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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.
Jae Ho Yang, Ki Won Kang, Kun Woo Song, Chan Bock Lee, Youn Ho Jung
Nuclear Technology | Volume 147 | Number 1 | July 2004 | Pages 113-119
Technical Paper | Thoria-Urania NERI | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3518
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Techniques to fabricate thorium-uranium dioxide fuel [(Th,U)O2] have been developed, and the thermal conductivity of (Th,U)O2 pellets has been measured. Mixtures of thorium dioxide (ThO2) and uranium dioxide (UO2) powders were successfully wet-milled, compacted, and sintered at 1700°C to fabricate (Th,U)O2 pellets. The wet-milling process results in a fuel density of 96 to 98% of theoretical density and a uniform distribution of the uranium and thorium in the (Th,U)O2 pellet. The laser flash method was used to measure the thermal diffusivity of the ThO2 and (Th,U)O2 pellets, and the thermal conductivities of (Th0.655U0.345)O2 and (Th0.355U0.645)O2 fuel were found to be lower than that of ThO2 or UO2 fuel. The degradation of the thermal conductivity by the UO2 substitution is great at low temperatures but decreases as the temperature increases.