Island Offshore targets nuclear-powered vessel for 2031-2032
The Research Council of Norway will fund a nuclear propulsion system project for offshore vessels with NOK 20 million ($2 million).
IMAGE: Emerald Nuclear’s microreactor design. Emerald Nuclear
Norwegian offshore vessel operator Island Offshore wants to be the first owner to fit the system, with a full-scale test rig planned for 2027 and a vessel targeted for 2031 or 2032. Partners including ship designer Vard are adding their own money, and the first stage alone is estimated to cost around NOK 150 million (about $16 million).
Island Offshore operates 18 vessels for the oil and gas and offshore wind industries. Nuclear power could decarbonise offshore vessels “without compromising the power, endurance and operational flexibility these ships require,” Island Offshore chief executive Tommy Walaunet said.
The company does not say which vessel will carry the reactor.
Maritime nuclear company Emerald Nuclear Norway leads the project. Its Seattle-based parent, Emerald Nuclear, would lease the reactor rather than sell it. It would own and run the reactor and handle the fuel, while shipowners would buy power at what the company calls a predictable cost.
The system will pair a 5 MW electric microreactor with energy storage, power conversion and automation.
Next year the partners will assemble a full-scale version at a test site at Stette, outside Ålesund, using electric heating in place of nuclear fuel. Tests will cover normal operation, sudden swings in power demand, stress conditions and crew interaction.
The project builds on NuProShip, a Norwegian research programme in which Emerald Nuclear is a partner, led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. A Vard-led study under the programme concluded in January that nuclear-powered offshore vessels are technically achievable.
Shipping interest in nuclear propulsion has widened this year. Classification society ABS gave approval in principle in July to the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering’s design for a 15,000 TEU container ship powered by a molten salt reactor.
Nuclear technology company Core Power agreed in August with the US Maritime Administration to target 2028 for the start of construction of the first US-flagged nuclear-powered merchant ships.
Danish shipping firm A.P. Moller - Maersk then joined Lloyd’s Register and the ports of Charleston and Felixstowe in September to model a nuclear-powered shipping corridor between the US and UK.
Cost remains an obstacle. University College London researchers found on Tuesday that a nuclear containership cannot compete on cost with a conventional vessel unless the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework is in force, even at the lowest estimated reactor cost.
By Tuhin Roy
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