Ocean carrier Maersk has agreed to join a study to look into the possibility of using nuclear power to fuel container ships. 

The study will be conducted by maritime services firm Lloyd's Register and nuclear engineering company Core Power, and will look into the infrastructure and technology needed to power a container ship with a fourth-generation nuclear reactor. The study will also examine regulations and safety rules to determine whether using nuclear power in large-scale cargo operations in Europe is feasible. 

“The initiation of this joint study marks the beginning of an exciting journey towards unlocking the potential of nuclear power in the maritime industry," Lloyd's Register CEO Nick Brown said in a joint news release with Maersk and Core Power on August 15. "A multi-fuel pathway to decarbonizing the maritime industry is crucial to ensuring we as an industry meet the International Maritime Organization's emission reduction targets, and nuclear propulsion shows signs of playing a key role in this energy transition.”

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The IMO has a goal to achieve net-zero emissions from international shipping by 2050, and is targeting a significant increase in the availability of alternative fuels by 2030. That's in addition to European Union requirements that take effect in 2025, where shipping companies will have to start surrendering a portion of their carbon credits allowing them to emit certain amounts of carbon dioxide.

In the August 15 release announcing the study, Maersk noted that nuclear power "holds a number of challenges," ranging from issues with waste management to a lack of regulatory acceptance in certain countries. 

"So far, the downsides have clearly outweighed the benefits of the technology," Maersk head of fleet technology Ole Graa Jackobsen said. "If these challenges can be addressed by development of the new so-called fourth-generation reactor designs, nuclear power could potentially mature into another possible decarbonization pathway for the logistics industry 10 to 15 years in the future."