When did we get those hints?
The electric motor was attributed to use for 09V as the true next generation nuclear submarine
I read it from a Zhihu answer about Ma Weiming written by an electric engineer working on medium/high voltage DC power transmission (can't link it from my PC, search for 舌战群诸葛 on Zhihu). The answer was written in 2020 and he claimed Ma's next-gen electric motor would be on whatever that's being built in Huludao. He seems well connected to the industry and knows his stuff. At least it showed that the timeline seemed plausible to him (i.e. from what he had heard the new motor was mature enough to be integrated to a submarine being built in 2020).
There was never an indication that a shaftless pumpjet was being developed for nuclear submarine purposes.
That was an incorrect interpretation of a shaftless propeller being developed shown in the same television program when Ma stated the new electric motor/drive would be applied for the next gen nuclear submarine.
But the shaftless propeller itself was never stated as being intended for a nuclear submarine.
Yeah a shaftless pump-jet for SSN seemed very optimistic to me and what's why I said if it's true 09V would be years and years down the road.
I haven't watched Ma's interview, however my understanding is that what's really difficult about such a pump-jet is building a powerful enough bearingless motor. If the motor is powerful enough to drive a propeller then it's probably on the ballpark of being powerful enough to drive a pump-jet. Also bearingless motors are applied mostly in high speed systems. Pump-jets are high rpm but propellers are certainly not (and using gears would negate all advantages of a bearingless motor) . I just don't see why one would want to take the electric motor from a shaftless pump-jet and use it with a propeller.