Anniversary of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program

On Aug. 4, 1948, the Navy created its Nuclear Power Branch. Over the last 75 years, the Naval Nuclear Power Program has operated 273 reactor plants, taken 562 reactor cores critical, including 33 different designs, and steamed more than 171 million miles with more than 7,500 reactor years of safe operations. An integral part of this legacy is the nuclear operator training that takes place at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC) and Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU), Charleston. The S5W training program has safely operated the Moored Training Ship 626 and Moored Training Ship 635 for over 30 years and trained more than 37,000 Navy officer and enlisted operators. The transition to the S6G training program is a major program milestone. The S6G Moored Training Ship 701 and Moored Training Ship 711 will continue to train nuclear operators for the next 20 years.