NEI Nuclear Notes

From Defense News : The prospect of the U.S. Navy once again using nuclear energy to propel its larger surface warships edged a bit closer to reality May 3 with a push from a powerful congressional subcommittee. “We are requiring that new classes of major surface combatants are designed and constructed with integrated nuclear power systems,” Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., chairman of the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, said during the panel’s markup of the 2008 defense authorization bill. Taylor’s predecessor as chairman, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., echoed the call. “Nuclear propulsion is simply the right thing to do,” said Bartlett, now the panel’s ranking minority member. Both lawmakers have strongly supported nuclear power as a means to reduce the military’s dependence on oil for fuel. At their request, the Navy produced a study on the viability of re-introducing nuclear power into surface ships — a capability the service stopped buying in the mid-1970s. Most observers expe...