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 widescale nuclear adoption.

They are compact, of modular design, scalable, and use ‘passive’ or in-built safety features that require no human intervention in an emergency.

In the event of a sinking, experts estimate that molten salt reactors can withstand sea water of normal temperature for about 10,000 years or up to a million years in the deepest and coldest parts of the ocean.

Professor Jan Emblemsvåg, a leading nuclear scientist, explained why the nuclear pessimists should think again. Unlike the Generation II graphite moderated nuclear reactors at Chernobyl, he explained, SMRs have ‘passive safety’. This means that the physics of the reactor can never reach the point of thermal runaway.

Emblemsvåg and his colleagues at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), are engaged in the NuProShip project, (Nuclear Propulsion in Shipping), focused on specific prototype vessels that could be on the water by 2035.

One of these, he explained, is an SMR-powered offshore vessel developed with Ulsteinvik-based Island Offshore. Partners in the project have applied for funding to develop a reactor powered initially by electricity to carry out tests.

The reactor will have all of the components of a nuclear SMR including pressure vessel and heat exchanger. However, the heat in the test unit will not be generated by nuclear energy, but by electricity and gas instead.

Emblemsvåg referred to US nuclear energy developer Kairos Power, which is now building a SMR. He explained that if the reactor is successful, it will pave the way for ‘marinisation’ of the technology.

This process is at an early stage, however, with the involvement of TerraPower, a Bill Gates-owned company. Together with Core Power and Orano USA, the consortium is developing a marine MSR specifically for commercial shipping applications. With the involvement of South Korean shipbuilder, HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering, it is gaining traction.

A second project in the NuProShip programme is a nuclear-powered LNG carrier in partnership with Haugesund-based Knutsen which operates a fleet of 37 LNG tankers. A prototype is to be powered by a TerraPower SMR.

However, both projects require the involvement of a suitable cargo owner. The likely development cost of US$1-2 billion cannot be raised if the owners have no clients or charterers for a nuclear-powered asset.

The first ‘marinised’ SMRs will be very expensive, said Emblemsvåg, but he explained that nuclear power for ships produced on an industrial scale could be significantly below the cost of green ammonia or green hydrogen, or other zero-emission fuels. He also thinks it will be cheaper than fossil fuels … and far safer.

Now, the project partners are looking for port authorities to join the project. Seven have been approached so far; only one has been negative.

They see significant benefits: fossil fuels require storage, taking up valuable space. Ships will spend less time in port, increasing capacity. And nuclear vessels will also be able to provide energy ashore – reverse shore power – to feed into grids or provide power for assets. Meanwhile, layers of cybersecurity will deploy the same technology as is used by the US military.

Separately, nuclear power is climbing the agenda in two other offshore sectors. A series of projects are focusing on the development and deployment of SMRs aboard barges for offshore installations to provide a steady source of power for island communities.

Several possibilities are being assessed in the Mediterranean, in locations including Greek islands. Although Greece became a net energy exporter through solar power production in 2024, many non-connected island communities still rely on diesel delivered by tanker. They could now become independent and self-sufficient in green energy.

Meanwhile Core Power is undertaking a feasibility study on barge-mounted SMRs to power energy- intensive data centres. The Generation III+ integral pressurised water SMR design has a capacity of 195MWe of electricity and 575MWth, about 12.5-20% of the output of a conventional nuclear power plant.