![]() ![]() ![]() Another unique consideration is the use of High Enriched Uranium (HEU) to provide a compact reactor system with enough built-in reactivity to overcome the xenon reactor dead time for quick restarts and long fuel burnup periods between refuelings.ĭuring World War II, submarines used diesel engines that could be run on the water surface, charging a large bank of electrical batteries.These could later be used while the submarine is submerged, until discharged.At this point the submarine had to resurface to recharge its batteries and become vulnerable to detection by aircraft and surface vessels.Even though special snorkel devices were used to suck and exhaust air to the submarine shallowly submerged below the water's surface, a nuclear reactor provides it with a theoretically infinite submersion time.In addition, the high specific energy, or energy per unit weight of nuclear fuel, eliminates the need for constant refueling by fleets of vulnerable tankers following a fleet of surface or subsurface naval vessels.On the other hand, a single refueling of a nuclear reactor is sufficient for long intervals of time. The main considerations here are that nuclear powered submarines do not consume oxygen like conventional power plants, and that they have large endurance or mission times before fuel resupply limited only by the available food and air purification supplies on board. The nuclear powered vessels comprise about 40 percent of the USA Navy's combatant fleet, including the entire sea based strategic nuclear deterrent.All the USA Navy’s operational submarines and over half of its aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered. Three boats are already active, one is going through trials, and Rakhmanov, the senior shipbuilding official who spoke to Russian media, said on Monday that the fifth Yasen-class submarine will be launched later this year.The largest experience in operating nuclear power plants has been in nuclear naval propulsion, particularly aircraft carriers and submarines.This accumulated experience may become the basis of a proposed new generation of compact-sized nuclear power plants designs.The mission for nuclear powered submarines is being redefined in terms of signal intelligence gathering and special operations. He added that the " challenge" posed by these Russian submarines "will be compounded in the next few years as the Russian Navy adds the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile to the Severodvinsk's arsenal."Īt that time, Russia had only two Yasen-class subs, but their numbers have grown. The Russian Yasen-class submarines "are designed to deploy undetected within cruise-missile range of our coastlines to threaten critical infrastructure during an escalating crisis," the commander said a year later in congressional testimony. Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said in 2021 that Russia was fielding capabilities able "to hold the homeland at risk," including some "very quiet submarines" such as the Yasen-class submarines, which the US and NATO call the Severodvinsk class. ![]() Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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