Breakthrough Institute
26 December, 2022
Shipyards build ships, of course. But they are more than that; in reality, they are manufacturing centers for all manner of extremely large, complex, and highly regulated items, such as oil drilling platforms, cruise ships, and other marine vessels. In addition to large things, shipyards specialize in constructions that are designed for extremely challenging environments and operations, such as submarines or ice breakers. Modern shipyards already have the professionals and the supply chains in place to deliver safe, reliable, and ready-to-go products at impressively high levels of quality control and assurance. There’s no real reason that they couldn’t turn that expertise toward building modular reactors and assemble them into barges and other offshore platforms that could operate as offshore power plants—perhaps even offshore power plants linked directly to hydrogen and synthetic fuel production.
Shipyards build ships, of course. But they are more than that; in reality, they are manufacturing centers for all manner of extremely large, complex, and highly regulated items, such as oil drilling platforms, cruise ships, and other marine vessels. In addition to large things, shipyards specialize in constructions that are designed for extremely challenging environments and operations, such as submarines or ice breakers. Modern shipyards already have the professionals and the supply chains in place to deliver safe, reliable, and ready-to-go products at impressively high levels of quality control and assurance. There’s no real reason that they couldn’t turn that expertise toward building modular reactors and assemble them into barges and other offshore platforms that could operate as offshore power plants—perhaps even offshore power plants linked directly to hydrogen and synthetic fuel production.
Building the same reactor at the same site with the same crew multiple times in a row is a clear way to bring down costs. But a big remaining chunk of the expense would still be that constructing something large and complex on-site is relatively inefficient and expensive.