Training, disposal, and battle-damage costs

The cost of nuclear propulsion extends well beyond purchasing a reactor. A navy must create a distinct training system, retain its specialist workforce, and manage the ship throughout a demanding service life. Decommissioning also requires a credible and expensive route for disposing of the nuclear plant and hull. Protective design can reduce the chance that battle damage produces a reactor accident, but safety assumptions are still models of how damage should unfold. Warfare is precisely the setting in which an opponent tries to defeat those assumptions, leaving a consequential residual risk inside the task force.