The main considerations here are that nuclear powered submarines do not consume oxygen like conventional power plants, and that they have large endurance or mission times before fuel resupply limited only by the available food and air purification supplies on board. The nuclear powered vessels comprise about 40 percent of the USA Navy's combatant fleet, including the entire sea based strategic nuclear deterrent.All the USA Navy’s operational submarines and over half of its aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered. The largest experience in operating nuclear power plants has been in nuclear naval propulsion, particularly aircraft carriers and submarines.This accumulated experience may become the basis of a proposed new generation of compact-sized nuclear power plants designs.The mission for nuclear powered submarines is being redefined in terms of signal intelligence gathering and special operations.
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