Widespread adoption of nuclear power at sea is moving a step closer with the creation of the Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization (NEMO) in London.
NEMO will work with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to establish global standards and regulations for the deployment, operation and decommissioning of nuclear power in the maritime environment and promote the commercialisation of nuclear power at sea.
Founding members include Asian shipbuilding giant HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, TerraPower, a leading US small modular reactor (SMR) company founded by Bill Gates, Westinghouse EC, class society Lloyd’s Register, and Denmark’s Seaborg, an innovator in molten salt reactors.
“We are very excited about the launch of NEMO as it can serve as a cornerstone to advance the era of offshore nuclear power,” said Mamdouh el-Shanawany, former head of IAEA’s safety division, who will serve as NEMO’s inaugural chair. “We will expand the participation of global organisations that share vision and values with us.”
“Establishing global standards holds the key to the commercialisation of next-generation SMRs well suited to the maritime environment,” said Park Sang-min, head of the green energy research lab at HD KSOE, a yard that invested $30m in TerraPower in November 2022. .
