Navy: ~$14.9B to operate the Naval Nuclear Laboratory — a contract with Fluor Marine Propulsion (USAspending)

1A contract with the Naval Nuclear Laboratory

Nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers use power generated by reactors to operate for long durations and distances. The Naval Nuclear Laboratory is the specialized institution that researches and supports that propulsion-reactor technology.

2What nuclear propulsion makes possible

A nuclear-powered ship does not need refueling for long stretches, which puts its range and endurance in a different category from conventionally powered ships. A submarine can surface and call at port less often; a carrier can devote more of its capacity to fuel and ordnance for its aircraft.

The Naval Nuclear Laboratory is the institution that researches and sustains the naval reactors at the center of that propulsion, and this award reads as covering its operation.

3The GOCO operating model

4Owned by government, operated by a contractor

Government research facilities such as the Naval Nuclear Laboratory are often run under the government-owned, contractor-operated arrangement. That this contract appears in spending data at all follows from that arrangement.

A nuclear-powered ship needs no refuelling for long periods, giving it a range and endurance quite unlike a conventionally powered one. A submarine surfaces and calls at port less often; a carrier can turn its capacity toward fuel and ordnance for its aircraft. Large sums going into the research operation that underpins the technology, not only into procuring the equipment, is what this record shows.