Nuclear History

NUCLEAR HISTORY

A finned metal cylinder generator standing alone on bright pale-grey lunar soil, with a small crescent Earth in the sky

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

RTGs: Nuclear Batteries for Deep Space

From a 2.7-watt generator on Transit 4A in 1961 to the Voyagers, which still run in 2026 while losing about 4 watts a year, RTGs turned plutonium-238 decay heat into power for deep-space exploration.

A polished stainless-steel rocket engine nozzle with copper cooling tubes standing upright on pale desert ground at sunrise, with a small brown kiwi bird at its foot looking up at it and violet mountains in the distance

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Project Rover and NERVA nuclear rockets

From the first Kiwi reactor test in 1959 to cancellation in January 1973, Rover and NERVA proved that a reactor heating hydrogen could drive a rocket, but no nuclear rocket ever left the ground.

A tall white ribbed cone-shaped radiator topped by a polished stainless-steel reactor vessel and pipework, standing in a bright white clean room with a window showing the curve of the Earth

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

SNAP-10A, the first reactor in space (1965)

Launched on 3 April 1965, SNAP-10A produced roughly 500 to 650 watts for 43 days before a satellite voltage regulator failed; it remains the only reactor the United States has flown.

Aerial view of a single lane of open turquoise water cut through bright white Arctic pack ice, stretching toward a sunny horizon

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Russia's Nuclear Icebreaker Fleet

Arktika reached the North Pole on 17 August 1977; today four Project 22220 icebreakers with RITM-200 reactors are in service, three more are being built, and Russia operated eight nuclear icebreakers at the end of 2024.

Four submarine periscope heads of different designs rising from a calm turquoise sea under a soft morning sky

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

British, French, Chinese and Indian Nuclear Submarines

HMS Dreadnought (launched 1960, US S5W reactor), Le Redoutable (1967), China's Changzheng 1 (1970) and India's INS Arihant (2009) made four more nations nuclear-submarine operators after the US and USSR.

A seawater sampling bottle hanging from a steel davit over a calm Arctic sea, with a single red carnation on the railing

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

The Kursk Disaster (2000)

On 12 August 2000 a torpedo explosion sank the Russian submarine Kursk with all 118 aboard; its two reactors shut down, Norwegian monitoring found no radioactive leakage, and the hull was raised in 2001 and defuelled by 2003.

Brass navigation dividers on a pale blue sea chart, one point resting where three glowing arcs cross beside a single white carnation

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

The Loss of USS Scorpion (1968)

USS Scorpion was lost southwest of the Azores on 22 May 1968 with all 99 men; the Court of Inquiry could not determine the cause, competing explanations remain, and Navy surveys found no release from the reactor fuel.

A polished copper pipe joined by a bright silver-brazed sleeve on a white bench, with a small ultrasonic testing probe sending soft blue wave rings into the seam and a steel calliper lying beside it

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

USS Thresher and SUBSAFE

On 10 April 1963 USS Thresher was lost with 129 aboard during a deep test dive; within two months the Navy created SUBSAFE, which certifies submarines only on documented evidence.

A ship's provision storeroom seen through an open oval steel watertight door, its shelves packed to the ceiling with plain tins, wooden crates, flour sacks and oranges, with a brass porthole showing a calm blue sea

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Operation Sea Orbit, 1964

From 31 July to 3 October 1964 the nuclear-powered Enterprise, Long Beach and Bainbridge circled the globe as Task Force One without refuelling or replenishment.

A clear glass cutaway model of an aircraft carrier on a white pedestal, with eight glowing reactor cylinders in four pairs and four bronze propellers

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

USS Enterprise: The First Nuclear Carrier (1961)

Commissioned on 25 November 1961, USS Enterprise carried eight A2W reactors, served through the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam over 51 years, and was followed 14 years later by the two-reactor Nimitz class.