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:

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 USS Nautilus (SSN-571). 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

USS Halibut (SSGN-587) and the four Skate-class submarine boats were built with S3W reactors: USS Skate (SSN-578), USS Swordfish (SSN-579), USS Sargo (SSN-583), and USS Seadragon (SSN-584). USS Swordfish and USS Seadragon had the S3W reactor installed in the S4W reactor plant, which was an alternate arrangement of the same components.