Core Power has signed a seven-year agreement with the U.S. Maritime Administration to build a 50-ship nuclear-powered merchant fleet mixing LNG tankers and containerships, using a BWX Technologies reactor. At roughly $700 million per vessel—nearly triple conventional cost—the ships would offer lower fuel costs, higher utilization, and zero sulfur emissions. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy frames the program as a response to Chinese nuclear shipbuilding ambitions. Hulls would be built in Japan and Korea, with U.S. fit-out potentially in Corpus Christi, targeting first delivery in 2033.