The recent years' energy focus has opened up for a new discussion on nuclear propulsion in ships. There are scarcities in many of the green alternatives on the market and especially for larger vessels requiring heavy loads of energy in both single ocean operations and on long-hauls.
Inside the maritime cluster, there are already R&D initiatives and concepts:
• NUPROSHIP 1 – A project to find a suitable reactor for ships
• NEMO - Net Zero for Nuclear Powered Trawler
• THOR – An Ulstein developed concept that looks at a combined cargo and research ship for Arctic waters operated on a Thorium-based molten salt reactor.
This study will
- map out the research front on maritime nuclear power
- establish an overview of which of the new technologies suit the different vessel segments that the cluster operates
- establish an overview in the cluster of which internal and external actors are needed for the further development of maritime nuclear power in the cluster
