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Access anywhere, anytime: Nuclear power, Ice Camp, and Rickover’s enduring standard of excellence
Admiral William Houston
As U.S. Navy submarines surface through Arctic ice during Ice Camp 2026, they demonstrate more than operational proficiency in one of the harshest environments on Earth. They reaffirm a technological truth first proven in August 1958, when the USS Nautilus completed its submerged transit of the North Pole: nuclear power enables access anywhere, anytime.
The Arctic is unforgiving, with vast distances, extreme cold, shifting ice, and no logistical infrastructure. Conventional propulsion is constrained by fuel, air, and endurance. Nuclear propulsion removes those constraints. Only a nuclear-powered submarine can operate anywhere in the world’s oceans, including under the polar ice, undetected and at maximum capability for extended periods. Nuclear power provides sustained high speed and the endurance to reposition across the globe without refueling.
S. Sunder
Nuclear Technology | Volume 144 | Number 2 | November 2003 | Pages 259-273
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The relationship between molybdenum oxidation state and iodine volatility in nuclear fuel was investigated using high-temperature Knudsen cell-mass spectroscopy. It was observed that the ratio of the intensities of molecular iodine ions I2+ and CsI+ in the Knudsen cell-mass spectroscopic experiments can be used to investigate the iodine volatility in fuel under different conditions. The experiments show that the iodine volatility is similar in systems consisting of CsI alone, CsI/UO2, and CsI/UO2/MoOx (with molybdenum in oxidation states 0, 2, and 4). The iodine volatility is much higher, however, in CsI/UO2/MoO3 systems (with molybdenum in oxidation state = 6). The iodine volatility in the fuel increases significantly if oxidation of the molybdenum goes to the MoO3 stage. The increase in the iodine volatility is caused by the formation of elemental iodine from cesium iodide. It is concluded from these measurements that the oxidation of the fuel to the UO2.2 will substantially increase the volatilization of fission product iodine. An analysis of the literature data suggests that the enhanced iodine volatilization process may be initiated when the fuel is oxidized to UO2.02.
