Italian oil company Saipem and British nuclear company Newcleo will work together to try and establish how nuclear power can help make offshore drilling activities more environmentally friendly.

The two companies recently signed a collaboration agreement to identify how Newcleo’s small modular lead-cooled fast reactor (SM-LFR) technology could be used to power and heat Saipem’s offshore projects.

Under the agreement, a feasibility study on the development of floating nuclear prototypes will also be carried out, with the aim of connecting the floating units to the electricity grid on land or to other users.

Alessandro Puliti, CEO, Saipem, said: “The production of zero-emission energy through floating offshore plants equipped with new generation compact reactors could represent a new frontier in the energy transition.”

According to Newcleo, the SM-LFR technology is one of the most useful in the field of small nuclear fission reactors, using natural marine forces to enable greater efficiency in the use of extracted uranium, when compared with other types of conventional fission reactors.

Stefano Buono, CEO, Newcleo, said: “Our next generation reactor technology will not only reduce the environmental impact of offshore oil and gas operations” [but also help design] “offshore power plants that can provide decarbonised electricity onshore, anywhere in the world.”

Currently there is only one offshore nuclear power plant in the world, based in the Chukotka region of northeast Russia. Two KLT-40S 35MW reactors constitute the plant which supplies power to the local town of Pevek.