A London-based energy firm wants to develop Floating Nuclear Power Plants (FNPP), which comprises small modular reactors (SMR) built into commercial shipping vehicles.
Core Power is launching a feasibility study into the proposal that would see an SMR design developed by BWXT built directly onto a floating vessel. The Generation III+ integral pressurised water SMR design has a capacity of 195 megawatts (MWe) of electricity and 575MWth per reactor. Standard modern nuclear reactors typically generate between 1,000MWe and 1,600MWe, which would rate the power output of the ship at about one-fifth to one-eighth of the size of a traditional nuclear plant.
FNPPs are designed to be built in shipyards and moved close to end users and areas of high demand. By shifting construction into a controlled industrial environment, Core Power said it offers the potential to cut delivery risk and provide reliable power to places constrained by grid capacity, land availability or long civil infrastructure timelines...