UK start-up Core Power and partners have clinched a key development deal with shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to work on nuclear power for shipping. The companies will explore the use of small modular reactor (SMR) technology with US operations TerraPower and Southern Company.
The deal was forged at a first technology exchange meeting with the South Korean shipbuilding giant, the partners said.Subsidiary HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) said the gathering took place in Washington.
The project centres on TerraPower’s first-of-a-kind molten chloride fast reactor (MCFR) design. MCFR technology operates at higher temperatures than conventional reactors, generating electricity more efficiently and without emissions.
TerraPower was founded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2008 with the aim of developing nuclear energy technology to meet the growing demand for electricity and combat climate change.In 2020, TerraPower announced it’s joining in the development of nuclear energy technology for use on ships to help the shipping industry transition to clean energy. In the same year, it announced a partnership with Core Power, French nuclear fuel cycle company Orano and Southern Company, aiming to advance the development of new nuclear energy batteries through the creation of an international team.
This is not the first collaboration between TerraPower and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. Back in November 2022, Hyundai Heavy Industries had already announced a $30 million investment in TerraPower to enter the field of next-generation energy technologies.HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), the intermediate holding company of HD Hyundai Group’s shipbuilding business, said it hopes to accelerate the development of the much-anticipated field of offshore nuclear energy and nuclear-powered ships through joint research.
Under the latest agreement, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is expected to dispatch its R&D team to TerraPower in March this year. Meanwhile, KSOE will also establish a marine reactor application system with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and major global classification societies such as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Lloyd’s Register (LR).
Core chief executive Mikal Boe said: “Adding Hyundai’s world-class expertise in shipbuilding and process engineering and Core Power’s 60-plus shareholders from the maritime and energy industries illustrates how the shipping industry is moving towards a net-zero future with new nuclear solutions.”
“With two strong maritime partners on the MCFR development team, we aim to accelerate the development programme,” he added.
In October 2023, the world’s first MCFR has reached another milestone in helping to decarbonise the shipping industry. Southern and TerraPower have successfully initiated pumped-salt operations in an IET, describing it as “a major achievement in the development of Generation IV molten salt reactor technology”. A major achievement in the development of Generation IV molten salt reactor technology”.
Core Power aims to produce green energy by utilising molten salt reactors to power ships and floating power stations. Since completing the IET at TerraPower Labs, the team has completed mechanical, electrical and controls validation and commissioned all systems. The latest milestones involved the use of hot argon and chlorine salts to confirm readiness, including filling and flushing the drain tanks and verifying the operation of the refrigeration valves.
It is worth noting that Core Power unveiled a concept design for a 2,800 TEU feeder container vessel last year.
In May last year, 13 companies, including Japan’s largest shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding and Onomichi Dockyard, have invested about $80 million in Core Power’s floating nuclear power plant development project. The project, whose partners include TerraPower, Southern Company, and Orano, proposes to develop a floating nuclear power plant featuring MCFR, with a demonstration reactor planned for 2026 and commercialisation by 2040.
In July last year, UK nuclear technology company Newcleo signed a cooperation agreement with Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri and the Italian classification society (RINA) to develop a Generation IV reactor using nuclear waste as fuel. Under the agreement, the three parties agreed to conduct a feasibility study into the application of nuclear technology in the marine industry, including Newcleo’s lead-cooled Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology.
During the 2023 Marintec China, Jiangnan Shipbuilding of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) officially launched the world’s first and world’s largest 24,000 TEU nuclear-powered container ship model, which has received Approval-in-Principle (AiP) from DNV. The ship adopts the fourth-generation reactor type molten salt reactor solution, with high safety, high temperature and low pressure operation of the reactor, avoiding core meltdown in principle, and possessing proliferation-resistant and intrinsic safety features.
According to the results of the International Chamber of Shipping’s 2023 survey, 9 % of C-suite members are expecting to have nuclear-powered ships within a decade.