Powering the Future

Leveraging the UK’s Nuclear and Maritime Heritage

July 27, 2026

Powering the Future examines how Britain can secure a leading role in the emerging civil maritime nuclear industry. Nuclear-powered civilian vessels and floating power plants promise the transformation of commercial shipping, energy resilience and sustained access, power and presence in remote and contested maritime regions. Russia already leads in operational deployment, while China is combining its expanding civil nuclear programme with the scale of the world’s largest shipbuilding industry. The states that move first in this strategically and commercially vital emergent field will shape the markets, supply chains and rules governing the sector.

In rising to this challenge, Britain cannot match China’s shipbuilding volume or Russia’s accumulated experience with nuclear-powered surface vessels. But it can draw on 70 years of naval nuclear experience, world-leading strengths in maritime law, regulation and insurance, and specialist capabilities in fuel production and high-integrity engineering. With a foreword by Chair of the NATO Innovation Fund, Professor Dame Fiona Murray DCMG CBE, the report argues that the UK can convert this inheritance into industrial and strategic advantage by positioning itself at the centre of an allied maritime nuclear market.

The launch of this report was covered by:

Policy Exchange Nuclear Enterprise Commission

As the UK enters a decisive decade for its energy and economic future, the Policy Exchange Nuclear Enterprise Commission will continue to set out the bold, practical reforms required to rebuild a world-class nuclear enterprise, cut through the inertia of the past two decades, and deliver the nuclear renaissance Britain urgently needs.

The Commission will produce a series of discussion papers and research notes addressing the most pressing questions facing the UK’s nuclear enterprise. Drawing together expertise from across government, industry and academia, its research and events will span subjects from the nuclear deterrent and the nuclear threat landscape to regulation, the nuclear industrial base and dual-use technologies. This breadth will enable the Commission to propose in a final publication a wide array of answers to the considerable challenges at the heart of energy and national security policy.

It should be noted that all research papers produced under the banner of the Policy Exchange Nuclear Enterprise Commission are intended for discussion and do not necessarily represent the views of every member of the Commission, or the Commission as a whole.

Members of the Commission

Rt Hon Lord Case CVO PC, former Cabinet Secretary (Chair)
Dr Won-Pil Baek, Senior Research Fellow at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
Professor Wyn Bowen, Head of the School of Security Studies at KCL and Professor of Non-Proliferation and International Security
Joshua Buckland, Director of Strategy and Policy at EDF and a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange
Tom Greatrex, CEO, Nuclear Industry Association; former Shadow Minister for Energy of Great Britain
Lt Gen H R McMaster (USA, Ret.), 25th U.S. National Security Advisor
Frank Miller, former Special Advisor on nuclear matters to President George W. Bush and Nuclear Defence Specialist at the Department of Defence
Professor Dame Fiona Murray DCMG CBE, Associate Dean for Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the NATO Innovation Fund
Professor Sir David Omand GCB, former Director of GCHQ
Rt Hon Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT GCMG PC, former NATO Secretary General and Secretary of State for Defence
Hon William J Schneider Jr, former Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs
Air Marshal Edward Stringer CB CBE, former Director-General of the Defence Academy and former Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff
Paul Taylor CBE, former Director General of Strategic Technologies at the Ministry of Defence
Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, former Minister of State for Indo-Pacific and Secretary of State for International Trade
Dr Heather Williams, Director, Project on Nuclear Issues at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
Admiral Rt Hon Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC PC, former First Sea Lord