IAEA Launches ATLAS Initiative to Bring Nuclear Power Back to Sea
Around 600 participants from more than 50 countries attended the Washington launch
The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched a global initiative aimed at creating the regulatory and safety framework needed to bring nuclear power back into civilian shipping.
ATLAS, standing for Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea, was unveiled in Washington, bringing together around 600 participants from more than 50 countries spanning international organisations, industry, the maritime sector and port authorities. Twenty-five countries committed to the initiative at launch.
The initiative is designed to encourage cooperation between the maritime industry, the nuclear industry and the agency as they work to identify and address the obstacles to applying nuclear power at sea. Through ATLAS, member states will develop a framework to promote and support marine nuclear deployment.
The technical driver is the small modular reactor. Such units have the potential to power civilian ships with zero operational emissions, allowing vessels to sail further and faster without frequent refuelling, which removes the bunkering constraint that shapes both voyage planning and fuel cost exposure.
The scope extends beyond propulsion. Advanced nuclear technologies could support floating nuclear power plants, providing electricity and heat to coastal communities and industry, and enabling the production of alternative fuels such as hydrogen.
Civilian nuclear propulsion has a limited precedent at sea. A small number of merchant ships were built with reactors in the mid-twentieth century, but none established a commercial case, and the licensing, liability and port-access questions that ended those programmes remain the substance of what ATLAS is being set up to address.
Port acceptance is among the harder problems. A nuclear-powered merchant vessel requires host states to have a legal basis for admitting it, insurance arrangements that address nuclear liability, and emergency response provisions at each terminal it calls at — a set of requirements that no single flag or class society can deliver alone.
The launch forum was hosted by the United States over two days.
