The Navy is on target in the design and development of the nuclear propulsion system that will drive the next generation of ballistic missile submarines, the head of Naval Reactors said this week.
Adm. Kirkland Donald, the director of Naval Reactors at the National Nuclear Security Administration, told a Senate Armed Services Committee subpanel Wednesday that the reactor design has cleared key milestones with the design and manufacturing development of core materials in support of a decision on the way forward later this year.
Kirkland is overseeing the creation of a reactor core intended to operate for the life of the ship without a mid-life refueling, and is intended to outlast the systems operating in the current Ohio-class (SSBN) ballistic subs.
“The planned life-of-ship core will have a longer reactor life than any previous core, and will eliminate the need for a mid-life refueling, enabling the Navy to reduce maintenance requirements by shortening the mid-life overhaul,” Donald said.
The Navy announced last month in rolling out its fiscal 2013 budget request that is was delaying the procurement of the Ohio-class replacement subs SSBN(X) by two years to 2021 to save money. The Navy anticipates the postponement will have the added benefit of allowing the design to mature.
The first two of the 14 Ohio boomers are slated for retirement at the end of the next decade. The Navy plans to procure 12 SSBN(X)s. Having a full-lifetime reactor core reduces the time needed for a mid-life overhaul, thereby allowing the Navy to operate a smaller number of subs while maintaining the sea-based nuclear deterrent, Donald said.