The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Shipping’s nuclear option
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Nuclear power is back on the agenda in shipping. The atomic evangelists behind the new generation of molten salt reactor (MSR) technology believe it can kick-start a second atomic era, in which climate change is the main driver of powerful, inexpensive and safe new energy solutions. On the podcast this week we talk to Mikal Boe, founder and chief executive of London-based Core-Power, about why nuclear now needs to move from the fringes of the environmental debate to become a serious part of shipping’s decarbonisation strategy
NUCLEAR power in shipping has long been considered something of a niche discussion.
A small band of atomic evangelists routinely pop up every few decades, only to quietly disappear in the face of public and political opposition.
But for the first time in a long while nuclear is now gaining traction in industry circles being forced to consider radically different and urgent alternatives to fuel shipping’s decarbonisation trajectory.
There are some pretty sizeable hurdles to overcome, but if you can get over the image problems, the Cold War era memories and inevitable references to Fukashima, Chernobyl and Three Mile island, and if you accept the arguments being put forward in terms of lifecycle management, safety and security, well then the pitch currently being made for a second atomic era is something worth considering right now.
The new generation of molten salt reactor (MSR) technology promises to make the power of the atom a viable economic solution to shipping's decarbonisation question by the end of the decade, according to Mikal Boe, founder and chief executive of London-based Core-Power.
He says that the issues of old nuclear have been tackled and as you will hear in this week’s podcast he has an answer to all the questions of economics, spent fuels and proliferation and of course he has a view on how to change the big problem of public perception.
So, as we work our way through the pros and cons of shipping’s zero carbon future fuels on the Lloyd’s List Podcast, this week we are giving the nuclear option some consideration.
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