| Summary: | This chapter explains the technological development of TNPPs and considers the imminence of construction and deployment offshore. We demonstrate that while there are legal rules of potential application to TNPPs, these do not constitute a comprehensive legal regulation framework. Are existing rules fit for purpose? For example, the IMO has adapted existing regulations to address offshore oil and gas activities in the Arctic (and Antarctic) in its ‘Polar Code’. . However, adapting existing legal rules may manifest pathway dependence mirroring the potential ‘technological lock-in’ of SMRs based on proven technology. The authors further observe that, just as climate change is characterized by polycentric governance, so too will questions of TNPP regulation cut across different fields of international law and different institutions—not just the IMO and IAEA.
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