I maintain that, with the rise in ship size, and progress in reactor design, we should re-open the issue of the civilian nuclear fleet. Ships have gotten three

I maintain that, with the rise in ship size, and progress in reactor design, we should re-open the issue of the civilian nuclear fleet. Ships have gotten three times as large in just the last ten years to conserve fuel and serve the globalized economy. Fuel is still 90%+ of their cost structure. The Maersk Triple E class wouldn't even feel weather conditions that would have destroyed the NSS Savanah, and we have developed exceedingly fine bathymetric guidance systems since that era to avoid grounding. We can build proliferation-resistant (piracy-friendly), passively safe reactors without even utilizing the basic nuclear navy 100% failsafe strategy of dumping the reactor in several pieces into deep water to avoid meltdown if cooling systems become overwhelmed. We have had to use that failsafe, best as we can tell, precisely zero times over 5400 reactor-years of the US Navy.