World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2021, 11, 141-158 https://www.scirp.org/journal/wjnst ISSN Online: 2161-6809 ISSN Print: 2161-6795 DOI: 10.4236/wjnst.2021.114011 Sep. 8, 2021 141 World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology Novel Technological Developments with Impacts on Perspectives for Mobile Nuclear Power Plants Luciano Ondir Freire, Delvonei Alves de Andrade Nuclear Engineering Center, Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN-CNEN/SP), São Paulo, Brazil Abstract New research developments suggest that nuclear reactors using fusion may enter the market sooner than imagined even for mobile applications, like merchant ship propulsion and remote power generation. This article aims at pointing such developments and how they could affect nuclear fusion. The method is enumerating the main nuclear reactors concepts, identifying new technological or theoretical developments useful to nuclear field, and analys- ing how new recombination could affect feasibility of nuclear fusion. New technologies or experimental results do not always work the way people imagine, being better or worse for intended effects or even bringing com- pletely unforeseen effects. Results point the following designs could be suc- cessful, in descending order of potential: aneutronic nuclear reactions using lattice confinement, aneutronic nuclear reactions using inertial along mag- netic confinement, hybrid fission-lattice confinement fusion, and fission re- actions. Keywords Fusion Reactors, Mobile Nuclear Power Plants, Nuclear Reactors, Nuclear Merchant Ships, Clean Energy 1. Introduction Most commerce is done by the seas and ships contribute significantly to green- house gases emission and most of costs come from the fuel, which may increase with new regulations. From an energy security point of view, the fact that petrol is concentrated in few politically unstable countries is a large incentive to search for new forms of energy. How to cite this paper: Freire, L.O. and de Andrade, D.A. (2021) Novel Technological Developments with Impacts on Perspectives for Mobile Nuclear Power Plants. World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 11, 141-158. https://doi.org/10.4236/wjnst.2021.114011 Received: June 29, 2021 Accepted: September 5, 2021 Published: September 8, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access