I guess the question would be how much would it cost to refurbish/maintain the USS Enterprise over the expected lifetime of the ship (in reserve) versus what it would cost to scrap it.
Another option might be to sell it to an ally, though our CVN’s are expensive to maintain and the power plant probably needs repairs.
Cost analysis is the best option at this point; has the Navy already done one?
“Cost analysis is the best option at this point; has the Navy already done one?”
I’m assuming the issue is how to safely process and dispose the nuclear power plants? Haven’t we already done this with some nuclear subs?
I did my initial nuclear quals on the A1W prototype in Idaho before reporting for submarine duty.
The power plants were basically larger submarine reactors. There were four control rooms on the Enterprise with two reactors controlled by each (for a total of eight reactors). The A1W prototype had one control room with two reactors.
The older submarine reactors had to be refueled periodically and that was a major expense. I never did a refueling while I was in the Navy but an eight reactor refueling is nothing to sneeze at. If they let it sit in port with a skeleton crew it will be far cheaper than decommissioning it. Then they can budget that in the future after throwing some money each year into a BIG E Decommissioning fund.
Its last servicing, which was only going to “last” three years, was almost $2 billion as I recall. The one before that was over $655 mil and had only occurred a couple years previously.
When the cost of an ‘oil change’ is more than the cost of scrapping the vehicle, it’s time to look for a replacement...