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Nuclear power for civilian ships

There has recently been a proliferation of reports concerning the development of nuclear-powered ships. Numerous companies in Britain have proposed such a vessel, including Cammell Laird and Babcock & Wilcox, who have spent more than a year on plans for a 65,000-ton tanker propelled by a Calder Hall-type reactor. And from abroad we hear that the United States is expecting to complete a nuclear-powered passenger and cargo vessel by 1960, while the Russian icebreaker Lenin may be launched by the end of this year.

There are three main objectives that nuclear ship designers have to…

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