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United States naval reactors are nuclear reactors used by the United States Navy aboard certain ships to generate the steam used to produce power for propulsion, electric power, catapulting airplanes in aircraft carriers, and a few more minor uses. Such naval nuclear reactors have a complete power plant associated with them. All U.S. Navy submarines and supercarriers built since 1975 are nuclear-powered by such reactors. There are no commissioned conventional (non-nuclear) submarines or aircraft carriers left in the U.S. Navy, since the last conventional carrier, USS Kitty Hawk, was decommissioned in May 2009. The U.S. Navy had nine nuclear-powered cruisers with such reactors also, but they have since been decommissioned. Reactors are designed by a variety of contractors, then developed and tested at one of several government owned and prime contractor-operated facilities: Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania and its associated Naval Reactors Facility in Idaho, and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna, New York and its associated Kesselring site in West Milton, New York, all under the management of the office of Naval Reactors. Sometimes there were full-scale nuclear-powered prototype plants built at the Naval Reactors Facility, Kesselring, and Windsor to test the nuclear plants, which were operated for years to train nuclear-qualified sailors.
The Naval Reactors Facility (NRF) is located 52 miles northwest of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The NRF is a United States Department of Energy-Naval Reactors facility where three nuclear propulsion prototypes A1W, S1W and S5G were located. It is contractor-operated for the government by Fluor Marine Propulsion Corporation (FMP), which also operates Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.
The S1C reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S1C designation stands for:
USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on 3 August 1958. Her initial commanding officer was Eugene "Dennis" Wilkinson, a widely respected naval officer who set the stage for many of the protocols of today's Nuclear Navy of the US, and who had a storied career during military service and afterwards.
The A4W reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to propel warships and generate onboard electricity.
The Rolls-Royce pressurised water reactor (PWR) series has powered the UK's Royal Navy nuclear submarines since the Valiant class, commissioned in 1966. The first British nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought, was powered by a Westinghouse S5W reactor.
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" submarines. Nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for conventional submarines. The large amount of power generated by a nuclear reactor allows nuclear submarines to operate at high speed for long periods, and the long interval between refuelings grants a range virtually unlimited, making the only limits on voyage times being imposed by such factors as the need to restock food or other consumables.
Project Prometheus/Project Promethian was established in 2003 by NASA to develop nuclear-powered systems for long-duration space missions. This was NASA's first serious foray into nuclear spacecraft propulsion since the cancellation of the SNTP project in 1995. The project was planned to design, develop, and fly multiple deep space missions to the outer planets.
The S1W reactor was the first prototype naval reactor used by the United States Navy to prove that the technology could be used for electricity generation and propulsion on submarines.
Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship or submarine with heat provided by a nuclear reactor. The power plant heats water to produce steam for a turbine used to turn the ship's propeller through a gearbox or through an electric generator and motor. Nuclear propulsion is used primarily within naval warships such as nuclear submarines and supercarriers. A small number of experimental civil nuclear ships have been built.
A nuclear navy, or nuclear-powered navy, refers to the portion of a navy consisting of naval ships powered by nuclear marine propulsion. The concept was revolutionary for naval warfare when first proposed. Prior to nuclear power, submarines were powered by diesel engines and could only submerge through the use of batteries. In order for these submarines to run their diesel engines and charge their batteries they would have to surface or snorkel. The use of nuclear power allowed these submarines to become true submersibles and unlike their conventional counterparts, they became limited only by crew endurance and supplies.
The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron reactors are the most common type of nuclear reactor, and light-water reactors are the most common type of thermal-neutron reactor.
JASON was a low-power nuclear research reactor installed by the Ministry of Defence at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, now home to the University of Greenwich, to educate and train military and civilian personnel involved in the naval nuclear submarine propulsion.
The A1B reactor is an aircraft carrier nuclear reactor developed by the United States Navy. It is used in Gerald R. Ford–class aircraft carriers to provide electrical and propulsion energy. The A1B is the first naval reactor produced by Bechtel Corporation, which has "performed engineering and/or construction services on more than 80 percent of [land-based] nuclear plants in the United States".
The S9G reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on Virginia class submarines. The S9G designation stands for:
The Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory (WANL) was a division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Established in 1959 to develop nuclear space propulsion technologies for the government, the lab was located, for most of its history, in the paradoxically small town of "Large" along Pa. Rte 51, about 13 miles (21 km) south of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. The site is not far from the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, which Westinghouse operated during the same time and later.
Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) is an American research and development facility based in Niskayuna, New York and dedicated to the support of the US Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. KAPL was instituted in 1946 under a contract between General Electric and the United States government. In the 21st century, KAPL is a government-owned, contractor-operated laboratory for the US Department of Energy. KAPL is responsible for the research, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of U.S. nuclear-powered warships. It also manages work on nuclear ships at numerous shipyards across the country.
The S2W reactor was a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S2W designation stands for:
The S1B reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on Columbia-class submarines. The S1B designation stands for:
References
- ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-09-25. Retrieved 2005-12-29.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Bechtel Corporation: Bechtel Awarded Contracts for Bettis, Knolls Laboratories
- ↑ IEEE – IEEE History Center Archived November 26, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory – United States Nuclear Forces
- ↑ "Site info: DOE/Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory". Archived from the original on 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2005-12-29.
- ↑ Naval Reactors (NR): A Potential Model for Improved
Personnel Management in the Department of Energy (DOE) - ↑ "Navy.com : Careers in the Navy: Officer: Nuclear". Archived from the original on 2005-08-28. Retrieved 2005-12-29.
