In China, Interesting Engineering reports Jiangnan Shipyard announced plans to build the world’s first nuclear-powered container ship, a 25,000-TEU vessel powered by a thorium-based molten salt reactor, at the Marintec China 2025 conference in Shanghai. Vice president Lin Qingshan said construction could begin within ten years and that the company intends to invest in specialized facilities to support nuclear vessel production.
The reactor, rated at 200 megawatts, is a fourth-generation design with a projected 40-year lifespan. While nuclear propulsion has been used in naval vessels, no commercial container ship has entered service with the technology. “We aim to be a frontrunner in this field,” Lin told the South China Morning Post.
He noted that regulatory authority over such vessels remains unclear, with no defined approval process for nuclear-powered merchant ships. Jiangnan Shipyard, founded in 1865 and China’s oldest, previously built the country’s third aircraft carrier and is now positioning itself at the forefront of maritime nuclear innovation.
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Category: Sustainable Marine Fuels
