How much uranium does a nuclear submarine use

In a Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, Stuart Godden, the director of engineering for BAE Systems' submarines division in Cumbria, is narrating a slide show and comparing the UK's latest submarines programme – the Astute class – to Nasa's Space Shuttle programme.

What are nuclear submarines used for

"They've got a crew of five to seven, we've got 97 or so," he says. "They go out for a couple of weeks, we go out for 90 days.They typically went on 100 missions, we've got 25 years to operate.

"In terms of environment, they're 200 miles up, we're hundreds of metres beneath the sea.

It's very benign up there, because there's no pressure or corrosion, whereas it's very high pressure and very corrosive under the sea."

Eventually, he concedes some ground to the Shuttle programme: "Albeit, in getting there they have a very explosive force as they transit into outer space – clearly they're a hell of a lot faster than we are."

Godden's mission is to communicate the scale of what's been achieved with the delivery of Astute: the

how long can a nuclear submarine stay underwater

how long can a nuclear submarine go without refueling