Nuclear Propulsion of Merchant Ships 1

The main objective of NuProShip I (Nuclear Propulsion of Merchant Ships 1) is to identify and adapt a Generation IV SMR to the requirements of shipping and in particular larger ships starting from a technically sound reactor design at 10–150 MW thermal effect. To achieve this, the project stated by identifying a set of exclusion criteria that the reactor designs had to meet and all known reactor design in the world by the end of 2023 were analyzed. This initial step provided 8 reactor designs. These reactor design were subsequently subjected to a ranking process using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) with 26 criteria in total. In addition, it was evaluated how well different reactor designs could meet the countability requirements of entering ports, which most ports have today. The result was 3 reactor designs left standing. These were 1) the MMR of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, which is a helium gas-cooled reactor with TRISO pellets, 2) the Hermes reactor of Kairos Power, which is a small molten salt reactor using TRISO pebbles, and 3) the Sealer 55 of Blykalla, which is a liquid lead reactor. The nuclear technologies were also analyzed in greater depth concerning regulatory issues, safety, implications for ship design, maintenance, handling nuclear rest material and training of crew. However, these analyses require much more work before anything conclusive can be offered. The results are now securing a starting points for the next project, NuProShip II where everything is to be expanded into much greater details and depth. An important result from NuProShip I is also the assurance that there is no single reactor design that can address all ship types well. Thus, all three reactor designs, plus any other suitable that scores well on all the criteria, will proceed to the detailing work in NuProShip II. Further funding is now being pursued in the shape of SFI SAINT (Sustainable And Industrialized Nuclear Technology) where the last research gaps will be addressed and solved. Several separately funded demonstration- and innovation projects will be launched from SFI SAINT.

The project has attracted great attention internationally resulting in that all reactor vendors have signed MOUs for further cooperating in NuProShip II and also SFI SAINT. Furthermore, the number of participating shipping companies and other industrial entities has steadily increased. A PhD fellowships has also been rewarded internally from NTNU addressing thermal storage. The impact scientifically is that the projects has resulted in a very clear understanding of what criteria maritime reactors must fulfill and also which reactor technologies that can actually fulfill these criteria. Furthermore, we have identified that different ship types will require different reactor technologies - exactly which remains to be analyzed in NuProShip II. The r\project has also kickstarted the complex work on ship design, safety, maritime regulations, nuclear law, maritime law, operations at sea, infrastructure on land, support systems and marinization of the reactor itself. Based on preliminary results, not published, it seems likely that the project in the end can actually achieve its main objective - provide zero emission propulsion for shipping at lower costs than todays fossil fuels. This will become clear either in NuProShip II, or at the latest in SFI SAINT. If successful, this will change shipping to an extent not seen since sails were replaced by engines. Members of the consortium can take a lead in this disruption.

NuProShip I is the first project in three projects that constitute the entire research program denoted NuProShip, an abbreviation for Nuclear Propulsion of merchant Ships. The ultimate purpose of the research program is to develop a commercially viable zero-emission technology for deep-sea ships that satisfies all stakeholders and requires no subsidies after the initial development process. These ships emit in total more climate gasses the all of Germany combined. Today, there are no viable solutions for this type of ships and most are even technically impossible. Hence, there is a solid case for executing this research program. The research program is taking Generation IV reactors as its point of departure due to their superior performance on all parameters including safety, costs, waste, complexity and size. Developing such a technology for the maritime domain will be a "new to the world" innovation. Due to the complexities involved we must first perform a thorough concept and feasibility study, which is the objective of NuProShip I. To pull this demanding project off, we have assembled experts in various domains. The expertise is not only academic, but also from real-life nuclear projects, real-life maritime shipping and real-life ship design, class and regulatory expertise. The work is split into four work packages each with major R&D challenges. The first is the nuclear island and everything that goes with it including land-based matters such as harbor and nuclear waste treatment. The second investigates all the technical implications for ships while the third studies the operational issues at sea. A fourth work package assembles all the insights from the previous three to estimate economic- and environmental effects including risks and future development needs.