Page 24: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2025)

HISTORY SUBMERSIBLES

Nuclear Submarine NR-1

Life is Actually Like This.

Courtesy U.S. Army/Released

Discussing the possibilities of nuclear propulsion in the maritime sector at a holiday cocktail party, this author ‘struck the mother lode’ of insight and historical perspective.

By Rik van Hemmen uclear energy, and, particularly for me, nuclear ship The last time I woke up to get an update on nuclear power propulsion, continues to be a tantalizing solution to I discovered that there are real and realistic efforts to ? nally

NCO2 reduction. move nuclear power to a more realistic, safe, secure and eco-

We know nuclear energy works, but from that point on there nomic position. And quite frankly, the new reactor designs re- appear to be more questions than answers. The questions ally look attractive from a ship propulsion point of view. range from economic viability to waste disposal concerns. I But when the discussion turns to ship propulsion, inevita- am not a nuclear engineer, but in general engineering systems bly the inef? ciency of the NS Savannah, or the high security terms, I have followed nuclear power for decades. That is not needs of US Navy vessels is raised.

hard to do, since the pace of nuclear innovation has been slow It is important to rely on past experience to ? gure out how to say the least. In essence, I only have to wake up every de- to solve problems, but I am suggesting that we are looking at cade or so, take a quick look, and go back to sleep. the wrong examples and I want to add another example to the

That is broadly true, but in the details it is not. For example, general discussion. This example, the NR-1 submersible, has

I will admit that nuclear waste hype hoodwinked me, and I intrigued me for decades. The vessel was designed and con- worried about that until we became involved in a nuclear plant structed through Admiral Rickover’s political machinations decommissioning a few years ago. There I discovered that the and launched in 1969. She served longer than Admiral Rick- plant’s nuclear waste was peacefully sitting in what was essen- over and was not decommissioned and scrapped until 2008.

tially a swimming pool, just waiting for it to be suf? ciently de- The NR-1 was actually more correctly a small US Navy nu- cayed for storage in low level waste disposal like Yucca moun- clear submarine than a submersible. She displaced about 400 tain (or reprocessed, but that is yet another confusing story). tons, was about 150 feet long with a pressure hull less than 12

Yucca mountain got covered in misinformation and did not feet in diameter and a crew of about 11. happen. Overall, costs went through the roof, and nuclear It had a mini version of the classic US Navy pressurized wa- power became a red headed stepchild. ter reactor, but it only ran a turbo generator. The entire vessel

And whenever nuclear power was discussed, the discussion was electric drive and she had tons of neat gadgets that were focused on the worst examples (and I will admit there are used for her still often classi? ed activities.

some really bad examples of past errors in the development of She could operate independently for weeks, and dive much nuclear power). This means that nuclear power is considered deeper than US Navy subs. to be too manpower intensive, too expensive to operate, has There is very little detailed literature available on her design too many security concerns and is inherently unsafe. and that is a shame. 24 January/February 2025

MTR #1 (18-33).indd 24 2/3/2025 9:41:25 AM