featured-image

Core CEO Mikal Bøe told a gathering of reporters in a high-rise meeting, at the top of the Shard in London, that the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl Fukushima accidents had given the public at large a warped view of the technology. In fact, Bøe suggests, that the molten salt reactor (MSR) design that Core Power is working on, using heated and liquefied chloride salts, can solve a number of issues for the maritime sector in a safe and emission free way. Related: Global names back association to promote nuclear power in shipping MSR technologies were first tested as a nuclear option for aircraft in the 1950s, before a six-year experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, near Knoxville Tennessee, tested the technology, after which it was deemed unreliable.

That was using old technology and designs said Bøe, the new designs will not suffer a similar fate. Related: Seatrade Maritime News readers back nuclear power for zero emission shipping In fact, Bøe believes 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, in Idaho National Laboratory, before then producing a commercial prototype. A cool $2.



5 billion will be spent on the development before a commercial ship is even ordered, much of the financing coming from the US government funds. That money is additional to the $150 million Washington has already invested, while Core Power shareholders, Wan Hai, Express Container .

Back to Fashion Page