Re:Rolls-Royce Touts Nuclear Reactors as Key to Clean Jet Fuel
by jabl on Saturday December 07, 2019 @07:32AM
(#21729937)
> The reactor would spend the vast majority of it's time running at much lower than peak capacity, which is a huge waste.
Not so sure about that. I think current trans-oceanic cargo ships generally run at fairly high fraction of peak power (otherwise they could have saved money buy buying a smaller engine in the first place). Also port operations tend to be pretty fast and efficient these days.
Of course, for ships running shorter distances and spending a larger fraction of their time in port loading and unloading, synfuels, hydrogen or for really short routes even batteries are probably going to be a better option.
Not so sure about that. I think current trans-oceanic cargo ships generally run at fairly high fraction of peak power (otherwise they could have saved money buy buying a smaller engine in the first place). Also port operations tend to be pretty fast and efficient these days.
Of course, for ships running shorter distances and spending a larger fraction of their time in port loading and unloading, synfuels, hydrogen or for really short routes even batteries are probably going to be a better option.