Atomic Idyl in the Undersea: Endless Journeys of Lethal Nuclear Submarines

There is a divided opinion on nuclear energy: while greens and climate activists would like to declare it dirty, others, a bit wiser, consider it absolutely necessary. The advantage in energy production has been given to ecological sources like the sun and wind, but global events in the last two years show that many countries have easily given up on what is realistically the cleanest green energy. Now it is making a comeback, and in a big way. From the seventies to today, its use has decreased, and the Fukushima disaster in 2011 ‘nailed’ it. That incident brought the remaining support for nuclear energy down to the lowest levels in history.

Nothing Without the ‘Nautilus’

While battles over nuclear energy on land rage, it remains highly desirable under the sea – in the form of nuclear-powered submarines. The first such submarine,’USS Nautilus’ (SSN-571), entered service in the United States Navy in 1954. It was built by Electric Boat Company and powered by a pressurized water reactor designed at the Argonne National Laboratory. ‘Nautilus’ was a major milestone in the development of nuclear energy and submarine technology. It was the first submarine to sail beneath the North Pole, thus demonstrating the potential of nuclear-powered submarines for operations in the Arctic and other inhospitable environments. The then-new submarine also set several speed and distance records, including the first underwater voyage around the world in 1960. The success of ‘Nautilus’ paved the way for the development of a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines, which have since become a key element of naval forces in many countries. Today, they are used by the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and India, and soon Australia will join this group.

Surprising Decision

Australia is the latest country to decide to defend its waters with nuclear submarines, having recently terminated a multi-billion dollar contract with the French shipbuilding company Naval Group and signed a new one with the US and the UK for the procurement of nuclear-powered submarines. This is a surprising decision as Australia will become only the second country (after the United Kingdom) to receive this technology from the US. It is unclear which submarine the Australian government will procure, but the latest project of the US Navy is the ‘Virginia’ class, so it is assumed that it will be such submarines. This submarine is produced by the American aerospace and defense company General Dynamics. It is powered by a nuclear reactor and can move at speeds greater than 25 knots. The crew consists of fifteen officers and 117 sailors. ‘Virginia’ is used in anti-submarine warfare, but also in intelligence-gathering operations (or perhaps in operations like, I don’t know, when it needs to ‘blow up’ Nord Stream).

How They Work

Nuclear submarines are powered by nuclear reactors. They generate energy by splitting atoms to create heat, which is then used to produce steam for turbines that generate energy for propulsion. To create steam, the submarine draws in seawater and purifies it through desalination. Part of that clean water is also used for drinking and generating oxygen through electrolysis in submarines.

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When we mention Australia, that country initially intended to build diesel-powered submarines in partnership with the French Naval Group. Such submarines are usually smaller and quieter, easily slipping away and hiding in shallow waters along coasts or in river estuaries, where they are quite difficult to detect. Although diesel submarines have advantages, their main disadvantage is endurance; they must surface every so often to take in oxygen, expel exhaust gases, and recharge batteries. The result of all these ‘obligations’ is that they cannot operate for long in open seas and must be particularly careful about where and when they can refuel. Nuclear submarines, on the other hand, are built primarily for endurance, so some, with plenty of power, can sail almost indefinitely or until something breaks (or until the submarine crew runs out of canned meat). In fact, their only real limitation is the crew’s need, which may soon become redundant due to AI.

What’s Wrong

Since nuclear submarines are usually larger, their disadvantage is that they cannot operate in shallow waters and seas, making them easier to detect. During a ‘war game’ in 2015, an Indian diesel-powered ‘Kilo’ class submarine ‘sank’ an American nuclear submarine, but the US Navy never acknowledged the sinking. This occurred during the ‘Malabar’ exercise held annually by India, Japan, and the United States. According to the Indians, while tracking the submarines in the Bay of Bengal, they detected underwater noise created by the American submarine and targeted it, but since it was an exercise, no missile was fired. Nevertheless, the US denied its ‘loss’ even though it was clear that the noise revealed the submarine’s position. The truth is that it was a ‘Los Angeles’ class submarine, which is reportedly much noisier than the current ‘Virginia’ model, but it has been shown that diesel-powered submarines can still be dangerous, even deadly, to those large nuclear-powered ones. Besides size and noise, the problem with nuclear submarines is also the expensive and complicated maintenance and servicing, which will make it even more difficult for poor Australians to maintain their new submarines. Unlike the US and the UK, Australia does not have a domestic nuclear energy industry that could provide a highly qualified workforce of engineers and nuclear physicists, so much of the work on the submarines will likely have to be done abroad.

First Time in Six Decades

The submarine contract between the US and Australia is the first example of sharing technology for nuclear submarines derived from the US in over sixty years. Before this, such a thing only happened when Washington helped London design its submarine fleet. According to the plan announced by the governments of the countries after signing the agreement, the United Kingdom and Australia will eventually produce the ‘SSN AUKUS’ class of nuclear-powered submarines and will manage them; they will be jointly built in both countries and will include the latest American technologies. Australia’s procurement of nuclear submarines will place that country among only seven that have such vessels – joining the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and India.

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The submarine contract is part of the ‘AUKUS’ security agreement signed by Washington, Canberra, and London, which was first announced in September 2021. The leaders of the trilateral pact insisted that the agreement is not aggressive in nature, but everyone knows that the biggest concern of the trio is China. The agreement has also worried some of Australia’s regional allies, who wonder if it will spark a nuclear arms race in Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific. The nuclear trio promises that the agreement is of a defensive nature, but for Beijing, there is no doubt: it is a dangerous provocation designed to contain that very country.

Poor Crew

Whether it is nuclear or diesel submarines, serving in them has never been pleasant, say survivors. For example, many German crews in World War II suffered devastating losses, and many died not due to combat but due to catastrophic mechanical failures, including suffocation from diesel exhaust, and several explosive decompressions were recorded after flushing the toilet. When it comes to nuclear submarines, radiation adds a new dimension of danger, although there have been no known reactor meltdowns in sinkings to date. A more recent nuclear submarine disaster involved the Russian ‘Kursk,’ which sank after a faulty valve on a torpedo caused an explosion that then detonated other torpedoes. All 118 crew members died. Many sailors perished in the initial explosions, but the safeguards in the nuclear reactor did their job, which is why there was no nuclear incident.

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