Lloyd’s Register (LR) is working with US-based Deployable Energy to bring container-sized nuclear reactors to power ships, in a bid to tackle shipping’s decarbonisation challenge.
The collaboration will map out the safety cases, regulatory approvals and integration steps needed to make micro-nuclear propulsion a reality, LR said on Monday.
Deployable Energy has developed a 1 MW reactor small enough to fit inside a standard 20-foot container.
Built in a factory and fuelled with low-enriched uranium, each unit is designed to operate at full power for more than five years.
LR and Deployable Energy will work together to refine risk assessments and qualification milestones with the aim of enabling pilot deployments later this decade.
If successful, the technology could offer shipping a long-term zero-carbon energy source, without the fuel storage and bunkering challenges faced by alternative fuels.
