While the use of nuclear energy is a very potent and efficient source of power and energy and with proper safety and security measures, a clean and safe industry (see this site), and that the possibility of making use of nuclear energy on structures at sea is fully proven in the use of naval reactors for marine vessels propulsion as found on many aircraft carriers and submarines, some ice breakers, (among others vessels) the HC/NJK currently does not plan to make any use of it. Renewable energy sources are considered to be sufficient to meet an HC’s basic energy need (i.e., local comsumption only). The following information is therefore only hypothetical.
Were the HC’s to make use of nuclear energy, the power plants would be located on the HC’s ports, like an other HC hazardous materials (see here).
Here is a table that shows how an HC’s nuclear energy data would look like compared to present day world nuclear energy totals. (The last columns shows what the distance between power plants spaces would be on the HC’s surround port).
Enriched Uranium NJK vs. World Nuclear Energy Submerged Nuclear Plants
However, for added safety and simpler civil constructions,
an HC’s power plant would not be as large as the average land based plant (i.e.,
~ MW), but would instead divide this capacity into smaller units of around
~ MW each. This is about the same power capacity of a nuclear aircraft carrier’s plant
(= HP) using highly
enriched uranium. Interestingly
enough, the use of nuclear energy on submarine (as much as a total of
MW=
HP; e.g.
this large Russian submarine),
show that an HC’s nuclear power plants can be housed in
"submergeable" power plants located around and/or under an HC, and that at
significant depths of about
m
( ft), thus also providing added safety.
This table shows what the NJK’s need of nuclear
energy would be and how it compare with the world’s current
production.
Nuclear energy may become the "no-other-choice" source of
energy much, much later on in an HC as its population begins to surpass the
"single storeys housing" capacity of
as unobstructed and available
open areas will then not be sufficient to meet renewable energy installation
needs (See an HC’s projected future population growth here). The uranium fuel for the
reactors could readily be taken from seawater. With a dissolved uranium
concentration of
2.958E-09 kg/l
(2.469E-08 lbs/gall) and thus a calculated total of
billion metric tons, the uranium in earth’s seawater alone (i.e., not including the supply in the earth’s crust) has enough uranium to supply a NJK’s 1,000-year projected average need of
mT/yr for
times over.
Additional Links:
Nuclear Electricity Information -Uranium Information Center (UIC)
Nuclear Energy Issues Briefs -World Nuclear Association (WNA)
