Both houses of the U.S. Congress recently approved a comprehensive annual funding bill for FY2022 including $20 million for development of low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel for the nuclear reactors that propel naval submarines and aircraft carriers – a proliferation-resistant alternative to the weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel currently used by the U.S. Navy. If developed successfully, the LEU fuel also would be suitable for Australia’s future submarines under the September 2021 AUKUS agreement. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law, providing a seventh consecutive year of funding for development of the less risky naval LEU fuel.
Australia aims to be the first country lacking nuclear weapons to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, setting an important precedent. If Australia chooses HEU fuel, its eight planned submarines would require import of a total of about 4 tons of weapons-grade uranium, sufficient for at least 160 nuclear weapons. Other countries, including Iran, would likely respond by demanding equivalent rights to import or produce HEU for their own prospective nuclear navies, creating grave proliferation concerns.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Australia’s choice of fuel for its nuclear submarines may help determine whether nuclear weapons spread rapidly or not in decades ahead,” said Alan Kuperman, coordinator for the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP), who is visiting Australia for a week of lectures and meetings on reducing the proliferation risks of AUKUS.
The U.S. R&D program aims to develop LEU fuel providing identical power and lifetime as existing HEU fuel in naval reactors, thereby reducing proliferation risks while avoiding refuelling. France and China already fuel their naval reactors with LEU but choose to refuel rapidly during routine maintenance of their vessels.
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“Australia aims to be the first country lacking nuclear weapons to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, setting an important precedent.”
Try researching Brazil’s nuclear submarine project before making rookie errors like this.
Hi. Happy to do my research. Tell me the details of Brazil’s nuclear submarine project. When will they receive their first nuclear powered submarine?
bonne chance, it takes 20 years of R&D with big budget to build a LEU reactor, the US will not change HEU as they use big subs, and so a lifetime LEU will gets the challenge even further Bonne Chance
Brazil’s Nuclear-Powered Submarine Project SN-BR Making Progress
In a ceremony held on November 25, the Brazilian Navy signed an agreement to start building the hull of its first nuclear-powered submarine (SSN), the “Álvaro Alberto”, as part of the SN-BR project.
Xavier Vavasseur 06 Dec 2021
According to an official press release, the “First Partial Construction License (LPC1)” was signed by the Brazilian Navy’s Directorate-General of Nuclear and Technological Development, the Naval Authority for Nuclear Safety and Quality and Fleet Admiral Marcos Sampaio Olsen.
The event saw the participation of authorities and representatives from nuclear sector institutions, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials, and the National Nuclear Energy Commission.
The General Coordination Office for the Nuclear Propulsion Submarine Development Program (COGESN), as the applicant, submitted to ANSNQ, through the Naval Agency for Nuclear Safety and Quality (AgNSNQ), a set of documents related to the SN-BR, in compliance with the safety requirements necessary for naval nuclear licensing. AgNSNQ, which provides technical support to the Authority’s decision-making, through its Technical Advisory Committee, evaluated COGESN’s request and manifested favorably to ANSNQ’s LPC1 Concession. The issuance of this 1st license meets one of the prerequisites for the applicant to contract the construction site and begin construction of the submarine pressure hull.
The LPC1 is the result of a strategy that aims to proceed with the licensing in well-defined stages, in order to allow an adequate level of detail in future analyses. The strategy reflects the Navy’s commitment to achieve the highest level of safety required for a project of this magnitude, which is unprecedented, complex, and challenging.
Brazilian Navy statement
Thanks. Or to put it another way – Brazil is still years away from having an actual nuclear submarine.
bonne chance, it takes 20 years of R&D with big budget to build a LEU reactor, the US will not change HEU as they use big subs, and so a lifetime LEU will gets the challenge even further Bonne Chance
They’re a long way ahead of Aus and will almost certainly have their first sub years before Australia, we don’t even have a firm decision on which design we will go with.
The conceptual implementation of the above for LEU fuel is described in detail within Section V for the initial fuel system development and Section VI for the long-term fuel system deployment. The fuel system development phase would extend through at least 15 years. Annual budget requirements for 15 years of the fuel system development phase are provided in Section V and total $1 billion in FY 2016 dollars. These costs include work to define and execute the needed facility upgrades which are expected to be the critical path and likely to control the overall schedule. Initial fuel system deployment is described based on initial deployment in a future FORD Class aircraft carrier. This deployment phase will likely require at least 10 more years and cost several billion dollars.
That is the case for new designs, but France has been using LEU naval reactors since the early 1960s. The current K-15 nuclear reactors for the Barracuda produce 150 Megawatts of power with fuel that is <10% U235. It's a smaller version of the reactors powering the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier. The only way for Australia to make rapid progress on a nuclear powered submarine is to make France a part of AUKUS - though after the way they have been treated they might not be interested in helping.
The conceptual implementation of the above for LEU fuel is described in detail within Section V for the initial fuel system development and Section VI for the long-term fuel system deployment. The fuel system development phase would extend through at least 15 years. Annual budget requirements for 15 years of the fuel system development phase are provided in Section V and total $1 billion in FY 2016 dollars. These costs include work to define and execute the needed facility upgrades which are expected to be the critical path and likely to control the overall schedule. Initial fuel system deployment is described based on initial deployment in a future FORD Class aircraft carrier. This deployment phase will likely require at least 10 more years and cost several billion dollars.