Nuclear components from USS Enterprise headed for NW
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho - Spent nuclear fuel from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise that is being decommissioned will be sent to eastern Idaho for study and storage, a Navy spokesman says, and the reactors will be buried at Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation.
Tom Dougan of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program tells the Post Register the spent fuel from the ship's eight reactors will arrive at the Naval Reactors Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory in 2015.
"Many of the major components and other equipment are nearing the end of their useful life, and it's not cost effective to further extend the Enterprise for combat operations," Dougan said.
The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ended its remarkable career at sea Nov. 4 when it pulled into its home port at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia for the final time after participating in every major conflict since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Dougan said the spent nuclear fuel once in Idaho will be examined to help with future reactor design research before being placed in storage.
"(The) fuel is transported via rail in specially designed railcars that meet the Department of Transportation shipping requirements for spent nuclear fuel," he said. "The Navy has been managing spent fuel in Idaho since the late 1950s."
The Navy will officially deactivate the Enterprise on Dec. 1, but it will take several more years for it to be decommissioned as its reactors are taken out.
After spent fuel is removed at Norfolk, the Navy plans to tow the Enterprise to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton in Washington state. The nuclear reactors will be cut out of the ship and barged to the Hanford nuclear reservation.
The reactors will be buried in a trench the Navy has been using since 1986 to bury radioactive reactors from other nuclear-powered vessels, mostly submarines.
Reactor disposal will take six to eight years.
Tom Dougan of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program tells the Post Register the spent fuel from the ship's eight reactors will arrive at the Naval Reactors Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory in 2015.
"Many of the major components and other equipment are nearing the end of their useful life, and it's not cost effective to further extend the Enterprise for combat operations," Dougan said.
The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ended its remarkable career at sea Nov. 4 when it pulled into its home port at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia for the final time after participating in every major conflict since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Dougan said the spent nuclear fuel once in Idaho will be examined to help with future reactor design research before being placed in storage.
"(The) fuel is transported via rail in specially designed railcars that meet the Department of Transportation shipping requirements for spent nuclear fuel," he said. "The Navy has been managing spent fuel in Idaho since the late 1950s."
The Navy will officially deactivate the Enterprise on Dec. 1, but it will take several more years for it to be decommissioned as its reactors are taken out.
After spent fuel is removed at Norfolk, the Navy plans to tow the Enterprise to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton in Washington state. The nuclear reactors will be cut out of the ship and barged to the Hanford nuclear reservation.
The reactors will be buried in a trench the Navy has been using since 1986 to bury radioactive reactors from other nuclear-powered vessels, mostly submarines.
Reactor disposal will take six to eight years.
Its being de-fueled here... mabey we will have bigger fish in the water in a few years???
 @James Hooks Negatory, it's being defueled and having the island laid down in va.
Boy It'll be a sad day when I have to start cutting up the Big E. I'm still not sure why it is being defueled in Va then towed here. Home port nostalgia maybe?
Today is Veteran's Day in the USA and these ships are as much a veteran as the personnel that crewed them. Although this Enterprise is no longer in service, work with the Navy to get CVN-80 to be named Enterprise instead of some politician.
Thank you Big E for your tireless service and truly being one of a kind in the fleet.
Thank You for your service Big E & all you sailors & families of the sailors that served abord her all these years !!