U.S. Navy Nuclear Powered Vessels?

Question

Besides CVN Aircraft Carriers and SSN Subs, what other types of vessels are nuclear powered by the US Navy?

Does th Navy plan to add other nuclear powered boats in the future?

Answer 1

as of right now the navy's entrire submarine force is nuclear powered (SSN, SSBN, and SSGN) as well as the remaining carriers are now all nuclear powered (or being decommissioned) We used to have nuke powered cruisers, but they have all been decommissioned. The law makers are trying to bring back the nuclear cruisers for the next generations of navy ships, but their initial costs are much higer than conventional powered warships. Long term it can be cheaper, especially with current oil costs. Navy is hesitant to do this due to the vulnerability of the cruisers and other smaller ships (think USS Cole) how much worse would that have been if it was nuclear powered and spilled that contamination into the local waters. What if it was attacked in U.S. waters? I imagine there will be lots of talk to plan for more ships to become nuclear, but it will probably stay only subs and carriers for a while.

Answer 2

Adeptus is 100% correct. While wind, solar, wave action, alcohol, clean coal, coal gasification will have their place in the civilian sector, thermonuclear reaction is the only source with uninterpretable output.

The difference,in regards to civilian use, is that in the future it will not be a fission reaction with long lived isotopes. Break even output was achieved in a fusion reaction in NY many years ago. Fusion does not create the waste involved in current nuclear technologies.

The Navy WILL be using current nuke tech power for a long time. Oilers will go by the wayside in the next 30 years.

Answer 3

I think every form of energy has its use. Nuclear is great for submarines, because it is long-lasting, and doesn't need air for combustion. A submarine can decompose water into usable oxygen for breathing, and stay under for months, maybe years, if need be. That doesn't mean that a nuclear reactor is the best idea for every person's house. Solar is wonderful for this sort of thing, both to heat water, and generate electricity. It's not cost-effective for everyone now, but the idea of both candidates is that solar would be encouraged by incentives. Obama's support of solar is somewhat easier to believe, as he's no friend of Big Oil. As far as China not being interested in solar, I've heard quite the opposite. They're hungry for all forms of energy, solar included. At the Olympics, panels from one of their domestic manufacturers, Suntech, powered some of the displays.

Answer 4

There are some older nuke cruisers but nukes are primarily large craft like carriers for several reasons.

Regarding the post above: Nuclear energy is not the path to the future. To meet the worlds demand for electricity 1 nuke power plant would have to be brought on line every other day for the next 50 years. At that point there would only be 10 year of uranium to power them. Solar energy is the way of the future. (wind and hydro energy are good as well) Cover 3% of the US with solar panels and you would create enough electricity to power the entire US.

Answer 5

As of now they have CVN's, SSN's, and SSBN's. All of the CGN's (DLGN's) have been decommissioned. Any new construction of nuclear powered vessels would likely be CVN's, SSN's, and SSBN's.

Answer 6

Quite a few cruisers, and if memory serves, some of the larger tenders are going with nuclear powerplants.

Answer 7

more submarines and maby a new class of aircraft carrier.

Answer 8

nuclear energy is the path to the future