Can commercial ships exchange their bunker fuel for reactors operating for decades? AMPERA and Scorpio Tankers are testing this idea by pursuing a dual approach, consisting of nuclear powered barges in ports and offshore locations in the near term and eventually nuclear powered commercial ships. This seems like an obvious solution to the problem of energy consumption by ships, especially considering AMPERA’s plans to develop its innovative reactor that can provide up to 30 MW of electricity without refueling for decades using a supercritical CO2 power cycle instead of a water based one.
In the maritime environment, this is critical as all aspects of energy management, including fuel tank volumes, the need to stop for refueling, and additional machinery associated with fossil energy use, can become obstacles when operating on sea routes far away from regular refueling facilities. As Scorpio stated: “Scorpio Tankers and AMPERA plan to develop and deploy ultra-safe, nuclear-powered maritime energy systems, including floating nuclear power barges in the near term and nuclear-powered vessels over the longer term.”
More generally, it seems that maritime nuclear power becomes increasingly relevant for the shipping industry in the face of rising environmental pressure from society. Ships emit about 3% of greenhouse gases emitted worldwide and require an alternative to fossil fuels, which is hard to implement with the currently available alternative fuels due to various logistical constraints.
However, the introduction of nuclear power can make a difference in the matter because endurance of the nuclear reactor system allows solving the problem through engineering, rather than fuel logistics planning. For instance, nuclear powered floating barges can be helpful for ports and remote maritime installations and serve as infrastructure to support the operation of nuclear ships at sea.
Theoretically, they could also play a strategic role in the development of the Arctic and Indo Pacific regions where infrastructure for conventional logistics is not as abundant as elsewhere and floating nuclear power plants could secure energy provision in those regions. However, it should be acknowledged that the latter solution is more of an experimental scenario than a realistic possibility in the next decade. What prevents nuclear power from becoming mainstream in the maritime industry?
This is not a technical limitation, but a regulatory one. Commercial insurers do not cover risks associated with nuclear powered ships, which means that civilian ports cannot accommodate such ships. However, some actions are being undertaken to change this reality. For example, the International Maritime Organization has initiated the process of revising the current regulation in the area, while the International Atomic Energy Agency pursues its ATLAS project in the field.
The US Coast Guard established a maritime nuclear policy division, signaling readiness to regulate the industry and address safety and insurance issues. Hence, the collaboration between AMPERA and Scorpio Tankers appears to be an attempt to assess how feasible this idea is, taking into account reactor parameters, fuel form, and other technical specifications. However, the major issue lies in developing a solution that would be acceptable to maritime ports.