ABS CEO: Nuclear power stands as shipping’s next great frontier

Nuclear power should be taken seriously as a credible and scalable solution for the maritime industry’s decarbonization drive, with the potential to ‘reshape’ the sector’s future energy mix, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Chairman and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki has said.

As Wiernicki highlighted at a recent maritime event held in Athens, Greece: “Nuclear energy is no longer a distant possibility for maritime applications, it is emerging as a legitimate, practical, and scalable solution for a wide range of strategic uses. It is a credible long-term solution, not simply because of its potential to reduce emissions, but because it offers unmatched energy density, reliability, and strategic independence.”

The CEO of ABS—which has long been a proponent of the application of nuclear energy in maritime—further remarked that, within the maritime and energy sectors, the pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together to form the bigger picture: advanced reactor technologies, ‘robust’ Class rules, purpose-built testing sites, changing regulatory frameworks and “a growing appetite for public-private partnerships.”

Wiernicki stressed that a number of feasibility studies that would aim to explore the potential of nuclear energy in maritime are well underway and that investment interest shows no signs of waning, whilst the timeline, though once uncertain, is coming into sharp focus.

“And in maritime applications, we now see a clear roadmap: This journey begins with shoreside applications – powering ports and producing hydrogen – and moves offshore through floating data centers, synthetic fuel platforms, desalination systems, and ultimately domestic nuclear-powered commercial vessels and then the global fleet,” Wiernicki underscored.

As noted, a joint development project between ABS, UK-based maritime nuclear innovation company CORE POWER, and Greek nuclear energy company Athlos Energy, which was announced in July this year, is looking to explore floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) deployment in the Mediterranean region.

The goal of the tripartite initiative would reportedly be to identify viable sites across islands, ports as well as coastal communities and examine how these platforms could unlock a set of applications, such as the establishment of grid-scale electricity to remote locations, the delivery of emission-free energy to ports and the distribution of clean energy to desalination plants that could provide potable water to drought-affected coastal communities.

“Applications based on maritime assets will begin with floating power barges because they will be more straightforward to design, build, and operate. Because these types of applications will be based in a single location at a time, the regulatory approvals required may be easier to achieve compared to vessels operating across multiple geographies and jurisdictions,” Wiernicki commented.

“Floating nuclear-powered data centers are a prime example of this opportunity. By 2050, we anticipate that floating nuclear-powered data centers could capture up to 10 percent of the global market. In the U.S. alone, this would mean nine total facilities.”

He further elaborated that, although the market cap is as of yet evolving, the estimates are that the total data center market volume would reach a whopping $212 billion by 2029.

Wiernicki also added that commercial nuclear corridors could play a key role in the adoption of nuclear propulsion, with ships powered by small modular reactors likely to first operate on narrowly defined corridors between two countries with favorable acceptance of nuclear power and with “mature” regulatory oversight agencies.

“Commercial nuclear corridors can be the foundational infrastructure we need to unlock the full potential of nuclear technology in commercial shipping, enabling safe deployment, regulatory alignment, and scalable integration across energy, data, and logistics ecosystems,” he concluded.

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