Chinese scientists plan ‘disposable’ nuclear reactor for long-range torpedo
- Researchers in Beijing say they have designed a small, low-cost version of the Russian Poseidon underwater drone that could cross the Pacific in a week
- Proposed reactor with 10,000km (6,200-mile) range could be launched in large numbers from almost any submarine or warship, they said
A Beijing research team says it has completed the conceptual design for a small, low-cost nuclear reactor that would be able to drive a swarm of torpedoes across the Pacific Ocean in about a week.
The Chinese researchers are proposing a mini version of the Russian Poseidon unmanned submarine – the world’s first known underwater drone powered by nuclear energy.
Unlike the Poseidon, which cannot be mass-produced because it is too big, expensive and destructive, the mini version could be fitted into a standard torpedo tube and launched in large numbers from almost any submarine or warship, the scientists said.
Each torpedo would use a disposable nuclear reactor to reach and maintain a cruising speed of over 30 knots (56km/h or 35mph) for 200 hours before dumping the reactor to the seabed and drawing power from a battery to launch an attack with conventional weapons.
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Lead scientist Guo Jian from the China Institute of Atomic Energy said there is a fundamental difference between the design and Poseidon, in a paper published this month by the peer-reviewed Journal of Unmanned Undersea Systems, a publication run by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, the country’s biggest naval contractor.
