing that at some point nuclear is going to make sense to those giant oil tankers or the huge container ships. After that I think it is indeed likely that the cost will drop drastically, when there are more customers than the US Navy.

 

I would absolutely go on a nuclear cruise ship. Heck do you have any idea how much people want to sail on the Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman they do Tiger cruises with large interest of lots of people.

 

jc

[Ron27]

There was a nuclear powered cargo-passenger ship built back in the 50's. The NS Savannah

[cruisinfanatic]

Why would it cost billions more?

 

I did a quick search of the topic, and I certainly don't know the answer, but here was a comment out of a report on some plan to nuclear power our entire navy.

 

"But opponents on Capitol Hill question whether the language is feasible, given the limited industrial capability to build nuclear-powered ships and tight procurement budgets. The up-front costs of nuclear-powered vessels are estimated at $600 million to $800 million more per ship than conventionally powered vessels."

 

This is a lot of money, but considering the price of fuel and that the QE2 has a fuel capacity of about a million gallons... at $3 a gallon. That is a $3 million dollar full fuel load. Clearly it will take a lot of years for them to re-coop the upgraded cost, but what if all of the extremists are right and fuels goes to $10.... I don't think oil at $200 is more likely than oil at less than $100, but who knows.

 

I am guessing that at some point nuclear is going to make sense to those giant oil tankers or the huge container ships. After that I think it is indeed likely that the cost will drop drastically, when there are more customers than the US Navy.

 

I would absolutely go on a nuclear cruise ship. Heck do you have any idea how much people want to sail on the Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman they do Tiger cruises with large interest of lots of people.

 

jc

I said in the billions, not billions more. There would be a need for many more personnel to take care of it and who is going to guard the fuel from terrorists?

[Darkwolfe]

It will NEVER happen because to build a nuclear powered ship would cost in the billions rather than the millions a cruise ship costs.

 

I don't know about that.... Oasis cost is right around 1.2 billion. Never know what the future might hold.

 

Terrorists wouldn't have any use for reactor material. It's not weapons grade. Oh I suppose they good use it for a "dirty bomb" but it wouldn't be worth the effort.

[xpcdoojk]

I imagine that it takes a lot of crew to handle refueling. With a nuke on board there is no refueling. There are a ton of nuke trained Navy warrant officers, I am guessing, that would be very happy to do their jobs and get paid $100,000 a year.

 

jc

[wolfcathorse]

Terrorists wouldn't have any use for reactor material. It's not weapons grade. Oh I suppose they good use it for a "dirty bomb" but it wouldn't be worth the effort.

 

It's not worth the effort because there'd be over 5000 pissed passengers that someone is messing with their vacation if they tried to steal it! Instead of saying "Let's Roll" (don't want to do that on a ship) we could say...(any suggestions?) :)

 

I wonder if the government would give permission to private industry, like cruiselines, to use nuclear power on their ships.

[Darkwolfe]

I wonder if the government would give permission to private industry, like cruiselines, to use nuclear power on their ships.

 

I figure there's some private ownership in power plants already so it would stand to reason that the cruiselines could get access to the reactor fuels.

[Aquahound]

First, the reactor would have to be American made for me to trust it.

 

Second, nuclear power is much more costly than fuel. Trust me. While the ship can stay underway longer, the cost of operation is much higher.

 

Do a search. CC member Wraith, a Navy ships engineer, explained it very well the last time this came up.

[joan_al]

It will NEVER happen because to build a nuclear powered ship would cost in the billions rather than the millions a cruise ship costs.

That's not the answer the OP was looking for.

 

To the OP: Based on the safety record I would sail.

[Darkwolfe]

That's not the answer the OP was looking for.

 

To the OP: Based on the safety record I would sail.

 

Oh that's ok. It makes for discussion.

 

BTW, if no one has mentioned it lately, thank you for your service.

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

I would trust a U.S. naval nuclear vessel over a civilian nuclear vessel any day. I may be biased as I am a Navy veteran.

 

It may be hard for some ships to go anywhere near some ports as there are some countries that would not allow it. Even nuclear powered Naval vessels are not allowed to enter SOME foreign ports. They have to anchor way off shore.

 

I would think that there would be tight restrictions in even allowing such a vessel into U.S. waters.

 

To answer the question I would not sail a nuclear cruise ship. My trust would have to be at 200% and then some. That is not likely.

[yogimax]

Given the price of oil, we should be looking more and more to alternatives such as nuclear.

[Aquahound]

The waste from nuclear is another issue.