S5W reactor
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The S5W reactor is a nuclear reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S5W designation stands for:
- S = Submarine platform
- 5 = Fifth generation core designed by the contractor
- W = Westinghouse was the contracted designer
This pressurized water reactor's simplicity, overdesign, and redundancy was intended for ease of operation and tolerance of battle damage. These characteristics contributed greatly to the type's reliability, longevity, and sterling safety record. The reactor with either S5W-1 or S3G-3 cores was rated at 78MW (thermal) and had a highly enriched (93%) U-235 core. The S5W was the standard reactor for submarines of the United States Navy from its first use in 1959 on USS Skipjack (SSN-585) until the introduction of the Los Angeles class submarines in the mid-1970s. One S5W plant was also used in the United Kingdom on the Royal Navy's first nuclear-powered submarine HMS Dreadnought (S101).
Sometime before 1971, the S5W vessel and core replaced the S1W reactor vessel and core at the S1W prototype facility. Even though operating an S5W reactor core, the facility continued to be called S1W. In order to use the additional power generated by the S5W reactor, additional facilities were added in order to dump the excess steam when the plant was operated at higher power levels. These steam dumps were constructed in the same building as the original hull but were outside the original submarine style hull.
As of 2005, two S5W reactor plants remain in service: ex-USS Daniel Webster (MTS-626) and ex-USS Sam Rayburn (MTS-635). These plants are used to train naval nuclear operators; the designation MTS stands for "moored training ship."
Later-model S5W reactor plants were often refueled with a S3G core-3; that is, the third version of the S3G core.
[edit] External links
- Federation of American Scientists, S5W.
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