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FLOATING POWER NUCLEAR dataset covering 252 countries and territories and then o Ghana focused on 128 markets identifed through preliminary o India screening as having potential for foating nuclear deploy- o Indonesia ment. Based on aggregate political and economic frame- o Mexico work scores, 75 countries and territories merit further o Oman study (Figure 4). o S audi Arabia

This result represents a balanced investability screen o S outh Africa rather than a simple technical-opportunity map. Several o S outh Korea markets may show strong demand for foating power but o Sweden fall below the threshold on either political or economic o U nited Kingdom conditions. Conversely, the countries that pass the screen o Vietnam combine suffcient economic capacity with a political

COMMERCIAL CHALLENGES AND IN- framework that could support further project development.

VESTMENT QUESTIONS

Within the broader group of 75 countries and territories that merit further study, 14 markets form a higher-priority The case for foating nuclear may be strong, but the bar- subset, with both economic and political framework scores riers remain substantial. These include nuclear licensing, at or above 2.0. These countries combine comparatively maritime regulation, physical security, emergency response stronger economic capacity with more favorable political planning, spent fuel management, insurance, liability re- and regulatory conditions, making them relevant for deep- gimes, public acceptance, grid integration and fnancing er feasibility assessment, investor engagement, and project capacity. For international deployment, an additional chal- readiness screening. The result is therefore not a fnal in- lenge arises – the plant may be built in one country, operat- vestment shortlist but a commercially meaningful funnel ed by an entity from another, and deployed in a third. That including the following countries: raises complex political, legal, and regulatory questions.

o Algeria From an investor perspective, the key issue is whether o Egypt foating nuclear can become a repeatable infrastructure o France product rather than a bespoke megaproject. If shipyard- based fabrication, standard- ization, and modular deploy-

Figure 3 ment reduce construction risk, foating nuclear could become more attractive than conventional nuclear in cer- tain markets. That remains to be demonstrated at commer- cial scale.

For offshore companies, however, the delivery model is familiar. Floating assets, modular construction, tow- out, offshore installation, and long-term operations are all part of the sector’s core capa- bilities. The main question is not whether the offshore in- dustry can build and deploy such platforms. It is whether the regulatory, political, and fnancial ecosystem will ma-

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency. 2022. IAEA SMR ARIS Booklet 2022 34 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM