With demonstration projects now underway, including a nuclear-powered LNG tanker and an offshore vessel, the debate is shifting from whether nuclear shipping is possible to how it can be delivered. Jan Emblemsvåg,
With demonstration projects now underway, including a nuclear-powered LNG tanker and an offshore vessel, the debate is shifting from whether nuclear shipping is possible to how it can be delivered. Jan Emblemsvåg, Professor at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)'s Department of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering in Ålesund, argues that the key barriers are no longer technical, but regulatory, commercial and political.
Nuclear propulsion is returning to the maritime agenda through projects now taking shape in Norway.
Two demonstration concepts are in development: a nuclear-powered LNG tanker, backed by Knutsen OAS, and a specialized offshore vessel being developed with Island Offshore. This work is supported by a broader research and industrial effort, including the recently completed NuProShip II project, where ship designers, class and operators are examining how small modular reactors can be integrated into real vessel concepts.
The focus is no longer on whether nuclear propulsion is possible but on how it can be implemented, and what stands in the way.
Why nuclear shipping did not succeed before
This is not a new idea. When the US Maritime Administration-owned NS Savannah entered service in the 1960s as the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant vessel, nuclear propulsion was
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