The US Maritime Administration is due to sign its first agreement with an American port on Wednesday to examine the testing and integration of small modular nuclear reactors across commercial vessels, terminals and the wider marine transportation system, according to Port Technology International.
The agreement with the Port of Long Beach is scheduled to be signed at the US Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, DC, on 22 July.
MARAD administrator Stephen M. Carmel and Port of Long Beach chief executive Dr Noel Hacegaba are expected to sign the document. Hacegaba is also president of the California Association of Port Authorities.
Frank Colonna, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, is due to take part in the ceremony.
The agreement is expected to assess how small modular reactor technology could be introduced into maritime operations. It does not commit the parties to building or deploying a specific reactor. No reactor developer, vessel operator, terminal, investment figure or testing timetable has been identified.
The initiative follows MARAD’s May request for information on a US-built, scalable and commercially viable small modular reactor system for the marine transportation network. The programme covers vessel efficiency, operating costs, fleet-scale deployment, domestic shipbuilding and workforce requirements. It also addresses liability, insurance, inspection and port-access rules that would be required before construction could begin.
MARAD is working with the US Coast Guard, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy on the wider programme. Responses to the request for information are due by 5 August.
“To successfully introduce SMRs, we must view this through a system-transition lens rather than just as a technology demonstration,” Carmel said when the federal initiative was launched in May. MARAD is an agency of the US Department of Transportation responsible for supporting the US maritime transportation system, commercial shipping, ports, vessel operations and strategic sealift.