Similar S1W reactor, Naval Station Norfolk, USS Nautilus (SSN‑571), USS Midway, Puget Sound Naval Shi | ||
The A4W reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to propel warships and generate onboard electricity.
The A4W designation stands for:
History
These nuclear fission pressurized water reactors (PWRs) were jointly designed by Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and built by Westinghouse Electric Company. Their reactor cores are expected to operate for about 20 years. The Nimitz class supercarriers are the sole vessels equipped with these nuclear reactors, each carrier having two reactors with a thermal output of 550 MWt. These reactors collectively generate sufficient steam to produce an electrical output of 100 MW and provide 140,000 shaft horsepower per shaft, equivalent to 104 MW.
References
A4W reactor Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA