RichP said:it used to be they needed to recored about every 7 or so, now the new aircraft carrier plants are good for 20+, the navy has not sat still designing this stuff like the rest of the industry. Hell, every plant the civilian industry has built has been a custom one off job, no two plants alike if they are more than 4 years apart, no wonder they cost so damn much to build.
Civillian nukes can only use up to 20% enriched fuel. Anything over 20% is weapons grade and is controled by the DOD. Navy plants use very high % enriched fuel. ( I could say but....) That is why they can go 20+.
Nobody wants to hear this, but the French have a very good program. To have a very sucsessful one here, we would have to do similar.
Millitarize nuclear power to use weapons grade fuel. Like you said, standardize plant construction so they, and all their procedures, are the same. Remove ourselves from the non-proliferation treaty and start reprocessing our spent fuel. Then we would have a great program that could probably produce half of our requirements. Too bad that will never happen.