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 ...
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The budget is hiding in Algore’s Lock Box.
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What?
Scuttle her over the Marianas Trench.
Is it any surprise that THAT ship refuses to be destroyed? The name alone speaks of a heritage that says, “Bring it, Bro!”
Let us know how that works out.
Is the reactor still usable? Not necessarily in a naval vessel but for any other purpose?
They removed the nuclear fuel so the remainder is contaminated rust/sludge inside the piping system. I say the reactor compartment out to sea and dump it somewhere deep.
I’ve asked you and asked you to please stop posting videos on Free Republic from my family reunion.
*cough* laurentian abyssal *cough*
Cc
“Imagine putting seats on the catapults and shooting teenagers into the sea!”
I think you’re onto something here. That could work
Here is a list of nuclear powered commercial ships.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_marine_propulsion#Civilian_nuclear_ships
Maybe Russia has some ideas?
We can't do that anymore since the 1972 London Dumping Convention. These days we take the reactor vessels to Hanford and bury them.
Strap the propulsion system to a Saturn V rocket, and shoot it into the sun.
The Russian idea is to let their decommissioned nuclear ships sink at their piers.
CC
Which, like the post Fukushima cars, we won't check for radiation at the ports of entry...
“thirty-year investments”
50 years active duty
Give it to John McCain, he’ll wreck it within a week.
As it passes 10,000 feet detonate a 1MT fusion bomb to scatter the parts and render analysis impossible.
That makes WAY too much sense! When the cost of salvage/recycling so far exceeds the value of the materials reclaimed - it no longer makes sense to recycle. Pull the nuke plant, then use her for a target where you want a reef.
Eek!
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