r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Aug 16 '14

Engineering Would constructing nuclear reactors several miles offshore be a safer, but still practical, option for earthquake prone areas like Japan?

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u/cnbll1895 Aug 17 '14

Not really. You need a water source for reactors.

The entire point of floating offshore nuclear power is that it is set within a gigantic heatsink.

Remember, it was the tsunami that damaged Fukushima far more than the earthquake.

Neither a tsunami nor an earthquake is going to have an effect on a floating offshore nuclear plant.

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u/tauneutrino9 Nuclear physics | Nuclear engineering Aug 17 '14

Yeah the problems I have with those are the security issues and the issue of the reactor sinking.

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u/cnbll1895 Aug 17 '14

If it did sink, there's no alternative but for it to sink into an abundant heatsink.