Civilian nuclear-powered cargo ships have actually been tried in the past, a large issue was that a lot of ports refused them entry if I remember correctly.
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Nice picts and walkthrough [0] of the NS Savannah, "the world's first, and only, nuclear-powered cruise ship. The Savannah is the only nuclear-powered merchant ship the U.S. ever built, and the only nuclear vessel in the world designed with passengers in mind."
[0] https://www.npr.org/2023/06/23/1182973358/step-aboard-the-nu...
I don't that that's the major issue. At least, the Wikipedia entry for the NS Savannah only mentions being excluded from Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_marine_propulsion#Civi... comments the major issue is the costs of specialized infrastructure, and points out how research about a modern design concluded "further maturity of nuclear technology and the development and harmonisation of the regulatory framework would be necessary before the concept would be viable."
There could be nuclear “tanker” ships that recharge electric battery ships on their routes.
There's also the minor issue that they are, like most forms of nuclear power, hellishly expensive.
Several have been built and people have generally gone "huh, thats cool but it's way too expensive".
Thats the main reason why theres currently only 1 in the whole world.
They are expensive because they don't externalize their environmental costs upon the rest of the world.
The environmental costs of renewables (other than biomass) are minor.