China has announced an ambitious plan to build a 14,000 TEU containership powered by a molten salt thorium reactor (MSR) — a groundbreaking step toward the use of nuclear energy in commercial shipping.
The concept vessel is being developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) in partnership with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). Designed for zero-emission operation and extended service life, the ship will be powered entirely by a closed thorium-based MSR system, eliminating the need for conventional bunker fuel.
According to preliminary design reports from the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI), the thorium reactor will generate several hundred megawatts of thermal energy, sufficient to power a large-scale containership without fossil fuels.
The design phase is expected to be completed by 2026, with construction potentially beginning by the end of the decade at a CSSC-affiliated shipyard. If realized, this would be the world’s first containership to operate using thorium molten salt reactor technology — a long-supported innovation among Chinese nuclear engineers, praised for its safety, efficiency, and scalability over traditional uranium reactors.
Chinese authorities have reportedly approved the project’s initial safety assessment, though international regulatory hurdles remain. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has yet to establish a clear framework for the operation of nuclear-powered commercial vessels.
The state-owned Jiangnan Shipyard previously unveiled a 24,000 TEU containership concept using molten salt reactor technology (pictured) at the Marintec China exhibition two years ago — an event set to return next month.
On November 1, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the first-ever successful conversion of thorium into uranium in a 2 MW liquid-fuel thorium reactor. It is currently the only operational MSR in the world utilizing thorium fuel, marking a key milestone that proves the technical feasibility of thorium-based nuclear systems.
