Australia will buy three U.S.-built Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines beginning in the 2030s as part of the tripartite AUKUS deal, the parties said Monday.
AUKUS aims both to create an Australian nuclear submarine force and industrial base and recapitalize the U.S. submarine building industry.
President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak jointly announced the plan’s details in San Diego, 18 months after the parties announced the deal.
“Nuclear propulsion is a highly-complicated technology that requires years of training to master, so we’re starting right away,” Biden said during an announcement ceremony. “Australian personnel will embed with U.S. and U.K. crews on boats and bases, in our schools and our shipyards.”
AUKUS will involve significant investments from all three countries to boost a cooperative naval presence in the Asia-Pacific Region while building up an Australian submarine industrial base, according to senior Biden administration officials who spoke to the press Sunday in a background briefing. The official said Australia’s financial contribution would be “substantial.”
According to a White House fact sheet, “Australia has committed to managing all radioactive waste generated through its nuclear-powered submarine program, including spent nuclear fuel, in Australia.”
Phase one of the AUKUS deal will see an increase of U.S. and U.K. personnel and submarines at Australian naval ports and participating in exercises. Once Australian forces are trained and ready to accept U.S. boats, they will buy three Virginia-class conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines from the United States, with the option to buy two more “if needed,” an administration official said.
Providing nuclear reactors for an additional five Virginia-class subs is big business for Lynchburg, Va.-based BWX Technologies, which has a virtual monopoly on the work in the U.S. The company’s nuclear reactors also power the U.S. Navy’s Ohio, Virginia, Seawolf and Los Angeles-class submarines as well as its Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers.
Biden said Australia will not produce nuclear fuel for its own submarines. BWXT said it is evaluating the AUKUS details to determine the impact on its operations, but is committed to supporting both the U.S. Navy and its allies with nuclear propulsion technologies.
“BWXT is strongly supportive of global security given our role as the sole manufacturer of naval nuclear reactors and fuel for U.S. Navy submarines and aircraft carriers,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Since the AUKUS announcement has just been released, we are taking the time necessary to properly review the information and its impact on our current and future plans.”
Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. announced AUKUS in September 2021, framing the technology transfer as a way to counter Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region. It also seeks to bolster the three nations’ nuclear submarine industry base, the administration official said.
“The US submarine industrial base is not where it should be,” the official said. “And the Department of Defense is putting forward significant additional resources to lift the submarine industrial base.” Overall, the plan will “require significant improvements and industrial bases in all three countries,” the official added.
