Expand the Navy and develop new nuclear naval reactors
What the document says“Expand the U.S. Navy and develop new nuclear naval reactors”
The chapter says the nuclear arsenal needs to be updated and reinvigorated to deal with threats from China and Russia, that the National Nuclear Security Administration has primary responsibility for designing new warheads and maintaining the existing arsenal, and that it also develops nuclear propulsion reactors for the Navy.
What the document actually says“Expand the U.S. Navy and develop new nuclear naval reactors”
Make the Navy bigger. Build new nuclear engines for its ships.
Some Navy ships run on nuclear power. The book wants more ships. It also wants new engines designed for them.
To provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14
2025-07-04 · 139 Stat. 72
Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, appropriates thirty-six sums to the Secretary of Defense for shipbuilding for fiscal year 2025, available through September 30, 2029. Twenty-one of them buy ships and craft, including $4,600,000,000 for a second Virginia-class submarine in fiscal year 2026 and $5,400,000,000 for two more guided missile destroyers, and fifteen build up the shipbuilding industrial base and workforce. That is the fleet expansion half of the passage. The fit breaks down on the other half: the section buys ships and yard capacity and says nothing about developing new nuclear naval reactors, it names neither the National Nuclear Security Administration nor its Naval Reactors program, and the chapter's proposal sits in a chapter about the Energy Department while this section runs to the Defense Department.
The 2025 law gives the Defense Secretary money to build ships. It pays for a second submarine, two more destroyers, and work on shipyards and their staff. That is the fleet growth half of the ask. But it says nothing about building new nuclear reactors for ships.