Page 32: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2026)

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FLOATING POWER NUCLEAR loating Nuclear offers a potential source of reli- curity are often closely linked, this dual-use capability sig- able, low-carbon electricity and heat (and, where nifcantly improves the economic case for foating nuclear.

possible, desalinated water) for locations where conventional energy systems are expensive, car-

FLOATING NUCLEAR POWER ‘101’ bon-intensive, or physically impossible to build. FNPPs are nuclear generation units mounted on barges or F

The strongest case emerges in remote coastal regions and platforms and deployed near coastal demand centers. They small island developing states (SIDS). In these contexts, provide reliable baseload electricity with minimal operation- the challenge is not only decarbonization – it is the high al carbon emissions. Unlike solar and wind, they are not in- cost of imported fuel, the vulnerability of supply chains, termittent, which is critical in smaller or weaker grids where and the diffculty of scaling grid infrastructure. balancing variable renewables can be more diffcult. Typi-

A foating nuclear power plant (FNPP) can be manu- cally, they can be fabricated in part or in whole in controlled factured in a shipyard, towed to site, moored near shore, shipyard environments, potentially reducing construction connected to the local grid, and later serviced, replaced, risk and making replication easier. Notably, they do not re- or decommissioned with less land disruption than a large quire large greenfeld land sites. Finally, they can make use of onshore plant. waste heat for industrial processes or desalination.

This is particularly relevant for SIDS. Many islands re- The foating nuclear landscape today includes both de- main dependent on imported diesel or fuel oil, face vola- ployed technology and emerging concepts. The only op- tile electricity prices and have limited space for large-scale erational FNPP is Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov, a FNPP generation assets. At the same time, these countries are on deployed in Pevek in the Russian Arctic. The plant uses the front line of climate change and often face freshwater reactor technology derived from Russia's long experience scarcity. Floating nuclear could provide frm, clean pow- with nuclear icebreakers and marine propulsion systems. er without consuming scarce land, while also supporting Another ready-to-go is Russia’s Baim FNPP to be commis- water resilience by powering desalination processes with sioned in the Baimskaya ore zone in 2028.

excess heat. For SIDS, where energy security and water se- Other players, including the United States, Denmark,

South Korea, and China, are exploring foating reac-

Figure 1 tor solutions. Some rely on compact pressurized water reactors, drawing on naval reactor experience and es- tablished nuclear technol- ogy. Others are based on advanced concepts such as molten salt reactors, high- temperature gas-cooled reac- tors, fast-spectrum reactors and micro modular reactors.

According to the author's analysis, there are currently 118 FNPP reactor designs and/or prototypes glob- ally (Figure 1). The market is developing along several parallel pathways – relatively familiar water-cooled sys- tems for near-term deploy- ment; marine-based reac- tors drawing on propulsion and icebreaker experience; 32 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM