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Offshore ships going atomic
14th Jul 2026
Knutsen to retrofit tanker with nuclear tech (image: Knutsen)
The race to deploy the first nuclear assets in commercial shipping is heating up and the first projects are likely to focus on offshore applications, paving the way for wider adoption on commercial ships.
Advances in nuclear technology are transforming the backdrop and generating a wide range of new applications outside of the naval sector, the only maritime field in which nuclear power has been adopted at scale.
The first commercial applications are under development at speed, notably in the offshore energy and power generation fields. They are based on small modular reactors (SMRs), a fast-developing technology that will facilitate