Photo By Kellie Randall | The Naval Reactors Facility conducted a ceremony Oct. 30 celebrating the turnover of...... read more read more
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – The Naval Reactors Facility conducted a ceremony Oct. 30 celebrating the turnover of the S5G Prototype, the fifth-generation submarine designed by General Electric, to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
An estimated 150 participants attended the S5G prototype turnover ceremony, including members of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, as well as Congressional staff members. The event theme was the ‘End of an Era’, signifying the S5G as the final prototype at the Naval Reactors Facility to be turned over to the Department of Energy Office’s Idaho Cleanup Project. The S5G was the prototype for USS Narwhal (SSN 671), which was in service from 1969 to 1999.
Until 1995, the Naval Reactors Facility was responsible for nuclear propulsion design, testing, and Sailor training, including on the S5G prototype. The S5G prototype operated from 1965 to 1995 and approximately 12,000 Navy and civilian students trained there during its 30 years of operation. Along with two other prototypes at NRF, nearly 40,000 Sailors, officers, and civilians completed training between 1953 and 1995. These three prototype facilities have been shut down and defueled and are no longer used for training and testing. The removal of the prototypes allows the site to redirect resources towards future-focused investments that will modernize the site and drive innovation.
“S5G was a testbed for multiple technologies that are still used today, ensuring our submarine fleet can operate anywhere, anytime, virtually undetected,” said Gil Pratt, manager, Naval Reactors Idaho Branch Office. “Naval Reactors is preserving the legacy of S5G through oral histories, written records, and artifacts from the prototype.”
In 2019, Naval Reactors entered into an agreement with the Office of Environmental Management to carry out the demolition of the three prototypes at NRF, including the S5G facility. Naval Reactors turned over the S1W prototype in 2022 and the A1W prototype in 2023 to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and disposal is ongoing. The D&D work is conducted under the authority of CERCLA Non Time Critical Removal Actions. As such, an Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis was completed to analyze and determine the preferred end-states for the prototype. That document is available for public review and comment through Nov. 14 here: https://www.energy.gov/em/events/30-day-public-comment-period-naval-reactors-facility-submarine-5th-generation-general.
The Naval Reactors Facility now supports the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program by carrying out assigned testing, examination, and naval spent nuclear fuel management activities. The Naval Reactors Facility is under the cognizance of Naval Reactors, a joint U.S. Navy and U.S. Department of Energy organization. Naval Reactors is responsible for all aspects of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion, including research, design, construction, testing, operation, maintenance, and ultimate disposition of naval nuclear propulsion plants.
As part of disposing of these facilities, Naval Reactors worked closely with the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office and Idaho Public Television to document and preserve this important part of our history in the form of a documentary titled Idaho Experience: Idaho’s Nuclear Navy. In addition, Naval Reactors installed informational displays on the history of the prototypes, preserved artifacts from the prototypes for museum display, collected oral histories from veterans and civilians who trained on the prototypes, and is developing historic documentation for archiving in the Library of Congress.
For over 75 years, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has maintained an outstanding record of more than 176 million miles safely steamed on nuclear power. The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program currently operates 97 reactors and has accumulated over 7,600 reactor-years of operations. Because of the program’s demonstrated reliability; U.S. nuclear-powered warships are welcomed in more than 150 ports of call in over 50 foreign countries and dependencies.
| Date Taken: | 10.30.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.31.2024 09:01 |
| Story ID: | 484295 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 3,742 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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