Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Idaho Shifts Focus to Other Reactor Vessels After Historic Navy Prototype D&D
The Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) has closed the first chapter of cleanup of three legacy nuclear propulsion prototypes at the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF) by completing deactivation and demolition (D&D) of the defueled Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) — the historic Navy prototype that helped develop the first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus.
The site of the S1W now sits bare for the first time in nearly 75 years. Crews have worked diligently since May to size-reduce, recycle and remove debris from the S1W prototype’s footprint after ICP used explosive charges to bring down the prototype’s high bay building.
A major part of this effort involved cutting the remaining hull pieces and transporting them to the Idaho National Laboratory Site CERCLA disposal facility. Each piece weighed several hundred thousand pounds and took several weeks to cut using specialized saws and cutters. CERCLA stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, a law enacted by Congress in 1980. As a result of the CERCLA regulatory process, the disposal facility has stringent waste acceptance criteria.
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