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.
Is she worn out? Replace the reactors or whatever, return her to duty. Probably cheaper.
The difference is that Enterprise has eight reactors. The rest have two. I’m not a nuke, so I don’t know all the particulars.
Keep driving them back and forth by the Spratleys and let the Chinese handle them.