28 May 2026
The economics of nuclear propulsion for containerships
Presented by Augustin
Main question: Under what conditions could a nuclear-powered containership be economically competitive with conventional or alternative-fuel ships?
Big picture
- Maritime shipping carries around 80% of global trade by volume and is responsible for roughly 3% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
- The sector now faces tightening decarbonisation pressure from the IMO, the EU ETS, and FuelEU Maritime.
- Containerships are especially important because they carry a very large share of the value of traded goods.
- The main decarbonisation candidates discussed today are fuels like methanol and ammonia, but nuclear is re-emerging as a serious option because of interest in small modular reactors (SMRs).
What makes nuclear attractive and difficult
- Near-zero direct COâ‚‚ emissions during operation.
- Very low fuel consumption and reduced exposure to fuel-price volatility.
- Ability to sustain high operating speeds without the huge fuel penalty of combustion engines.
- Very high CAPEX — estimated at roughly 10 to 30 times the cost of a conventional engine.
- Regulatory complexity, uncertain insurance/liability frameworks, public acceptance, crew training, waste management, and port/canal access constraints.
What the authors did
Built a scenario-based economic model that assesses the Levelised Cost of Transport (the cost to transport one TEU over 1000 nautical miles) for:
- four propulsion options
- with different cruising speeds
- carbon prices
- nuclear CAPEX
- A 12,000 TEU containership with 70 MW propulsion power
Assumptions
- Nuclear propulsion is assumed to have a 50-year reactor life, but the model does not credit the residual value of the reactor at year 25
- Nuclear fuel consumption is assumed to be almost independent of speed, unlike fuel oil, methanol, and ammonia, whose fuel use rises strongly with speed.
- Carbon pricing is applied only to direct COâ‚‚ emissions, which benefits ammonia and nuclear in the model.
Results
Competitiveness depends on:
- high ship speed (25 kn)
- favourable or average nuclear CAPEX
LCOT ranges between 60-80 $/(TEU*1000nm)
Nuclear could support a different operating model:
- faster services,
- possibly fewer ships needed for the same service frequency
Debate
Nuclear not a green replacement but a tech for high speed
Political acceptance of nuclear for shipping
Reactor CAPEX assumptions based on land power stations
Impact on shipping operations
Attachments
- Handout (PDF)