The world’s first nuclear-powered merchant vessel “N.S. Savannah” set sail from Philadelphia and is returning back to Baltimore. According to the Maritime Administration, the vessel was under maintenance at Northeast Ship Repair of Philadelphia.
Although the widespread environmental and safety concerns, the Russia’s floating nuclear power plant officially started to supply electricity to a remote port in Siberia. Specifically, the state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced that the electricity production begun on Thursday 19 December.
Russia’s largest and most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker returned from its stage one of sea trials prior to its planned delivery in May 2020. Namely, Arktika, which is still under construction at Russia’s Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, departed St. Petersburg on December to the Gulf of Finland, returning two days later after completing testing of the ship’s generators, navigation and communications systems.
The shipping industry is experiencing a green-‘frenzy’ right now, trying to find the best solution to reduce its emissions, and achieve decarbonization. Many measures have already been suggested for this cause; scrubbers, alternative fuels, slow steaming. However, there is a completely zero-emission solution, but it is quite controversial. Its name? Nuclear power.
In light of the fire that took place in Russia’s secret submarine, which resulted to 14 sailors losing their lives, a high-ranking official, during the funeral ceremony, stated that ‘the 14 Russian sailors killed in last week’s nuclear submarine fire may have prevented a planetary catastrophe.’
Russia deployed a nuclear-powered icebreaker on May 25, under its program to expand its fleet of the ships. This move aims to improve its ability to leverage the Arctic’s commercial possibilities. Now, the ship ‘Ural’ is one of three vessels that when completed will be the largest and most powerful icebreakers globally.
According to EIA, 23.7 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity additions and 8.3 GW of capacity retirements are expected for the U.S. electric power sector in 2019. The additions are embodied by wind (46%), natural gas (34%), and solar photovoltaics (18%), with the remaining 2% consisting primarily of other renewables and battery storage capacity.
The United States has granted temporary exemptions to China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey allowing them to continue buying Iranian oil. More than 20 importing nations have zeroed out their imports of crude oil from Iran.
The video, issued by Huntington Ingalls Industries, depicts the construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ‘John F. Kennedy’ which has reached its midpoint at Newport News Shipbuilding, following the installation of one of the largest units on the ship.
West of England P&I Club outlined the potential impacts for shipowners and insurers that will arise from the US’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement signed by China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Iran.
