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The S3G reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S3G designation stands for:
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This nuclear reactor generates 78 MW. It consists of a highly enriched uranium core with a 2-loop pressurized water reactor.
This design, designated as S4G, was used for the two reactors on the USS Triton (SSRN-586); no other ships used this reactor plant. The plant had unique design features such as horizontal steam generator U-tubes, and it was one of the only submarine plants with a deaereating feed tank (DFT).
A prototype reactor was built ashore at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory's Kesselring Site in West Milton, New York in 1958 to test the reactor design. [1] [2] Once the design was proven, the prototype continued operation to train students and test new systems and materials. This prototype training reactor was taken off line in 1992 and subsequently decommissioned.
Although the design of the entire S3G reactor plant (core, piping, pumps, etc.) saw only limited use, a design version of the reactor core ("S3G3" or "S3G core 3") was later used for replacement cores for the Navy's 100 S5W reactor plants when refueled. Another unique feature of the S3G core 3 was the use of Y-shaped control rods versus the standard cruciform control rods used in the S5W core. The core also utilized a rod configuration called "skewed divergent" for ease of maintenance.
The S3G prototype was located at West Milton, N.Y. and consisted of a submarine reactor unit, engine compartments and a few office spaces. There were airlocks at each end of the containment hull and a negative atmospheric pressure was maintained in the unit. The negative pressure was to ensure that any gasses released into the prototype wouldn't escape into the local environment. It was a large cylinder painted green and was called "The Green Weenie" by the students stationed there.
The S7G reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S7G designation stands for:
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 D1G reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The D1G designation stands for:
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants. In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energy released by the fission of atoms. The heated, high pressure water then flows to a steam generator, where it transfers its thermal energy to lower pressure water of a secondary system where steam is generated. The steam then drives turbines, which spin an electric generator. In contrast to a boiling water reactor (BWR), pressure in the primary coolant loop prevents the water from boiling within the reactor. All light-water reactors use ordinary water as both coolant and neutron moderator. Most use anywhere from two to four vertically mounted steam generators; VVER reactors use horizontal steam generators.
A nuclear meltdown is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term nuclear meltdown is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It has been defined to mean the accidental melting of the core of a nuclear reactor, however, and is in common usage a reference to the core's either complete or partial collapse.
The RBMK is a class of graphite-moderated nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union. The name refers to its design where, instead of a large steel pressure vessel surrounding the entire core, the core is surrounded by a cylindrical annular steel tank inside a concrete vault and each fuel assembly is enclosed in an individual 8 cm (inner) diameter pipe. The channels also contain the coolant, and are surrounded by graphite.
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:
The S5G reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on submarines. The S5G designation stands for:
The S8G reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S8G designation stands for:
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.
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.
The S5W reactor is a nuclear reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S5W designation stands for:
Machinist's mate is a rating in the United States Navy's engineering community.
The advanced heavy-water reactor (AHWR) or AHWR-300 is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear reactor that burns thorium in its fuel core. It is slated to form the third stage in India's three-stage fuel-cycle plan. This phase of the fuel cycle plan was supposed to be built starting with a 300MWe prototype in 2016.
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 S6W reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S6W designation stands for:
Nuclear Power School (NPS) is a technical school operated by the U.S. Navy in Goose Creek, South Carolina as a central part of a program that trains enlisted sailors, officers, KAPL civilians and Bettis civilians for shipboard nuclear power plant operation and maintenance of surface ships and submarines in the U.S. nuclear navy. As of 2020 the United States Navy operates 98 nuclear power plants, including 71 submarines, 11 aircraft carriers, and three Moored Training Ships (MTS) and two land-based training plants. NPS is the centerpiece of the training pipeline for U.S. Navy nuclear operators. It follows initial training at Nuclear Field "A" School or a college degree, and culminates with certification as a nuclear operator at one of the Navy's two Nuclear Power Training Units (NPTU).
The Indian Pressurized Water Reactor-900 (IPWR-900) is a class of pressurized water reactors being designed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in partnership with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited to supplement the Indian three-stage nuclear power programme