What are the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear fission to power electrical generating plants and submarines?
There are three disadvantages to nuclear propulsion, and two are environmental. The first is the need to deal with the used fuel. The other is, if the boat sinks from enemy action or mishap, radiation can possibly enter the atmosphere. The third is tactical. Modern nuclear boats cool their reactors by convection–there are water inlets and outlets on the hull, and the movement of the boat causes water to flow through them. (This replaces a water pump, which is noisy.) To get the convection system to work, the boat has to be in constant motion. A diesel boat, or a nuc boat with a coolant pump–some Soviet SSNs had them–can settle to the ocean floor under a shipping lane and shoot torpedoes at passing enemy ships; a nuc boat with convection cooling can’t do that.
