As nuclear is already used on aircraft carriers, and with a major cargo ship not having a large crew including guests so it can be properly scrutinized and managed by engineers, why hasn’t this technology ever carried over for commercial operators?
Similarly for hydrogen, why (or are?) ship builders not trying to build hydrogen powered engines? Seeing the massive size of engines (and fuel) they have, could they make super-sized fuel cells and on-board synthesizing to no longer be reliant on gas?
In: Engineering
Nuclear isn’t used for two main reasons. The first is cost. Nuclear reactors for ships are not easy to make or cheap. Most countries navies can’t afford them for their ships. A commercial operator isn’t going to pay more for nuclear then cheaper conventional engines. The amount you save on not having to buy fuel oil will never overcome the costs of buying the reactor in the first place.
The second is usefulness. Almost every nuclear powered ship is designed for something no commercial operator wants, which is staying at sea away from ports for long periods of time. For military vessels leaving an area to refuel is losing useful time. For a commercial vessel they always want to be going somewhere and those places almost always can refuel you with no loss of time.
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