Study: Allseas' Nuclear Reactor Could Cut Shipping's Emissions By 5%

Swiss-Dutch marine engineering giant Allseas has commissioned a new study on the economic benefits of offshore nuclear powerplants, a new specialty it is developing in cooperation with TU Delft and nuclear energy services company NRG Pallas.

In June, Allseas announced plans to build a 25 megawatt small modular reactor (SMR) designed for marine propulsion, auxiliary power and microgrid applications. The company intends to adapt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology for offshore use. In this design, the reactor core is filled with tiny beads, each with a uranium core and a tough ceramic coating. The reactor is intended to cool itself and shut down automatically in the event of a fault, without any external input.

Allseas has an ambitious five-year program to get the first reactors into operation. The program is starting this year with design studies, progressing through detailed design by 2028, and entering initial deployment by 2030.

In a study commissioned by Allseas, consultancy Roland Berger estimates that there is a market for up to 700 Allseas reactors in the global maritime industry and up to 110 more on land in the Netherlands. This buildout could generate total economic activity of up to $150 billion and create up to 40,000 new jobs, according to the study. Along the way, it would save 55 megatons of CO2 in the shipping industry and 10 megatons in the Dutch industrial economy.

One potential application could be in powering deep-sea mining vessels and other large offshore-sector ships, which would benefit from a reactor's five-year-long fuel cycle and could spend more time at sea. Allseas is a leading participant in the nascent deep-sea mining market, and it owns the largest cable-lay and heavy lift vessels in the world.

For other large vessel classes, Roland Berger believes that Allseas' SMR design will become cost-competitive with HFO - an ambitious goal, assisted by increasing future carbon fees. "Allseas' SMR will become cost-competitive between 2030 and 2040 as SMR costs will go down and CO2 costs will increase," predicted the consultancy. Larger boxships, which burn more fuel for higher speeds, could be best placed to benefit.

"This study demonstrates our small modular reactor is technologically innovative and strategically valuable for the Netherlands," said Stephanie Heerema, Project Manager Nuclear Developments at Allseas. "With this technology, we can meet the urgent demand for stable, clean, and affordable energy, while creating an export product that accelerates the global energy transition."