Abstract
Understanding of the global climate system is necessary to clarify the mechanism of the climate change and predict the fluctuations of the global climate and circumstance. Since the sign of these fluctuations can be predicted in the arctic zone where these fluctuations strongly affect the circumstance, the observation in this zone is very important. Observation data to be obtained there, however, are very few and limited due to difficulty caused by a thick ice covering on a wide-ranged area. A conceptual design of a submersible research vessel with a nuclear power source is studied to cope with this difficulty. The nuclear power is suitable for a submersible research vessel specialized to the undersea of the arctic zone, because it enables to operate for a long time without oxide or fuel supply. By taking account of working conditions in observation, the basic specifications of the vessel are decided; the total weight and the length of it are 500 t, 40 m, respectively, and the maximum ship speed is 12 knots. Two sets of nuclear compact reactor, SCR, light-weighted and of enhanced safety are installed in the vessel to supply the total electricity of 500 kW. This vessel is capable of providing a very rapid, fruitful activity in observation and research.
