S2W reactor

The S2W reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S2W designation stands for:

• S = Submarine platform
• 2 = Second generation core designed by the contractor
• W = Westinghouse was the contracted designer

This nuclear reactor is the shipboard equivalent of the prototype S1W reactor, with minor design changes, that was installed on the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). As installed in Nautilus it generated 13,400 horsepower (10.0 MW). It was originally designated STR.^[1]

After Nautilus was decommissioned, the reactor equipment was removed. The submarine is now moored and displayed as a museum ship at the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.

References

1. Norman Polmar, Kenneth J. Moore. Cold War submarines: the design and construction of U.S. and Soviet submarines. Brassey's.