Several weeks ago Joshua Pearce at Clarion University in Pennsylvania released a study titled “ Thermodynamic limitations to nuclear energy deployment as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology .” In the study he stated... nuclear energy production would have to increase by 10.5% per year from 2010 to 2050 to both replace fossil-fuel-energy use and meet the future energy demands. This line, of course, made the headlines and has been picked up by several outlets and blogs . When looking into his calculations for this statement, he made one assumption error that overstated the above sentence by nearly a factor of three. Page 121, Section 4.1 of the study states: Richard Smalley pointed out that in 2004, the global economy consumed the equivalent of 220 million barrels of oil per day, which converted into electricity terms is the equivalent of 14.5 TeraWatts (TW), or 14,500,000 MegaWatts (MW) (2005). … With a nuclear plant having about 1000 MW (1 GW) of capacity, we would need 14,500...
In the middle of the D segment on CNN's Late Edition, we find this interesting exchange between Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA):
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If electric heat is made the less expensive option, not only will that lessen dependence on oil, but would free natural gas for transportation use.
This is just one example of how nuclear power can replace oil.
If we had high-temperature reactors like LFTR or PBMR that could produce synthetic hydrocarbons fuels from thermochemical hydrogen, that would be one thing. But LWRs aren't displacing much petroleum. Some, but not much.
The diesel generators could be replaced by a small nuclear power plant. If this were a cheaper option I'm sure shipping lines would look closely at it. Any reactor for commercial shipping would need either online refueling, a long core life, or rapid refueling that fits the drydocking schedule of commercial shipping. To make the investment in such technology, shipping lines would also need a stable regulatory environment and the ability to call at all ports that they currently service.
None of this is impossible, but until the price of fuel oil gets so high that it becomes an economic necessity to change, change probably won't happen. If change does happen, it will probably come rapidly.
In fact, nuclear power is being proposed to expand oil production and export from Saudi Arabia and the tar sands of Alberta, Canada.