The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), in partnership with naval architecture specialist Herbert Engineering Corp (HEC), has published a study on floating nuclear-powered data centres, detailing design considerations for such centres

The 16-page report, Pathways to a Low Carbon Future Floating Nuclear Power Data Center details design considerations for a floating data centre that would use large river estuaries or coastal waters as a heat sink for both artificial intelligence (AI) data centre servers and small modular reactors (SMRs) on a purpose-built barge.

“The intersection of new nuclear technologies and rapidly growing AI capabilities represents a generational opportunity to power humanity’s future. As demand for data centres increases, moving them offshore and powering them with on board nuclear energy could mitigate certain risks and reduce the strain on local grids,” said ABS Chairman & CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki.

The design builds upon ABS’s research in maritime nuclear applications and incorporates the Nautilus EcoCore cooling system, already proven at the Stockton Port floating data centre. The facility would be moored to a jetty, enabling high-speed data connectivity, backup power access, and straightforward personnel boarding. Key design considerations include the need for locations with sufficient water current to efficiently disperse heat from both the nuclear plant and server cooling systems.

ABS said the study provides “important insight into heat and energy management for both servers and reactors, weight distribution, structural considerations, and other design features for floating nuclear power data centres”. This will assist the identification of design issues that will inform future rules development.

The report builds upon previous ABS and Herbert Engineering research, including: Pathways to a Low Carbon Future Floating Nuclear Power Plant and Pathways to a Low Carbon Future LNG Carrier Nuclear Ship Concept Design. ABS launched the industry’s first comprehensive rules for floating nuclear power plants in 2024: ABS Requirements for Nuclear Power Systems for Marine and Offshore Applications

The main conclusions of the latest study are:

  • The maturity of advanced nuclear technologies that may be implemented for a floating NPP (FNPP), and therefore this data centre extension, is currently low. Therefore, the level of detail provided in this study is limited to engineering information available from the design of terrestrial applications for engineering postulation and recommendations for future design optimisation.
  • The modular philosophy adopted for the FNPP design allows a straightforward extension of that design to host a large data centre.
  • Both designs need to be installed in a location with sufficient current to ensure that the heat transferred to the water from the nuclear power plant (and the servers cooling system) is displaced from the immediate surroundings and dispersed efficiently without increasing the temperature of the inlet cooling water.
  • Appropriate arrangements need to be made to ensure the security of these plants. This is outside the remit of the barge design and pertain mostly to the location of its installation.