Posted on 08/16/2018 10:52:50 AM PDT by Rebelbase
Nobody has ever disposed of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier before. Turns out it's not easy.
Six years after decommissioning USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy is still figuring out how to safely dismantle the ship. The General Accounting Office estimates the cost of taking apart the vessel and sending the reactors to a nuclear waste storage facility at up to $1.5 billion, or about one-eighth the cost of a brand-new aircraft carrier.
[snip] Now, according to a new General Accounting Office report (PDF), the Navy has two options. The first is to have the Navy manage the job but let the commercial industry do the non-nuclear work. The Navy would allow industry to scrap the non-nuclear parts of the ship but preserve a 27,000-ton propulsion space containing the reactors. The propulsion space would then be transported to Puget Sound Naval Base, where the reactors would be removed and sent to Hanford. This is the most expensive option, costing a minimum of $1.05 billion up to $1.55 billion and taking 10 years to complete, starting in 2034.
The second option: let commercial industry do everything, with a reactor storage location to be determined. This would cost $750 million to $1.4 billion and would take 5 years to complete, starting in 2024. In either event, most of the ship gets turned into razor blades and flatware. (By comparison, a squadron of 10 F-35C Joint Strike Fighters costs $1.22 billion, and a brand new Burke-class guided missile destroyer costs $1.7 billion.)
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Admiral Kirk did it in sixty seconds.....MARK!
It’s cheaper to keep her...
Meh. Just nuke it ‘till it glows. Is’nt that Bikini Atoll still around?
Turn it into a bed and breakfast and anchor it at Cape Cod.
*cough* Marianas trench *cough* *cough*
Why don’t they just tow it to Murmansk and beach it?
Park it off of Los Angeles. Instant homeless community and $1.5 billion to lavish them.
What aboutthe lead paint?
Maybe she could be repurposed.
The big thing now in cruising is extreme sports.
Climbing walls.....rope courses.....wind tunnel flying.....botulism....
Imagine putting seats on the catapults and shooting teenagers into the sea!
Id pay good money to watch this!
The meth counteracts that.
Sell it to the Chinese for $10 billion as part of trade deficit negotiations. Then use the money for us to build a new one. They already got our secrets (thanks to dems), and it’s old tech. If scrapped, it would end up as Chinese cars. If sold to them, it’s their problem to clean it up (cheaper by them as they don’t care about environmental and safety concerns).
I'll bet these guys could do it for a lot less.
Large-ticket items such as aircraft carriers are (very roughly) thirty-year investments, with construction costs, operating and maintenance costs, and shutdown costs all a necessary part of the overall project. If this wasn't budgeted in from the beginning, somebody was cheating.
Ultimately, according to the GAO, it may take Congress to make a decision.
I read somewhere that the construction method of a carrier, making it hard to sink, is a trade secret.
[Admiral Kirk did it in sixty seconds.....MARK!]
“Code zero zero zero. Destruct. Zero.”
Let the Indian ship breakers have her. They will beach her and attack with a horde of workers armed with hammers and cutting torches. Shell be gone in a month or two.
If this wasn’t budgeted in from the beginning, somebody was cheating.
Turn her into a time-out resort for deranged Liberals.
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