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REACTOR DEVELOPMENT

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Nuclear Powered Submarines in Operation
Miles traveled
Submarine

Total

Submerged

USS Nautilus (SS(N)571)

119,759

84,707

50,813
21,845

37,647
19,184

_ USS Seawolf (SS(N)575)
USS Skate (SS(N)578)

Core life consumed

(full power hours)

2,178 first core

2,048 second core

1,624
895

Naval Reactor Projects Under Development

Submarine Advanced Reactor (S3G and S4G).

At West Milton, New York, work on the con-

struction of the prototype plant was 98 percent complete, and was expected to be completed in
July 1958, Testing continued in preparation for fuel loading.
Small Submarine Reactor (SIC). Over-all construction of the land prototype plant at
Windsor, Connecticut, was 28 percent complete, and installation of machinery in the hull

continued,

The keel of the USS Tullibee was laid on May 26 at the shipyard of the Electric Boat Divi-

sion of the General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut. The Tullibee is to be powered
by an SiC-type nuclear propulsion plant,
Large Ship Reactor (A1W). Construction of the AlW prototype at the National Reactor
Testing Station was 89 percent complete. Testing of the stainless steel reactor plant, the first
of the two reactor systems to be completed, was initiated.
,
Destroyer Reactor (DIG).

In May the Congress authorized the construction of the D1G

land-based destroyer reactor prototype at West Milton, New York.* Architect-engineering work

continued on the modifications necessary to adapt the West Milton facilities which had been used
for the Seawolf to the D1G. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory is carrying out the design and
development of the reactor plant, and began the procurement of long lead time equipment. (End

of COE section.)

MARITIME REACTORS (UNCLASSIFIED)
NS Sovanr-ah, The keel of the NS Savannah was laid on May 22, National Maritime Day, at
the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Company. Hull fabrication was on
schedule and E.5 percent complete on June 30. Babcock & Wilcox selected a 1€4-rod brazed
bundle boron steel fue] element as the basic power core design. Fuel rod production for the
critical experiment at the Lynchburg facility of Babcock & Wilcox was nearly completed.
Critical experiments continued and fabrication of power plant components was on schedule.
Development of the second core was begun by the General Electric Company.

Proposals for the ship operator and crew training contractor were evaluated. Westinghouse
Electric Corporation began construction of a reactor simulator, based on the Savannah control
system, to be completed in April 1959. These contracts are with the Maritime Administration

(MA).

DCE ARCHIVES

*A contract was signed with Bethlehem Stee] Company on July 7 to fabricate, install, and test the
D1G prototype.

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