IAEA Launches ATLAS Initiative: Building a New International Governance Framework for Maritime Nuclear Applications

As global shipping demand for alternative fuels continues to grow and small modular reactor technology matures, nuclear applications in the maritime sector are accelerating from concept to reality. However, offshore nuclear deployment involves a complex set of issues including safety, security, safeguards, legal liability, insurance, and jurisdiction. The existing international regulatory framework is fragmented and ill-suited to the deployment needs of modern reactor designs.

Against this backdrop, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has officially launched the "Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea" (ATLAS) initiative, aiming to establish a comprehensive global framework integrating nuclear safety, nuclear security, and nuclear safeguards to promote innovative applications of civil nuclear technology in the maritime domain, covering Floating Nuclear Power Plants (FNPPs) and nuclear-powered vessels. ATLAS focuses on three core missions: first, supporting Member States in developing coherent international policies for offshore nuclear deployment; second, systematically reviewing and promoting adaptive revisions to existing IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance; and third, building an effective platform for coordination and cooperation among governments, regulators, the nuclear industry, shipping companies, and classification societies to collectively address legal and regulatory challenges related to port access, operational liability, and full lifecycle vessel support.

Six Project Teams: Structure and Mandates

Project Team 1: International Safety Norms and Standards

Ensuring that IAEA safety standards and relevant International Maritime Organization (IMO) instruments are applicable to floating nuclear power plants and nuclear-powered vessels, identifying content requiring revision, clarification, and enhancement, and promoting harmonization between the two frameworks. As both the IAEA safety standards and the IMO Safety Regulations for Nuclear-Powered Commercial Ships are currently under revision, the Project Team will provide timely technical input and recommendations to support the safe advancement of maritime nuclear applications under various reactor technologies and deployment concepts, while ensuring that nuclear safety, security, and safeguards interfaces are addressed from the design stage.

The primary task of Project Team 1 is to compile a comprehensive inventory of IAEA safety standards and IMO conventions, codes, and instruments relevant to floating nuclear power plants and nuclear-powered vessels, systematically identifying gaps and revision needs; based on this, develop a detailed report offering specific recommendations on the scope, level of detail, and type of revisions to both frameworks, providing high-level guidance and practical support for international standards revision.

Project Team 2: Legal and Regulatory Framework

Systematically examining the applicability of international nuclear law, maritime law, and the law of the sea to floating nuclear power plants and nuclear-powered vessels, identifying ambiguities, gaps, or inconsistencies in existing frameworks, with a focus on resolving key issues such as licensing, nuclear liability, insurance, and jurisdiction. The Team will provide practical guidance for Member States in developing national legal and regulatory systems, while clarifying the division of responsibilities between nuclear and maritime authorities to promote organic integration of regulatory systems.

Project Team 2 will prioritize defining maritime nuclear application scenarios and deployment models, reviewing international legal frameworks and existing regulatory practices to identify gaps; completing a comprehensive analysis of international legal instruments and their impact on national nuclear legislation, laying the foundation for future development of regulatory frameworks and guidance documents by Member States.

Project Team 3: Maritime Classification

Coordinating the standards, codes, certification processes, and verification mechanisms that have developed independently over time in the nuclear and maritime sectors, building a collaborative platform for classification societies, regulators, reactor designers, and ship designers. The Team will identify differences and overlaps between the two systems, reach consensus on terminology, responsibilities, and information exchange requirements, and promote the efficient and safe deployment of maritime nuclear technology.

Project Team 3 will organize specialized workshops to review design assessment and third-party inspection practices in the nuclear and maritime sectors, studying applicable standards for nuclear reactors and related systems in the maritime environment; convene technical meetings focused on the integrated design of nuclear propulsion systems with ships and offshore structures, producing working documents that identify key interface issues and laying the groundwork for subsequent guidance documents coordinating technical and classification requirements.

Project Team 4: Safeguards

Ensuring that IAEA safeguards measures are effectively applicable to floating nuclear power plants and nuclear-powered vessels, adapting traditional safeguards concepts, techniques, and verification methods developed for land-based nuclear facilities to the maritime environment. Key issues include continuity of knowledge during transport and operation, inspector access, and deployment across multiple jurisdictions. The Team will integrate nuclear safeguards with nuclear safety and security from the initial design stage, forming mutually supportive working approaches.

Project Team 4 will prepare a background and gap assessment report, reviewing existing methodologies and identifying areas requiring further development; construct representative deployment scenarios to integrate safeguards considerations into the design of future reactors and operational concepts; publish consolidated conclusions and recommendations identifying priorities and potential implementation pathways, building capacity for future offshore nuclear deployment by the IAEA and Member States.

Project Team 5: Nuclear Security

Clarifying how existing international instruments, including the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its Amendment and the IAEA Nuclear Security Series, apply to maritime nuclear applications. Addressing the unique security challenges of nuclear-powered vessels, the Team will develop a comprehensive framework covering physical protection, threat assessment, nuclear material accounting and control, cybersecurity, information security, personnel reliability, emergency planning, and "security by design," coordinating as far as possible with maritime security instruments to help Member States establish effective mechanisms for preventing, detecting, and responding to maritime nuclear threats.

Project Team 5 will conduct a comprehensive review of the applicability of the IAEA Nuclear Security Series and relevant international maritime security instruments to floating nuclear power plants and nuclear-powered vessels, performing gap analyses to identify areas where existing guidance requires supplementation for the maritime operating environment; develop recommendations for revising IAEA nuclear security guidance and related international standards, laying the technical foundation for future development of dedicated nuclear security guidance documents.

Project Team 6: Technology, Infrastructure, and Fuel Cycle Deployment Roadmap

Focusing on the complete pathway of maritime nuclear technology from concept demonstration to commercial deployment, considering technology readiness, maritime infrastructure, transport logistics, fuel cycle, and full lifecycle management. The Team will examine enabling conditions, constraints, and uncertainties across different deployment pathways, clarifying the responsibilities of various stakeholders. While the Project Team does not directly develop nuclear safety, nuclear security, safeguards, or regulatory requirements, it will assess the impact of these frameworks on deployment feasibility and timelines, providing decision-making input for Member State pilot projects and long-term strategies.

Project Team 6 will identify and prioritize potential maritime deployment pathways, establishing mechanisms for tracking key uncertainties and information needs; develop structured deployment roadmaps covering technology readiness, infrastructure, logistics and transport, fuel cycle and refueling, relocation, and decommissioning across the full lifecycle; prepare analytical reports on challenges and enabling conditions, proposing issues requiring priority international attention and providing deployment-perspective insights and recommendations for the overall ATLAS effort.

The advancement of the ATLAS initiative coincides with a critical period of systematic transformation in the IAEA nuclear safety standards framework. This mechanism establishes a key international cooperation platform for the deep integration of the nuclear and maritime industries, marking a new stage in which civil nuclear technology maritime applications move from conceptual exploration toward institutionalized and standardized development. Through the coordinated operation of its six project teams, ATLAS will systematically address core challenges in safety, legal, and technical domains, while rule-making at the project team level will also become a key arena for countries to participate in and shape the maritime nuclear safety governance landscape.