Behind India's push to join commercial nuclear shipping with UN watchdog's ATLAS initiative

Imagine a large commercial ship, say a bulker or container vessel, travel across the world ten times, and still have enough power for years to come?

It is this exciting thought that forms the basis of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) new initiative to explore the use of nuclear power in commercial shipping that India has now joined.

Launched on Wednesday at an IAEA ministerial event in Washington, the Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea (ATLAS) initiative seeks to explore the use of small modular reactors for commercial shipping, which could pave the way for higher-speed maritime transport without the need for frequent refuelling.

This could also theoretically help slash carbon emissions from ships engaged in long-haul voyages, in line with the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) push to decarbonise commercial shipping.

"By bringing together the nuclear and maritime sectors, we have the opportunity to shape the future of two crucial industries—energy and shipping—and to build global confidence in the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technology at sea," IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said at the inaugural session of the event, as per a PTI report.

The ATLAS initiative is also looking at floating nuclear power plants, which would serve as versatile electricity sources for coastal or remote communities, or even industries.

According to Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Ajit Kumar Mohanty, the ATLAS initiative is perfectly in sync with the country's own aims for the nuclear industry under the Nuclear Energy Mission unveiled in 2025, which includes the deployment of at least five Bharat Small Modular Reactors (BSMRs) by 2033, as well as reaching 100 gigawatt (GW) of nuclear power capacity by 2047.

He also noted how India's other nuclear moves—such as the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy and Transforming India (SHANTI) Act that opened up the nuclear industry to private players and the strengthening of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)—made it apt to take forward the ATLAS initiative.

However, a few glaring problems persist, of which the biggest one is the lack of infrastructure: commercial ports currently lack the bunkering and security frameworks to host nuclear-powered merchant ships.

While the possibility of vessels discharging harmful radioactive materials into the environment is still low, it will take time for nuclear commercial shipping to truly embed itself within global maritime law, global nuclear policy, and third-party liability conventions.

China seems to be the furthest in that regard, with the state-owned Jiangnan Shipyard announcing in 2025 that it was already designing the world's first nuclear-powered container ship, as per a South China Morning Post report.

Construction on the 25,000-TEU ship is expected to begin in a decade's time.

“We will also invest in building shipyards slated for constructing nuclear-powered [container] vessels,” the report added, quoting Jiangnan vice president Lin Qingshan during a 2025 Marintec China conference in Shanghai.

India's progress in nuclear maritime shipping then becomes a test of how it layers its progress in several sectors—commercial fleet expansion, nuclear development, and regulatory integration—in the race for the first nuclear commercial ship in a world where nuclear propulsion remains restricted to civilian icebreakers and military vessels.