The French submarine builder DCNS said it would carry out a two-year feasibility study to look at pollution and security issues that could be caused by submerging small nuclear power plants in the sea, International News reported today. Areva, EDF and France's CEA would back the study. Andre Kolmayer, head of DCNS's civilian nuclear business unit, was quoted as saying: "I am convinced this can be done. There are about 150 nuclear submarines roaming around the world today, so putting a nuclear plant underwater is not exactly a novelty. DCNS has built nuclear submarines for 40 years, and we have put 18 in action. The technology we'll use for Flexblue will be carefully demilitarized, but it will evidently benefit from this experience."
The undersea nuclear reactors would be capsule-shaped, 328 feet long and 39 feet to 49 feet in diameter. They would weigh 13,227 tons and be mounted on the sea floor 328 feet down. Kolmayer was quoted as saying: "This is a cylindrical shape, but that is as close as it is to a submarine. There is no propulsion. It will not go as deep as submarines. We won't have the same acoustic discretion, anti-radar quality or resistance to military shock."
International News , March 3.
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