Core Power studies BWXT mPower for floating nuclear plants

Floating nuclear just got a concrete reactor match: Core Power has started a feasibility study to see whether BWX Technologies’ mPower can anchor a shipyard-built power plant at sea. The question is no longer whether the idea can be sketched on paper, but whether it can clear the hurdles that decide if a nuclear platform can actually be deployed. BWXT’s mPower gives the project a defined target: a Generation III+ integral pressurised light-water reactor rated at 195 MWe, or 575 MWt.

Core Power said the study will run through the practical pieces that usually separate concept from product. Those workstreams include baseline information exchange, systems engineering, concept-of-operations development, product requirements definition, regulatory pathway assessment, marine integration studies and techno-economic analysis. That means the company is looking at the reactor, the operating model, the licensing route and the business case at the same time, not as separate exercises.

The company has argued that floating nuclear plants built in shipyards could reduce delivery risk and improve repeatability by shifting more of the work into a controlled industrial setting. Core Power says those plants could then be moved close to end users and areas of high demand, especially where grid capacity is limited, land is scarce or infrastructure lead times are long. In Core Power’s view, that broadens the market beyond traditional utility sites and into coastal and offshore demand that cannot wait for conventional buildouts.

Chief executive Mikal Bøe called the assessment a significant step toward fully modular floating nuclear power plants and said demand for reliable electricity is outstripping supply. Core Power has also said the world’s most demanding industries need power that does not stop, and that ship-based nuclear systems are meant to deliver reliable electricity where industry and nations need it most.

The June 17 announcement adds to a longer push by Core Power to build out the maritime side of the nuclear industry. The company has said its broader program includes shipyard-built floating nuclear power plants and civil nuclear propulsion, and it has previously pointed to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Maritime Organization on safety, security and a civil liability convention for nuclear-powered ships. That regulatory backdrop matters as much as reactor choice if floating nuclear is going to move beyond study mode.

BWXT and Crowley had already floated a power-plant vessel concept in 2023, showing that marine nuclear deployment has been under active discussion for years. What makes this round different is the pairing of a named reactor with a named maritime use case. If Core Power can carry mPower through the engineering, licensing and marine-integration gates, floating nuclear will be one step closer to something more than a concept sketch.