MARINE NUCLEAR APPLICATIONS | COVER STORY


Nuclear power in marine and offshore


Nuclear energy’s potential can be viewed as two stories: nuclear for ships and nuclear for future fuels. Both offer a wealth of opportunity but much more development is needed in both technology and regulatory frameworks.


By Jin Wang, Director of Technology, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)


NUCLEAR POWER HAS THE POTENTIAL to make a transformational impact on carbon emissions reduction across the electricity, industrial and transportation sectors. Its ability to provide clean alternative power generation options in shipping has already attracted attention and the journey to cleaner maritime energy is gaining momentum. From the perspective of achieving IMO’s 2050 net-zero ambitions, it would be a mistake to ignore nuclear as a part of the fuel mix. However, progress will not happen without regulations that provide a foundational basis for how nuclear-powered systems in the maritime sector could look. Nuclear energy has the potential to be a disruptor for the maritime sector. Enabling it to be successfully and safely integrated into the shipping industry requires a new kind of collaboration. Nuclear power for ships holds out the prospect of using


advanced small modular nuclear reactors as propulsion, while nuclear for future fuels includes scenarios where small modular nuclear reactors are positioned near shore to produce power for ports and support the production of alternative fuels.


Above: Fission Forward is a conceptual design for a nuclear-powered LNG bulk carrier designed by ABS and HEC Source: ABS www.neimagazine.com | January 2025 | 33


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