There have been nuclear merchant vessels in the past and there are still nuclear ice-breakers around. The nuclear merchant vessels were never a success, due to various challenges, some of the outlined in this article: https://www.flexport.com/blog/nuclear-powered-cargo-ships/
Huh the last bit of that article seems very pro nuclear container ship primarily due to oil price instability and environmental concerns.
Interesting read though, I wonder if the US's nuclear ship was a decade later and actuallytrying to be commercially viable if we'd have nuclear container ships right now.
