But for all the benefits,these nuclear submarines are extremely difficult to make – and they’re certainly not cheap. According to the latest Congressional research,a single boat,which has a shelf life of about 33 years,can cost about $US3.6 billion ($5.5 billion) to build and requires 9 million labour hours and thousands of suppliers.

Given the US has struggled to reach the Navy’s target of building two a year,it begs the question:how will Australia fare when it comes to finding its own AUKUS-ready nuclear workforce?

“It’s one of the biggest challenges with AUKUS,” says Mark Watson,the Washington director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“We’re already having some difficulties recruiting to targets in the Australian Defence Force. Now you’ve got to convince people to join the Navy,then convince those people to be in a submarine force,then find people who can be trained as nuclear engineers – and that’s even before you get to the industry integration of building and maintenance.”

If the leaked reports are to be believed,the “optimal pathway” for AUKUS will involve buying up to five Virginia-class subs from the 2030s as part of the landmark defence agreement Albanese will unveil in San Diego this week alongside US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

This is designed to tackle a capability gap as the Collins class fleet is phased out,before our own purpose-built AUKUS alliance submarines can come online,with input from the three countries involved and largely assembled in Adelaide. It is possible the subs purchased by Australia will not be newly built but recycled existing Virginia class models,which would make them cheaper to buy.

In the US,Virginia-class nuclear subs are built by two companies:GD Electric Boat in Connecticut and Huntington Ingalls Industries in Virginia.

They’re essentially constructed like separate Lego modular pieces:Electric Boat builds the engine room and control room,while the Huntington facility builds the stern,machinery spaces,torpedo room,habitability,sail and bow. Both facilities then take it in turns to build reactor compartments and perform the final assembly of the boats.

But the industry has had difficulties with COVID-era supply chain bottlenecks and workforce shortages in recent years,fuelling fears the AUKUS pact could overstretch the industrial capacity of US shipyards “to breaking point”.

Indeed,in a dramatic intervention last December,two US Senators,Jack Reed and James Inhofe,wrote to Biden explicitly warning against any plan to sell or transfer Virginia-class submarines to Australia before the US Navy has met its current requirement.

At a workshop in Connecticut in January,Adele Ratcliff,director of the US Defence Department’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program,also highlighted the challenge,noting that while recent funding increases had helped address the “industrial atrophy” that set in during the post-Cold War era,workforce development an ongoing issue.

“We must recruit,” Ratcliff said. “And we must recruit those we may not be used to recruiting ― single mums and AAU coaches who we need to tell kids about career opportunities. We have to recruit in our communities right here. We are not moving our shipyards any time soon.”

The companies are now trying to do exactly that. At a legislative update last week,Electric Boat president Kevin Graney told members of Congress the company had set an ambitious goal to recruit 5700 employees over the next two years.

It has also held 400 hiring events in 2022 and continued partnerships with colleges and universities to train welders and other boat-building personnel. Last month,it even ran an ad at the Super Bowl calling for more workers.

“Everyone who’s seen the news of late knows we’ve seen an emergent China and Russia,and we are facing near-peer threats from both of these nations,” Graney said last week. “Those threats really constitute why Electric Boat’s platforms and our services are – and will continue to be – in high demand.”

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