Why can't a nuclear carrier be in place in one step?

China's nuclear carrier, why can't one step in place?

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is a symbol of national strength and naval strength. As a country determined to build a world-class navy, it is an inevitable step for China to build and use a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. But now China's GDP is the second in the world, why not build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier?

On this issue, it is mainly because of technology and money. For countries with nuclear submarines, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are simple. Although the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle used the nuclear submarine reactor to cause weak power, the problem of insufficient output of the nuclear submarine reactor can actually be solved by the general reactor capacity.

The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-65) also used a nuclear submarine reactor. However, unlike Charles de Gaulle's use of two reactors, the Enterprise went directly to eight reactors, which met the power required by the aircraft carrier in the form of reactors.

However, the pile-built nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is very expensive, and the cost of the enterprise has reached 450 million US dollars. You know, the cost of Kitty Hawk, which was launched and put into service at the same time as Enterprise, was only $260 million, almost half that of Enterprise. Solving the power problem of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier directly by the reactor size will also make its cost soar rapidly, which is unacceptable for China with limited military expenditure.

Secondly, there will be many technical problems in the way of reactor capacity, such as compatibility between eight boilers, which will lead to a linear increase in the probability of reactor failure.

Moreover, due to the complex structure, the maintenance of this aircraft carrier is not only costly, but also takes a long time, greatly reducing the sailing time. In addition, reactors are technically different, just like boilers for boiling water, boilers for power plants crush boilers for heating enterprises, and boilers for heating enterprises crush boilers for bathhouses.

Although the technical principles are the same, there are great differences in thermal reaction efficiency, stability, safety and adaptability to complex working conditions. The same is true of reactor technology, even if all reactors are designed for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, there will be a technical gap. Like Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the reactors of the two can see obvious differences in output and reaction efficiency.

The purpose of building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in China is naturally not to own a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but to meet its own needs. Therefore, the construction of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in China will naturally not be a simple nuclear reactor, and it is necessary to study a sufficiently advanced nuclear reactor, which requires our country to spend a lot of time.

Moreover, it is not only a technical problem of construction and use, but also a high technical threshold for the maintenance and disassembly of aircraft carriers. Since the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is "nuclear", it has to consider the radiation problem. Once radiation leaks, it will not only cause casualties, but also seriously harm the environment.

The maintenance, service life and disassembly of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is a systematic project, which has great requirements for national technical requirements and other related capabilities. For example, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier enterprises in the United States have written nearly 500 pages of dismantling plans after retirement. In addition to some "parts" containing harmful substances such as asbestos and benzene, the dismantling of the reactor also caused considerable headaches for the relevant teams.

After planning, the United States decided to split the eight reactors into hundreds of "small pieces" and then isolate them with sealed containers. Due to the radioactivity of the reactor, the whole process will take more than 10 years. Even in the United States, where the technology of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is the most mature, it is so troublesome to dismantle nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. China needs to solve more technical problems in this respect.

Therefore, for China, it is impossible to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at once. Only by solving the problems of ordinary maintenance and decommissioning and dismantling can the foundation of building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier be established. Especially for the maintenance of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, if the problem of nuclear radiation isolation cannot be solved well, the crew will be exposed to high-intensity radiation, and such ships are naturally unusable.

It can be seen that technical issues related to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers need to be considered in all aspects, and it is normal that China has not built a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

In addition to the problem of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the advantages of conventional power carriers are also a major reason why China has not built nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Although the conventional power aircraft carrier is much smaller than the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in terms of power and combat scope, its cheapness and high production speed can't stand it.

We mentioned the price comparison between Enterprise and Kitty Hawk. Although the price difference between the two is so great, there are also factors of "eight hearts and eight arrows" of enterprises. Even if a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier only uses two reactors, its price will be much higher than that of conventional power. For the People's Liberation Army, which pays great attention to the price of weapons, the conventional power aircraft carrier is obviously attractive.

As for the construction speed of the aircraft carrier, it is not difficult to imagine the construction speed difference between the two aircraft carriers as long as we think about the reactor radiation isolation of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Therefore, in wartime, conventional power carriers that can be built quickly without the risk of nuclear radiation will be more popular than nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Even in peacetime, in the absence of aircraft carriers in China, it is an inevitable choice to quickly build some conventional power aircraft carriers.

Therefore, China has Fujian Ship, a conventional power carrier using electric bombs, which is also in line with China's military development strategy of "running in small steps". Judging from the state of China Fujian Ship, this aircraft carrier is not a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier except for power problems, and part of it is designed to catch up with the Ford-class aircraft carrier.

China has three aircraft carriers, so an advanced aircraft carrier like Fujian Ship may build 1~2 or more in the future.

The premise of building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States is to have enough conventional power aircraft carriers. China has transformed several Fujian ships, and the rapidly expanding conventional power carrier can quickly supplement China's maritime power.