Core Power (US), part of UK-based start-up Core Power, is collaborating with US naval architecture and marine engineering firm Glosten to design a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) to power ports in the US. Glosten will also establish a regulatory path for the barge, navigate site location approvals, and identify a potential supply chain network for the FNPP’s fabrication, assembly, integration, transportation, and installation.
“The marine industry has experienced a massive push to decarbonise, and Core Power’s FNPP offers an effective and practical means to meet that demand,” said Glosten CEO Morgan Fanberg. “Glosten’s job is to turn Core Power’s vision into a design that demonstrates the practicality of providing reliable, zero-emissions nuclear power to port facilities and has a defined path to regulatory approval.”
Core Power CEO Mikal Bøe said FNPPs will be shipyard-manufactured and mass-assembled, ensuring delivery speed and low costs. Using FNPPs to power ports solves the electrification challenge and creates local energy security
The project is currently in the concept phase and is being designed with the intent to serve a non-specific port located in the Southern United States. Glosten is working closely with Core Power to perform risk assessments and develop the general arrangements for the barge which will house the nuclear reactors.
“Our team excels at navigating complex regulatory environments to facilitate the use of alternative energy,” said Fanberg. “We’re taking a very thorough and deliberate approach, making sure we’re performing the necessary risk-based assessments to maximise safety as well as considering the practicalities of implementation. In a way, the FNPP is our definition of the perfect project – in terms of what we can provide, but also because of the greater good it stands to achieve.”
Core Power’s floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) concept is for a nearshore infrastructure system that includes a barge-based nuclear power plant, barge support services, electrical grid integration, and operational teams. Easy to transport and rapidly deploy, the FNPP will provide an estimated 175 GWh of clean electricity per year. It says the FNPP connection will allow ports to achieve zero-emissions electrical generation for visiting ships, terminal cranes and equipment, and port vehicles.
In November 2024, Core Power signed a cooperative agreement with Westinghouse Electric Company to work together on the design and development of a FNPP using the eVinci microreactor and its heat pipe technology. They will also collaborate to develop a regulatory approach to licensing FNPP systems.
In June 2024, Bøe told a press conference that the company is expecting to see its first orders for vessels equipped with nuclear reactors before 2030. This includes both FNPPs and nuclear-powered ships. He added that the initial orderbook would probably be for FNPPs. “It’s kind of a low-hanging fruit, a very big market, and it’s easier to deliver from a regulatory point of view. “But I would expect to see the first ship orders coming through not too late after that.”
Core Power was formed in 2018 “to bridge that gap and create an organisation that would pave the way for development and successful deployment of advanced reactor technologies for the maritime industries”. In 2023, the company attracted Japanese investment for its FNPP project. Some 13 companies, including Onomichi Dockyard and Imabari Shipbuilding, had invested about $80m in project, according to Nikkei Asia. Although Core released no statement on the development, it reproduced the Nikkei article on its website. According to Nikkei, Core Power said at that time that it planned launch a demonstration vessel in 2026 and commercialise it between 2030 and 2032.
design that Core Power is also working on molten salt reactor (MSR) technology. Bøe said in June that the first vessel using MSR technology could be launched as early as the mid-2030s, with the company about to build a micro-reactor to test the design, at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in the US, before then producing a commercial prototype.
However, to date, the world’s only operating FNPP is Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov, which was connected to the power grid in December 2019, and began commercial operation in May 2020. Electricity generation from the plant to the Arctic settlement in Pevek at the end of 2023 amounted to 194m kWh. Russia is now constructing several FNPPS with larger upgraded reactors at several sites in the Arctic.
