6 Comments

What about nuclear ships? It is established tech (just ask the Navy) and is carbon-free.

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We cannot have nuclear ships because of pirates.

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Just like we can't have nuclear power plants because of robbers?

I don't understand the fundamental problem you see. Is it just because they're usually in international waters? Can you truly see no possible solution to this, when you remove the restrictions placed on cargo ships by the requirements of fossil fuels?

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If you mean “pirates going after nukes to sell weapons”, they won’t go that far.

The fissile material needs to be purified to get a real bomb.

To do that, they need processing plants (gaseificariam and centrifuges) to boot.

And loot a lot of engines.

Aside that, it is just another propulsion system with a great range between refuels.

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It's crazy how nuclear energy is the 1,000lb gorilla in the room that no one wants to address. We already have the ability to instantly convert all cargo ships to nuclear power (something we could have done in the 1950s/1960s) instead we have companies like Fleetzero trying to implement more expensive and inferior solutions (environmental harmful (strip-mining) and energy intensive battery manufacturing). Most problems we have with fossil fuels and climate change could be easily resolved with the use of nuclear power but for some reason everything wants to chase "green" solutions like solar/wind/battery technology because they are ignorant on the topic.

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Sails. Yeah, it’s complicated to operate them, but I assume we now have decent enough AI to manage that. Shipping worked this way for centuries.

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