UK energy minister Michael Shanks. Image Credit: UK Gov

• DESNZ: Michael Shanks was "happy to follow up on cross-Whitehall maritime issues"
• But he "did not agree to a maritime nuclear strategy or formal talks", the department says
• NEMO had previously said a commitment had been made
• NEMO notes the clarification and welcomes the minister's willingness to keep talking

The UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has clarified its position on maritime nuclear after Ship & Bunker reported last week that the Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization (NEMO) said UK energy minister Michael Shanks had agreed to cross-government talks on a coordinated maritime nuclear strategy.

The clarification follows an industry roundtable with the minister in Vienna on September 15, held during the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference.

"Minister Shanks said he was happy to follow up on cross-Whitehall maritime issues," a DESNZ spokesperson told Ship & Bunker in an email on Monday, adding that he "did not agree to a maritime nuclear strategy or formal talks".

Asked to respond to the department's comments, NEMO said in a statement emailed to Ship & Bunker that it "notes the Department's clarification that the Minister's remarks did not constitute an agreement to establish a formal maritime nuclear strategy or formal cross-government talks."

"We nevertheless welcome the Minister's willingness to continue the conversation and stand ready to support the Government's engagement with industry and regulators on commercial maritime nuclear," it added.

The roundtable came six days after NEMO and the Nuclear Institute held their first nuclear shipping conference in London, where NEMO chief executive Virginia Crosbie argued that the missing piece for nuclear-powered shipping is a coherent regulatory, legal, insurance, and commercial framework rather than technology or capital.