Australia’s acquisition and operation of nuclear attack submarines – termed SSNs – will be a vast, complex, costly and protracted project spanning generations. Many of their crew and support personnel aren’t born yet.
Every single person associated with the nuclear submarine project will be imbued from day one with a new (for Australia) concept termed the “nuclear mindset”.
“That is developing a set of principles we are asking everyone to adopt,” says Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, director-general of the Australian Submarine Agency (ASA).
“This is going to be something we will need to do every hour of every day.”
The mindset recognises that nuclear energy is complex and unforgiving. There must be total commitment to excellence in all associated activities including security, safeguards and accountability.
Drawing on the well-established nuclear culture in the US and UK, 10 overarching principles have been developed for the Australian context.
These are a set of shared qualities and attitudes shaping how all personnel need to think, act and learn, reflecting dedication to excellence and an unwavering commitment to safety, security and safeguards of the nuclear propulsion technology, the ASA says.
Number one is that nuclear safety is paramount. Number two is an unyielding commitment to nuclear safety and nuclear safeguards, followed by “the best people dedicated to excellence” and “maximise lethality, reliability, availability and readiness” of the new subs.
Principle eight is not living with deficiencies. That could mean not ignoring the leaking tap in the office kitchen.
“If you are prepared to walk past that, it means you are prepared to walk past major problems,” Mead explains.
Australia’s nuclear submarine journey began on September 16, 2021. That was when, to the astonishment of almost everyone, then PM Scott Morrison announced the new trilateral security agreement AUKUS, with the headline initiative that Australia would acquire nuclear-powered (but not nuclear-armed) submarines.
The changing global security situation, especially the rise of China, meant the US and UK were now willing to share this most sensitive of technologies.
That was followed by an announcement of the “optimal pathway” on March 14 this year. In the early 2030s, Australia will acquire three and maybe five US Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines.
These will come from the US Navy as one owner used boats, each desirably with around 20 years of remaining life.
Considering a Virginia has a nominal life-of-type of 33 years, it follows that Australia’s nukes are in the water now, though maybe not yet commissioned. Which subs are we looking at? The ASA isn’t saying.
Why the 2030s for the first sub when many analysts say the need is sooner? The timetable was developed in recognition that much needs to be done at the Australian end.
“We have worked with the US and UK on what is the optimal period we would need to train up a workforce, develop an industrial base and a regulatory system that could support a boat being transferred to Australia,” Mead says. “We have determined that would be in the early 2030s.”
Well before the first Virginia arrives, design work will proceed on the SSN AUKUS, which is based on the UK’s next-generation SSN design but incorporating technology from the US, UK and Australia.
Construction of boat one for the Royal Navy will begin at Barrow, UK, around 2027. Construction of the first SSN AUKUS for Australia starts by the end of the decade at Osborne, South Australia.
In the meantime, there are numerous steps to build Australian capabilities and familiarity with nuclear subs. The ASA was stood up on July 1.
There’s a graduated program of port visits by US and British boats. That started with the visit of the USS North Carolina to HMAS Stirling, Western Australia, in August.
From 2027, there will be rotations of US and UK boats through Stirling. At its peak, four US and one UK boat will be based in WA and conducting extended patrols.
Preparing Stirling requires substantial infrastructure work – $1.5 billion over the next four years. This is well underway.
The government also plans to create an east coast nuclear submarine base. No location has been decided although that’s expected to be Port Kembla.
The big challenge will be standing up the nuclear workforce, including crews (some with nuclear skills), engineers and skilled tradespeople for construction, administrators, regulators and scientists plus those across numerous companies that will perform maintenance and sustainment.
This is the longstanding skills challenge Defence and defence industry is all too familiar with.
“This workforce is multi-layered and multi-dimensional,” says Mead.
“It’s not just a Navy workforce – it’s an industry workforce, it is a technical workforce. It is a workforce that has high-end post-graduate qualifications. It is also a workforce that has TAFE qualifications – these are our fabricators, welders, fitters.”
There are some positive steps. Three RAN officers recently graduated from the six-month course at the US Navy Nuclear Power School. They were the first Australians to attend this very demanding training course in its 70-year history.
Another eight will start soon, with larger numbers attending that and other training courses in the US next year.
There is the growing number of students attending Australian institutions. In the budget, the government announced $128.5 million to support an extra 4,000 Commonwealth-supported places for students studying engineering, mathematics, chemistry and physics.
ASA itself now numbers about 420 people, with plans to reach 1,050 by 2026. Recent advertising produced 4,000 responses.
“It’s highly encouraging and I think there is real momentum and great enthusiasm in the Australian youth, but also in the broader workforce to be able to serve their country to be able to work with a sense of purpose, to do something special,” Mead says.
