MarAd Starts Research on Small Modular Reactors

Small modular reactors (SMRs) could entirely recast the electrical energy picture for ports, vessels and maritime businesses. The U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) is investigating whether and how nuclear power could be established within the marine transportation system.

SMRs, via nuclear fission, are much smaller than traditional nuclear plants. Systems are factory-assembled and transported on truck or barge for on-site installation. Fission heat is converted to electricity.

To be clear, SMRs are not a risk-free, established technology. However, they present great promise, and that potential is behind MarAd’s investigation, especially as ports seek expanded power for new and additional loads, from electric cranes and cargo-handling equipment to long-haul trucks.

To start this work, MarAd published a Federal Register notice in May seeking information on “system architecture, liability frameworks, insurance pathways, port acceptance, workforce development and standards integration for vessel deployment.” MarAd also presented a development roadmap.

MarAd’s inquiry drew a substantive response – 63 sets of comments from a range of expert individuals and organizations. A common message: yes, there are major technical issues to resolve with SMRs, but the bigger challenge lies in getting the policy and regulatory issues correct, up front, so that SMR build out can proceed smoothly, predictably and at scale. SMRs are not a project just for a few select ports. Rather, SMRs present a new energy system, and systems are optimized with expansion, not limits.

In a letter from the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), President and CEO Sang Yi’s opening comment is to “welcome MarAd’s focus on SMR policy. We encourage you to take regulatory steps to de-risk and accelerate deployment of SMRs as a power source for ports and the U.S. maritime industrial base in addition to use for vessel propulsion.”

At some ports, nuclear research is already underway. The Port of Corpus Christi, for example, supports MarAd’s initiative and notes that it is already working on a feasibility study of deploying floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs) and nuclear propelled vessels and that the port would “welcome the chance to discuss complementary collaboration with MarAd (and) other federal agencies.”

MarAd’s comment period closed September 1. When asked about next steps and a related timetable, a MarAd spokesperson explained that next steps are still under review. Plus, there are additional developments still at play and influencing next-step decisions. In August, for example, the United States hosted the ministerial launch of the International Atomic Energy Association’s ATLAS initiative – Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea, a meeting that started the work on the international framework for civil nuclear power at sea. MarAd’s spokesperson noted significance in the U.S. hosting the meeting: “It puts the U.S. where it belongs on this transition: setting the standards rather than adopting someone else’s.”

Importantly, MarAd is preparing SMR-related legislation likely to be sent to Congress in January. Plus, MarAd’s ongoing in-house research includes work with the American Bureau of Shipping. Also, watch for an upcoming session devoted to liability and insurance and a focus on “the make-or-break commercial questions that have to be answered before private capital commits to nuclear tonnage.” Additionally, cooperative agreements with various ports and private-sector partners are being negotiated.

MarAd’s spokesperson emphasized an urgent context for these energy decisions: “Ports are the center of gravity of this transition. We tend to talk about maritime nuclear as a ship story. It is equally a port story, twice over.” First, port energy demand is growing faster than the grid serving it. Second, no nuclear-powered commercial vessel can sail anywhere until ports are ready to receive it. The ecosystem — standards, emergency planning, trained workforce, community confidence — is the product, and ports are where it gets built. The spokesperson expanded on this, noting that “whoever deploys the technology first and at scale will set the standards everyone else must live with. This is a race with no second place. You either win or lose.”