Naval Reactor Facility (NRF)

Known as the Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) prototype, the land-based reactor was built inside a section of a submarine hull at the Naval Reactors Facility on the Arco Desert west of Idaho Falls. The Office of Naval Reactors entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to carry out the S1W facility demolition and other deactivation and decommissioning efforts.

Site workers are dismantling the S1W’s hull and engine compartments. They have also begun deactivating the reactor compartment and associated systems by removing shielding components to prepare the reactor vessel for eventual disposition at the Idaho CERCLA Disposal Facility at the INL Site. CERCLA stands for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

To date, the project has sent an estimated 250 tons of non-radiological contaminated metals for recycling. The S1W deactivation and demolition (D&D) project is scheduled for completion in November 2025.