Earth 300: nuclear powered superyacht that wants to save Antarctica

Superyachts for the climate-conscious billionaire is Earth 300's unique pitch. Photo / Supplied

You can give up meat, cycle to work but the best thing you could do for the planet is not buy that superyacht.

Earlier this year an Indiana University study revealed that the world's modest fleet of ultra-luxury class ships owned by the world's wealthiest 300 people equate to the annual carbon output of Iceland.

"Billionaires have carbon footprints that can be thousands of times higher than those of average Americans," professor Richard Wilk wrote in the Conversation.

For all the international travel, private jets and heating bills for luxury palaces, the top billing item for carbon cost was a luxury cruiser.

The study calculated the annual emissions of a superyacht at 7,020 tons. Permanent staff, diesel engines and a couple of heli-pads all add up in carbon debt.

The luxury cruiser was deemed "by the far worst asset to own from an environmental standpoint."

Named and shamed in the report was the football-loving petrochemical magnate Roman Abramovich, whose private yacht the Eclipse had a carbon footprint equivalent to many of the Caribbean Islands it visited, at 22,440 tons of carbon a year.

While some more climate-conscious individuals might consider abandoning their ships for the sake of the planet, others are determined to find a third way.

The 20 VIP suites aboard the Earth 300 will offset $150 million annual research coasts. Photo / Supplied, Earth 300

One ambitious group of shipwrights are chartering a new middle ground allowing the super rich to enjoy a floating palace guilt free. It involves a small privately owned nuclear reactor and a floating community of scientists and wealthy individuals coexisting at sea. What could go wrong.

The Earth 300 is a 300-metre-long, nuclear-powered pleasure cruiser. Announced at an event in Singapore earlier this year, designs for the Earth 300 were delivered with lofty ambitions to become a space-age arc.

Partners include IBM, Iddes Yachts architectural studio and a nuclear engineering firm bankrolled by Bill Gates. UK engineering firm Core Power is working on a reactor for the project - however CEO Aaron Olivera said that alternative green synthetic fuels are another potential power source.

"Our goal is to ring the climate alarm on a global scale and inspire an era of ecological imagination," he said.

Designed to circumnavigate the Antarctic circle, the ship will have space for 160 scientists, 165 crew, a fleet of experts and 20 VIP suites for wealthy individuals who are along for the ride.

The 'see it before it melts' eco-tours of Antarctica are nothing new. According to IAATO, in an average summer around 60,000 pleasure cruisers arrive in the Antarctic.

Ships often carry research equipment to the region and appeal of 'citizen science' projects are used to market the itineraries. Ships such as Hurtigruten's hybrid electric MS Roald Amundsen appeal to wealthy eco-tourists, paying up to $30,000 for a chance to visit the continent.

However nothing has been considered at this scale. Olivera's polar expeditions aim to generate around $150 million from 300 days of sailing, while also being the largest floating platform for scientists in the area.

The huge spherical observation bridge and huge latticed prow is unlike any

"We want to build a global icon for science," said Olivera.

Can eco-tourists on a nuclear superyacht save the world? Earth 300 likes to think so. Photo / Supplied

Targeting the ultra-rich this uber-ship will be a nuclear-powered oasis. Using nuclear power to unlock the Antarctic has been a dream since the 1950s. George J. Dufek, who was instrumental in Edmund Hillary's trans-Antarctic expedition, imagined an atomic-powered continent running Antarctic research bases in his book Through the Frozen Frontier.

The practicalities of bringing this technology to a frozen continent were easier said than done.

Writing for the journal Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dawn Stover is skeptical of the plan to use a "sexy nuclear superyacht" to avert a looming climate disaster.

The "clean" nuclear reactor technology is yet to be developed and likely to need much supervision. Then there is the problem of using ultra-wealthy tourists to offset the cost of the science onboard. Getting them to the vessel from around the world via private jets and individual travel plans is likely to be hugely inefficient.

Wealthiest 1% produce double the combined CO2 emissions of poorest 50%.

"We have got to cut over-consumption and the best place to start is over-consumption among the polluting elites who contribute by far more than their share of carbon emissions."https://t.co/0bEwESnE9O

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 13, 2021

Using luxury tourism to effect climate action is not a new concept, but it has had limited success so far.

"You can put those two things together in a sentence, but in the real world they mix about as easily as oil and water," she says.

Olivera was optimistic about being able to get the molten-salt reactor online within the next five years. In an interview with CNN he said he aims to deliver a project which will be as recognisable and inspirational as the Olympic torch or the Eiffel tower.

"I think 2025 is possible for us. It's just a question of the chips falling into place in the next six months or so, once we have the funding package in place," he said.