SPECIAL REPORT | BULLS OF THE SEA
Top left: Core Power called on players in the maritime scene to start taking the nuclear corridor concept seriously
Bottom left: President Donald Trump and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer signed a ‘Technology Prosperity Deal, which included plans to explore “opportunities for novel applications of advanced nuclear energy, including civil maritime applications”
have become comfortable explaining why they want nuclear as a 24/7 clean power source. The world’s largest shipping companies, shipbuilders and ports will be able to do the same thing.
A change in perception Nuclear shipping sets the scene for another shift in public perception. Part of the reason fossil fuels have been hard to displace is that they have so many stakeholders making a living out of their value chain and logistics. Nuclear’s energy density means it has never had that depth of quiet support. Consider that a whole year’s global supply of uranium (about 69,000 tonnes) can be transported on a single Panamax freighter, whereas there are 18,000 ships at sea at this moment transporting fossil fuels. Not only will nuclear vessels increase familiarity with nuclear energy and its benefits, they will also reshape the shipping industry overall. Nuclear vessels are “going to completely change the
infrastructure and reduce the number of ships,” said Sims due to the, “transformative nature of nuclear.” Foreseen to travel at up to twice the speed of current ships, nuclear vessels could break into the market of high value freight that currently goes by air. “We can take some of that, do it cheaper, and decarbonise it at the same time,” said Sims. Simply by moving more goods more quickly, a nuclear upgrade to global shipping is seen as boosting the global economy – another factor that stands to bring in powerful economic players that want nuclear to succeed. Change is seen as inevitable. The maritime sector has
And don’t forget: “Things will go wrong and we will
have to explain to people how we will manage things and why that is an acceptable or manageable risk,” said Salthouse. He noted that the marine salvage subsector would have to step up into a high-profile role when nuclear vessels get into trouble. Nevertheless, times are changing for nuclear energy. We
have seen in a dramatic swell of political and big industry support for nuclear due to the simple fact that energy demand is growing again. The energy debate changed from ‘what would be the ideal energy system of the future’ to ‘how will I power my business next year?’ And the companies driving this are very powerful, influential and rich. The likes of Microsoft, Google, Amazon and OpenAI
28 | October 2025 |
www.neimagazine.com
examined several fuels that might replace the encumbent fuel oils – ethane, methane, ammonia, biofuels, methanol, hydrogen, LNG, LPG and so on. They all fall short one way or another in comparison. For erxample, they are less energy dense than fuel oil, therefore ships would need larger fuel tanks or could only do shorter journeys. They need more refuelling and larger bunkers, they are not available in every port. All that interferes with established trade routes, infrastructure and business models. Nuclear not only avoids those problems, but avoids refuelling completely from the operator’s point of view. Is this similar to the comparison of electric vehicles with
the internal combustion engine (ICE)? Statistics show that once a driver has owned an electric car, they will rarely go back to ICE. With advantages in performance, noise, cost, maintenance, spare parts, pollution, fuelling, etc. electric cars are simply better at doing the job of a car than fossil fuel versions have been. The shipping sector has decided that in the same way, nuclear-powered ships will simply be better ships than they’ve ever had before, and they want them right now. ■
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