Norway Funds Research and Development of Microreactors for Marine Nuclear Propulsion

Recently, the Research Council of Norway announced an early-stage grant of US$2 million to the "Marine Nuclear Power Systems" (MarNuPS) project to support the integration and testing of maritime nuclear propulsion technology.

It is reported that the project is led by the Norwegian subsidiary of Emerald Nuclear, a U.S. microreactor startup, with a total first-phase research budget of approximately US$15 million. Emerald's "GEM" microreactor concept uses tristructural isotropic (TRISO) high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, has a refueling cycle of 5 to 15 years, and plans to adopt an innovative business model of "reactor leasing" rather than direct sales.

The MarNuPS project brings together top Scandinavian expertise in the maritime and nuclear fields, with partners including the first commercial customer, OSV operator Island Offshore, shipbuilders VARD and Vard Electro, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Imperial College London, and condition monitoring company Maskindynamikk.

Hallgeir Juliebø, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Emerald, said the funding will help the project accelerate the transition from the design analysis phase to the construction and testing of a fully integrated system. As the maritime industry's demand for low-carbon transition becomes increasingly urgent, the commercialization of microreactors in commercial ship propulsion is approaching a key breakthrough.