Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory
Encyclopedia
Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory is a U.S. Government
-owned, contractor-operated research and development facility located in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
. It solely focuses on the design and development of nuclear power
for the U.S. Navy
.
The laboratory was founded in 1949 on the site of the former Bettis Field
and is named after Cyrus Bettis. It covers approximately 207 acre (0.83770002 km²) and is operated for the Department of Energy
(DOE) by Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation. Bechtel originally won the contract to run the laboratory on September 19, 2008 and assumed operation on February 1, 2009; prior to that the plant was operated by Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
The laboratory's work is part of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, which is a joint U.S Navy-DOE program responsible for the research, design, construction, operation and maintenance of U.S. nuclear-powered warships.
The laboratory developed Oak Ridge National Laboratory's
original design of the pressurized water reactor
(PWR) for operational naval use. It built the nuclear propulsion plants for the first U.S. nuclear submarine
s and surface ship
s including the USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
, the USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
, the USS Long Beach (CGN-9)
, and the USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
.
Westinghouse's Nuclear Power Division adapted the PWR design for commercial use and built the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States
, the Shippingport Power Plant
in the west hills of Pittsburgh.
The laboratory has two computers listed on the 26th TOP500
List (November 2005) of supercomputer
s in the world. Ranked 97 is a 1,090 processor Opteron
system and ranked 405 is a 536 processor Itanium 2 system.
The laboratory is also home to the U.S. Navy's Bettis Reactor Engineering School. The school provides a post-graduate certificate program in Nuclear Engineering
with a focus on nuclear reactor design, construction, and operations. It is open only to Naval personnel and Bettis engineers.
The laboratory had been chosen to develop the Prometheus nuclear power source for the JIMO (Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter) project, however, funding for this program was cancelled in the fall of 2005.
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
-owned, contractor-operated research and development facility located in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census....
. It solely focuses on the design and development of nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
for the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
.
The laboratory was founded in 1949 on the site of the former Bettis Field
Bettis Field
Bettis Field was an airstrip in southeastern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1924 that was named for U.S. Army Air Corps Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis following his fatal accident on Jack's Mountain near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in 1926.-History:...
and is named after Cyrus Bettis. It covers approximately 207 acre (0.83770002 km²) and is operated for the Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
(DOE) by Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation. Bechtel originally won the contract to run the laboratory on September 19, 2008 and assumed operation on February 1, 2009; prior to that the plant was operated by Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
The laboratory's work is part of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, which is a joint U.S Navy-DOE program responsible for the research, design, construction, operation and maintenance of U.S. nuclear-powered warships.
The laboratory developed Oak Ridge National Laboratory's
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
original design of the pressurized water reactor
Pressurized water reactor
Pressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...
(PWR) for operational naval use. It built the nuclear propulsion plants for the first U.S. nuclear submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s and surface ship
Surface ship
A surface ship is any type of naval ship that is confined to the surface of the sea. The term is primarily used to mean any modern vessel type that is not a submarine; although a "surface ship" may range in size from a cutter to an aircraft carrier, the weapons and tactics have some commonality,...
s including the USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
USS Nautilus is the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine. She was the first vessel to complete a submerged transit beneath the North Pole on August 3, 1958...
, the USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
USS George Washington , the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, was the third United States Navy ship of the name, in honor of George Washington , first President of the United States, and the first of that name to be purpose-built as a warship.-Construction and...
, the USS Long Beach (CGN-9)
USS Long Beach (CGN-9)
USS Long Beach was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was the only ship of her class....
, and the USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
USS Enterprise , formerly CVA-65, is the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth US naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed the "Big E". At , she is the longest naval vessel in the world...
.
Westinghouse's Nuclear Power Division adapted the PWR design for commercial use and built the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Shippingport Power Plant
Shippingport Reactor
The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, "the world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses," was located near the present-day Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station on the Ohio River in Beaver...
in the west hills of Pittsburgh.
The laboratory has two computers listed on the 26th TOP500
TOP500
The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful known computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year...
List (November 2005) of supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s in the world. Ranked 97 is a 1,090 processor Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
system and ranked 405 is a 536 processor Itanium 2 system.
The laboratory is also home to the U.S. Navy's Bettis Reactor Engineering School. The school provides a post-graduate certificate program in Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of the breakdown as well as the fusion of atomic nuclei and/or the application of other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics...
with a focus on nuclear reactor design, construction, and operations. It is open only to Naval personnel and Bettis engineers.
The laboratory had been chosen to develop the Prometheus nuclear power source for the JIMO (Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter) project, however, funding for this program was cancelled in the fall of 2005.