Why Are There No Atomic Cargo Ships?

In 1959, an attractive cargo passenger vessel ordered by the US Maritime Administration was launched, the NS Savannah. As a demonstration for civilian use of the nuclear power plants than used in atomic submarines, the vessel operated well for over a decade and demonstrated safe, reliable operation. But since 1972, no other commercial cargo vessels have been built with nuclear propulsion. The economics of the 1970's, with relatively low oil prices made it impractical, but today the combination of higher oil prices, larger ships, more global trade and the need for lower CO 2 emissions means that nuclear propulsion for commercial shipping has finally come of age.

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