[wbl]

Notice how reprocessing or fast breeders solve problems 1 and 4. As for 3 the US has never had an release of radioactivity to the environment from a nuclear reactor aboard a ship or submarine in several thousand years of operation time.

[sitharus]

That's not correct, there have been several releases of radioactivity from US military vessels. This is all prior to the late 1980s, since the mid 1970s many controls and monitors were added to prevent releases.

Personally I'd attribute this to lack of awareness rather than lack of budget. The Soviet program looks quite different.

December 12, 1971, The USS Dace spilled 1,900 litres of radioactive coolant water in to the Thames River, Connecticut.

Undisclosed location, radioactive resin being dumped at sea from the USS Guardfish blows back on to the vessel.

May 22, 1978, USS Puffer releases another 1,900l of radioactive water near Puget Sound, Washington, United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accid...

Apparently 'millions of gallons' of primary loop coolant was released in to the environment prior to 1973. This even references some sources if you want to dig deeper http://www.environment-hawaii.org/?p=3836

[wbl]

Thanks for correcting! It seems that these are low-level intended releases, not core damage. Bad for a power plant, but not horrifically bad.