Ship-Submarine Recycling Program
The Ship-Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process that the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels.
SRP takes place only at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington, but the preparations can begin elsewhere.
Some submarines built prior to the 1978 banning of polychlorinated biphenyl products (PCBs) had the chemicals on board, which are considered hazardous materials by the Environmental Protection Agency and United States Coast Guard, requiring their removal.
[citation needed] Once the de-fueled reactor compartment is removed, it is sealed at both ends and shipped by barge and multiple-wheel high-capacity trailers to the Department of Energy's Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, where they are currently, as of 2016[update], kept in open dry storage[3] and slated to be eventually buried.
The removed reactor was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean, 200 km (108 nmi) east of Delaware, at a depth of 2,700 m (8,858 ft).
The US Navy began a study on scrapping nuclear submarines; two years later shallow land burial of reactor compartments was selected as the most suitable option.
[12][13] Unlike the disposal of other nuclear powered surface ships, all of which have been recycled at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, the Navy is looking at other, commercial or private sector options for Enterprise in an effort to reduce both the cost of the work and the time taken to dismantle such a large vessel, as well as negating the difficulty of towing the hulk all the way from Newport News, where it is stored, to Puget Sound.
[16] However, in November 2023, a further announcement was made that, owing to delays in both the construction of ships of the Gerald R. Ford class and the Refueling and Complex Overhaul work on the existing Nimitz class ships, the US Navy was looking to extend the service life of Nimitz beyond 2026, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was planned to decommission in 2027.
In September 2023, it was announced that, once any remaining radioactive and hazardous material had been removed, ex-Enterprise would be broken up at a commercial shipyard.
Some of these submarines (the George Washington class) were fleet ballistic missile boats for the vast majority of their careers.
Sam Rayburn arrived for conversion on 1 February 1986, and on 29 July 1989 the first moored training ship achieved initial criticality.
The Moored Training Ship Site is located at Naval Weapons Station Charleston in Goose Creek, South Carolina.
