Congress refines requirement for nuclear powered vessels as part of NDAA

Excerpt from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2008.

SEC. 1012. POLICY RELATING TO MAJOR COMBATANT VESSELS OF THE STRIKE FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.
(a) INTEGRATEDNUCLEAR POWER SYSTEMS.—It is the policy of the United States to construct the major combatant vessels
H.R.4986—302 of the strike forces of the United States Navy, including all new classes of such vessels, with integrated nuclear power systems.
(b) REQUIREMENT TO REQUEST NUCLEAR VESSELS.—If a request is submitted to Congress in the budget for a fiscal year for construction of a new class of major combatant vessel for the strike forces of the United States, the request shall be for such a vessel with an integrated nuclear power system, unless the Secretary of Defense submits with the request a notification to Congress that the inclusion of an integrated nuclear power system in such vessel is not in the national interest.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) MAJOR COMBATANT VESSELS OF THE STRIKE FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.—The term ‘‘major combatant vessels
of the strike forces of the United States Navy’’ means the following:
(A) Submarines.
(B) Aircraft carriers.
(C) Cruisers, battleships, or other large surface combatants whose primary mission includes protection of carrier strike groups, expeditionary strike groups, and vessels comprising a sea base.
(2) INTEGRATED NUCLEAR POWER SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘integrated nuclear power system’’ means a ship engineering system that uses a naval nuclear reactor as its energy source and generates sufficient electric energy to provide power to the ship’s electrical loads, including its combat systems and propulsion motors.
(3) BUDGET.—The term ‘‘budget’’ means the budget that is submitted to Congress by the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code.

Just thought you might like to know.