When I first read the story, I thought – that doesn’t seem like a great or necessary idea. But the more I peeled the onion layers away the more I thought – well OK, maybe there is a method to the madness.
Face it: we’ve had floating nuclear for decades in the form of navy vessels. The U.S. currently boasts 83 total nuclear-powered ships: 72 submarines, 10 aircraft carriers, and one research vessel. Collectively these ships visit over 150 ports in over 50 countries meaning floating nuclear reactors are basically everywhere. To date, I know of no accidents or radiation leaks.
That reality didn’t immediately dawn on me, but once factored into the equation, it begs the question: why not floating nuclear and what is the potential upside?
Floating nuclear power plants or FNPP, (yes, it’s an acronym - then again what doesn’t have an acronym these days) is a potential alternative to generating energy far out at sea or on remote islands. The advent of small nuclear reactors (SMRs) is making the idea more feasible.
The idea is to place SMRs on barges to provide clean electricity and heat to remote coastal locations. There is also the potential to decarbonize offshore oil and gas production and exploration. I know – why would you want to do that? Because the alternative is the continued use of fossil fuels to produce more fossil fuels.
In any case, the topic of FNPPs was discussed at an International Atomic Energy Agency symposium last November. The discussion revolved around viability, potential applications, and - in my mind most important - safeguards.
The idea is that the reactors could be built and assembled on land and transported to their ultimate destination. Canada, China, Demark, South Korea, Russia, and the US are all working on some form of marine based SMRs. Russia already has one that has been operational since 2020. And the good news is that it replaced a coal-fired plant.
Yet there is concern, and rightfully so, of moving FNPPs across international borders and/or operate in international territories. The question is: who would have jurisdiction and how would the licensing and regulatory process work? The answer is international standards are required and FNPP technology would be restricted to the jurisdictions that agree upon those standards. Always tricky stuff trying to get a multitude of countries to agree on anything.
The symposium identified some possible next steps. These included establishing a mechanism to improve communication between the nuclear and maritime industry, and regulators. And of course, there needs to be a focus on ensuring the proper security and safeguards are incorporated in any accepted designs.
I don’t expect FNPPs to proliferate any time soon but it will be interesting to see what if any progress will be made in the coming years.
#nuclear #nuclearenergy #nuclearpower #floatingnuclear #fnpp