Page 49: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2022)

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Bon voyage: a rendering of the adventure cruise concept, Sif, and its “refueller”, the thorium-powered Thor. sels and power barges — were what China and Russia had built and operated as ? oating power. The designs were “not

Gen IV and require a return to shipyard every few years for refueling — a long task,” Lewis adds.

Yet, as we went to press, China had just ? red-up its ? rst molten-salt ? ssion reactor, part of a plant to electrify the Gobi

Desert. The bene? ts of MSR’s running on thorium made head- lines. The reactors don’t need to be water-cooled. Thorium’s half life of radioactivity is 100 years not several thousand like uranium. The MSR heat produces no steam on its own, so no explosive pressure, unless you want to produce steam to power a steam. There’s less nuclear waste.

With uranium rods as fuel, a ship-owner is looking at “up to seven months” of downtime (according to a process industry report) when returning to port to refuel.

Ulstein and the Norwegians

Some 60 years have passed since the nuclear-powered USS

Triton submarine made headlines for circumnavigating the globe. Yet, in the past six months — six weeks — the amount of nuclear news and marine nuclear news has been head-spinning.

Ever since fabled Norwegian shipping concern, Ulstein In- ternational, in April 2022 unleashed renderings of a nuclear- electric charging vessel, the Thor, and adventure cruise vessel,

Skif, nuclear news has ? ashed in of other designs that could

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