The UK and US Are Throwing Away Their Nuclear Submarines
June 16, 2025
By: Peter Suciu
Recycling nuclear submarines is costly and slow, with the UK and US facing decades-long backlogs and billions in expenses to safely dismantle aging nuclear-powered fleets.
This month, engineers at Babcock International in the UK began recycling HMS Swiftsure, the lead vessel of a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines built for the Royal Navy. Babcock was awarded the contract last year to dismantle and recycle the boat, with the project scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.
While the reactor had previously been removed, it was only this month that the fin was cut and successfully removed from the boat’s hull at the company’s Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland. This program is notable because it marks the first time that one of the Royal Navy’s SSNs has been fully dismantled and recycled.
That may not seem all that noteworthy, except that the ex-HMS Swiftsure entered service in 1973 and was decommissioned 19 years later, in 1992, rather than undergoing a second refit.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/the-uk-and-us-are-throwing-away-their-nuclear-submarines
