The key facts

  • The Research Council of Norway has allocated funding to the MarNuPS project — small modular reactors for marine vessels
  • Tests of a mock-up without nuclear fuel are scheduled for 2027 in the Stette area near Ålesund
  • The basis will be the 5 MW Gem microreactor from Emerald Nuclear with a replaceable module every 5–15 years

Funding and testing plan

The Research Council of Norway has allocated funds to the Marine Nuclear Propulsion System (MarNuPS) project, whose participants are developing and deploying small modular nuclear reactors adapted for maritime transport. According to Kun.uz, such installations could free vessels operating in open seas from the need for fossil fuels and allow them to run for long periods without frequent refueling.

How the system will be tested without nuclear fuel

In the first phase, testing will take place in the Stette area near the Norwegian city of Ålesund: a full-scale mock-up of a ship's power plant will be assembled there to check how its components work together. No nuclear fuel will be used in these tests — engineers will generate the heat that the reactor is supposed to produce using electricity. This approach makes it possible to evaluate the system's operation and control without radiation risks; the tests are scheduled for 2027.

The Gem reactor and the replaceable module

The core of the power system is the Gem microreactor from Emerald Nuclear, with an electrical capacity of 5 MW. It is planned to use TRISO-type fuel, in which particles of enriched uranium are protected by multilayer ceramic and carbon shells designed to withstand very high temperatures and reduce the risk of radioactive materials escaping. Heat will be converted into electricity by equipment from Peregrine Turbine Technologies. A distinctive feature of the project is the replaceable reactor module: under the current plan, the reactor is housed in a sealed container that is replaced with a new one every 5–15 years, which, it is expected, will eliminate complex operations for directly replacing nuclear fuel in ports.

Who plans to be the first to use the technology, and when

The Norwegian shipping company Island Offshore intends to be the first to apply the technology at sea: it plans to install an operational Gem reactor on a vessel that supplies oil and gas platforms in 2031–2032. If the plan is realized, it could open the way to using nuclear power on commercial vessels operating in the North Sea. For now, however, this concerns plans and upcoming tests: the mock-up tests are only scheduled for 2027, and installing a reactor on an actual vessel remains a stated intention of the company.