With the UK’s maritime sector expressing an ’appetite’ for nuclear propulsion, the law is set to be passed in November
The UK Department for Transport (DfT), through its UK Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA), has set a target date for passing the UK’s Merchant Shipping (Nuclear Ships) regulations into law.
The new regulations will be based on IMO’s Chapter VIII in the Annex to the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS) and the UK’s Safety Code for Nuclear Ships (res. A.491.XII) into UK law.
The current legislative timetable will see the regulations enter into force 22 November 2022.
“This is an important milestone in the regulatory progress for new nuclear in maritime,” Core Power chief executive Mikal Boe said. Core Power is a private UK-based maritime technology company focusing on nuclear power for ocean transport.
Industry consultation undertaken in August 2021 by the UK’s Maritime and Coast Guard Agency for the government’s Department for Transport showed most industry respondents agreeing no new or existing nuclear ships are likely to be flagged in the UK in the next 10 years.
Respondents included class societies American Bureau of Shipping and Bureau Veritas as well as the UK Chamber of Shipping and several nuclear technology firms.
Eleven out of the 14 responses said there is an appetite for nuclear ships over the next 10 years, with growing interest for nuclear propulsion for large ocean-going vessels.
On the question of additional cost considerations for the technology as compared with other propulsion technologies, respondents pointed to training and qualifying crew, maintenance, the exclusion of nuclear-powered vessels from some regions, necessary safety infrastructure to be built, insurance and liability costs and the potential for reputational jeopardy on the part of companies who utilise nuclear technology on board vessels. The government’s view is the costs would not come from the regulation but rather the inherent risk related to nuclear technology.
The consultation noted IMO’s SOLAS regulations related to nuclear propulsion on board vessels were developed and ratified in the early 1980s, making the rules roughly 40 years old. Some respondents said a potential unintended consequence of adopting the regulations into law without updating them to reflect advances in nuclear technology could lead to “a direct regulatory barrier being put in place to adopt[ing] new and advanced nuclear technologies”.
In recent months, the shipping industry has seen increased focus on thorium and molten salt reactors (MSRs) as potential propulsion technologies for vessels.
MSRs work by dissolving thorium – an abundant, naturally occurring metal with low radioactivity – in liquid salt. The ensuing chain reaction heats the salt, producing steam to drive a turbine and create electricity. Although developments on land are well documented, thorium’s potential for delivering clean maritime power has yet to be incorporated into a vessel design.
Proponents of the technology said it is safer than traditional nuclear technologies and results in much lower levels of nuclear waste.
