× Expand ChNPP (CC BY 2.0) A floating nuclear power plant model, 2008. In fact, the idea of commercial nukes at sea was never limited to science fiction. In his 1966 book, Challenge of the Seven Seas, Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island imagined that the nation was just thirty years away from having nuclear-powered underwater resorts and submarine oil tankers tapping sub-arctic oil fields. The company opened an office in Washington, D.C. five years ago and cut a deal with Westinghouse for the design and development of floating nuclear power plants. anchored” program to bring floating nuclear power to market by the mid-2030s.