Lloyd’s Register (LR) and the British Ports Association (BPA) have released a joint white paper titled Advanced Nuclear Technology Use Within Port Environments, urging port operators to treat advanced nuclear technology as a long-term infrastructure and operational strategy rather than just another alternative fuel.
The paper outlines how ports can transition from energy consumers into low-carbon energy and industrial hubs by preparing for three core applications: nuclear-powered ship calls, floating or transportable nuclear power units, and land-based small modular reactors (SMRs) or microreactors.
To help ports evaluate their options without committing premature capital, the report proposes a four-stage framework to gradually scale ambition:
- Nuclear-Aware: The baseline level where a port is equipped to assess incoming nuclear enquiries and confidently engage with relevant authorities.
- Nuclear-Ready: Prepared to host or interface with nuclear technologies under strict guidelines.
- Nuclear-Enabled: Fully capable of supporting operational nuclear infrastructure or vessels.
- Nuclear Energy Hub: The ultimate tier where the port generates, manages, and distributes nuclear energy to its estate and local industry.
The key benefits for ports will include:
- Grid Independence: On-site SMRs or microreactors can provide dedicated baseload power to meet the soaring electrical demands of electrified cranes, cargo-handling equipment, and cold storage.
- Shore Power: Nuclear energy can feed clean power stations to supply berthed vessels, dramatically cutting port emissions.
- Fuel Production: Reactors can supply the intense heat and electricity required to manufacture green hydrogen and synthetic e-fuels locally.
- Industrial Opportunities: Ports can unlock high-value commercial capabilities in specialised logistics, reactor-module integration, ship maintenance, and eventual decommissioning.
The 19-page paper stresses that the primary challenges to adoption are regulatory and operational rather than technical. Key hurdles include outdated international maritime nuclear frameworks, fragmented governance between maritime and nuclear safety regimes, emergency preparedness, liability insurance, workforce capability and public confidence.
To navigate these challenges, the report recommends several “no-regret” immediate actions:
- Adapt existing frameworks – integrate nuclear scenarios into established marine safety-management systems (such as those used for hazardous cargoes and dangerous goods) rather than creating a parallel regulatory regime.
- Assess logistics – map out stakeholders, assess future localized energy demands, and identify immediate grid constraints.
- Communicate early – build evidence-led, transparent communication strategies to foster confidence among the port workforce and local communities.
The report says the regulatory interface is a central challenge for advanced nuclear in ports. “A port sits between several regimes: harbour and marine safety, vessel certification, flag and coastal state jurisdiction, nuclear licensing, safeguards, nuclear security, planning, environmental permitting, emergency preparedness, insurance and public policy. There is a need to define the operating envelopes, interfaces and responsibilities across the nuclear and maritime domains.”
The report refers to several regulations that currently apply to certain aspects of nuclear shipping. These include Chapter VIII of the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO’s) International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which covers radiological hazards. It also refers to the detailed and comprehensive Code of Safety for Nuclear Merchant Ships, which is intended to provide a technical and regulatory reference for nuclear merchant ships and is now under review for updating and modernising, with the UK leading the relevant correspondence group.
In addition, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) recognises special precautions for nuclear-powered ships. In August 2026 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched the ATLAS (Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea) Initiative. The intention of this project is to work closely with the IMO in establishing a global safety, security, and regulatory framework for deploying Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Floating Nuclear Power Plants (FNPPs) for peaceful use of nuclear technology in the maritime industry. However, none of these offers comprehensive nuclear regulations.
The report notes that “International code development can take many years. Ports and national authorities expecting to be early movers will need to influence the development of national or regional approaches in parallel, while feeding lessons back into IMO, IAEA and industry guidance. Classification Societies also have an important role to play in this, including as a convenor able to work across the different regulatory frameworks.”
It concludes that advanced nuclear technology could reshape port environments, maritime operations and industrial energy systems. “It offers potential benefits in reliable low-carbon power, shore power, industrial heat, fuel production, vessel propulsion, resilience and high value maritime services. However, the opportunity is highly site-specific and cannot be separated from safety, security, safeguards, emergency preparedness, licensing, liability, insurance and public confidence.… Ports should therefore start with preparation rather than procurement: understand the use cases, map the stakeholders, test scenarios, build the evidence base and engage early with regulators and communities.”
Lloyd’s Register says that together with UK Maritime Nuclear Consortium (which it established earlier in 2026), the IMO and the IAEA “we are developing the regulatory frameworks to bridge the atomic and maritime worlds, delivering safe, sustainable and innovative maritime nuclear applications for global production and supply chains.”
It is unfortunate that it fails to acknowledge the work already done by the one country in the world that already operates a fleet of nuclear icebreakers, a nuclear container ship and a floating NPP. Russia, with decades of experience in nuclear shipping has already developed a comprehensive regulatory and legal base.
A meeting of nuclear regulators at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna in September 2024, dedicated to FNPPs, heard that a harmonised regulatory system for nuclear powered ships, including FNPPs, was already available for reference. Dr Alexey Ferapontov, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Federal Environmental, Industrial & Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostekhnadzor) explained that Russia had already developed a comprehensive integrated body of regulations covering nuclear shipping based on experience dating back to 1959. This includes a total operating experience of more than 400 reactor years.
Russia, like most countries, has ratified key international documents such as The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, SOLAS, and the IMO Code. “So, I can highlight, that internationally recognised documents are part of the Russian legislative framework,” he said. “Internal documents, such as federal rules and regulations, rules for classification, are based on them.”
It is clear that Russia’s experience in regulating its own nuclear shipping will be very useful to current efforts to draw up international regulations, and Russia’s participation in the IMO and IAEA will undoubtedly speed up these efforts. Unfortunately, the situation is being complicated by geopolitics. In December 2023, following intense lobbying by the UK and Ukraine, Russia was excluded from the IMO Council, which it had been a member of since the IMO began operating in 1958 as a specialised agency of the United Nations.
