Posted on 08/16/2018 10:52:50 AM PDT by Rebelbase
Nobody has ever disposed of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier before. Turns out it's not easy.
Six years after decommissioning USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy is still figuring out how to safely dismantle the ship. The General Accounting Office estimates the cost of taking apart the vessel and sending the reactors to a nuclear waste storage facility at up to $1.5 billion, or about one-eighth the cost of a brand-new aircraft carrier.
[snip] Now, according to a new General Accounting Office report (PDF), the Navy has two options. The first is to have the Navy manage the job but let the commercial industry do the non-nuclear work. The Navy would allow industry to scrap the non-nuclear parts of the ship but preserve a 27,000-ton propulsion space containing the reactors. The propulsion space would then be transported to Puget Sound Naval Base, where the reactors would be removed and sent to Hanford. This is the most expensive option, costing a minimum of $1.05 billion up to $1.55 billion and taking 10 years to complete, starting in 2034.
The second option: let commercial industry do everything, with a reactor storage location to be determined. This would cost $750 million to $1.4 billion and would take 5 years to complete, starting in 2024. In either event, most of the ship gets turned into razor blades and flatware. (By comparison, a squadron of 10 F-35C Joint Strike Fighters costs $1.22 billion, and a brand new Burke-class guided missile destroyer costs $1.7 billion.)
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Whatever the Navy ends up doing, this will only be the first of many nuclear-powered carrier disposals. USS Nimitz is set to retire within the next ten years, and there are ten ships in the class. These will age out every four or five years for the next forty years, and each has two reactors. The Navy must get Enterprise’s teardown right, because the orders are going to start stacking up.
[Imagine putting seats on the catapults and shooting teenagers into the sea!]
A mechanism like that would be useful at the border as a means to deport illegals...
At least it would be a little more humane than my idea of using a wood chipper.
Start by doubling the estimates to get closer to what the real cost will be.
Throw out OSHA and the EPA.
Then let Private Industry have at it, it will be safely done by the end of 2019.
Or, keep OSHA involved, and watch the dangerous working conditions injure a bunch of people.
Yes, as was noted during SINKEX where they tried sinking the USS America. She took a lot more abuse than they ever thought and had to be manually scuttled. And she was only a Kitty Hawk...
Anchor her 2 miles off the coast of North Korea. They can either shell it and sink it, or capture it and turn it into a museum of their victory over the Yankee Pigs.
After 5 seconds, no command in the universe will stop it so be sure.
“Let the Indian ship breakers have her. They will beach her and attack with a horde of workers armed with hammers and cutting torches.”
Like ants on an animal carcass.
.
>> “Turn it into a bed and breakfast and anchor it at Cape Cod.” <<
Or the Berkeley pier.
No, don’t do it! It will cause a crack in the deep ocean floor which will allow a Megaladon to escape from a sub-ocean and terrorize the oceans, eating blue whales, and people indiscriminately.
:-)
Peach
EPA. Send it to Mexico and those guys will have it stripped and torn down in a matter of weeks!
Is she worn out? Replace the reactors or whatever, return her to duty. Probably cheaper.
I would think a private company could remove the core for 25% of the government cost. Then tow it out to see and use to for torpedo practice.
I guess too big to turn it into a inn like Dick Loudon’s in Vermont.
“Large-ticket items such as aircraft carriers are (very roughly) thirty-year investments,”
In this case, 56 years.
What the hell is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah
Here is what we did with the Savannah. Reactor still in place?
Use the hull as the foundation for the first space carrier.
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