|
Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a Merchant ship powered by a nuclear reactor. Naval Nuclear Propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval vessels (warships) Nuclear power station at Leibstadt, Switzerland. ...
History
Work on nuclear marine propulsion started in the 1940s, and the first test reactor started up in the USA in 1953. The first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, put to sea in 1955. Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the V1 flying bomb and the first ballistic missile, the...
1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...
USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ...
USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine and a unique prototype, was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be so named. ...
1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
This marked the transition of submarines from slow underwater vessels to warships capable of sustaining 20-25 knots (37-46 km/h) submerged for weeks on end. The submarine had come into its own. A knot is a non SI unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. ...
Nautilus led to the parallel development of further (Skate-class) submarines, powered by single reactors, and an aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, powered by eight reactor units in 1960. A cruiser, USS Long Beach, followed in 1961 and was powered by two of these early units. Remarkably, Enterprise remains in service. The Skate-class submarines were the United States Navys first production run of nuclear powered submarines. ...
Eight ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Enterprise. ...
1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first upside-down year—i. ...
By 1962 the US Navy had 26 nuclear submarines operational and 30 under construction. Nuclear power had revolutionised the Navy. 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...
The technology was shared with the United Kingdom, while French, Soviet, and Chinese developments proceeded separately. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: (СССР) listen; tr. ...
After the Skate-class vessels, reactor development proceeded and in the USA a single series of standardised designs was built by both Westinghouse and General Electric, one reactor powering each vessel. Rolls Royce built similar units for Royal Navy submarines and then developed the design further to the PWR-2. Westinghouse could refer to: George Westinghouse Westinghouse Electric Corporation. ...
The General Electric Company, or GE, (NYSE: GE) is a multinational technology and services company. ...
Rolls-Royce plc (also known as Rolls-Royce Aero Engines) is the second-largest aircraft engine maker in the world, behind General Electrics GE Aircraft Engines division. ...
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...
The largest submarines are the 26,500 tonne Russian Typhoon-class. The Typhoon-class submarine is a ballistic missile-carrying, nuclear-powered submarine (SSBN) deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. ...
Nuclear Naval Fleets At the end of the Cold War, in 1989, there were over 400 nuclear-powered submarines operational or being built. Some 250 of these submarines have now been scrapped and some on order cancelled, due to weapons reduction programs. Russia and the United States had over one hundred each, with the United Kingdom and France less than twenty each and China six. The total today is about 160. The Cold War (1947-1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. ...
1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The United States is the main navy with nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (10), while both it and Russia have had nuclear-powered cruisers. Russia has eight nuclear icebreakers in service or building. The US Navy has accumulated over 5400 reactor years of accident-free experience, and operates more than 80 nuclear-powered ships. An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft. ...
USS Port Royal, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, launched in 1994. ...
US Coast Guard icebreakers near McMurdo Station, February 2002 An icebreaker is a special purpose ship designed to move and navigate through ice covered marine environments. ...
Active nuclear warships This is a partial list This is a partial list of partial lists on Wikipedia. ...
The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...
USS Greeneville off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii. ...
Seawolf (SSN-575) Class The second nuclear-powered submarine, USS Seawolf (SSN-575), which served from the early 1950s through 1987, was unique, and so can be considered the lead boat of the Seawolf (SSN-575) class. Since she had no sister ships, however, there is no distinction between information...
USS Virginia (SSN-774) The Virginia-class attack submarines (SSN) are the first U.S. submarines to be designed for battlespace dominance across a broad spectrum of regional and littoral missions. ...
The United States has 18 Ohio class submarines: 14 nuclear-powered SSBNs, each armed with 24 Trident II SLBMs; they are also known as Trident submarines, and provide the sea-based leg of the triad of the United States strategic deterrent forces 4 nuclear-powered SSGNs, each armed with 154...
USS Nimitz in 1997 The Nimitz class supercarriers are the largest warships in the world. ...
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...
The Royal Navys Swiftsure-class of nuclear fleet submarines (SSNs) is the older of the two classes of attack submarine in service with the RN. It originally contained six boats, but HMS Swiftsure was decommissioned in 1992 due to damage suffered to the pressure hull during trials. ...
Trafalgar class submarine on surface The Trafalgar class submarines are, until the introduction of the Astute class, the Royal Navys most advanced nuclear fleet submarines (SSNs). ...
The Royal Navys Vanguard class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), each armed with 16 Trident SLBMs, includes four boats: Vanguard (S28), Victorious (S29), Vigilant (S30), and Vengeance (S31), all built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. ...
The French Navy (Marine Nationale) is the naval arm of the French military and is the second-largest Western European navy (the largest being the United Kingdoms Royal Navy). ...
The Rubis type is a class of first-generation nuclear attack submarines of the French Navy. ...
The Triomphant class of strategic missile submarines of the French Navy are currently being introduced into service to provide the sea based component of the French nuclear deterrent or Force de frappe, with the M45 SLBM. They are replacing the Redoutable-class boats. ...
The Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the tenth aircraft carrier in service with the French Marine Nationale, and the first French nuclear surface vessel. ...
Russian Navy Jack Russian Navy Ensign The Russian Navy (Russian: Военно Морской Флот (ВМФ) - Voyenno Morskoy Flot (VMF) or Military Maritime Fleet) is the naval arm of the Russian armed forces. ...
Civil Vessels Development of nuclear merchant ships began in the 1950s but has not been commercially successful. The US-built NS Savannah, was commissioned in 1962 and decommissioned eight years later. It was a technical success, but not economically viable. The German-built Otto Hahn cargo ship and research facility sailed some 650,000 nautical miles on 126 voyages in 10 years without any technical problems. However, it proved too expensive to operate and was converted to diesel. Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ...
NS Savannah, the first nuclear powered civilian ship NS Savannah, named for SS Savannah, the first steam-powered vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean, was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built. ...
1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The Japanese Mutsu was the third civil vessel. It was dogged by technical and political problems and was an embarrassing failure. These three vessels used reactors with low-enriched uranium fuel. Mutsu is a nuclear powered merchant ship constructed in Japan. ...
In contrast, nuclear propulsion has proven both technically and economically feasible in the Soviet Arctic. The power levels and energy required for icebreaking, coupled with refueling difficulties for other types of vessels, are significant factors. The icebreaker Lenin was the world's first nuclear-powered surface vessel and remained in service for 30 years, though new reactors were fitted in 1970. It led to a series of larger icebreakers, the 23,500 dwt Arktika-class, launched from 1975. These vessels have two reactors and are used in deep Arctic waters. Arktika was the first surface vessel to reach the North Pole. The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border The Arctic is the area around the Earths North Pole. ...
Icebreaker Lenin Lenin was the first nuclear surface ship in the world. ...
1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ...
1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...
A North Pole is the northernmost point on any planet. ...
For use in shallow waters such as estuaries and rivers, shallow-draft Taymyr-class icebreakers with one reactor are being built in Finland and then fitted with their nuclear steam supply system in Russia. They are built to conform with international safety standards for nuclear vessels.
The following are ships that are or were in commercial or civilian use and have nuclear marine propulsion. ...
Power plants Naval reactors are pressurised water types, which differ from commercial reactors producing electricity in that: - they have a high power density in a small volume and therefore run on highly-enriched uranium (>20% U-235, originally c93% but apparently now c20-25% in western vessels, twice this in Russian ones),
- the fuel is not UO2 but a metal-zirconium alloy (c15%U with 93% enrichment, or more U with lower enrichment),
- they have long core lives, so that refueling is needed only after 10 or more years, and new cores are designed to last 50 years in carriers and 30-40 years in submarines,
- the design enables a compact pressure vessel while maintaining safety.
The long core life is enabled by the relatively high enrichment of the uranium and by incorporating a "burnable poison" in the cores which is progressively depleted as fission products and actinides accumulate, leading to reduced fuel efficiency. The two effects cancel one another out. General Name, Symbol, Number Zirconium, Zr, 40 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 5, d Density, Hardness 6511 kg/m3, 5 Appearance Silvery white Atomic properties Atomic weight 91. ...
Fission products are the residues of fission processes. ...
The actinide series encompasses the 14 chemical elements that lie between actinium and nobelium on the periodic table with atomic numbers 89 - 102 inclusive. ...
Fuel efficiency relates the efficiency of conversion to kinetic energy from energy contained in a carrier fuel, specifically in a transportation vehicle, such as an automobile. ...
Long-term integrity of the compact reactor pressure vessel is maintained by providing an internal neutron shield. (This is in contrast to early Soviet civil PWR designs where embrittlement occurs due to neutron bombardment of a very narrow pressure vessel.)
Reactor sizes range up to 190 MWt in the larger submarines and surface ships. The French Rubis-class submarines have a 48 MW reactor which needs no refueling for 30 years. (Redirected from 1 E8 W) This page lists examples of the power in watts produced by various different sources of energy. ...
MWe and MWt are units for measuring the output of a power plant. ...
The Rubis type is a class of first-generation nuclear attack submarines of the French Navy. ...
(Redirected from 1 E7 W) This page lists examples of the power in watts produced by various different sources of energy. ...
The Russian, US and British navies rely on steam turbine propulsion, the French and Chinese use the turbine to generate electricity for propulsion. Most Russian submarines as well as all surface ships since Enterprise are powered by two reactors. US, British, French and Chinese submarines are powered by one.
Decommissioning nuclear-powered submarines has become a major task for US and Russian navies. After defuelling, US practice is to cut the reactor section from the vessel for disposal in shallow land burial as low-level waste (see the Ship-Submarine recycling program). In Russia the whole vessels, or the sealed reactor sections, remain stored afloat indefinitely. The Ship/Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels. ...
A marine reactor was used to supply power (1.5 MWe) to a US Antarctic base for ten years to 1972, testing the feasibility of such air-portable units for remote locations. Russia is well advanced with plans to build a floating power plant for their far eastern territories. The design has two 35 MWe units based on the KLT-40 reactor used in icebreakers (with refueling every 4 years). Some Russian naval vessels have been used to supply electricity for domestic and industrial use in remote far eastern and Siberian towns. (Redirected from 1 E6 W) This page lists examples of the power in watts produced by various different sources of energy. ...
MWe and MWt are units for measuring the output of a power plant. ...
Greek ἀνταρκτικός, opposite the arctic) is a continent surrounding the Earths South Pole. ...
1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...
Harold Wilson the then British Prime Minister considered, but did not deploy, nuclear submarines to power Belfast during the 1974 Ulster Workers' Council Strike. James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC (March 11, 1916 – May 24, 1995) was one of the more successful Labour Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and a 1960s icon. ...
A prime minister may be either: the chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives...
Location within the British Isles. ...
1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
See also: United States Naval reactor United States Naval reactors are given three-character designations consisting of a letter representing the ship type the reactor is designed for, a consecutive generation number, and a letter indicating the reactors designer. ...
References - AFP, 11 November 1998; in "Nuclear Submarines Provide Electricity for Siberian Town," FBIS-SOV-98-315, 11 November 1998.
- ITAR-TASS, 11 November 1998; in "Russian Nuclear Subs Supply Electricity to Town in Far East," FBIS-SOV-98-316, 12 November 1998.
- Harold Wilson's plan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4132635.stm) BBC News story
External links - The Uranium Information Centre (http://www.uic.com.au/) provided some of the original material in this article.
|
Feeds |
Contact