The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) naval reactors budget is entering a relative lull as development ramps down on reactor design for the Navy’s flagship Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program, according to the agency’s 2020 budget request.
For Naval Reactors, which researches, develops, and manufactures reactors and refueling infrastructure for nuclear-powered Navy warships and submarines, the semiautonomous Department of Energy weapons agency seeks around $1.65 billion: about 8% less than the 2019 appropriation of $1.8 billion.
As planned, the impending — if drawn out — end of DOE-funded development for Columbia-class reactors by contractor BWX Technologies of Lynchburg, Va., figures into the year-over-year drop. The NNSA is seeking only about half the funding for Columbia reactor development in fiscal 2020 as it received in 2019: around $75 million, compared with almost $140 million.
The expected drop is “consistent with the project’s planned funding profile,” reflecting the anticipated transition from reactor research and development to reactor manufacturing, according to the NNSA’s detailed budget request. The agency expects funding for the Columbia reactor development budget to decline each year to around $53 million in 2024: the latest budget year for which the agency made funding projections in its most recent spending plan.
The Navy plans to field 10 Columbia boats beginning in 2030, each of which will require its own reactor.
In budget hearings this week before House and Senate appropriations panels, Adm. James Caldwell, the NNSA’s deputy administrator for naval reactors, said the government is “on track to procure the reactor plant heavy components this year” for the first Columbia boat, and that the agency will “start construction of that reactor core later this year.”
BWX Technologies in February said it reached an agreement in principal on about $2 billion worth of development contracts for nuclear naval nuclear propulsion systems, some of which will be for the Navy’s Virginia-class attack submarines, but some of which will be for future Columbia-class vessels.
In a Wednesday hearing of the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, Caldwell said only that the contract should be finalized “this year.”
General Dynamics Electric Boat, the Navy’s prime contractor for the submarine itself, plans to start production of the first of 12 planned Columbia boats in 2021. The first Columbia would sail in the early 2030s, per the Navy’s current plans.
The Columbia subs will 14 replace existing Ohio-class boats, carrying Trident II D-5 missiles tipped with W76-1 warheads and, beginning some time after the current 2019 fiscal year, with a limited number of low-yield W76-2 warheads.
The NNSA finished the first W76-2 warhead in January and plans to start delivering the low-yield weapon to the Navy by Sept. 30.
Columbia reactors, unlike the reactors on the Ohio-class submarimes, would be good for the full life of the boat: 40 years or so. That will eliminate the need for the Navy to bring its assured-second-strike sub fleet in for long refueling outages.
The Navy seeks around $420 million this year for Columbia development: over 20%, or about $120 million, less than the 2019 appropriation of more than $540 million. For advanced Columbia procurements, including reactor components, the Navy seeks around $1.7 billion: a little less than half of the 2019 appropriation of $3 billion or so.
The Navy estimates it will cost around $100 billion or more to field all 10 Columbia-class submarines.
