How comfortable would you be docking alongside a nuclear-powered superyacht on your next marina visit in Monaco or Fort Lauderdale? At a panel discussion on “Nuclear Power in Yachting,” hosted by the International Superyacht Society during the Palm Beach show, that question set the stage for what many experts believe is fast approaching.
The panelists argued that the technology is much closer to reality than most of the industry realizes. “It’s coming, whether you like it or not, and probably a lot sooner than many think it should,” said Derek Munro, director of Divergent Yachting and a former captain and engineer. Munro was engaged by a client in 2021 to study nuclear energy in the yachting industry.
Are yacht owners, crew, and ports ready? The real task, panelists said, is convincing the public that modern nuclear systems can operate safely.
Perception
Nuclear power still faces a major perception challenge. Social trust, likely due to major nuclear events like Chernobyl and Fukushima over the past 30 years, is low. “We have a problem with the word nuclear,” said Joep Bollerman, vice president of passenger ships at Lloyd’s Register. The general public does not view the technology favorably.
AJ Anderson, CEO of Wright Maritime Group, is a member of the Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization (NEMO) and involved in developing new-build and operational plans for nuclear-powered ships and floating nuclear power plants. He agreed.
“It’s the best future power supply that we’ll ever have,” Anderson said. “The real limiting factor is social trust” — something that will need to be overcome so that nuclear vessels can travel the world as yachts do. “The more we talk about it, recognize it, and study it, social trust will improve,” he said.
History
It’s not new — nuclear power has existed for decades. The NS Savannah was the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, launched in 1959 as part of the U.S. “Atoms for Peace” program. It is now a National Historic Landmark in Baltimore, and its nuclear plant is being decommissioned. The vessel was built to demonstrate that nuclear energy could power civilian shipping. While nuclear propulsion was adopted for naval vessels and submarines, it was not economical for commercial shipping at the time.
Interest resurfaced decades later as the maritime sector looked to reduce emissions. By 2010, designers and engineers were exploring nuclear-powered commercial and cruise vessels. However, in 2011, the tsunami and earthquake in Japan led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which slowed momentum until around 2020, Bollerman explained. Anderson said momentum accelerated even more in 2025 and 2026.
“We expect that by 2030 or before, we will have a [nuclear-powered] ship out there,” Bollerman said.
Benefits
Decarbonizing shipping has been a major topic of discussion, and designer and naval architect Espen Oino believes nuclear power is the solution. “Nuclear power has power density that is way better than anything else, and that’s why it’s so attractive,” he said. As Lloyd’s Register reported in its 2024 nuclear report, it’s a true carbon-zero technology and is economically viable for many applications.
Why now? Advances in smaller reactors — specifically Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Micro Modular Reactors (MMRs) — are making the concept more practical, Oino said. He pointed to his five-megawatt reactor project, which he described as “intrinsically safe” due to its encapsulated fuel and low-enriched uranium below weapons-grade levels. Oino explained that the encapsulating material can withstand temperatures up to and even beyond 1,600 degrees, while the reactor is protected by a pressure vessel that helps isolate it from accidents. According to Oino, the energy conversion system is very safe, with no nuclear elements.
The basic principle — nuclear fission producing heat — remains the same, but the scale, containment, and safety philosophy are very different.
According to Oino, unlike earlier generations of nuclear vessels, whose emergency planning zones extended beyond the ship itself, these newer reactor concepts are designed to keep those emergency zones within the vessel. “That is a big game changer,” Oino said.
Space requirements for the new generation of reactors are similar to those of a typical engine room, and weight may even be lower. Because the systems require less ventilation than traditional diesel engines, they could also reduce space demands, Munro said.
In the concept that Oino has been working on, the reactors would sit below the tender garage, where telescopic cranes could remove and replace them through a dedicated hatch — Oino uses the analogy of replacing the gas bottle on a sailing boat: you remove the empty bottle and replace it with a full bottle.
“We have calculated that they can probably have enough fuel for about 15 to 20 years, based on the typical mission profiles,” Oino said.
Munro is also working on a nuclear project and highlights a few key items, including that yacht engineers will never touch the reactors. For the crew, the reactor becomes a sealed black box that’s leased from the manufacturer, monitored remotely, and swapped out in a shipyard every 15–20 years via a soft patch in the hull.
Munro explained that his system is designed to automatically shut down if temperatures reach 800 degrees, and that the reactor does not pose the same hydrogen-explosion risks as older nuclear technologies. “It’s just a totally different, new, modern technology.”
He explained that future fuel systems for SMRs and MMRs would be tightly controlled and tracked. Safety, security, and monitoring would rely on containment systems, tracking, and collaboration with organizations such as Lloyd’s Register and flag states.
“The idea is that there is limited or zero waste,” Munro said, adding that much of the fuel could be repurposed after removal and that reactor units may be reused multiple times.
Regulatory Framework
The regulatory framework is complex, Lloyd’s Register said. While the International Maritime Organization (IMO) develops these frameworks, the SOLAS chapter on nuclear-powered ships has not been updated to address this modern technology, Bollerman said.
Anderson shared that some regulators and flag states are already in discussions with the IMO and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN agency that sets nuclear-safety standards. They believe regulations will be set by 2030 or late 2029. According to Anderson, the insurance sector said they will be ready to write insurance policies by 2030.
“You want to plan for the future,” Munro said, advising those considering future nuclear integration to include soft patches during yacht construction. “If you think you’re going to go nuclear, go fully electric — electric drives as pod shafts, whatever you can — and be prepared to move this in.”
