|
11/07/2025 On 10 July 2025, more than 300 global stakeholders from the maritime, nuclear, and energy sectors gathered at IET London for the New Nuclear for Maritime European Summit, hosted by CORE POWER. The summit marked a pivotal moment in the emergence of floating nuclear power for maritime applications, described by many attendees as a breakthrough year for the sector. The day opened with remarks from Charlotte Vere, CORE POWER's Group Head Market Development, who emphasised the UK's leadership in maritime innovation and framed 2025 as a decisive year for nuclear maritime deployment and regulatory advancement. A Clear Mission: Deployment at Scale Tobi Menzies (CORE POWER) introduced the company's flagship initiative: the LIBERTY Program, a blueprint to design, build and operate advanced nuclear technologies, aiming to set a global benchmark for floating nuclear power deployment and maritime decarbonisation. In his presentation, Menzies explained the three distinct phases of the LIBERTY program, and stressed the importance of recognising the expanded role of the Flag State in the future as nuclear licensing is brought into the maritime sector. Morgan Fanberg (Glosten) led an insightful keynote on integrating nuclear propulsion into commercial shipping, providing a detailed outline of the challenges and the role of the naval architect/designer to bring together structure, safety systems, operations and mission all in a single floating platform. He concluded that "taking everything into account, nuclear becomes a smart long-term play". Phil Malone, VP - Engineering at CORE POWER, who moderated the panel that followed agreed, and underscored the significance of robust programme management with a focus on cost, quality and schedule. Michael Vandevanter (TerraPower) drew comparisons with Glosten's design challenges to their own work on the MCFR which in some respects had required them "to go back to first principles". Sangmin Park (HD KSOE) confirmed that maritime nuclear technologies are now one of HD KSOE 'key missions' and outlined the importance of reactor agnosticism alongside work that his company is doing with leading classification societies around a large container ship design. Aligning Finance, Policy, and Regulation Discussion on a specific vessel-type allowed Michael Parker (Citi) to neatly bring the conversation back to commercial prospects, confirming that there will unquestionably be sufficient capital to fund maritime nuclear programs provided key questions that financiers will ask as part of lending decisions can be answered. He proposed an effective way to accelerate deployment could be to use an initiative such as the 2021 Clydebank Declaration to crystallise "specific commercial motivation" to finance nuclear maritime. Answering audience questions, Spyros Hirdaris (ABS) stressed that a step-by-step approach would be critical in how different national programs are rolled for out FNPPs and how agreements between nation states could be a framework for nuclear propulsion. In the legal session, Ian Truman (Burges Salmon) opened this critical topic with a discussion civil liability and insurance considerations for nuclear-powered vessels, confirming that insurers need a legal framework under which to operate and that bilateral agreements with regard to pioneering nuclear ships from previous decades are able to set an important precedent. Truman took the audience back through time with a look at how and why existing frameworks were developed, which informs how gaps may be filled in the future, a key takeaway being how integral insurers are to the nuclear liability world. Daisy Roche (IG P&I Clubs) provided excellent insight into the thinking of the Group around nuclear and confirmed that the group was currently conducting a "scoping exercise" to examine whether nuclear liabilities could become poolable in the future and recognised that bilateral agreements could be a potential path forward. This forward-thinking approach from the IG was applauded by Mikal Boe, CEO of CORE POWER, moderating the panel. Mark Popplewell (NRI) called for familiar principles like "strict liability and liability channelling" to underpin new frameworks, while Kimberley Sexton-Nick (OECD NEA) emphasised the need for governments to work together and confirmed that the existence of previous bilateral agreements in this area allowed organisations "to learn from the past to prepare for the future". Nonetheless, Sexton-Nick cautioned that there would be a need to remain aware of transboundary risk in bilateral or trilateral agreements. These could be a starting point, but should not be the end goal. Reactor Tech Innovation Following the lunch break, representatives from two reactor developers provided technical deep dives on their respective technologies. The first session saw Michael Vandevanter (TerraPower) return to the stage exploring the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) development. Vandervanter outlined the three areas of TerraPower's focus, noting that the MCFR sits alongside their sodium fast reactor Natrium and the radioisotopes business in this trio. Focusing on the development of the MCFR, he explained the work scheduled to bring Technology Readiness Levels up to around 8 (out of 9). Vandervanter highlighted the benefits of a liquid-fuelled reactor, but also the challenges mitigating corrosion of irradiated fuel salt at high temperatures, as well as the peculiarities of designing the system for the dynamic environment of maritime. He also touched on the extremely interesting area of the fuel "polishing" system and how the technology is predicted to handle certain beyond design basis events such as loss of coolant flow, demonstrating its passively-safe credentials. He was followed by Erin Orga (Westinghouse) showcasing the eVinci microreactor. She also picked up on the theme of challenges relating to materials design, and provided an exciting update about a 1/5th scale eVinci being selected to go into the DOME testing facility at INL by April 2027. She also covered some of the operating features of the eVinci and how several units can be sited in parallel for maritime deployment, echoing the earlier panel of the day relating to the Glosten-designed FNPP. Orga also covered some aspects of the fuel cycle relating to eVinci with a discussion on TRISO supply and handling. These two talks together provided an in-depth look into advancements in key reactor technology and were extremely well-received by the audience with plenty of questions and interaction. Political Will & Geopolitical Urgency A session on International Standards Alignment: A panel moderated by Charlotte Vere (CORE POWER) and including Admiral John Richardson, Anna Bradford (IAEA), Tim Stone (Nuclear Risk Insurers) and Sama Bilbao y León (WNA) first heard a standout keynote talk from Rt Hon. Anne-Marie Trevelyan which forthrightly highlighted many current geopolitical issues and asserted that development of new nuclear for maritime in the OECD was "not a technological frontier, but a geopolitical imperative," emphasising urgency amidst global energy insecurity. The panel discussed harmonising nuclear standards for maritime applications, led by Anna Bradford (IAEA) who provided a timely update into the IAEA ATLAS initiative (Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea) and noted that more "aggressive" timescales will need to be deployed in this area. Sama Bilbao y León (WNA) gave the audience a stark reminder of what the COP28 'tripling pledge' meant in practice in terms of new deployment, before concluding that "FNPPs are a great opportunity" to accelerate these goals. Admiral Richardson also noted that this was an exciting time for the nuclear workforce and highlighted how many improvements and progress in the nuclear industry has been down to effective government policy in this area, where 'inherently' the state should be getting involved. He also sounded a note of urgency which chimed with Trevelyan's comments that "there is a clock running here." Tim Stone (Nuclear Risk) picked up on themes from the earlier keynote by stating that future success will depend on customers being able to choose a small modular power plant as a "product" and also covered several other key themes on personnel and how decaying national energy infrastructure is now becoming a 'sovereign risk'. Following the afternoon drinks break, a panel hosted by NEMO (Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization) took to the stage to highlight the work of the organisation in certain areas around regulatory development. Opened by NEMO chair Dr. Mamdouh el-Shanawany, the audience heard a brief summary of NEMOs achievements in it's first year of operation, including reaching the milestone of 50 members and achieving official NGO status at both the IAEA and the IMO, the critical UN agencies dealing with regulations in this domain. Representatives of each of NEMOs Working Groups (Mark Tipping - LR, Jonathan Stephens - BWXT and Neil Henderson - Gard) then provided brief updates on the respective task forces and subgroups that have been set up within each working group. One upcoming event that was highlighted was NEMO's WG2 will be facilitating a workshop on Security-by-Design involving both IAEA and IMO in October 2025, in London. Elina Teplinsky (Pillsbury) then gave a memorable talk on regulatory frameworks and the importance of precedent that put a lot of things into perspective. Noting that naval nuclear vessels have made 1250 port calls in Japan alone since the 1960s under a 'unilateral note' of the DoD it was clear that governments' role in acting as an ultimate "backstop" will still be there but that this can be facilitated if there is a clear commercial signal that governments can see. The formation and rapid membership growth of NEMO can be construed by governments as such a signal. People, Not Just Technology The final panel of the morning covered Workforce Development. Dr. Rory Megginson (CORE POWER) emphasized the need for specialized training programs, featuring perspectives from the US Merchant Marine, IMO, and leading universities. Megginson showed some potential pathways into the sector and shed some light on possible numbers of future mariners required, before discussing the challenges of reaching that target by "finding new talent in new places" and outlining some of the work that CORE POWER is doing in this area with its ACADEMY program. This panel featured experts from trade unions, academia and training providers as well as ship management. Moderating the panel, Tobi Menzies (CORE POWER) noted that as the deployment of floating nuclear becomes more tangible, there is a growing recognition that people - not just technology - are at the heart of this transformation. Evangelos Boulougouris (University of Strathclyde) opened with some insightful comments around upskilling and how other sectors such as oil and gas may be able to be a potential future workforce pool. Jerry Paul (previously Maine Maritime Academy) reminded the audience that MMA has now reinstated its Nuclear Engineering Minor after a hiatus of many years and is now starting to see some of that first cohort graduates. Paul also drew parallels with the culture of excellence inside the naval nuclear propulsion program and how that can be developed into a similar mindset on the civilian side of the equation. Nathaniel Read (Cambridge University) observed that the sector is embarking on "two simultaneous adventures" in the sense of moving to floating systems and also moving to fourth generation nuclear technology, which was not an insurmountable challenge but required the building in of quality vertically to ensure that a higher-level understanding of novel systems is embedded before training programs can realistically start. Gina Kim (ITF) candidly tackled the topic of seafarer remuneration and quality of life at sea which whilst not detracting from the seriousness of the subject drew some wry smiles and laughter from the audience. Ports & Infrastructure: A Final Piece The final panel covered the important topic of Nuclear Energy in Ports and Waterways. Rear Admiral (Ret.) Joe Servidio led discussions on the importance of coupling floating nuclear energy solutions with port infrastructure, with insightful data on the number of planned and installed onshore power systems around the world, noting that most active growth in this area is coming from Europe and Asia. Servidio made a telling remark that when a ship prepared to receive shore power is prevented from connecting due to grid stability issues or other challenges, this presented a "double whammy" of emissions which are particularly problematic in coastal urban regions. He concluded that FNPPs must be part of ports' clean energy future. Expert panel contributions came from Myrto Tripathi (TerraWater Institute), who made compelling statements on the importance of public acceptance for coastal stakeholders, Richard Vaughan (ABPmer), who gave an arresting statistic around shoreside power availability for cruise vessels in certain UK ports along with the timelines for a national grid connection and advocated for engagement with at local level not just from C-suite, and legal expert Vincent Zabielski (Pillsbury) who made some interesting interventions on what are the likely most significant barriers to widespread adoption of FNPPs and nuclear-powered ships in future scenarios. Looking Forward The event concluded with a networking reception overlooking the Thames from the IET rooftop terrace. The 2025 New Nuclear for Maritime European Summit showcased the depth and ambition of the sector, uniting leaders across energy, shipping, finance, regulation, and policy. From commercial readiness and port electrification to geopolitical imperatives, the summit made one thing clear: floating nuclear is no longer a concept - it's a global strategy in motion. CORE POWER, press release 
|
