The United States announced on Wednesday that it had developed a “clear framework” for the eventual deployment of offshore nuclear reactors as part of the Trump administration’s drive to dramatically increase atomic energy production.
Although no commercial projects are currently planned or approved in the United States, so-called floating nuclear power plants are attracting increasing attention and Russia currently operates its only nuclear power plant, the Academician Lomonosov Nuclear Power Plant in the country’s far east.
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Marine Mineral Service said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to advance reactor deployment on the Outer Continental Shelf, an area of 3.2 billion acres off the U.S. coastline within federal jurisdiction.
“Undersea reactor systems have been safely deployed in naval applications for decades, demonstrating their potential as reliable energy sources in harsh marine environments,” MMA acting director Matt Giacona said in a statement, adding that it could “significantly enhance America’s future energy security.”
Jeremy Bowen, director of the NRC’s Office of Advanced Reactors, added that it creates a “clear framework” for how the agencies can work together to ensure “clarity and confidence for potential future applicants and to enable the safe, secure and efficient deployment of emerging nuclear technologies.”
Nuclear energy has long been used in naval ships, submarines and icebreakers.
There is also growing interest in how to help decarbonize the global energy system, but that is not a priority for the Trump administration, which has specifically sought to halt offshore wind projects, the IAEA said.
Canada, China, Denmark, South Korea, Russia and the United States are all working on marine small modular reactor designs, although Russia is currently the only country with one operational, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Trump administration has said it aims to quadruple nuclear power by 2050.
Environmentalists were alarmed by the latest announcement.
“The Trump administration seems to have an endless supply of terrible ideas for abusing marine life, and nuclear reactors on rusty old oil platforms are one of the worst,” said Nick Katkevich, an ocean activist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Amnesty International/Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
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