The Trump administration is studying the deployment of offshore nuclear power generation, with the Marine Minerals Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreeing this week to coordinate on any future developments. The announcement comes amid surging electricity demand driven by Big Tech.
“Submerged reactor systems have been safely deployed in naval applications for decades, demonstrating their potential as a reliable source of energy in demanding marine environments. While no commercial deployment on the Outer Continental Shelf is planned or approved at this time, it could greatly strengthen America's energy security in the future,” the acting director of the Marine Mineral Administration, Matt Giacona, said.
The new partnership is part of a broader push to boost the share of nuclear power in the U.S. energy mix, with Reuters recalling in a report that President Trump wants to increase nuclear capacity in the country fourfold by 2050. Indeed, nuclear, which previously fell out of favor because of the high upfront costs and a perception of high risk, has recently been regaining that favor because of its zero-emission principle of operation and the fact that it supplies baseload power.
That last fact has really tipped the scales in favor of nuclear as Big Tech emerges as the main driver of global electricity demand growth because of its focus on artificial intelligence development and application. The industry—just like every other, and households—needs a reliable power supply, and that means either baseload from hydrocarbons or nuclear, or wind and solar plus batteries, with battery technology still not advanced enough to secure the 24/7 uninterrupted supply necessary for data center operators.
Nuclear is making a return, but floating nuclear generation specifically is not really a popular technology globally, yet. There is only one offshore nuclear power station in operation, and that is Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov, which was built to power the Far Eastern Chukotka Peninsula and Yakutia regions. The station began commercial operation in 2020 and was recently reported to have generated its first billion kilowatt-hours.
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The facility works with reactors similar to those used in Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers, and Rosatom, which built the station, plans to build four more and export the technology, offering plant capacity of 100 Mwe and a service life of 60 years.
China is also working on floating nuclear power generation. One company recently unveiled plans to build a nuclear-powered offshore logistics hub that would produce zero emissions, including through using nuclear fuel for powering ships.
It seems interest in offshore nuclear is growing, with two recent news reports about companies working on the technology. One of these is a U.S. startup by the name of Bluecore Energy, which is developing small modular reactors that can be deployed on floating barges and supply electricity to ports and other infrastructure, Baird Maritime reported this week.
In another report from this week, Samsung Heavy Industries was named as a signatory of a partnership deal with another U.S. company, Sargent & Lundy, for the development of small modular reactors for floating offshore power generators. The deal would see the Korean heavyweight develop a small modular reactor standard platform, following its development of a conceptual design for such a facility. In short, floating nuclear, which was mocked by some when the Akademik Lomonosov was launching, has now become an interesting avenue of energy exploration.
Yet not all in the U.S. federal government are fans of offshore nuclear. The Interior Department, for instance, has national security concerns related to the technology, with Reuters citing the agency as noting radar interference as one specific problem. Environmentalists, separately, believe offshore nuclear power generation is “a terrible idea” that would harm marine life.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
