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| The red circle shows the position of the Japanese island of Minami-Tori-shima. |
by Marcel F. Williams
The United States, United Kingdom, and France could all use floating nuclear power plants to produce carbon neutral synthetic fuels, fertilizers, and industrial chemicals in remote EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) territorial waters-- that are devoid of significant cyclone activity.
Japan also has a EEZ territorial waters surrounding the remote island of Minami-Tori-shima. However, the more than 428 thousand square kilometers of territorial waters surrounding the uninhabited island is still positioned in an area where it periodically experiences cyclonic activity from July to October. And cyclonic activity might limit a Japanese floating nuclear synplex located near Minami-Tori-shima to just 8 months of annual production.
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| Japanese EEZ territorial waters |
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| The island of Minami-Tori-shima |
However, the Japanese nuclear synplex of ships and barges could be temporarily moved south of the equator
during the cyclone season. This might enable synfuel, fertilizer and industrial chemical
production to continue within the
international waters of the high seas. And this could potentially allow a Japanese floating nuclear synplex to operate up to 11 months rather than just 8.
Through submarine cables, floating nuclear power plants could supply electricity to floating facilities just five to ten kilometers away. There floating ships or barges could use electricity to produce hydrogen from distilled seawater and extract CO2 directly from the atmosphere. The synthesis of hydrogen and CO2 could produce methanol.
Most methanol today is used for the production of plastics and other polymers. But methanol can also be used to power ships, retrofitted natural gas electric power plants, fuel cell automobiles. Methanol can also be converted into jet fuel, gasoline, and into dimethyl ether (a diesel fuel substitute).
Methanol can also be used in fuel cells to power homes, vehicles, and large power plants. Methanol is also a more convenient way of storing hydrogen.
Alternatively both hydrogen and CO2 could be extracted directly from seawater.
Cheaper sources of CO2 could be imported from coastal methanol power plants using green methanol. The CO2 from such facilities could be cryogenically captured from flu gases and exported to the nuclear symplex by methanol powered tanker ships.
Floating biowaste incineration plants could also produce CO2 plus additional electricity
for hydrogen production. Biochar would also be produced from such floating facilities and could be exported by ships as soil enhancing additive that increased water retention. Recent reports in California indicate the biochar can reduce water demand on crop raising farms by as much as 37%.
Ammonia for fertilizer can also be produced at sea the synthesis of
hydrogen with nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the Earth's
atmosphere and can be extracted directly from the atmosphere.
The EEZ territorial waters surrounding the Japanese island of Minami-Tori-shima can be more than 2200 kilometers away from Tokyo. Methanol could be transported by tanker ships from the nuclear synplex to coastal towns and cities all over Japan and also to coastal towns and cities around the world. Methanol carrying tankers are already in existence. And a growing number of methanol powered sea vessels are already in operation around the world.
Electricity in Japan could be produce from methanol electric power plants. Solar power plants could compliment such facilities by significantly reducing methanol fuel demand during daytime hours without the need for expensive battery storage.
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| Notional floating nuclear power facility |
To enhance both security and efficiency, floating nuclear power plants could be deployed along a circular arc,
supplying electricity through submarine cables to an
outer circle of synfuel, fertilizer, and industrial chemical producing barges and ships five to ten kilometers away. Along the nuplex arc, a one GWe floating power plant could be deployed per every 100 meters along the arc. So potentially up to 1.25 terawatts (1.25 TWe) of power could be deployed along the arc. Japan currently has an installed electrical capacity of less than 350 GWe.
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| 60 kilometer in diameter nuclear synplex area allowing as much as 1.2 TWe of electric power to be produced |
An inner ringed zone could be used for the passive underwater extraction of uranium from seawater. This area could also be used to deploy floating nuclear processing plants for converting uranium from seawater into enriched uranium fuel and for storing and reprocessing spent fuel from floating nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power plant workers could be housed in cruise ships anchored inside of the innermost ringed zone. Floating synplex workers could be housed in cruise ships anchored outside of the outermost ringed synplex zone.
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| Cruise ships could accommodate hundreds of thousands of floating nuclear and synplex workers and their families in remote EEZ territorial waters and on the high seas. |
Security for the circular nuplex and the surrounding synplex could be provided by the Japanese Coast Guard. So pirates and potential terrorist would have to evade the Japanese Coast Guard within the outer synplex zone and then encounter even more Coast Guard forces in the inner nuplex zone. Of course, since the facility is more than 2000 kilometers away from Japan, there would really be no one to terrorize.
Links and References
Floating Power Deployment in Japan
FLOATING NUCLEAR PLANTS-A"REASONABLE USE" OF THE HIGH SEAS?
The High Seas
The Future of Ocean Nuclear Synfuel Production
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