RV Mirai
![]() Mirai on 27 December 2007
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History | |
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Name | Mutsu |
Namesake | Mutsu, Aomori |
Ordered | 17 November 1967[1] |
Builder | Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, Tokyo, Japan[1] |
Yard number | 2107[1] |
Laid down | 27 November 1968[1] |
Launched | 12 June 1969[1] |
Completed | 4 September 1972 (fuel loaded) |
Decommissioned | 1992 |
Fate | Rebuilt as the research vessel Mirai |
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Name | Mirai |
Namesake | Japanese for "future" |
Owner | Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology[2] |
Builder | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shimonoseki, Japan (new stern section)[1] |
Completed | 1 October 1997[1] |
Identification | |
Status | In service |
General characteristics (as Mutsu) | |
Type | General cargo ship |
Length | 130 m (427 ft) |
Beam | 19 m (62 ft) |
Draught | 6.9 m (23 ft) |
Depth | 13.2 m (43 ft) |
Installed power | 36-megawatt Mitsubishi PWR (LEU <= 4.44%[3]) |
Propulsion | Steam turbine, 10,000 shp |
Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
Crew | 80 |
General characteristics (as Mirai)[1][4] | |
Type | Research vessel |
Tonnage | |
Length | 128.5 m (422 ft) |
Beam | 19 m (62 ft) |
Draught | 6.9 m (23 ft) |
Depth | 10.5 m (34 ft) |
Ice class | 1A |
Installed power | 4 × Daihatsu 6DKM-28 (4 × 1,838 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) |
Crew |
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RV Mirai is a Japanese oceanographic research vessel. She was originally built as the nuclear-powered general cargo ship Mutsu,[5] but never carried commercial cargo.[6]
History[]
Development and construction[]
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Mutsu (1972–1996)[]
The reactor was completed on 25 August 1972, and fuel was loaded on 4 September.[7] When officials announced that the first test run was to be run at the pier in Ōminato, local protests forced them to reconsider.[7] Eventually it was decided to test the ship in the open ocean, 800 kilometres (430 nmi) east of Cape Shiriya.[7] The ship departed Ōminato on 26 August 1974, and the reactor attained criticality on 28 August.[7]
Radiation accident[]
As the crew brought the reactor up to 1.4% of capacity at 5pm on 1 September 1974,[7] there was a minor shielding inadequacy that permitted the escape of neutrons and gamma rays[5] from the reactor shielding enclosure.[7] Westinghouse Electric Corporation had reviewed the design and warned of this possibility, but no changes were made to the design.[7] There was no significant radiation exposure, but it became a political issue, with local fisherman blocking her return to port for more than 50 days.[5] The government finally came to an agreement with the local government and fishermen; the Mutsu was allowed back to port on condition that it was to find a new home port, and the ship returned to Ōminato on 15 October.[7]
In Sasebo, between 1978 and 1982, various modifications were made to the reactor shield of the Mutsu, and its home port was moved to Sekinehama in 1983.[7] Following an overhaul, the Mutsu was completed in February 1991.[7] She then completed her original design objective of travelling 82,000 kilometres (51,000 mi) in testing, and was decommissioned in 1992.[7] Over 25 years the programme had cost more than 120 billion yen (about US$ 1.2 billion).[7]
Mirai (1996–present)[]
After removing the reactor in 1995 and decontaminating the vessel, Mutsu was rebuilt as the ocean observation vessel Mirai.[5][8]
Mutsu Science Museum[]
The reactor room, control room, bridge, bow, and propeller were converted into a museum and are open to the public at the .[9] Visitors can interact with the controls in the control room and view the reactor vessel through several viewing ports. Reactor room image 1 Reactor room image 2 Reactor vessel through viewing port image Control room image Bridge image
The nuclear material from the ship is stored across the street from the museum at a facility operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.[6]
See also[]
- Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship
- Otto Hahn, a German nuclear-powered cargo ship
- Sevmorput, a Soviet and later Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Mirai (6919423)". Sea-web. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Mirai (6919423)". Equasis. French Ministry for Transport. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Marine-Nuclear-Power-1939-2018_Part-5_China-India-Japan-Others.pdf
- ^ "Oceanographic research vessel Mirai". Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. Archived from the original on 2009-11-21.
- ^ a b c d OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (2001), Investing in Trust: Nuclear Regulators and the Public : Workshop Proceedings, Paris, France, 29 November - 1 December 2000, OECD Publishing, p. 30, ISBN 978-92-64-19314-7
- ^ a b http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/27/029/27029493.pdf
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Nakao, Masayuki, Radiation Leaks from Nuclear Power Ship "Mutsu" (PDF), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)[permanent dead link] Good overview of the construction, leak, and lessons learnt.
- ^ "MIRAI < Research Vessels and Vehicles < Research Vessels, Facilities and Equipment < About JAMSTEC < JAMSTEC". Jamstec.go.jp. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
- ^ "むつ科学技術館のホームページへようこそ!!". Jmsfmml.or.jp. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
- Research vessels of Japan
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
- 1969 ships
- Ships built by IHI Corporation