A group of four Democratic U.S. lawmakers want the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Navy for a report about using low-enriched uranium to fuel U.S. submarines.
The three U.S. Representatives and one U.S. Senator made the request in a Jan. 27 letter to Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Carlos Del Toro, the Secretary of the Navy.
“Please assess the feasibility and performance impact of a Virginia-Class replacement SSN(X) nuclear-powered attack submarine that retains the hull diameter and power plant design but leaves sufficient space for a low-enriched uranium-fueled reactor with a life of the ship core, possibly with an increased module length,” the lawmakers asked in the letter, written on Congressional stationary.
Reps. Donald Beyer (D-Va), Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wa.) all signed the letter, as did Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
“This initiative is even more pressing with the September 2021 AUKUS agreement under which the U.S. and
UK will provide nuclear submarine technology to Australia,” the lawmakers wrote.
Beyer’s district includes several Virginia suburbs adjacent to Washington, including parts of Arlington that surround the Pentagon. Foster is a PhD physicist who worked at the Department of Energy’s Fermilab before seeking office. Larsen’s district is just north across Puget Sound from Naval Base Kitsap, a nuclear Navy base.
Merkley, considered one of the most progressive Democrats in the Senate, was among the loudest voices of opposition when the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019 under the Donald Trump administration. Merkley’s first Senate campaign touted his experience, before entering politics, as an aide in the Congressional Budget Office, where he studied nuclear-weapons policy and programs.
