Core Power CEO: Biggest ships can benefit the most from nuclear power

The largest ocean-going vessels, which are the largest polluters, can reap the greatest benefits from the new nuclear power technologies, according to Mikal Bøe, CEO of London-based Core Power.

Speaking at a recent meeting with the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee, as the MANP Working Group Chair at World Nuclear Transport Institute (WNTI), Bøe shared views on how nuclear power can help decarbonize shipping.

According to the IMO Greenhouse gas study, 17,000 of the biggest ships are responsible for 80% of the sector’s emissions, with only c. 7000 vessels accounting for 50% of emissions. At the same time, these ships are the greatest consumers of bunkers fuels.

“The largest ships matter the most, they are really hard to decarbonize and they really need a new solution,” he said.

“We are seeing through the research and development over the past ten years that new nuclear technology can be used to power the production of green fuels and do so where those fuels are needed as well as to power those big ships and achieve true zero emissions.“

Core Power specializes in scalable atomic power technology for ocean transport and heavy industry. The company is working on the development of a modular molten salt reactor (MSR) to propel ships and provide energy for manufacturing blue and green fuels. An MSR is a class of nuclear fission reactors in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a salt mixture.

The technology the company is working on with the support of the U.S. government and its partners TerraPower, Southern Company, and Orano, promises to be the world’s first fast spectrum liquid-fueled reactor with demonstration expected post-2026. The molten chloride fast reactor would be operating on ambient pressure and it has been described as having exceptional fuel efficiency and minimal waste output of 1 gram per MW a day.

Core Power’s CEO explains that MSR technology differs from conventional nuclear power and that it resolves key issues key to the decarbonization of shipping, as they provide a new level of fuel efficiency that can fuel assets for life (25-30 years). Furthermore, since these are rather small machines (modular 180 MWth design) they could be mass-produced and easily scalable and thus affordable.

All reactors require emergency planning zones. For large pressurized water reactors, this zone would be around 80 kilometers, while for pressurized small modular reactors that would be 10 kilometers. However, the company is working on a molten chloride fast reactor that would use ambient pressure which would require an emergency planning zone of several meters.

The company is working on the development of several designs of nuclear electric ships. One of those includes a 20,000 TEU ultra-large container vessel that would be able to sail faster (30+knots) without refueling for 30 years.

What is more, since the ship wouldn’t have fuel tanks and would require a smaller engine room, and no chimney it would be able to carry more cargo per voyage.

“We believe that the way these new types of reactors can make these ships more competitive is by having them completely immune to carbon taxation, being able to carry more cargo, faster and for a longer period,” Bøe explained in a recent webinar on the role of nuclear power in shipping’s path toward net zero.

It is estimated that a containership of this size would pay around 750 million dollars in carbon tax throughout its operational lifetime, which will most probably be passed down to the consumer resulting in very expensive container shipping.

The UK company recently showcased a nuclear electric propulsion system (NEPS) targeting the container ship segment. The demonstration showed how a 14k TEU vessel fitted with a single molten salt reactor could enjoy total lifecycle costs of about half that of a conventionally propelled sister ship.

Finally, nuclear-electric ships could be used to provide power while in ports, also known as reversed cold ironing. Basically, the power produced in the onboard nuclear plant would be diverted away from the propulsion system and onto the port to power equipment such as gantry cranes.

Floating power

Even though nuclear power is not a popular solution, it has the potential to smoothen the transition to renewable energy and help produce green fuels.

Aside from nuclear propulsion for ships, Core Power is also targeting other markets with its technology including power generation, especially for coastal communities and island states. A floating nuclear power plant with these types of reactors onboard can be used to help produce green hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic fuels or methanol for up to 40 years. The design has the potential to be used in water desalination as well.

Scaling production of green fuels is one of the most pressing issues at the moment in the industry amid insufficient amounts of renewable electricity on the market to channel into production.

By tapping into the potential of the nuclear plants to produce green fuels at ports where the largest ships in the industry have regular stops, such as Singapore or Rotterdam this could be overcome.

Nuclear power is looking to become a mass market technology and move from the stage of a single project to being a product, according to Mikal Bøe.

“Our mission is to build and fulfill these markets. We co-fund the reactor development and contribute to marine engineering so the companies developing the reactors can make the solution marine ready through early designs and demonstrations. We develop the entire power package appropriate for the marine environment, and we are deeply involved in the work of modernizing regulations for floating nuclear power plants.

“We are backed by the shipping industry and have 42 shareholders in Core Power from the shipping industry and more of those are coming. Maritime is getting behind this,” he said.

“The market has high barriers to entry, it is unsaturated and imminently scalable.”