Ice-capades

12 Replies to “Ice-capades”

1. Look . . you can see the global warming behind the second ship . . . a great big blob of pure white Mannian-Hansen-Jonesian-Briffian Global Warming.
   Just magnificent, no denying it, pure not naked global warming.

2. From the comments, just changed a ltlle, like ‘Brussels’ to to Ottawawahwahwah
   “We are a satellite state of the Greater Eastern Empire, ruled by a supreme government in Ottawawahwahwah. We owe this government neither loyalty nor obedience. It is not our government. It is theirs. It is our enemy.

3. My goodness. That story is going to result in nervous wrecks for the Greens. There is still ICE UP NORTH and they are using NUCLEAR POWER to break it up. Wonder if they are barbequing seals on propane grills for dinner?
   Have to hand it to the Ruskies – they get s**t done. Sort of like Canadians and Americans used to…

4. We need a small fleet of these in Canada. At least three, I would say.
   I don’t believe the CANDU reactor is suitable for marine use; even if it could be made so, the cost of adapting it for purely chauvinistic reasons would be excessive.
   Either bite the bullet and use the Russian reactors, or see if American naval ones can be bought.

5. Great story. The Gulf of Finland looks a little different in this story then it did last September.

6. Hahahah, that’s funny, new job listings in Finland; Icebreaker Crew

7. Is it called the Polar Bear Express?

8. Gord, indeed the CANDU is not applicable for marine propulsion. It’s far too big for the amount of power generated. It was designed for power generation. You need to use a pressure vessel reactor using enriched fuel, which is how BWRs and PWRs originated in the first place. They all started life in the 1950s as marine propulsion units.

9. Oh come on Sheeple!
   This is obviously Big Oil propaganda and photo shopping.
   There’s no ice left in the Arctic! Global Warming/Climate Change/Global Climate Disruption has melted/changed/somethinged it all away.
   David Suzuki and all REAL scientists have PROVED (guaranteed best scientific truth — and it’s settled) there is no ice in the Arctic any more.
   Or something.
   Any way I’M NOT LISTENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQHkY1DkpJQ

10. It is remarkable how we dropped the ball.
    The first really purpose built icebreakers were built during WW2 for the US Coast Guard’s Greenland Patrol. The “Eastwind” and “Southwind” changed marine navigation in northern seas forever. They were armed with a 4″ twin turret on each corner and inderdict/captured German icebound naval units in mid-winter north of 70…
    The icebreaking bow was invented by the Russians in the 19th century and then neglected. Nuclear power for ice-breakers solved the power needs and avoided replenishment in the vast Russian North where no facilities were available. The extra cost of nuclear avoided the expense of establishing distant bases for fossil fueled ice breakers…..and supplying them.
    The goal of the Soviets was to establish regular shipping in the Northeast Passage…..which was frustrated by the shallow passages…preventing big, deep draft shipping.

11. There IS a Canadian technology ideally suited to powering Arctic icebreakers: the nuclear battery.
    Of course, environmentalists screamed at the very thought of equiping submarines with it, or using these batteries to provide electricty cheaply for communities in the North.
    The reference design for the Nuclear Battery could produce 600 kWe net electricity via a Rankine cycle engine coupled to the heat pipes, and this production could continue uninterrupted (without refuelling) for 15 years. Alternatively, the unit could produce high-pressure steam at 2400 kW for that length of time. The overall dimensions of the reference unit were 2.5 m in diameter, and 2m high.
    http://www.nuclearfaq.ca/cnf_sectionI.htm#g4
    BTW, a 2400 KW “engine” is equivilant to 3,218 HP.

12. Big oil diverted the Gulf Stream this winter to freeze up the Gulf of Finland as a fake show.
    The rest of the world is in terrible danger from Globull climate variation.
    \\
    Old cold war joke:
    Russian Intourist Guide/minder/KGB informer, on being introduced in Moscow to his mixed
    group of western spies and useful idiots passing through, spots one of them using one of the
    latest Japanese electronic gadgets and uses a typical ice breaker:
    “A Russian invented that.”
    No response.
    “The ones we make are the best in the world.”
    No response.
    “What is that thing?”