Is there hope for a Chinese nuclear powered aircraft carrier? Build a 14 meter nuclear reactor with 280000 horsepower over Nimitz

After the completion of the construction of China's Shandong aircraft carrier, the news about the 003 aircraft carrier aroused speculation and attention from everyone. In recent years, various data about it have also been analyzed, and it can be concluded that it has used many new technologies and made many changes and improvements. However, the Type 003 aircraft carrier is highly likely to be a conventional powered aircraft carrier, which means that China is still unable to produce a nuclear powered aircraft carrier in the short term.

In fact, only the United States and France currently have nuclear powered aircraft carriers, and France's nuclear powered aircraft carriers also have various problems, with stability even inferior to conventional powered aircraft carriers. So what are the difficulties in studying nuclear powered aircraft carriers? In fact, it lies in the miniaturization of nuclear reactors. Aircraft carriers are large in size and tonnage, and in order to drive an aircraft carrier to sail at sea, a very large amount of propulsion is required. That is to say, a nuclear reactor that is small is not enough, and its power needs to be high. However, there was a news earlier that suddenly made everyone feel that China's nuclear powered aircraft carrier seemed to have a chance? It is reported that a 14 meter nuclear reactor with a power of 280000 horsepower has been built.

Aircraft carriers have very high requirements for nuclear reactors, and it is necessary to strictly control the size and specifications. Moreover, many nuclear powered aircraft carriers will have two nuclear reactors, which requires careful planning of space, otherwise it will be embarrassing if they cannot accommodate them. Although aircraft carriers have a large area, they also need to carry more things, and nuclear reactors must not occupy too much space, which has troubled our country for a long time.

Some people think that China has already developed nuclear submarines, so why not put them on aircraft carriers? Because nuclear submarines are much smaller than aircraft carriers, their power requirements are naturally not as high as those of aircraft carriers. The small nuclear reactor called "Linglong 1" that gives hope to China's nuclear powered aircraft carriers is a new breakthrough in this field.

From the data, the height of "Linglong One" is 14 meters and the width is only 10 meters, making it truly "delicate and exquisite". Based on the size of the power cabin of our aircraft carrier, placing two units should not pose a major problem. And its electrical power reaches 160 megawatts, with a maximum output of 280000 horsepower. The Nimitz class aircraft carrier uses a Westinghouse A4W pressurized water reactor, with a maximum power of only 260000 horsepower, which is smaller than the Linglong 1.

From a purely data perspective, it seems that the Linglong One is tailor-made for aircraft carriers, so it is only a matter of time before China has a nuclear powered aircraft carrier? I think everyone needs to calm down because the Linglong 1 is actually a civilian small nuclear reactor, not a military product. Its main function is to provide power and heating to some areas.

Civilian and military have different needs, so it is difficult for civilian products to be directly converted to military use. The limiting factor for the Linglong One aircraft carrier is its fuel abundance. The fuel abundance of Linglong One is too low, only 6%. This means that the nuclear fuel it uses only contains 6% nuclear material, which is an important element for providing energy to the reactor. After the nuclear material is exhausted, the nuclear reactor can no longer provide power. To meet military standards, its nuclear content must be above 60%, so the Linglong 1 cannot be used on aircraft carriers.

The birth of the Linglong 1 has a great promoting significance for the development of China's nuclear powered aircraft carriers, indicating that China's current technology can balance size and power, and what needs to be done now is to slowly solve the remaining problems. I believe that in the future, China will definitely have its own nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

Source: Guoke Huanyu