Ship-Submarine Recycling Program
The Ship-Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process that the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels. SRP takes place only at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington, but the preparations can begin elsewhere.
In this image, the superstructure of Virginia has been replaced with containment structures to remove nuclear fuel before entering SRP.
Enterprise under tow to Newport News Shipbuilding to begin the defuelling process in June 2013
The hull of Long Beach moored at Puget Sound awaiting disposal in March 2011
A total of sixteen decommissioned SSNs and SSBNs moored awaiting their fate at Puget Sound in May 1993
Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to a decommissioning plan, including the whole or partial dismantling and decontamination of the facility, ideally resulting in restoration of the environment up to greenfield status. The decommissioning plan is fulfilled when the approved end state of the facility has been reached.
Graphic of a dry storage of spent nuclear fuel
The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-159 in decommissioning (before 2004)