NRI Annual Review 2024 - Flipbook - Page 38
of life of fuel to be accommodated
in situ as back up.
The 昀椀nal variant of SMR design
considered by the Frontiers
programme in 2023 was
presented by Core Power, who
focused on the potential for
marine-oriented nuclear and
how to scale the industry in a
truly modular way, at pace. Core
Power’s proposal includes using
shipyard construction methods
where production is based not
only on reactor and power system
modularity, but entire plant system
modularity, which may then
be launched as a package. The
largest shipyards release over 100
complex vessels a year; if a new
nuclear modularity hub can match
that, the sector could move from
commissioning one small power
plant every 10 years to one every
few weeks, sowing the seeds of an
entirely new industry.
Core Power’s vision for the
maritime sector is based on a
liquid-fuelled, ambient-pressure,
molten-chloride fast reactor.
The IAEA’s 2023 symposium on
Floating Nuclear Power Plants
determined that an overarching
regulatory framework might
be relatively straightforward.
However, it also observed that
using conventional nuclear
technology for the maritime
sector would mean multiple
issues around nuclear and
maritime safety and security.
Bringing established technologies
into nearshore environments,
waterways and ports would also
cause major insurance challenges.
With a large, mobile emergency
planning zone that moves with the
vessel, it is almost inconceivable
that commercial insurance could
work. As a result, merchant
nuclear shipping is not available
today. However, if the maritime
sector were to proceed with new
nuclear technologies that are
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ambient pressure and liquid
fuel, and operate completely
differently to conventional
light-water reactors, then the
emergency planning zone could
shrink down potentially to the
boundaries of the vessel. This
would change the nexus between
the way emergency preparedness
is carried out and the way it is
insured. It could be the 昀椀rst step
towards acceptance of 昀氀oating
nuclear, whether on ships or
permanently located in ports
and nearshore environments.
Core Power’s fuel is liquid, so
it could not melt down, and
operating in the fast spectrum
means that long-lived actinides
would be consumed to create a
new level of fuel ef昀椀ciency. This
would lead to a potentially much
higher residual energy value,
which could be reused from
generation to generation. Clearly,
integrating nuclear into a marine
environment will not be as simple
as putting a reactor in a hull or on
a ship. Therefore, one of the key
interfacing systems under Core
Power’s IP is a ‘complex concrete
box’, in which the reactor
systems would be installed
and enclosed to provide the
appropriate boundary conditions
to meet marine regulations,
classi昀椀cations, insurance and
nuclear safety and security
requirements.
The promise is that with longlife cycles of certain cores like
the modern chloride fast reactor,
vessels could potentially operate
for up to 25 or 30 years without
refuelling, while container ships
that sit high in the water could
achieve speeds of 30 knots or
more, almost twice today’s
speeds. The test reactor being
constructed will reside at Idaho
National Laboratory in the US
from 2025 to 2026.
Given all these novel nuclear
technologies, there can be no
doubt that nuclear is going to
play a major role in delivering a
zero-carbon future. And there is
evidently much anticipation about
how rapidly such innovation can
push back the nuclear frontier.
There can be no
doubt that nuclear
is going to play
a major role in
delivering a
zero-carbon future
