Hmm, I consider myself a “rational green” in favor of nuclear power, but I’m not sure I think nuclear reactors operated by foreign companies in a highly competitive industry that booms and busts with tight margins is a good idea.
I share the same feelings. The thing is that these foreign companies won't ask the US for permission. And if it's profitable, they will (eventually) do it.
Yes, such ships will likely have to stay away from the US territorial waters, but there's plenty of routes where this won't be a problem.
As for tight margins: fuel costs represent 50%-60% of overall costs ([1]) and if these expenses are replaced with CapEx (hopefully, benefiting from economy of scale), then the tight operational margins suddenly become amazing, and there's a room for quality.
> Yes, such ships will likely have to stay away from the US territorial waters
if it turns out that such shipping via nuclear reactors is much more cost efficient (including all currently externalized costs such as emissions), then the US will have no choice but to accept it - or be uncompetitive in the global markets.
I’m with you. It’s why I don’t look forward to autonomous airplanes. I firmly believe airlines would have “acceptable losses” that include passengers if they didn’t have two really hard to replace people sitting in the front.
