Jiangnan Shipyard recently released a nuclear-powered container carrier design that has been approved by the nuclear field, which can hold 24,000 standard containers and is expected to have a full load displacement of between 250,000 and 300,000 tons, which is equivalent to the displacement of three to four 003 aircraft carriers. At the same time, a distinctive feature of the ship is the use of advanced molten salt reactor technology as a nuclear reactor.
Jiangnan Shipyard is currently building the 003 aircraft carrier and is the only manufacturer in China that builds a flat-deck catapult aircraft carrier. The collision between a nuclear-powered ship and an aircraft carrier manufacturer has caused people to think deeply about this. The nuclear-powered carrier launched by Jiangnan Shipyard uses advanced molten salt reactor technology, which is also worth noting.
Compared with traditional nuclear reactors, the primary circuit of molten salt reactors uses molten salt substances, which can be heated to one or two thousand degrees to remain liquid, thus significantly improving the thermal efficiency and compactness of the nuclear reactor volume. In addition, this molten salt reactor is the same high-temperature gas-cooled reactor as China's high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, which was officially put into operation on December 6, and has a more compact design and higher power density, which is much more advanced than Linglong-1.
This state of the art has progressed truly impressively. The application of molten salt reactor technology at Jiangnan Shipyard on nuclear-powered ships is crucial. Compared to PWRs, this technology can achieve comparable power in a smaller volume, which is important for nuclear-powered ships, especially nuclear-powered submarines, where space and weight are limited. In the first nuclear aircraft carrier, the position of Jiangnan Shipyard cannot be ignored.
Typically, advanced technologies are first applied in the military field before being promoted to the civilian sector. As a super-large-scale comprehensive shipyard, Jiangnan Shipyard has first-class comprehensive shipbuilding capacity in China. It has not only built large warships such as the 003 aircraft carrier and the 055 large drive, but also built a large number of civilian ships, and has strong technical strength and experience accumulation.
At present, Jiangnan Shipyard has applied molten salt reactor technology to common 24,000 TEU carriers, which has led to speculation about its application on other ships. With the launch of the 003 aircraft carrier "Fujian", the No. 3 dock built by it has been vacated, does this mean that Jiangnan Shipyard will use some of the latest technology to build the next type of aircraft carrier of our Navy?
People have always been positive about the shipbuilding strength of Jiangnan Shipyard, but they have been worried about whether it has nuclear-related qualifications. However, with the Jiangnan Shipyard unveiling the design of the nuclear-powered carrier, this question finally has a clear answer. The Jiangnan plant not only has the relevant nuclear qualifications and technology, but also has the ability to solve the problem of building a nuclear aircraft carrier.
It is important to emphasize that this is not the case that we will use molten salt reactors directly on aircraft carriers, because the internal volume of aircraft carriers is large enough that conventional pressurized water reactors are already able to meet the demand. However, Jiangnan Shipyard's success in dealing with the technical and construction difficulties of molten salt reactors means that it can also easily cope with the lower construction difficulties of pressurized water reactors.
After solving the problem of reactors, we have basically met all the technical prerequisites necessary for building a nuclear aircraft carrier, and we can start building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at any time. Molten salt reactor technology has a wide range of applications and represents a major breakthrough in nuclear reactor miniaturization technology. For aircraft carriers, molten salt reactors are not so important, and their application on nuclear submarines can maximize their advantages.
The space of nuclear submarines is far smaller than that of aircraft carriers, but the power requirements for nuclear reactors are not low at all, and how to install reactors with higher power in the narrow body of submarines has always been a difficult problem for navies of various countries. The new nuclear submarine will replace the pressurized water reactor with a molten salt reactor, a move that will significantly increase the power of the nuclear submarine and significantly reduce the size of the reactor, thereby significantly improving the combat performance of the nuclear submarine.
The use of molten salt reactors will also allow us to develop small attack nuclear submarines with a displacement of less than 3,000 tons, which are ideally suited for use in the waters of the East and South China Seas and can replace the conventionally powered submarines currently in service. The 095 and 096 nuclear submarines can use more powerful molten salt reactors, so that we can safely use some silent means that will lose propulsion power, improve the silence of the submarine and ensure maneuverability.
With the continuous development of molten salt reactor miniaturization technology, we can also develop nuclear reactors for use in space to meet the energy needs of future moon bases, Mars bases, etc. The application of molten salt reactors on civilian container carriers by Jiangnan Shipyard shows that our related technology has reached a high level of maturity, and we can see the application of this advanced nuclear reactor in many fields in the future.