CORE POWER welcomes agreement to accelerate investment in maritime decarbonisation

(Posted on 16/09/25)

The U.S. and the UK have announced a bilateral collaboration to accelerate reactor licensing from three or four years to two, and a commitment to work hand-in-hand to share the workload of new projects entering site licensing.

In parallel, the UK Government announced a further £448 million public investment to reduce emissions from UK shipping.

CORE POWER, the leading developer of civilian maritime nuclear, welcomes the announcements and calls on the UK Government to ensure that maritime nuclear plays a key role in meeting emissions targets.

The civilian maritime nuclear sector includes floating nuclear power plants, which are shipyard-assembled, affordable, and rapidly deployable power stations that can supply clean, constant electricity and industrial heat directly to customers in coastal markets.

The sector also includes the development of civilian nuclear-powered cargo ships, which are faster, have greater endurance, carry more cargo, and provide a completely zero-emission solution to power global shipping.

Commenting on the collaboration and the funding for maritime decarbonisation, Mikal Bøe, CEO of CORE POWER said: “Today’s commitments by two leading nuclear and maritime nations to fast-track nuclear projects and enhance energy security are a welcome boost to sector innovators on both sides of the Atlantic. The deployment of nuclear on water can play a key role in enhancing our energy security, driving economy growth and creating high-value manufacturing jobs in coastal communities. It is therefore essential that the pathways announced today include maritime nuclear projects too.

CORE POWER has established close partnerships in both countries to build reactors suitable for maritime use, shape the regulatory environment for rapid deployment, and engage the shipbuilding sector on vessel design.

CORE POWER stands ready to rapidly accelerate development of the maritime nuclear sector alongside the U.S. and UK Governments in a true public-private partnership for our common economic success”.

Founded in 2018 to address the challenge of delivering clean energy security to commercial customers using maritime nuclear power, CORE POWER is the OECD’s leading developer of new nuclear technologies for maritime applications. CORE POWER’s ‘maritime first’ strategy creates a rapid path to full technology maturity, which minimises the cost of nuclear energy by creating economies of numbers in addition to economies of scale. Headquartered in the UK, with offices in the U.S. and Japan, CORE POWER has teams of specialists in nuclear engineering, marine engineering, safety, security, non-proliferation, and international and domestic standards.