NUCLEAR POWERED SUBMARINES
HISTORY
The basic process of Submarines was based on batteries and electricity. As batteries have limited capacity and need to be charged frequently , a craft have to carry a" DIESEL GENERATOR" also the Submarine has to come up to the surface for the Diesel engine to run . Because of this the chances of attacking the Submarines are more . During the cold war USA and USSR had Diesel generators.
To bring improvement to this method , Air independent propulsion technology was developed by German scientist, Hellmuth Walter , using hydrogen peroxide fuel , which didn't needed any air to burn, so coming to the surface for the engine to get operated was not necessary. When Hydrogenperoxide burns , it produces superheated steam which not only ignites the engine but also supplies oxygen to the crew members . But this method showed had many side effects like sudden explosion. Similarly other technologies like Diesel with Oxygen sources like liquid Oxygen , fuel cells or high capacity batteries were used but they didn't fulfilled all the requirements.
During era of Soviet union , Moscow loaned India a nuclear submarine in 1988. Between 1964 to 1986 , 70% of Indian Navy's inventories like Frigates , corvettes, Destroyers , etc came from the Soviet Union. India is the only country in the world to have operated a Nuclear submarine on loan from a nuclear - weapon state , and Russia is the only such state to have leased one .
INS CHAKRA ( AKULA 2 CLASS )
SSN ( ATTACK SUBMARINE )
DISPLACEMENT - 12 ,770 tonnes
In the case of Submarines with nuclear , there was a possibility of Submarine staying under water for months and no need to come on the the surface . Also it can use Power freely , to attain high speed.
TECHNOLOGY OF NUCLEAR POWERED SUBMARINES :
The principal of the nuclear reactor when the nucleus of U235 - a form of uranium atom - is truck by a stray neutron , it gets split into two parts and a packing energy that is saved inside , is given off as heat , and a steam is produced. Turbines uses this steam , for the functioning of Submarines. It is said that nuclear power Submarines are sophisticated as they cannot be operated on natural uranium because of less percentage of U235 present in it .
Except Tarapur and Kudankulam , all nuclear plants in India use Natural uranium.
In 2016 , India became the first country outside the leading five - US, Russia , France , UK , and China , to announce a Nuclear - Powered Submarine (Arihant class Submarine )
Arihant class
INS ARIHANT
DISPLACEMENT - 6000 tonnes
Ballistic missile Submarine .
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