Nuclear submarine

This article is about submarines powered by nuclear energy. For submarines carrying strategic nuclear weapons, see Ballistic missile submarine.

A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor. The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines are considerable. 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 of time; and the long interval between refuelings grants a range limited only by consumables such as food.

Current generations of nuclear submarines never need to be refueled throughout their 25-year lifespans.[1] Conversely, the limited power stored in electric batteries means that even the most advanced conventional submarine can only remain submerged for a few days at slow speed, and only a few hours at top speed; recent advances in air-independent propulsion have somewhat eroded this disadvantage. The high cost of nuclear technology means that relatively few states have fielded nuclear submarines. Some of the most serious nuclear and radiation accidents ever to occur have involved Soviet nuclear submarine mishaps.[2][3]

History

USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine.
The smallest nuclear-powered submarine, the U.S. Navy's NR-1.

The idea for a nuclear-powered submarine was first proposed in the United States Navy by the Naval Research Laboratory's Ross Gunn[4] in 1939.

Construction of the world's first nuclear powered submarine was made possible by the successful development of a nuclear propulsion plant by a group of scientists and engineers at the Naval Reactors Branch of the Bureau of Ships and the Atomic Energy Commission. In July 1951 the U.S. Congress authorized construction of the first nuclear-powered submarine, Nautilus, under the leadership of Captain Hyman G. Rickover, USN (sharing names with Captain Nemo's fictional submarine Nautilus in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II).[5]

The Westinghouse Corporation was assigned to build its reactor. After the submarine was completed at the Electric Boat Company, Mamie Eisenhower (wife of the U.S. President) broke the traditional bottle of champagne on Nautilus' bow, and she was commissioned USS Nautilus (SSN-571), on 30 September 1954.[6] On 17 January 1955, she departed Groton, Connecticut to begin sea trials. The submarine was 320 feet (98 m) long, and cost about $55 million.

The Soviet Union soon followed the United States in developing nuclear-powered submarines in the 1950s. Stimulated by the U.S. development of the Nautilus, Soviet work on nuclear propulsion reactors began in the early 1950s at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, in Obninsk, under Anatoliy P. Alexandrov, later to become head of the Kurchatov Institute. In 1956, the first Soviet propulsion reactor designed by his team began operational testing. Meanwhile, a design team under Vladimir N. Peregudov worked on the vessel that would house the reactor.

After overcoming many obstacles, including steam generation problems, radiation leaks, and other difficulties, the first nuclear submarine based on these combined efforts, K-3 "Leninskiy Komsomol" of the Project 627 "Kit"-class, called a November-class submarine by NATO, entered service in the Soviet Navy in 1958.[7]

Nuclear power proved ideal for the propulsion of strategic ballistic missile submarines (SSB), greatly improving their ability to remain submerged and undetected. The world's first operational nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) was USS George Washington (SSBN-598) with 16 Polaris A-1 missiles, which conducted the first SSBN deterrent patrol November 1960-January 1961. The Soviets already had several SSBs of the Project 629 (Golf class), and were only a year behind the US with their first SSBN, the ill-fated K-19 of Project 658 (Hotel class), commissioned in November 1960. However, this class carried the same three-missile armament as the Golfs. The first Soviet SSBN with 16 missiles was the Project 667A (Yankee class), the first of which entered service in 1967, by which time the US had commissioned 41 SSBNs, nicknamed the "41 for Freedom".[8][9]

The VMF Typhoon class submarine, is nuclear-powered and the world's largest-displacement submarine.[10]

At the height of the Cold War, approximately five to ten nuclear submarines were being commissioned from each of the four Soviet submarine yards (Sevmash in Severodvinsk, Admiralteyskiye Verfi in St. Petersburg, Krasnoye Sormovo in Nizhny Novgorod, and Amurskiy Zavod in Komsomolsk-on-Amur). From the late 1950s through the end of 1997, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, built a total of 245 nuclear submarines, more than all other nations combined.[11]

Today, six countries deploy some form of nuclear-powered strategic submarines: the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China, and India.[12] Several other countries, including Argentina and Brazil,[13][14] have ongoing projects in different phases to build nuclear-powered submarines.

In the United Kingdom, all former and current nuclear submarines of the British Royal Navy (with the exception of three: HMS Conqueror, HMS Renown and HMS Revenge) have been constructed in Barrow-in-Furness (at BAE Systems Submarine Solutions or its predecessor VSEL) where construction of nuclear submarines continues. Conqueror is the only nuclear-powered submarine ever to have engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes, sinking the cruiser ARA General Belgrano with two Mark 8 torpedoes during the 1982 Falklands War.[note 1]

Technology

HMS Astute, an advanced nuclear-powered Attack submarine.[15]

The main difference between conventional submarines and nuclear submarines is the power generation system. Nuclear submarines employ nuclear reactors for this task. They either generate electricity that powers electric motors connected to the propeller shaft or rely on the reactor heat to produce steam that drives steam turbines (cf. nuclear marine propulsion). Reactors used in submarines typically use highly enriched fuel (often greater than 20%) to enable them to deliver a large amount of power from a smaller reactor and operate longer between refuelings – which are difficult due to the reactor's position within the submarine's pressure hull.

The nuclear reactor also supplies power to the submarine's other subsystems, such as for maintenance of air quality, fresh water production by distilling salt water from the ocean, temperature regulation, etc. All naval nuclear reactors currently in use are operated with diesel generators as a backup power system. These engines are able to provide emergency electrical power for reactor decay heat removal, as well as enough electric power to supply an emergency propulsion mechanism. Submarines may carry nuclear fuel for up to 30 years of operation. The only resource that limits the time underwater is the food supply for the crew and maintenance of the vessel.

The stealth technology weakness of nuclear submarines is the need to cool the reactor even when the submarine is not moving; about 70% of the reactor output heat is dissipated into the sea water. This leaves a "thermal wake", a plume of warm water of lower density which ascends to the sea surface and creates a "thermal scar" that is observable by thermal imaging systems, e.g., FLIR.[16] Another problem is that the reactor is always running, creating steam noise, which can be heard on SONAR, and the reactor pump (used to circulate reactor coolant), also creates noise, as opposed to a conventional submarine, which can move about on almost silent electric motors.

Lineage

United States United States Navy

Decommissioned

Operational

Under development

Soviet UnionSoviet / RussiaRussian Navy

Decommissioned

Operational submarines

United Kingdom Royal Navy

Decommissioned

Operational

Under development

France French Navy

Decommissioned

Operational

Under development

China Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy

Operational

Under development

India Indian Navy

Decommissioned

Operational

Under development

Brazil Brazilian Navy

Under development

Accidents

Reactor accidents

Some of the most serious nuclear and radiation accidents by death toll in the world have involved nuclear submarine mishaps. To-date, all of these were units of the former Soviet Union.[2][3][20] Reactor accidents that resulted in core damage and release of radioactivity from nuclear-powered submarines include:[2][21]

Other major accidents and sinkings

See also

References

  1. ↑ The only other submarine to sink a warship since World War II is the Pakistani Navy's PNS Hangor.
  1. ↑ Naval Technology – SSN Astute Class – Attack Submarine
  2. 1 2 3 4 Johnston, Robert (September 23, 2007). "Deadliest radiation accidents and other events causing radiation casualties". Database of Radiological Incidents and Related Events.
  3. 1 2 3 Follow TIME Facebook Twitter Google + Tumblr (25 March 2009). "The Worst Nuclear Disasters". Time. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "Little Book" (PDF). Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Nuclear Propulsion
  6. ↑ USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
  7. ↑ Submarine History 1945–2000: A Timeline of Development
  8. ↑ Gardiner & Chumbley, p. 403
  9. ↑ "Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines - Project 667A". Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  10. ↑ Submarine Milestones – Largest Subs; 1981: Typhoon Class (Soviet and Russian) National Geographic
  11. ↑ CNS – Resources on Russian Nuclear Submarines
  12. ↑ NTI: Submarine Proliferation
  13. ↑ "Argentina, Brazil eye joint project for nuclear submarine". The Times of India. 25 February 2008. Archived from the original on 1 March 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2008.
  14. ↑ Sarah Diehl and Eduardo Fujii (March 2008). Brazil’s Pursuit of a Nuclear Submarine Raises Proliferation Concerns. WMD Insights. Retrieved 27 March 2008.
  15. ↑ "Exclusive: Royal Navy's most advanced submarine HMS Astute set for home on the River Clyde". Daily Record. 13 November 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  16. ↑ Samuel Upton Newtan Nuclear War I and Other Major Nuclear Disasters of the 20th century p.291, AuthorHouse, 2007 ISBN 978-1-4259-8511-0
  17. ↑ Diplomat, Saurav Jha, The. "India’s Undersea Deterrent". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  18. ↑ "India to Build 6 Nuclear-Powered Submarines – Navy Chief |". idrw.org. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  19. ↑ "Defesa Aérea & Naval » » Submarino Nuclear Brasileiro ‘Alvaro Alberto’ (SN 10)". Defesa Aérea & Naval. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  20. ↑ http://www.navy.mil/navydata/testimony/safety/bowman031029.txt
  21. ↑ Kristin Shrader-Frechette (October 2011). "Fukushima, Flawed Epistemology, and Black-Swan Events" (PDF). Ethics, Policy and Environment, Vol. 14, No. 3.
  22. ↑ "K-8 submarine reactor accident, 1960". Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  23. ↑ Strengthening the Safety of Radiation Sources p. 14.
  24. 1 2 3 4 "Chap. 8: Nuclear submarine accidents - The Russian Northern Fleet". Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  25. ↑ "K-19 and other Subs in Peril". Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  26. ↑ Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision
  27. ↑ "How the fire-damaged USS Miami will be scrapped". The Washingtion Times. Retrieved 26 July 2015.

Further reading

External links

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