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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.
Te-Chuan Wang, Shih-Jen Wang, Jyh-Tong Teng
Nuclear Technology | Volume 150 | Number 2 | May 2005 | Pages 145-152
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3612
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper demonstrates a large-break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) sequence of the Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) and station blackout sequence of the Maanshan NPP with the SCDAP/RELAP5 (SR5), Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP), and MELCOR codes. The large-break sequence initiated with double-ended rupture of a recirculation loop. The main steam isolation valves (MSIVs) closed, the feedwater pump tripped, the reactor scrammed, and the assumed high-pressure and low-pressure spray systems of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) were not functional. Therefore, all coolant systems to quench the core were lost. MAAP predicts a longer vessel failure time, and MELCOR predicts a shorter vessel failure time for the large-break LOCA sequence. The station blackout sequence initiated with a loss of all alternating-current (ac) power. The MSIVs closed, the feedwater pump tripped, and the reactor scrammed. The motor-driven auxiliary feedwater system and the high-pressure and low-pressure injection systems of the ECCS were lost because of the loss of all ac power. It was also assumed that the turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump was not functional. Therefore, the coolant system to quench the core was also lost. MAAP predicts a longer time of steam generator dryout, time interval between top of active fuel and bottom of active fuel, and vessel failure time than those of the SR5 and MELCOR predictions for the station blackout sequence. The three codes give similar results for important phenomena during the accidents, including SG dryout, core uncovery, cladding oxidation, cladding failure, molten pool formulation, debris relocation to the lower plenum, and vessel head failure. This paper successfully demonstrates the large-break LOCA sequence of the Kuosheng NPP and the station blackout sequence of the Maanshan NPP.