S3W reactor
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The S3W reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S3W designation stands for:
- S Template:En dash Submarine platform
- 3 Template:En dash Third generation core designed by the contractor
- W Template:En dash Westinghouse was the contracted designer
Design
This nuclear reactor was a variant of the Submarine Fleet Reactor (SFR), an advance on the pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant design employed on Template:USS.[1] The S3W plant utilized horizontal U-tube steam generators. This concept developed into vertical U-tube steam generators in the S5W reactor plant, and is in common use today on commercial PWR power plants.
History
Template:USS and the four Template:Sclass boats were built with S3W reactors: Template:USS, Template:USS, Template:USS, and Template:USS.[2][3] USS Swordfish and USS Seadragon had the S3W reactor installed in the S4W reactor plant, which was an alternate arrangement of the same components.