[jillesvangurp]

I have a few reservations about nuclear on ships:

1) Nuclear reactors produce waste that needs long term storage. There are lots of hypothetical / partial solutions for this and a lot of nuclear waste sitting there in temporary storage patiently awaiting the day that this problem is actually solved. Adding more waste to that pile is not a great idea.

2) Ships go to sea. The sea is treacherous. Meaning that waste might end up at the bottom of the sea when ships sink.

3) Seas have pirates. E.g. the coast of Somalia is a security risk. Pirates and nuclear reactors are not a great combination. Pirates with Muslim extremist backgrounds even less so. Basically, nuclear powered boats are dirty bombs waiting to get hijacked.

Burning fossil fuels is the problem that needs solving. However, burning synthetic fuels is perfectly fine and engines don't really care how the fuel is created. Synthetic fuels can be produced using clean energy and then pumped in large storage tanks on ships; very much like is the practice today with normal fuel. It's the obvious future. Hydrogen is an obvious candidate for this and there are multiple companies working on this and a few prototypes already sailing. Add some solar and wind to the mix and you get some efficiency gains. Other synthetic fuels are feasible as well. Even diesel could be synthesized eventually. The main challenge is building the infrastructure that is going to generate enough fuel at reasonable cost.

There are a few drone ship operators out there. They are not used for cargo and quite small but it works. These guys (https://www.saildrone.com/) use solar and wind powered autonomous drone ships for months long operations.