The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the cost of dismantling the former nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise may exceed $1 billion.
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By Official U.S. Navy Page from United States of America Photo by John Whalen/U.S. Navy (USS Enterprise makes its final voyage.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The GAO said in the report that two options are being considered: the first option is to have the ship dismantled at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, while the other path is to let commercial entities carry out the job.
A major issue over the disposal of the ship’s nuclear reactor is who has oversight of the disposal. The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the former says the NRC could oversee the commercial option of dismantling the reactor but the NRC countered that it does not have the power to do so.